Sentiple

**Sentiple** is a cleric tribe created by Grim Squeaker#1224 on the FMT Discord server.

## Lore

The sentiple are a holistic order of clerics, formed by breakaways from the Ai-mo after coming into contact with Crusondar. Their culture is heavily influenced by the Crusondar, but they have little instinct to conquer and dominate, instead choosing to defend that which they already own. Their clerics are in possession of powerful sanctified blades and staffs, but certain members have delved into deeper and darker secrets, hidden from the gaze of their god, to aid them in their defence and conquest of unbelievers.

The Sentiple originated in the culture of the Ai-Mo. They were a group who advocated taking a more active role in combat with the other tribes, instead of sitting and meditating in their mountains. The coming of the Crusondar, and their religious fervour, inspired them to pursue their dreams and break away from the stuffy halls of the Ai-Mo scholars. However, in their quest for spiritual purity, some have delved into deeper and darker secrets to assure their devotion. The tribe stands at a crossroads of ideals, and it is up to you to guide them through.

The Sentiple fight using defensive tactics. They are incredibly good at defending their borders, but not so great at invading other tribes.

## Technologies

* Meditation - Sentinelship
* Philosophy - Devotion
* Archery - Inquisition
* Construction - Warden

* Meditation is replaced by Sentinelship. Troops standing on a temple will receive a +40% defence(L) or +40% attack(D) bonus if they have the fortify skill, replacing the mountain defence buff.
* Philosophy is replaced by Devotion.
* Archery is replaced by Inquisition. It unlocks the Inquisitor unit (replaces Archer).
* Construction is replaced by Warden. It unlocks the Beacon Tower (replaces the Windmill).

Mind bender replaced with Sentinel

## Units

### Sentinel

* Health: 15
* Attack: 2
* Defence: 3
* Mov: 1
* Range: 1
* Skills: Fortify, Bulwark, Heal
* Cost: 1 dark alignment, 4 stars

### Inquisitor

* Health: 12
* Attack: 2
* Attack: 2
* Mov: 1
* Range: 2
* Skills: Fortify, Merciless, Dash
* Cost: 1 light alignment, 4 stars

### Cleric

* Super unit.
* Health: 20
* Attack: 3L, 4D
* Defence: 3L, 2D
* Mov: 2
* Range: 1
* Skills: (Fortify, Inspiration)L, (Dash, Reap)D
* Cost: 1 dark alignment(L), 1 light alignment(D), no stars

## Unit Skills

* Bulwark: After moving, gain +1 defence and add 0.5 movement cost to all tiles around you for enemies
* Merciless: If an enemy moved out of the tiles around you in the last turn, automatically attack them with 1 attack as an extra attack, if they are in range.
* Inspiration: After moving into an enemy's surrounding tiles, give surrounding friendly units +1 attack until the end of the turn
* Reap: When you attack, the resulting damage is split evenly between all surrounding friendly units (and this unit) and regained as health.

## New building: Beacon Tower

* Cost: 8 stars
* Provides +0.5 def(L) or +0.5atk(D) to units in the tiles surrounding it.
* Can be used to activate the Flaming Brand ability.

## New mechanics

### Alignment

As you train special troops, your alignment will change. Training Sentinels will raise it, training Inquisitors will lower it. There is neutral, where you start, and then 2 levels of dark on the left and 2 levels of light on the right. Dark alignment is focused more on conquest and invasion whatever the cost, Light alignment promotes a more thoughtful approach to attacking, and also gives some nice defensive buffs. The (D) after some values means it takes effect when you are dark aligned, and the (L) means it takes effect when you are light aligned. Training a Cleric while on anything but neutral alignment will add one extra level to the alignment you are on already, in addition to changing your alignment either darker or lighter. Getting Clerics is important for the trump card of this tribe: the Flaming Brand ability

### Flaming Brand

At first glance, Beacon Towers may seem fairly useless. They provide only a very small buff in exchange for windmill economy. However, this is where the special ability of this tribe comes into play. The central capital building is a beacon, and by tapping it, you can activate an ability labelled Flaming Brand. The beacon will be lit, and every beacon tower within 3 squares will also light. Every turn after that, beacon towers within 3 squares of lit beacon towers will also light. 5 dark or 5 light alignment is required to activate this ability, and you must still own the capital to do it.

Effects if at 5 dark alignment are:

* All buildings surrounding the lit beacon are destroyed and replaced with either a rider (50%), archer (25%), knight (5%) or nothing (20%)
* Attack bonuses are 1.5x while the Flaming Brand is active

Effects if at 5 light alignment are:

* All buildings surrounding the lit beacon are destroyed and replaced with either a defender (50%), swordsman (20%), catapult (10%) or nothing (20%)
* Defence bonuses are doubled while Flaming Brand is active

As you can see, Flaming brand cripples your economy temporarily in exchange for the raising of an unreliable peasant militia. Thus, it should only be used in times of greatest need. It should be noted that while roads are not destroyed, they do not provide the speed bonus, not do they act as roads for the purposes of connections between cities. The Flaming Brand ability ends after 6 turns, while it is active you may not build any buildings in the terrain that surrounds.