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= = = = = Part One: Faction Leaders = = = = =
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- - - - - General Information - - - - -

In Fate of Emrilia, each Faction Leader has a unique gameplay style and a tech tree that differs from their vanilla AoW III counterparts. While there is a lot of overlap, you may be surprised to learn that certain abilities/units may not be available for that leader, such as Exalted for the Theocrat (Zarzissh) or Eldritch Horrors for the Sorcerer (Elizabeth) .
-- On the flipside, you may have tech that is not normally available for said class, such as Thoroughbred Mounts (Warlord) and Side Arms (Dreadnaught) for the Sorcerer leader.
-- Each leader also has an Influence and Class Traits, which further augments their playstyles. Influences grant additional damage to their regular soldiers, while Class Traits have a variety of different effects depending on the character. For more information, see the Leader Overview below.

Also, Settlers can only rebuild on razed cities instead of settling anywhere, so please keep this in mind!

- - - - - Leader Overview - - - - -

Please note that there may be other modifiers/events than the ones listed that augment each leader's playstyles.

Elizabeth Windborn (Recommended Starter!)
=== Last Updated: 8/28/2024

Elizabeth Influence: +1 Fire Damage, +1 Lightning Damage, +1 Ice Damage // All Soldiers
Sorcerer Trait:
-- Combat Spells deal 100% more Damage
-- Economy Modifiers: -25% Gold, +25% Mana, +10% Knowledge, +160 Casting Points (Undocumented), -50% Migration Time

Notable Empire Upgrades:
-- Basic Seafaring, Advanced Seafaring
-- Fire Node Mana Bonus, Water Node Mana Bonus, Air Node Mana Bonus, Produce Apprentice
-- Explorer, Expander, Expansionism, Rugged Pioneers, Scout Training
-- Side Arms, Thoroughbred Mounts

Starting Spells
-- Global: One with the Elements, Seek Inspiration, Dread Omen, Summon Hell Hound, Summon Lesser Elemental, Summon Air Elemental, Summon Earth Elemental, Summon Fire Elemental, Summmon Frost Elemental
-- Combat: Fire Ball, Frost Missile, Suffocate, Blind, Black Lightning, Weapon Kit, Hailstorm

Changes from Vanilla Sorcerer:
-- Of note, she does not have access to Wisps, Node Serpents, or Eldritch Horrors, although her Elementals (Lesser Elementals, Fire, Air, Earth, Ice) more than make up for it.
-- No Glyph of Warding, Dome of Protection, Lightning Storm, Enchanted Walls, Summoner's Aura, Age of Magic

General Notes:
-- Elizabeth has the most freedom of all the leaders, even with the negative gold modifier. While all playthroughs will lean into her sorcery (summons, combat spells), she performs well with Hero Parties (hero-focused armies) although she can also field regular armies without too much difficulty.
=== Cavalry Armies are powerful due to Thoroughbred Mounts and Side Arms, so Knights can easily win the day.
-- Be prepared for some early aggression from Independents, mainly against some Human enemies and Ferdinand's Elementals. Be careful against the Elementals spawns as they can be overwhelming early-game, especially the Earth variants.
-- Ogrus is a guaranteed ally for Elizabeth, but there can only be one victor in Emrilia. When everyone else is eliminated, the alliance will automatically break and war will be declared. As Ogrus can become rather powerful, it may be wise to take him out earlier or be prepared to assassinate him when the time comes.

= = = = = Tips = = = = =
-- Elizabeth is a master of magic. Take full advantage of dealing double damage with her spells to one-shot enemy soldiers (Magic Fist, or Skin of Oil + Fireball), or weaken multiple foes (Chain Lightning). Later, Chaos Rift can be utilized to deal damage and summon fodder.
=== Just remember to watch your mana supply, as you may have more Spellcasting Points than you do Mana!
-- Take advantage of Invoke Extraordinary Mount to get flying mounts. You can then augment your flying heroes with your various summons ANYWHERE ON THE MAP, and support them in battle with Elizabeth's heightened combat spellcasting.
-- Elizabeth's starting location also has easy access to unique "Mercenaries" at the custom Taverns/Inns who scale at Champion Rank. Of note, there are unique Knights (Puking Horse Inn, between Four Winds and Wale's End) and unique Elementals (Djinn's Lamp, east of Wale's End). Just remember that these units are limited and are rather expensive!
=== Pair these scaling mercenaries with a Theocrat Hero with Divine Justicars to create a nearly unstoppable army.

Zarizissh - Blessed by Fire (Recommended Starter!)
-- Influence: +2 Fire Damage, +1 Spirit Damage, Devout Trait // All Soldiers
-- Class Trait: Theocrat
=== Independent Relations: +250
=== Happiness Bonus: +125
=== Combat Spells Damage increased by 25%
=== City/Unit Enchantments Cost reduced by 25%
=== Casting Points: +60 (Unlisted)
-- General Notes: While Zarzissh can play the "humble preacher" for independent factions (Good Alignment), generally it is better to go on a crusade to assimilate all who will listen, and to burn those who will not (Evil Alignment).
=== This is especially the case if Dragon Manifestations are reimplemented, as they were some of the strongest units in the Enhanced Edition of the mod.
=== Of note, Zarizissh takes 5-10 turns to fully start "playing," as one must use the starting Settlers to rebuild in the Promised Land.

Arshack - Great Khan
-- Influence: +5 Physical Damage // All Soldiers, Melee Attacks Only
-- Class Trait: Warlord
=== Independent Relations: -125
=== Plunder Time Reduced by 50%
=== City/World Enchantments cost increased by 100%
=== Economy Modifiers: +25% Gold (Actual: 20%) // -50% Mana
=== No Mercy for Cowards: Units receive -4 Armor/Resistance when defending cities
=== No Leader Revival (Important Note)
-- General Notes: Arshack wants to be fighting at all times, so keep the war machine going at any cost. Failure to do so will result in potential consequences...
=== Arshack himself is one of the most powerful units in all of Emrilia, although he needs his unique items to help him along (not implemented at the time of this posting). However, Arshack cannot revive so pick his battles wisely!
=== Don't focus too much on your starting settlements, they will be taken away in an event around Turn 3 or so. Focus on conquering Lotharsburg (Old Town) and expanding your territory there.

Ogrus Hammerstorm
-- Influence: +2 Physical Damage, +1 Fire Damage // All Soldiers
-- Class Trait: Dreadnaught
=== Independent Relations: +125
=== City/World Enchantments cost reduced by 25%
=== Economy Modifiers: +50% Gold (Actual: 20%) // -25% Mana
=== No Mercy for Intruders: Units recieve +8 Armor when defending cities
=== Casting Points: +30 (Unlisted)
=== Happiness Penalty: -400 (Important Note)
-- General Notes: To be written for Reforged...
=== Originally, in Enhanced, Ogrus has similar freedom to Elizabeth but focuses more on turtling and his machines of war instead of magic. Sadly, Ogrus starts out with with negative Happiness, and only by going through his personal questline (not added yet) can he climb out of said penalty.

Gryx - The Crippled
-- Influence: +3 Blight Damage // All Soldiers
-- Class Trait: Rogue
=== Combat Spell Cost reduced by 25%
=== Battlefield Spell Cost reduced by 25%
=== City/World Enchantment Cost reduced by 25%
=== Independent Relations: -250
=== Plunder Time reduced by 90%
=== Plunder Loot increased by 75%
=== Economy Modifiers: +25% Mana // +10% Knowledge
=== Tier 1/2 Goblin Units gain Volunteer
=== Casting Points: +70 (Unlisted)
=== "Useless Non-Combat Leader" (Important Note)
-- General Notes: To be written for Reforged...
=== Originally, in Enhanced, Gryx relied on his minion spawns and laboratory experiments to do all the work, as Gryx himself is completely useless in combat. It was also a slow burn, as Gryx's power is more related to game length than any other character due to the Experiment process. He was still fun to play, but it just took a different mindset (A calculating "Mastermind" instead of a ruthless "Conqueror").

Sedna - Thrice Reborn
-- Influence: +3 Physical Damage // All Soldiers
-- Class Trait: ??Rogue??
=== No Modifiers
=== Unlocks additional units for recruitment
=== +4 Unique Heroes (Important Note)
=== Tigerians: Afraid of Water (Important Note)
-- General Notes: To be written for Reforged...
=== Originally, in Enhanced, Sedna's main selling point was her unique Hero units who have some abilities/traits not usually found on that class. She also had the "Blood Haze" feature, which dictates when Sedna is at war or at peace for most factions. Aside from the Tigerians being afraid of water (no ability to use Ships), she seems to play similarly to vanilla AoW III.

Lissandra - The Last Pathfinder
-- Influence: +2 Physical Damage, +2 Lightning Damage // All Soldiers, Ranged Attacks Only
-- Class Trait: Arch Druid
=== Enchantments/Summon Cost reduced by 50%
=== Economy Modifiers: -25% Gold // -25% Mana (Actual: +25% Mana) // +10% Knowledge
=== Blessing of the Pathfinders: Elven Units gain Regrowth and Forest Concealment // Animal Units gain Regeneration
=== Casting Points: +60 (Unlisted)
=== Happiness Penalty: -200 (Important Note)
-- General Notes: To be written for Reforged...
=== Originally, in Enhanced, Lissandra mostly focused on her personal questline on the Elven Isle before exploring the world. She is also fairly defensive in nature with her City Enchantments (Glpyhs of Warding, Enchanted Walls, Nightwish). Lissandra also had to deal with Elven politics and Elven depression, as she still ended up with negative happiness after her questline was seemingly finished.
=== Looking at the Reforged variant, Lissandra seems to be much more about "Quality over Quantity." While her economy suffers, every Elven unit gets Regrowth which is an amazing ability and gets even better as said unit gains multiple Champion levels.

Bericlar - The Outcast
-- Influence: +2 Frost Damage, +1 Blight Damage // All Soldiers
-- Class Trait: Necromancer
=== Independent Relations: -500
=== Combat Spells Cost reduced by 50%
=== Summon Spells Cost reduced by 25%
=== Casting Points: +160 (Unlisted)
=== No Cities/Empire (Important Note)
=== No Leader Revival (Important Note)
-- General Notes: Bericlar is a force of nature, starting out with extremely powerful spells (Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Chaos Rift, Hellfire) and summons (Node Serpent, Eldritch Horror). He also practically has unlimited mana and is only limited by his Casting Points. However, the cost of such power is being unable to build an empire of any kind, meaning Bericlar doesn't build cities or field traditional armies.
=== Besides Bericlar's unique playstyle, he is mainly played due to the story and specific events that only occur if one plays as him (which is not yet added in Reforged).

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= = = = = Part Two: Death's Reprisal= = = = =
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General
4 Leaders

To be written...

Death's Reprisal Part 2
4 More Leaders

To be written...

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= = = = = Part Three: Legends of Emrilia = = = = =
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One

To be written...

Legends of Two... To be written...

Legends of Three... To be written...

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And with that, this concludes the Riftwalker's Guide to Emrilia (Reborn Edition)! I hope the guide proved useful to you in some way. May you continue enjoying the mod and the world of Emrilia!

@Sire: Perhaps it will be helpful if I briefly explain the new functionality of the Gryx Experiments Questline at this point.
I have tried to explain all the processes ingame without breaking the immersion too much, but perhaps an overview is still useful.

There are a total of 30 stages of the experiment to go through. The duration of each of these stages is between 1 and 5 rounds and can be actively influenced by the player. The AI will automatically complete the experiment and finish it in round 33.

From the second turn onwards, units can be brought to the 4 test chambers (represented by teleporters). Entering a test chamber will kill a unit of the stack and shorten the time to reach the next stage by one turn. The research of the next stage can be started manually in Gryx Laboratory. If all test chambers are occupied, research is started automatically.
As soon as all 30 stages have been completed and Gryx has given an inspiring speech to his followers, the next phase of the experiment is started. Gryx will then automatically receive a random strength spawn in the lab each turn. By entering the lab, the type of unit spawned can be changed manually. (Mutation, Blight, Pure).


I'll delete my post here later so as not to mess up the order of your guide :)

Been a while, but the guide has been updated for Elizabeth. As I replay the leaders, I plan on updating each one as I go.

Probably should also write the Death's Reprisal part too, but I'll get around to it eventually...