Your first foothold.

01 / SETTLE IN

Found your kingdom

The world has 120 regions across five islands, with room for roughly 20 kingdoms. Every island has food, logging, mining and specialist sites, and twelve marked sea routes connect the world, including a crossing over Stillwater Lake. Four inland lakes break up the land routes. Every region has farm, logging-camp and gold-mine sites within two land moves; specialist sites are scarcer and worth contesting. Build a harbor on your departure shore to cross a sea route.

1. Register an account, then choose Start. Pick a dwarf leader; leaders are cosmetic and give no gameplay bonuses.
2. Meet your starting kingdom. Every new reign receives a completed Capital that recruits automatically. Inherit the region’s ordinary dwarves, or receive 20 if it is empty.
3. Explore before expanding. Drag the map to pan; use the mouse wheel, pinch on mobile, or the + / − buttons to zoom. Keyboard users can use arrow keys and + / − while the map is focused.

You enter in an eligible territory with the fewest local dwarves, including specialists at their dwarf conversion cost. No existing stronghold or stronghold slot is required; any passable biome can be chosen. Grey peaks are blocked: no kingdom can start there. An active player's last region can never be taken this way; an inactive AI's last region is eligible. Equal populations are decided randomly; if no eligible territory is available, try again later.

Your new reign inherits the region's ordinary dwarves, or starts with 20 if none remain. A preexisting Stronghold is preserved beneath your Capital; other buildings are removed. While the Capital stands, the Stronghold and its site are hidden and unavailable, recruitment pauses with progress saved, and the Stronghold uses no building capacity. Removing the Capital reveals the Stronghold and resumes recruitment. Military conquest still destroys both buildings. The Capital automatically recruits dwarves and occupies an extra slot after the permanent building sites. It defends and screens ranged units like a Stronghold, including the same vulnerability to battering rams. It uses one building capacity and is marked by a gold flag. Existing kingdoms keep their current buildings until they start a new reign.

The Capital and its extra slot disappear on conquest, abandonment or completed demolition. Recapturing the territory does not restore them. Capitals cannot be built manually; each new Start or Restart grants one. Other buildings and units still pass to the inactive AI on abandonment.

Click buildings or faint building slots to open their action panel. Progress bars show ongoing work; hover a bar for remaining time or a small status icon for its meaning. Player-colored banners identify who owns each region.

02 / BUILD A HOLD

Buildings & biomes

Build on your own land. Each region has permanent sites based on terrain and the world layout, plus a temporary Capital slot while its Capital survives. Only one building can be under construction there at a time. Construction consumes idle dwarves in that region; the starting Capital is free.

Construction takes 3 world hours. Capitals arrive completed. Destroying a completed building takes 20 world minutes, gives no dwarf refund, and leaves its benefits active until demolition finishes.

Your kingdom starts with 5 building capacity, with one used by the Capital. Every building except logging camps uses one; construction reserves capacity immediately. Completed logging camps add 5 each. Camps can be built even at the limit, but still need their woodland slot, local dwarves and construction time. Losing camps leaves your other buildings intact and lets ongoing construction finish; further construction waits until capacity is available. Demolishing a building frees its capacity only when destruction finishes.

Biome controls eligible building types, not the number or arrangement of slots. Two regions with the same biome may offer different sites, including repeated economic sites. Each visible slot is still reserved for one specific building. Your Capital is an extra site in any passable biome.

Fertile plains

Farms and Great Halls are eligible

Wooded valley

Farms, Strongholds, Logging Camps and Marksmen's Halls are eligible

Mountain pass

Strongholds, Gold Mines, Siege Workshops, Ram Stables and Guard Barracks are eligible. Passes can offer a Stronghold, mines, both, or neither; a pass does not guarantee either site. Some mining passes have two Gold Mine sites.

Grey peaks

Impassable: no buildings, units or settlement

Peaks block every army. Dwarves, riders, guards, crossbows, thanes and battering rams must travel around them. Peaks have no building slots, cannot be claimed and never receive Capitals. Inland ridges leave narrow passages between them; occasional lone summits create local detours. Brown mountain passes remain traversable.

Regions at either end of a marked sea route have an additional fixed harbor slot. Stillwater Lake has one crossing: Ember Hollow ↔ Ashen Crags. Build a harbor on your departure shore to cross; returning requires a harbor on the opposite shore.

Capitals, Trading Posts and Harbors have no biome restriction on passable land; Harbors still require sea-route access and Trading Posts are placed with neighboring partners. World generation distributes economic and specialist sites across the map, keeping useful resources nearby. The faint building icons show the region's actual sites, not every type allowed by its biome. Sites stay fixed during ordinary play; an explicit map update can redistribute empty sites while preserving existing buildings and their work. Only the Capital slot disappears with its building; ordinary sites remain available after demolition or conquest.

Ram Stables have dedicated slots in selected mountain passes. Each costs 8 local dwarves, takes 3 world hours to build and uses 1 building capacity. Completed stables convert local dwarves into Ram Riders.

Great Halls have additional fixed slots on selected fertile plains. A Great Hall costs 3 local dwarves, uses 1 building capacity and takes 3 world hours to build. Once complete, it recruits one ordinary dwarf every 10 world minutes at full food supply. Its dwarf output is selected automatically; selecting it again preserves progress. Food slowdowns and pauses work exactly as for Capital and Stronghold recruitment. A Great Hall grants no combat protection and cannot screen crossbows. Recruitment continues during demolition until the building is removed; conquest destroys it and ends recruitment.

Siege Workshops have dedicated slots in selected mountain passes. Each costs 15 local dwarves, takes 3 world hours to build and uses 1 building capacity. Once complete, the workshop can convert dwarves into battering rams.

Trading posts have extra slots in neighboring regions of any passable biome. New worlds place them in land-connected pairs so each site has a potential partner. Both completed neighbors earn gold, even under different owners; extra partners do not multiply income. Losing the last completed partner pauses production with progress saved. Sea routes do not connect trading posts. Posts keep trading until demolition finishes, and conquest destroys them.

All durations use the shared world clock. At normal speed, these match real time. Food can slow dwarf recruitment; hovering its progress bar shows the current countdown.

03 / SPECIALIZE YOUR ARMY

Special units & conversion

Special units are made from idle dwarves already in the building's region. They remain separate units after conversion, and keep the food usage of the dwarves used to recruit them.

1. Bring at least 20 idle dwarves to your completed Siege Workshop.
2. Select the workshop and choose Convert 20 dwarves. They leave the ordinary dwarf stack immediately; a progress bar shows the 6-hour conversion.
3. When ready, select the ram's own icon, then a neighboring region to move it. No escort or dwarf quantity selection is required.

Each workshop handles one conversion at a time. Order another when it finishes; there is no kingdom-wide limit on battering rams. A workshop being demolished cannot accept a new conversion. Conquest or completed demolition cancels its unfinished conversion without a dwarf refund. Completed rams survive the loss of their workshop.

Battering rams in battle

An attacking ram negates enemy Capital and Stronghold defense and their crossbow screen in a region battle. It adds no direct damage, and extra rams do not multiply the bonus. Rams can join an ongoing battle alongside dwarves and Ram Riders. If their side loses all its fighting units, its rams are destroyed, including on a tie. A ram meeting enemy fighting units alone loses without damaging them.

Rams can claim undefended regions. During travel they wait at the border for 2 hours, and can be intercepted there. Winning a border battle does not skip the remaining travel wait. Sea departures require a completed harbor in the source region.

Ram Riders

At completed Ram Stables, select Convert 5 dwarves to recruit one Ram Rider over 1 world hour. The five idle dwarves must be in that region. Each stable handles one conversion at a time; order the next when it finishes. Conquest or completed demolition cancels unfinished conversion without refund. Finished riders are independent of their stable.

Riders form their own selectable stack beside ordinary dwarves. Select it, choose a neighboring region and enter how many to send. They travel at twice dwarf speed: 30 world minutes per region, spent waiting at the border. Harbor requirements and blizzards apply to riders too. They can claim regions, intercept enemies, defend buildings and reinforce ongoing battles.

Each rider counts as 5 dwarves of fighting strength for numerical superiority and uses 5 population, including during conversion. When riders supply at least 25% of the army’s fighting strength, the entire army gains charge damage while attacking or fighting at a border: +35% on fertile plains (+25% base plus +10% for open ground), or +15% in woodland and mountain passes. Borders use the more restrictive terrain of their two regions. Defending inside a region gives no charge. Riders keep their normal strength and travel speed everywhere.

No individual health or injuries. Incoming damage is shared between all fighting unit types in proportion to their fighting strength. Each unit is lost when its type accumulates damage equal to its fighting strength: 1 for dwarves or thanes, 3 for crossbows, 5 for guards or riders. Fractional damage accumulates for each side and unit type during that battle, across reinforcements and server restarts. Splitting a stack does not reset it. The remainder is discarded when combat ends, so every surviving rider is ready for its next battle without healing.

Iron Guards and Arbalesters

Arbalesters are crossbow infantry that support the army from behind a protective frontline.

Guard Barracks have fixed slots in selected mountain passes. Marksmen's Halls have fixed slots in selected wooded valleys. Both buildings cost 8 local dwarves, use 1 building capacity and take 3 world hours to build.

A completed Guard Barracks converts 5 local dwarves into one Iron Guard in 90 world minutes. A completed Marksmen's Hall converts 3 local dwarves into one Arbalester in 1 world hour. Each building trains one unit at a time, using the same conversion controls as Ram Stables. Training retains its dwarves’ food usage; completed units use 5 and 3 population respectively. Both move in 1 world hour and remain independent of their building. Conquest or completed demolition cancels unfinished training without refund.

Thanes

Thanes are army leaders earned in battle. They cannot be built. A victorious army can promote one surviving ordinary dwarf after a player battle with at least 100 total fighting-strength casualties, including at least 25 on each side. A lost rider or guard counts as 5, a crossbow as 3, a dwarf or thane as 1. Losses from inactive AI kingdoms do not qualify. A kingdom can earn a thane only when it has none alive, including thanes moving or fighting elsewhere. Battles already underway when this feature arrives count only casualties after the upgrade.

The promotion replaces a dwarf, preserving population and food usage. A thane has 1 fighting strength, uses 1 population and moves in 1 world hour. It grants the entire army +10% damage, can die in battle and cannot stack its bonus with another thane.

Army advantages and terrain

Bonuses apply to the entire army of one kingdom and update each combat round. Splitting orders does not multiply them. Small icons beneath each army explain every active advantage, terrain effect and bonus limit; hover or focus an icon for its rule.

• Guard formation: at least 25% of army strength must be Iron Guards. When defending inside a region, the army takes 25% less damage, increased to 35% in mountain passes. Guards give no formation bonus when attacking or fighting at a border.
• Ranged support: crossbows must supply at least 25% of army strength, with at least equal non-ranged strength protecting them. An intact completed Capital or Stronghold replaces this melee screen for its defending owner, so a crossbow-only garrison also qualifies. This adds 25% army damage, increased to 35% in wooded valleys, alongside Capital or Stronghold protection. An enemy battering ram removes this exception; a garrison without active Capital or Stronghold protection needs the normal melee screen. Meeting both conditions does not double the bonus.
• Capitals and Strongholds: their 50% protection takes priority over guard formation. Multiple defensive buildings do not stack their protection or crossbow screens. An enemy battering ram removes building protection, but a qualifying guard formation can still defend.
• Combined bonuses: unit, thane and terrain attack bonuses add together up to +50%. Numerical superiority still doubles damage separately when an attacking kingdom has more than twice the combined enemy fighting strength. A region’s defender cannot gain numerical superiority.
• Border terrain: both armies use the more restrictive adjacent biome, in order: wooded valley, mountain pass, fertile plains. Peaks cannot be entered or crossed. Inside a region, use that region’s biome.

04 / FEED YOUR KINGDOM

Food is capacity, not a stockpile

Completed farms support your whole kingdom, including disconnected regions. Food is a capacity that controls Capital, Stronghold and Great Hall recruitment speed; it does not accumulate in a stockpile.

• Ordinary dwarves: each uses 1 capacity, whether idle, moving or fighting.
• Special units: keep their dwarf conversion cost as food usage. Each battering ram uses 20 capacity and each Ram Rider or Iron Guard uses 5, each Arbalester uses 3, and each Thane uses 1, wherever it is.
• Conversions in progress: keep their 20, 5 or 3 capacity counted too. Converting dwarves does not free food supply, and completion does not count the resulting unit twice.
• Losses: losing a special unit or canceling its unfinished conversion releases that usage, without refunding dwarves. A conversion ends when its workshop or stables are captured or demolition finishes.

The Dwarves total shows ordinary dwarves. The food gauge includes special units and conversions; hover its population label for the breakdown.

Your kingdom starts with 50 food supply. Each completed farm adds another 10. Recruitment runs at ×1 up to and including that capacity, then slows through these bands:

For example, 4 farms give 90 capacity: up to 90 population, recruitment runs at ×1; at 91–100, it runs at ×0.75. Without farms, capacity is 50 and recruitment pauses at 81 dwarves. Food shortages preserve recruitment progress and do not kill existing dwarves.

Example: 50 ordinary dwarves + 1 battering ram use 70 population. With no farms, dwarf recruitment runs at ×0.5; with 2 working farms, capacity rises to 70 and recruitment returns to ×1. Starting with 70 ordinary dwarves and converting 20 into that ram keeps usage at 70 throughout.

Blight

Blight is a temporary regional hazard. It begins without advance warning in up to three neighboring land regions. For 3–6 world-hours, completed farms in those regions stop working and provide no food supply. Buildings and existing dwarves are not destroyed. Recruitment can slow or pause, with completed progress preserved.

Affected farms are marked on the map and automatically resume their full +10 capacity when blight ends. Farms completed during blight are disabled too; farms outside the affected area keep working. A blighted region stays affected if its owner changes.

There is a 24–48 world-hour calm period between events, and only one blight at a time. Outbreaks start around existing farms, favor a different area from the previous event where possible, and never target players by rank. A world with no completed farms postpones the next outbreak. The first outbreak begins one world-day after this feature is introduced. All event timing follows the shared world clock, including pauses and server restarts.

Blizzards

A blizzard begins without advance warning, closing up to three connected land regions for 3–6 world-hours. While it is active, no unit can move into or out of an affected region, including between two affected regions and across sea routes with completed harbors. This applies to dwarves and battering rams.

Journeys already underway pause with their completed travel progress saved and automatically resume when the storm clears. No units are lost to the weather. Existing battles continue; survivors of a border battle wait for the route to reopen. Recruitment, construction and resource production continue normally unless affected by another hazard.

Active blizzards are shown directly on affected regions with snow and labels, and blocked destinations are disabled. There are no global event notices or forecast panels. Blizzards can occur on any terrain, prefer a different area from the previous storm, and do not target players by rank. Each storm is followed by 24–48 world-hours of clear weather. The first storm begins 36 world-hours after this feature is introduced. Blizzards and blight have independent schedules and can overlap. All timing and saved journeys follow the shared world clock, including pauses and server restarts.

05 / EXPAND & DEFEND

Send dwarves to a neighbor

Select an idle dwarf stack, click a highlighted neighboring region, and choose how many to send. They appear at the border immediately, wait 1 hour, then enter the region. Marked sea crossings also connect neighbors; lakes are not claimable territory.

Sea departures require a completed harbor in the source region. The destination needs none, but returning requires a harbor there. This applies to moving, attacking and intercepting across sea routes. Destroying a harbor prevents new departures once demolition finishes; orders already underway continue. Land movement does not require a harbor.

Arriving dwarves claim undefended land or fight its defenders. Taking a region destroys its buildings and unfinished construction. Any Capital and its extra slot are permanently removed; conquest never grants a new Capital. Friendly arrivals merge with your dwarves.

• Defend buildings: leave dwarves in the region to meet attackers when they arrive.
• Intercept: send dwarves toward an incoming army during its border wait to fight there immediately.
• Combat: base losses are 1 dwarf per side every minute until one side has none left. A completed Capital or Stronghold halves its owner’s losses when defending inside the region. Army composition and terrain adjust these losses; an attacking side with more than twice the opposing fighting strength deals double damage.

Reinforcements join the existing battle without restarting its timer. A battle can contain different unit types: dwarves contribute fighting strength and battering rams suppress Capital and Stronghold defense. Food usage and combat strength are different: a ram uses 20 population but does not fight as 20 dwarves.

Region combat pauses the local economy. Capital, Stronghold and Great Hall recruitment, gold income, and specialist training pause with their progress saved. Farms supply no food, Logging Camps supply no building capacity, Trading Posts cannot support partners, and Harbors cannot launch new crossings. Capital and Stronghold defense and their ranged-support screens still apply under the usual combat rules. Buildings show a small pause marker; work resumes when the battle ends if the building survives. Blighted farms remain disabled until blight also ends. Construction and demolition continue. Border combat does not pause buildings.

Leave defenders behind when expanding. Moving your entire stack makes that region easier to capture.

06 / LEAVE YOUR MARK

Gold & Kingdoms

Gold is your score, not a resource you spend. Completed gold mines and connected trading posts earn it over time. The Kingdoms panel uses a player-colored square for active kingdoms (■) and a star for the top three personal bests (★). An active kingdom matching its best score also uses a star; hover it to see both statuses. Each player has one best-ever record, replaced when a later reign beats it.

The Last action column shows how long ago each player last gave a successful order, started a run, or abandoned a kingdom. It uses real time; automatic production and page refreshes do not count. Unknown means no action has been recorded since tracking began.

07 / BEGIN AGAIN

Continue, defeat & abandon

Continue returns to your existing kingdom. Losing all territory and all surviving units unlocks Restart, with a new leader choice, starting region and completed Capital in the same world. Restart uses the same entry rules as Start; no existing fort is needed. Losing only your Capital does not end your reign while you still hold land or have surviving units. A surviving battering ram keeps your reign active even without land or ordinary dwarves. Your reign’s gold resets when you restart; your personal best remains.

Abandon voluntarily ends your reign after confirmation. Your Capital and its extra slot are removed. Your territories, other buildings and units pass to an inactive AI that issues no new orders; their existing movement, combat and production continue. Your personal best is saved. You can then begin a new reign with a new Capital; you cannot resume the abandoned kingdom.