Card Class

Some cards have one or more **classes**.

A **unit card**'s class refers to that card's ancestry, heritage, or occupation. The primary purpose of a unit card's class is to group unit cards together in a way that is logical and makes it easier for players to identify and establish synergy.

A **tech card**'s class refers to that card's specific make and function. The purpose of a tech card's class is to indicate specific mechanical functionality. Because tech cards only have a class to indicate specific mechanics, there are far fewer tech classes than there are unit classes. Currently, the only confirmed tech class is "upgrade".

## Unit Classes

Unit cards each have at least one class which indicates their ancestry and, if they are an intelligent species, they usually have one more unit class to indicate their trade, craft, or occupation.

Unit classes are chosen based on their ancestry to help breathe life into the world of Ijzeria by acknowledging its diversity of people, flora, and fauna.

### Broad Grouping of Species

Species of plants and animals are grouped as broadly as reasonably possible in order to reduce the number of classes in the game overall. For example, there is no "Bee" class, "Wasp" class, or "Hornet" class, there is only "Bug" class. For this particular example, grouping those species of insect may seem quite logical, but Key of Ijzeria also groups "Bee" cards with "Moth" cards, and even "Spider" cards. That's right! On Ijzeria, spiders are considered Bugs!

Similarly, dogs and cats are grouped together as part of the Beast class, and owls and sparrows would be grouped together as part of the Bird class.

When grouping wildly diverse and distinct life forms together under a single and simple banner, Key of Ijzeria asks the following question: "What kind of skills would it require to care of this life form?". If an entomologist can nurse it back to health, it's a Bug; if an ornithologist can teach it new tricks, it's a Bird.

### Broad Grouping of Occupations

There are many subtle differences in how intelligent species navigate the world, even in their own field of interest. For example, the unit class "Tycoon" encompasses merchants, salespeople, traders, and entrepreneurs. All of those occupations are quite similar, but they aren't exactly synonymous.

A unit with the class "Warrior" for example, could be a hand-to-hand combatant, a swordsman, an axe-thrower, a shieldmaiden, a security officer, a berserker, a fencer, a duelist, or a knight - just to name a few! There are as many kinds of warrior as there are nations of the world. When determining what precisely counts as a "Warrior", Key of Ijzeria considers what kind of martial artist these unit cards represent, and what kind of martial artist could bring out their potential.

This process is roughly the same for all other occupations. For example;

* The Bard class is made up of: Singers, Musicians, Transcriptionists, Conductors, Timpanists, Poets...
* The Ranger class is made up of: Archers, Survivalists, Scouts, Messengers, Explorers...
* The Mage class is made up of: Wizards, Sorcerors, Arcanists, Elementalists...
* The Rogue class is made up of: Thieves, Assassins, Pirates, Ninja...
* The Shaman class is made up of: Wisewomen, Cunningmen, Spirit Mediums, Spiritualists...

### The Specific Grouping of Sapient Species

Species which are intelligent and ensouled are not grouped together. Djinn cards feature the Djinni class, and human cards feature the Human class. The ancestry and occupation of intelligent beings is preserved as much as possible. The cultural heritage and nationality of an intelligent being is not considered, unless it is somehow more significant and central to that character's identity, their wellbeing, and their potential.

For example, the star unit card Alhanalem, the Alchemyst, depicts a character (namely, Alhanalem Amaran) who is from the city-state of Saha'i. On Alhanalem's card however, he is only listed as a **Djinni**, a **Scholar**, and a **Mage**. This is because although he is from Saha'i, where he was born doesn't do a good job of defining who he is, and what he's capable of; therefore that information is left off of Alhanalem's card.