Vassals & Liege Lords

# Vassals

A vassal is a village owned by player who has agreed to let a *liege lord* station troops there. A liege lord can be any player but must have a higher sub rank than the intended vassal. The player may have the same liege lord for every village s/he owns, or may have separate liege lords for each village. The player gains honour per vassaled village; this honour increases as both the liege lord and the player's ranks increase, and adds to the player's overall daily honour.

**TIP:** Problems may occur if your liege lord is from an enemy faction or house; they may choose to attack your, or other friendly players' villages, and you could find yourself a target of others as a result.

**TIP:** It is also worth noting that your liege lord can station up to 500 troops in each of your villages, which could help with defending your own castle. This is particularly useful for lower-rank vassals who may not have had time and resources to build up their own armies yet. Always check with your liege lord though, whether it's OK to put their stationed troops in your castle! Also be aware that your liege lord may attack other players or the AI from your castle, which could leave it undefended, so it's not a good idea to rely on their troops all the time.

## The benefits and advantages

• Extra daily honour gained

• Liege lord's troops may help with defence

• Liege lord will usually guide inexperienced players, plus often donate resources and food to vassal

• Often lower-ranking players gain the protection of their liege lord's faction, even before they are able to officially join the faction

## Interface

A. The reports screen, accessed by clicking on the scroll icon next to the sword at the top-right of the screen; here, a player has offered to be liege lord to a prospective vassal.

B. Clicking on the message opens up various options; click the 'Vassals' button to bring up the vassal screen.

C. This screen may also be accessed by clicking on the 'three crowns' icon (underneath the yellow shield) when in the village screen. Here the player may choose whether or not to become a vassal by clicking 'Accept' or 'Decline'. If vassalage is accepted, on the map screen, there will be a blue arrow leading from the vassaled village to the liege lord's village. This screen will also show the number of vassals you have and the rank of the Liege Lord.

# Liege Lord

A liege lord is a player who has vassaled other players' villages. The Liege Lord may station troops up to their own maximum command limit within a vassaled village. The liege lord can then use these troops to attack AI and gain honour within the vassal's red honour circle. Or they may attack other players; however, they cannot carry out 'capture' or 'raze' commands from a vassal village.

## The benefits and advantages

* May station up to 500 troops in a Vassal's village.
* May attack AI or other players from a Vassal's village, gaining honour if within the Vassal's honour circle, and any pillaged goods.
* Vassals effectively increase the Liege Lord's honour circle. (But not the initial players village, the Vassals village creates a new honour circle) (see below image)
* Liege Lords may have multiple armies of up to 500 troops per Vassal. (This is Rank based with a max being 50 Vassal armies @ Prince.)

## Interface

To request vassalage from another player's village, while in the map screen, select any village on the map and click the 'Make Vassal' button from the menu on the right of the screen. The main vassal screen will then appear, click on Request Vassalage on this screen.

A vassal request is then sent to the player. If the request is accepted, that player becomes your vassal. You may only send vassal requests to players with a lower rank.
When in your village screen, you may manage your vassals by clicking on the 'three crowns' icon underneath the yellow shield. This will bring up the vassals screen where you can view your current vassals and your own liege lord, plus any and unanswered vassal requests you have sent. You may cancel any vassal requests here, and break from your current vassals and liege lord if desired.

**TIP:** The liege lord must be a higher sub rank than a vassal, if the vassal reaches the same rank or higher, the vassalage will be automatically broken, and all troops stationed at the vassal's village will be lost to both you and the vassal.

## To station troops at a vassal's village

First of all, make sure the troops you wish to send to your vassal(s) are in the barracks, not stationed in your castle.

A) On the map screen , click the yellow shield above the village that has vassals. Your vassals are at the end of the green arrows (your liege lord if you have one, is at the end of the blue arrow).

B) Click on the vassal where you wish to station troops.

C) In the menu to the right of the screen, click on 'Manage Troops'.

You will now see a screen which allows you to send troops from your barracks to your vassal's castle.

Select your troops and click *Send*, then *Close*.

Once stationed, you are able to attack the AI (castles, bandit camp, wolf lairs) and other players with these troops. This can be very useful if the vassal is closer to your target, or you wish to send out waves of armies, or multiple armies from different locations.

You also gain the benefit of your vassal's honour circle, so it pays to have vassals outside your own circle, thus extending the area in which you gain honour.

These troops do not count against your maximum army command, which means you can have up 500 troops stationed at each of your vassals' castles, plus your own army in your castle (up to 500, although remember that scouts, merchants and monks count against your total).

As liege lord, you receive honour (and any goods pillaged) using troops stationed at vassals' castles.

**TIP:** Once you send troops to a vassal you can not get them back, even if you or your vassal breaks the vassalage (should that happen, the troops are then lost to both players).

## To reinforce a vassal's village

In the map screen, click the yellow shield above the village that has the vassals.

From the menu on the right hand side of the screen, click *Send Out Reinforcements* green icon. A box will appear to the right of the map, asking you to select the Reinforcement Target.

Drag the world map screen to the village you wish to reinforce, and click on the village to select it. Its name will then appear in the right hand panel box. Click "Select Target" green check icon - this will open up a troop selection screen. Select the troops to send as reinforcements, click *Send*, then *Close*. To retrieve these troops, go to your barracks screen and click on the **i** icon to the right of where it says *reinforcing*. You'll be taken to a screen which allows you see which troops you have where, and gives you the option of returning them to their original village.

**TIP:** You may also reinforce your own other castles/villages in this manner.

**TIP:** You do not lose these troops, and they still count against your maximum army total for the castle where they originated, no matter where they are sent to.

## Number of vassals

The number of vassals each player can have is affected by their rank. A player can have one (1) vassal once they reach the rank of Freeman (rank 8) and may have a maximum of 69 vassals once they reach the rank of Crown Prince or Princess (rank 23). While vassals and liege lord relationships are made between two specific villages, the number of vassals a player can have is per player, not per village. Please see the Ranks Table for the number of vassals allowed at each rank.