Vinerva

Vinerva is an Elder God focused on offering humanity cursed fruits to solve their problems (typically problems her own agents created), then using those gifts to kill them or bend them to her will. She starts with no Supplicant agent, just 3 recruitment points. She starts with 2 agent slots and only has 5 agent slots when fully awake.

She is held back by 9 seals. The minimum world panic from her awakening goes from 0% on the first turn to 50% on the turn she fully awakes (turn 420). Her max Power starts at 1 and reaches 10 when she awakes. In addition to the listed effects, each seal that breaks gives 1 current and maximum power.

## Hearts of the Forest

Vinerva's powers can only be used on locations which are within 3 moves of a location with a 'Heart of the Forest' POI. You add those POI's to locations by using her first ability (called 'Heart of the Forest').

Also, an agent can spread one of Vinerva's Hearts to a new location by completing a "Harvest Seed" challenge at that Heart's current location and carrying the seed in that agent's inventory to some new location (that's more than 3 moves from any existing Heart of the Forest), then you use the 'Heart of the Forest' power on that new location (which consumes the seed item in the agent's inventory).

The challenge 'Harvest Seed' does not remove the existing Heart of the Forest POI

If a Heart in some nation has enough menace (> 35, at minimum), the ruler of that nation may choose to send an army to raze that Heart of the Forest (also completely destroying any human settlement/city/town in the same location). They are less likely to do that if they're enshadowed (and will never do it if fully enshadowed). You can see the priority the ruler is putting on this by looking in the National Actions tab of the location with the Heart.

If a Heart is in a location outside of any human nation, any human ruler may choose to send an army to raze it.

A Heart of the Forest POI at a location increases that location's Defence by 50.

## Vinerva's powers:

Aside from Pheromones and an accepted Gift of Nectar, the modifiers created by Vinerva's powers do not degrade passively over time.

Aside from "Grove of Dragonflower", a hero or ruler's motivation to accept one of Vinerva's "gifts" is reduced by both their personal level of Awareness and the World Panic level. If they are enshadowed, they are less put off by World Panic (that effect increases as they get more enshadowed).

#### Heart of the Forest

Cost: Starts at 0 power, increases as you cast it more.

Create a new Heart of the Forest POI in any type of location, except ocean. Can be cast without any restrictions at the start of the game; after the first cast, it can be cast on any location within three moves of an existing heart, or on an agent carrying a seed (this includes heroes who have stolen one).

#### Grove of Golden Roses

Cost: 1 Power

Create a "Temptation of Gold" modifier at a location, starting at 100% strength. That gives the location's ruler a local action which grants 75 gold, increases Lingering Resentment by 25, increases the Vinerva's Gift modifier by 50%, and reduces Temptation of Gold modifier by 50%. Competes with Taxation in the local actions tab.

The base motivation to take a Gift of Gold is 35, which is higher than the base motivation for taxation (20). It also receives a greater motivation bonus than taxes do from low reserves. Rulers who like Gold will have a bonus to their motivation to take this, although that bonus also applies to regular taxation. Rulers who dislike Cruelty will have a reduced motivation to take this, making them unlikely to ever accept it.

#### Grove of Salvation

Cost: 2 Power

Creates a Temptation of Salvation modifier at a location which starts at 100% and stays there regardless of use. That in turn creates a quest for heroes called "Gift of Salvation", which halves the shadow on a hero but reduces their sanity by 8.

#### Black Forest

Cost: 0 Power, and adds 15 menace to the nearest Heart of the Forest

Converts the Vinerva's Gift modifier at a location into instant enshadowment increase for that location's ruler (1:1 conversion ratio). If that would increase the ruler's shadow above 100%, only part of the Vinerva's Gift modifier is consumed and the ruler's shadow only goes up to 100%.

#### Grove of Nectar

Cost: 1 Power

Create a "Temptation of Nectar" modifier at a location, starting at 100% strength and decreasing by 1.25% per turn. That gives the location's ruler a local action which grants the "Gift of Nectar" modifier, reduces the Hunger modifier to 1%, increases the Vinerva's Gift modifier by 125**%**, and reduces the Temptation of Nectar modifier by 50%.

The Gift of Nectar modifier doubles food production in the location, as well as increasing the base food generated by 50.

#### Grove of Peace Lilies

Cost: 2 Power

Creates a Temptation of Peace modifier at a location, starting at 75% strength. That gives the location's ruler a local action which reduces the Unrest modifier to 1, increases the Vinerva's Gift modifier by 75%, and reduces the Temptation of Peace modifier by 25%. Competes with Reduce Unrest and Brutal Crackdown in the local actions tab.

With low levels of unrest, the -10 "fear of the unknown" modifier makes rulers less likely to take Gift of Peace than other actions that reduce unrest, but Gift of Peace scales much faster than those options, so high enough levels of unrest will eventually make it attractive. In addition, rulers who dislike **Discord** will have a bonus to their motivation to take it. Rulers who like **Cruelty** gain bonus motivation to choose Brutal Crackdown; because this competes directly with Gift of Peace it is worth checking before offering this gift.

Unlike every other local action that reduces unrest, Temptation of Peace stays available even if there is no unrest at the location. This is worth noting because rulers who hate discord will have a huge motivation to take it, and it will have no competition if there's zero unrest. Combined with the fact that the action to accept it takes only 1 turn, it's sometimes possible to get a ruler to take it repeatedly, rapidly converting the whole temptation into Vinerva's Gift.

#### Choking Spores

Cost: 3 Power; adds 15 menace to the nearest Heart of the Forest

Can only be used on a location with at least 50% Vinerva's Gift. Adds the Choking Spores modifier to the chosen location *and all surrounding locations*. The Choking Spores modifier reduces prosperity in a location by 25% (thus reducing the ruler's gold income and the location's military capability).

#### Grove of Leper's Succor

Cost: 2 power

Creates a Temptation of Health modifier at a location, starting at 75% strength. That gives the location's ruler a local action which reduces the Plague modifier to 1%, increases the Vinerva's Gift Modifier by 45%, and reduces the Temptation of Health modifier by 25%.

This action competes with Innoculate Population, but Innoculate Population's motivation is reduced by the existing Plague Immunity modifier (while the Gift of Health action's motivation is not). Rulers who dislike **Disease** will have a bonus motivation to take this option, though this bonus also applies to Innoculate Population.

#### Grove of Dragonflower

Cost: 1 power

Creates a Temptation of Might modifier at a location which starts at 100% and stays there regardless of use. That in turn creates a quest for heroes called "Gift of Might", which increases their might by some amount.

Performing this quest grants the hero a boost to Might for 21 turns. As they use it, they develop an addition to the dragonflowers and become increasingly strongly motivated to seek them out. The Gift of Might buff gives less might each time it is used, and when the Gift of Might wears off their Might is reduced by 1.

The first time they take the Gift of Might they gain +4 Might, reducing to +3 the second time, +2 the 3rd and 4th time, +1 the 5th and 6th time, and +0 the 7th time. After the 7th time, they can no longer gain Might from the quest, and are permanently at -1 Might, though they still feel the same urge to seek the Dragonflowers out.

The motivation to use this is reduced by Awareness but *not* by World Panic. A hero is also more likely to take it if they have a 'Dangerous Foe' motivation (i.e. that hero wants to fight one of your agents/an Orc Upstart/etc. because that agent has high menace but that hero isn't sure they could beat that opponent).

#### Neurotoxins

Cost: 1 power, and adds 15 menace to the nearest Heart of the Forest

Converts the Vinerva's Gift modifier at a location into an increase in the Madness modifier (**2:1** conversion ratio), to a maximum of 300%. If the location has enough Vinerva's Gift to take madness past 300%, the spare Vinerva's Gift remains in place.

#### Serpentine Vines

Cost: 3 power, and adds 7 menace to the nearest Heart of the Forest

Sets the danger of all quests and neutral challenges in the location to 8 (each quest gains danger individually).

#### Pheromones

Cost: 3 power

Adds a Pheromones modifier at the location with initial strength 100%, which degrades by 3% each turn.

At full strength, a Pheromones modifier increases the motivation for a ruler to take one of Vinerva's Gifts by 25. The motivation increase from this is reduced proportionally to how much the modifier's strength has degraded.

This can be stacked. In the mid-late game, you may need to use this 2 times on a location just to overcome a non-aware ruler's reluctance from World Panic (even if you've arranged things so that the gift is inherently compelling to them, e.g. by increasing unrest or plague in the location).

#### Manifestation

Cost: 1 power

Can only be used on a human location with a Vinerva's Gift modifier of at least 125%. Instantly destroys the settlement, creating a manifestation that adds 3 points toward your victory progress (on top of the victory progress from a destroyed human settlement). Turning a settlement into a manifestation adds a heart of the forest to the location, if it didn't have one already. This does not increase the cost to cast "Heart of the Forest". Worth noting that if the location already had a heart of the forest, it will be replaced by a new one, removing any menace the original heart had accumulated.

#### Wilderness Spirits

Cost: 3 power, and adds 30 menace to the nearest Heart of the Forest

Can only be used on a *land* location not occupied by a human society. For example, a wild place or the ruins of a human settlement. A Witch's Coven isn't a legal target. Oddly, an Orc camp/fortress also isn't a legal target.

Summons a non-controllable Wilderness Spirits army with initial HP 50, which will attack all nearby human settlements (avoiding those with shadow >50%). If a settlement drops below 50% shadow, Wilderness Spirits will be able to target it again.

## Strategy:

While World Panic is low, even somewhat wealthy rulers will accept the Gift of Gold as long as they don't dislike Gold or Cruelty. This means that you can get a great many locations to 100% Vinerva's Gift early in the game without needing to worry about creating a need for the gift - not enough to turn their locations into Manifestations, but just enough to put the settlement's ruler to 100% shadow. Using this to form a large Dark Empire is possibly the fastest way to win in the game (competing with Mammon's unique victory condition), though putting the Hearts of the Forest in the soon-to-be Dark Empire itself means risking invasions from other nations who see its high menace. Careful players can put the Hearts of the Forest in neighbouring locations instead, though this can reduce your coverage.

Once World Panic has increased somewhat, Vinerva's Gift can be most conveniently spread by using Gift of Nectar combined with raided farmlands, as rulers have no other way of giving their people more food. A single accepted Gift of Nectar is enough to hit its neighbours with Choking Spores, then turn the location into a Manifestation. Peace Lilies are another decent choice if a nation is already spiraling into unrest, though Leper's Succor is slow and unreliable given that Inoculate Populace's motivation grows at the same speed as their motivation to accept the gift.

Grove of Salvation and Grove of Dragonflower are of dubious worth. Using Grove of Salvation to drive heroes insane is a tricky proposition with low upside, as their sanity heals over time, and Grove of Dragonflower is mostly just an unreliable way of wasting heroes' time forcing them to reclaim their Gift of Might.

If you Awaken and plan to win with Wilderness Spirits, it's useful to cast Wilderness Spirits as much as possible in one location, and to weaken humanity's armies beforehand. This can be done by spreading plagues, using Choking Spores, or raiding farmlands and starving them out. If you have desecrated Holy Sites, spamming Blasphemous Rituals is a good way to build an overwhelming number of spirits.

## Victory Text

The art and text displayed upon winning a game depends on which source of victory points is biggest, in line with the various achievements for winning the game in certain ways.

### Shadow:

The forest is dark, and terrifying. The light of the sun no longer reaches the world, as humanity's collective soul is dragged into the darkness and shadow of the woods. Vinerva has tempted them, and they were found wanting, too easily lead off the path and into the trees, never to return.

### Madness:

Humanity foolishly accepted the gifts, and has lost their sanity as a result. The Dark Goddess' essence creeps into the corners of their minds, her roots burrowing in, and shattering it like a tree crumbling a fortress' stone walls. Like the tree, she seeks nutrients with these root systems, and like the fortress, their souls will be overrun, consumed, and lost beneath the ever growing forest.

### Dark Empire:

Vinerva's Dark Empire has achieved dominion over the world. The wilds now command the civilised, the natural, however terrifying, has prevailed against the unnatural, and her growth will continue unchecked, unopposed from here on.

### Dead Population:

The candle-light of civilisation has been extinguished. The nights are dark, the moon once again the only light, if it chooses to shine. The world has returned to what it was before, the forests vast and uncut, the few humans little more than chattering apes, creeping between vast tree trunks in search of safety from their predators.

### Ice Age (dead population with a low enough world temperature):

The seeds are frozen beneath the ice. When the world thaws once again, she will be able to grow at last. Humanity will be extinguished with the last fires, and in thousands of years the ice will recede, and Vinerva will grow to encompass the world.

### Deep Ones:

Those from beneath understand Vinerva more than humanity ever could. Their lifeblood is dark, and filled with the Elder essence which flows through her vast root system. They and she can exist together, a symbiosis which was denied to humanity.

### Manifestations:

Eventually, she is all, and all which is left is her. A planet-sized being, a consciousness unimaginably vast and powerful, able to dominate all life on the planet. They took her fruits willingly, and she took their entire world in return.