Realm

A Ruler may ascend to the Pantheon by conquering a realm, from where they may join future conquests, or oppose them. There are three types of realms:

• Story Realms tell the story of the Fourth Age of Wonders and the return of the Godir. The first chapter must be played with a Champion godir and do not allow settings beyond difficulty. There are 5 story realms to unlock and play.
• Challenge Realms have a predefined set of traits to give a unique realm to be explored and conquered. Additional ones can be unlocked by increasing the Pantheon level.
• Custom Realms allow manual choosing of the following realm traits:

Geography

The geography trait is the only mandatory realm trait and determines how many landmasses are in the realm, how are they separated from each other, and how are empires distributed on the landmasses.

Geography trait	Landmasses	Empires per landmass	Landmass separation
Barren Oceans	Several	2-3	Uninhabitable Desert
Coast	One	All
Continents	Several	2-3	Ocean
Divide	Two	Half	Ocean
Islands	Many	1	Ocean
Land	One	All
Lava Divide	Two	Half	Lava
Lava Lakes	One	All
Scarred Divide	Two	Half	Desolate Ocean

Climate

The climate trait determines which provinces and province features are common, which are rare, and which are absent.

Climate trait	Common	Rare	Absent
Desert Realm	Desert provinces	Forest province features	Arctic provinces Desolate provinces Highlands provinces Temperate provinces Wetlands province features
Endless Fields	Temperate provinces Grassland province features Food resource nodes		Desolate provinces
Forming Realm	Desolate provinces
Frozen Realm	Arctic provinces Highlands provinces		Desert provinces Desolate provinces Temperate provinces Tropical provinces
Highlands	Highlands provinces Mountain provinces
Overgrown Realm	Forest province features	Arctic provinces Desert provinces	Desolate provinces
Scorched Climate	Desolate provinces		Arctic provinces Highlands provinces Temperate provinces

Inhabitants

The inhabitants trait determines the composition of independent armies.

Inhabitants trait	Effects
Astral Invaders	Mana resource nodes and pickups are defended by Ethereal Astral Sea monsters
Demonic Realm	Fiend units are common
Dragon Territories	Dragon infestations are common
Immortal Spirits	Ethereal units are common
Lingering Creators	Giant and Ogre units are common
Low Population	Free Cities are rare
Magic Origins	Magic origins units are common
Megafauna	Animal units are common and Marauder animal units gain Empowered Beasts
Peaceful Lands	Animal, Fey and Plant units are common
Rampant Flora	Plant units are common
Rampant Undeath	Undead units are common
Wildlands	Animal units and infestations are common and Constructed Ancient Wonders are absent

Presence

The presence trait adds powerful developed empires to the realm. Almost all presence traits must be unlocked by reaching the required Pantheon level.

Presence trait	Effects	Required pantheon Level
Pretender Kings	Adds 3 empires that start with 3 cities each and at war with each other Whoever forms an alliance with or defeats each empire is Victorious	0
Domain of the Frost Queen	Adds 1 empire that starts with 3 cities including a large Throne City Empire's units have Frostling Transformation Whoever defeats the empire is Victorious	4
Artisan Kings	Adds 2 empires that start with a massive Throne City and a Vassalized Free City	8
Druidic Alliance	Adds 2 empires with powerful Nature skills and an alliance with each other	12
The Librarian	Adds 1 empire with powerful Astral skills, 2 cities and accelerated research Whoever defeats the empire is Victorious	16
Iron Emperor	Adds 1 empire with powerful Materium skills and 2 cities	20
Archon Prophet	Adds 1 empire that starts with a large Throne City and all Free Cities vassalized Whoever defeats the empire is Victorious	24
Demon Prince	Adds 1 empire that starts with 3 cities including a large Throne City Empire's units have Demonkin and Supergrowth Whoever defeats the empire is Victorious	28

Misc

Each realm can have up to 4 misc traits, which apply a variety of effects that adjust the game rules or otherwise provide twists to the realm.

Environmental effects

Environmental effect	Effects	Excludes
Arctic Blizzards	Arctic provinces and affected by Arctic Blizzards All surface combat is affected by Arctic Blizzards Units in these provinces suffer Arctic Blizzards	Desert Realm Scorched Climate
Crystalline Abundance	Mana resource nodes and pickups and abundant
Domain of Mayhem	All combat is affected by Domain of Mayhem
Massive Underground	The Underground is bigger	Small Underground
Small Underground	The Underground is smaller	Massive Underground
Volcanic Eruptions	Desolate provinces and affected by Volcanic Activity All surface combat is affected by Volcanic Eruptions Units in these provinces suffer Volcanic Heat	Overground Realm Endless Fields
Warping Wilds	Each strategic turn all unowned surface provinces have a small chance of transforming their province feature to new ones	Forming Realm
Wondrous Past	Ancient Wonders are abundant

Free city modifiers

Free city modifier	Effects
Bannerlords	+5 Empire Recruitment Points +25% Rally of the Lieges Chance
City States	+5 Free City Starting Population -50% Whispering Stone Strength
Distrusting Locals	-3 Whispering Stone Strength
Hostile Houses	-10 Starting Allegiance -400 Starting Relations with City States
Might Makes Right	+10 Allegiance with all City States per conquered City State +2 Vassal Allegiance when vassalized through conquest -50% Whispering Stone Strength
No Free Cities	Free Cities are absent
Ruined Realm	Free Cities are rare City Ruins are common

Rule modifiers

Rule modifier	Effects
Deathcasting	Units grant their owner +10 Combat Casting Points on death
Disdain for Evil	All empires gain Grievances against empires with Evil Alignment
Megacities	Cannot absorb, migrate or settle new Cities Cities can perform Province Annexation +5 provinces further away
No Respite	Empire units suffer No Respite
Regenerating Infestations	Infestation emerge in unoccupied provinces every 10 turns
Underground Start	Each Throne City is placed Underground
Unlimited Power	Can cast multiple combat spells per turn Combat spells cost +200% Mana

Unit modifiers

Unit modifier	Effects	Excludes
Curse of Undeath	Marauder and Free City units gain Curse of Undeath	Immortals
Frostling Influence	Independent units gain Frostling Transformation Independent units gain Frost Blades Independent units gain Frost Arrows	Desert Realm Scorched Climate
Gigantism	Marauder units gain Supergrowth
High Maintenance	+100% Unity Upkeep -50% Unit Recruitment Cost
Immortals	Empire and Free City units gain Immortal Routed units are never lost	Curse of Undeath
Lightless	-2 Unit Vision Range

Story

• Initiation Realm: Fields of Rebirth
• Rise of the Godir

• Story Realm 1: Valley of Wonders
• Story Realm 2: Enchanted Archipelago
• Story Realm 3: Crimson Caldera
• Story Realm 4: The Eternal Court
• Story Realm 5: Grexolis

The following traits are only present in certain story realms and cannot be added to custom realms.

Trait	Effects	Realm
Harmonious Lands	High tier Ancient Wonders are Absent High tier Infestation Spawners are Absent	Fields of Rebirth
Ancient Ruins	City Ruins are common	Valley of Wonders
Caldera	Center of the map is lava Edge of the map is mountains	Crimson Caldera
Eternal Battleground	All empires and free cities are at war with each other	Crimson Caldera
Fractured World	Astral Rifts are the only Infestation types present	Grexolis
Forbidden Domain	All units are affected by Condemned	Grexolis
Holy Protectors	All roaming wildlife is affected by Celestial Enchantments	Grexolis
Custodian's Dogma	Free cities are rare Free cities cannot be negotiated with	Grexolis

Realm Settings

Realm settings determine how each game will play out. It includes the following settings:

• Player Distance determines the distance between each Throne City. Together with the Players setting it determines the size of the map.
• Players determines the number of empires in the game. Together with the Player Distance setting it determines the size of the map.
• Turn System has two settings. When set to Classic Turns, all empires act in order. When set to Simultaneous Turns, all empires act at the same time. Simultaneous Turns are not available if a player controls multiple empires.

Advanced Settings

• Custom Rulers allows or disallows the AI from using custom empires.
• Teams enables the team setting for each empire and disables most diplomacy between empires. Empires on the same team will be in a permanent alliance while empires on different team will be in a permanent war.