Realms

Belgica is a small Roman realm, wedged between Germania, Gaul, Rome and Illyria, with only one city and hardly any deposits. In return it has a rare mix: high taxes and the fast population growth that otherwise only barbarian provinces have.

Byzantium links Europe and Asia, and almost half of its fields lie on the coast. It has one of the richest mixes of deposits: horses, ore, gold, crimson, myrrh and salt. Plenty of hill country gives room for a dense population.

Carthage is the Roman realm of North Africa: two high-tax provinces, four trade centres and food deposits on the plains. To the south the desert covers your back; your real front is barbarian Mauretania to the west.

Gaul is surrounded by Roman realms: Belgica, Hispania and Rome are its only land neighbours. With food deposits on plains, high taxes and two coastal cities it is a quiet, economically strong starting position.

Hispania is a peninsula with only one land neighbour, Gaul, which is Roman too. That makes it one of the safest starting positions on the map. Three high-tax provinces and plenty of hill country give room for growth, but food and salt are missing.

Illyria is a small Roman realm on the Adriatic. Both of its provinces have the highest tax rate on the map but grow slowly. It shares its long northern border with barbarian Germania.

Palestine is a narrow Roman coastal land with the most cities of any realm. It is wedged between Egypt, Persia and Parthia, three barbarian powers, and has only one Roman neighbour, Byzantium.

Rome is a coastal realm with high taxes and, on average, the strongest troops on the map. Its land is scattered: Italy and southern Gaul, the islands of Sicily and the distant exclave of Herulia. Almost three quarters of its fields lie by the sea.

Britain is an island without a single land neighbour: every attack has to come by sea. But it is the smallest realm on the map and has to make do with little land. You fend off attacks with your fleet, and trade with other realms goes by sea only.

Egypt is the granary of the map: no other realm has as many food deposits, and all of them lie on plains, where Latifundia profit from them. It is one of only two realms allowed to build every type of warship. Its weakness is building material: Egypt grows with stone but has hardly any mountains for quarries.

Imperial China lies on the eastern edge of the map and is the only realm without a coast. It starts with no ships but the most trains: every transport of goods goes over land.

Germania lies in the middle of Europe, between the Visigoths, the Jutes and the Roman realms of Belgica, Illyria and Byzantium. Dense forests supply plenty of wood, the realm's building material, and in forest Germanic troops fight better on average than those of any other realm.

The Scythian Empire stretches as a long strip through Central Asia and borders five realms. It has the most troop types of any realm and the most varied deposits, but only a single city, Kashgar.

The Hunnic Empire is the largest realm on the map after Persia, and a nation of horsemen: it has the most horse deposits and more kinds of light cavalry than any other realm. But its provinces yield little tax, and it has no salt at all.

India is a hard realm and not one for a first game: large, but poorer in deposits than almost any other, with only two kinds of tribe, both on foot. It lies in the south-east corner of the map, with the map edge to the east and south. All three land neighbours are barbarian: the Scythians to the north, the Kushan to the west and China to the north-east.

The Jutes rule Scandinavia and islands in the north. Half of their fields lie on the coast, and their land has almost no roads, so you move troops and goods mostly by ship. Forest is plentiful, and wood is their building material.

The Kushan Empire is a large inland realm at the centre of Asia with hardly any coast. It borders five realms, and with Persia it shares the longest land border on the map. With five neighbours, a war on two fronts comes quickly.

Mauretania in north-west Africa has the highest share of mountains of any realm. Its only land neighbour is Roman Carthage, and to the south lies unclaimed desert. Many mountains mean plenty of stone, but little room for a dense population.

The Ostrogothic Kingdom is one of the granaries of the map, with many food deposits. It borders the Huns, the Visigoths, the Jutes and Parthia, all four barbarian, and can raise all four kinds of tribe, mounted ones included.

Parthia is a realm of horsemen in the highlands between Byzantium, Persia and the Ostrogoths. Its cataphracts are among the strongest units on the map, and many horse deposits supply them. But Parthia borders five realms and has no free hinterland.

Persia is the largest realm on the map. Like Egypt it may build every type of warship, it has the most myrrh deposits, and in Mesopotamia a high-tax core province. But it has long borders with the Kushans, Palestine and Parthia.

The Sogdian Principality lies at the heart of Central Asia between the Kushans, the Huns, the Scythians and the Wusun. It has more salt deposits than any other realm, plus a balanced mix of wool, horses and ore.

The Visigothic Kingdom has the highest share of plains and, after Egypt, the most food deposits: the granary of northern Europe. It lies open between Germania, the Ostrogoths, the Jutes and Rome.

The Wusun realm is a vast savanna realm in the north-east with the most wool deposits and many horses. It has no ore and no salt at all: armour and population growth depend on trade.