Megagame Makers

This is the secret knowledge of the Illuminati. The group outsiders know as the temple hermits. If you read this you are playing The First Speaker or The One Blessed by Moonlight. The Illuminati are a secret society pretending to be a human wizards guild/political party. Their allies are the Gnomish Confederacy. The dwarf kingdom located inside Mount Central Heating. Together they try to undermine 'The Grand Design' of 'The High Council of the Elves'.

The Grand Design

The High Council of the Elves decreed some 5,000 years ago that the then primitive human populations of the world would merit further attention from elf-kind. The Council made a number of important rulings which all elves have agreed to obey. These were:

1. That humans should be developed in their potential to better equip them to (in time) become a high quality slave race for the Elder Race. (Note: This should come about in 1,000 years from the present).
2. To bring this about, the humans would be tested and carefully bred over a long period. The weeding out of weaklings would be achieved by causing many wars.
3. Constant warfare would keep the human race from becoming too numerous to control. This is why every century or so there is an apocalyptic 'war against the forces of Darkness'.
4. Elves were forbidden to hunt humans for pleasure any more (up until this time human hunting was the second most popular elvish pastime), or to capture them for medical experiments.

The Illuminati & the Gnomes are not yet ready to confront the Elves. So their knowledge of the 'The Grand Design' should be kept very secret.

The weak spot of the Elves

The Elves have impressive magic, but they have stopped innovating a long time ago. Both the Illuminati and the Gnomes have developed powerful new magics. The biggest breakthrough is the Battery spell. A ritual that makes it possible disentangle and store the 2 kinds of manna that fuel all large scale magics. This makes fueling such rituals both more reliable and more powerful.

The recently build 'Giant Ziggurat of Urr' covering most of the Town stores red mana. The 'Grand Imperial Spell Throne' in Mount Central Heating stores black mana.

The First Speaker and The One Blessed by Moonlight are wizards. They have certain powers.

Personal magic can be used at will. Success is automatic.

• Walk in Shadows You can discretely travel to an area of the game that is usually off limits to you. Interaction of any kind by you suspends the effect. So you can not sneak up on a team of players to spy on them. This spell is mostly used to facilitate secret negotiations by sneaking into a place and then revealing yourself to the folks you want to talk to. Victims of the Charm of Forlorn Encystment can't escape or be reached by this spell.
• Vanish The wizard and anyone he touches, disappear in a puff of smoke leaving only the wizard's outer robe behind and teleport to the top of the Ziggurat.

These are massive magical rituals requiring over a 100 participants, multiple hours and lots of incense. A wizard player must go and request a ritual from the magic umpire during the magic phase. A team can only cast 1 spell each turn. A player who adds nice touches, or theatrics in the description gets a bonus. Effects can be made to appear anywhere on the map. The order in which spells are resolved is based on a first come first serve basis. The Illuminati & The Gnomes can link up to cast a ritual spell together. Only one team needs to know the spell. Spells use either red manna or black manna. Certain spells also use other ingredients often with limited availability those can only be cast when they are in the possession of the caster. Players need to provide evidence to the magic umpire that they have (and are expending) those ingredients.

• Battery You are already collecting (red manna) to cast spells with in the future. 6 manna is gathered and the red manna is stored in your Battery. Your storage location is the Great Ziggurat at the heart of Ur. When the Illuminati cast an appropriate spell later, some, or all of their cards can be drawn from this pile, player's choice. This spell was developed in coöperation by the Gnomes and the Illuminati. It is a breakthrough in magic design and a state secret of both Ur and the Confederacy. It is still somewhat experimental and it is unclear how much manna can be safely stored in a Battery. You start the game with 8 manna already stored.
• Dwarfs' Culinary Bounty (red manna) An enormous feast is created, worth 4 Food Tokens for each red manna. Special: This originated as a a Dwarven spell. Dwarven cuisine isn't foultasting or unhealthy, but a lot of it is very different from what everybody else eats at the best of times. Side effects from Jokers usually manifest as the exotic side of Dwarven food….shudder…
• Edan's Thaumaturgic Poultice (red manna) Your basic magic cure all. Heals 1 step on a chosen unit(s) for each red manna.
• The Fabulous Fabi and his Posse (red manna) Activate 'The Fabulous Fabi and his Posse'. Resolve this as a raid. Ignore all the usual raid modifiers and replace them with a flat +1 bonus. Roll 1 die for each red manna and keep the best result. Countermeasures can drive the posse away, but can't damage them. Fabi and his Posse have way to many responsibilities to be doing this. Each time this spell is activated raise the terror track by 1.
• Morath's Mobile Manor (red manna) A large manor, small fort, watchtower, or Helmet of Otranto under control of the government of Ur suddenly grows wheels and drives away. Such buildings are not indicated on the map, so (within reason) the caster gets to make them up. This spell can be used to move such a structure across any more or less flat terrain, to any flat point on the map. The spell cannot make a fortification cross the river without using a bridge, or maneuver through a narrow ally way, but the main streets of Ur are doable with the smaller fortifications. It takes a full nearby infantry unit to block such a relocation. 1 structure can be moved for each red manna.
• The Company of the Displacer Beast! (red manna) Activates the magic fetishes made of real bits of Displacer Beast that are part of the uniforms of all raiding parties on the payroll of Ur and the Gnomes. They all get to roll 2d6 and keep the best result on the raiding table. The fetishes burn out after 1 use.
• Yimsha's Carpet (red manna) A procession winds itself around the Ziggurat 3 times, afterwards a supernatural cloud of gold-veined crimson appears covering at least part of it. Than the procession leaves the central square of Urr at a stately speed and advances towards it goal. Those inside the cloud cannot be harmed, or obstructed in any way, but they can't affect the outside world either. At it's destination the cloud disappears, revealing the procession. 1 red manna for each 1000 covered by the cloud. Special: It is usually a bad idea to try to use this spell to move military units to a position on a field of battle. Because of the difference between a battlefield formation and the setup for a procession.

• Aldryk's Fire Quencher (black manna) Activates part of the gigantic sprinkler installation that draws from the lake between the Metal Mountains and has been wired throughout most of the city of Urr and the inside of the mountain of the Gnomish Confederacy. Any fire in an affected area will go out and the affected area will be flooded. If the cause of the fire is still active in the location (say an impertinent dragon), than that cause will be soaked in an ungodly amount of water. The system is untested, but the Gnomes are confident it will work. Special: A joker activates the entire system flooding both Ur and the Gnomish Confederacy
• Castle of Weeds (red manna) Naturally occurring local plants instantly grow to enormous size covering a squared centimeter on the map. It does not function as a real fortification but it will slow down an advancing army. It takes an army 1 tactical turn to move through the 'castle', destroying it in the process. Defenders can't be effectively stationed on top of, or inside the 'castle'. Permanent until destroyed. There are only 2 pouches of the magical fertilizer needed in the game. Both are in the hands of the Elves. Spell costs 1 red manna and can't be improved with more manna.
• Charm of Brachial Fortitude (red manna) For each red manna + a food token (potions of Bovril for the enlisted men, glasses of Coca Wine for the officers) a unit has a +2 on all rolls during the next tactical turn.
• Instant Exit (red manna) This opens a magic portal allowing instant travel between 2 areas of Urr. This allows the defenders of the city to move units between 2 locations in Ur during battle, either sending in re-enforcements, or fleeing to safety after a fight has become hopeless. For each red manna 1 unit can be moved. This requires a Longbeards' crafted silver door embedded with rubies. At the start of the game there is only 1 of these. But more can be made by the Longbeards requiring 1 strategic turn for each door. The door available at the start of the game was made to order by the Longbeards at the request of the Illuminati, but it hasn't been bought yet.
• Smokes of Paradise (red manna) Cover units on 1 location on the map with sweet-smelling thick smoke. Anybody in those units is having pleasant hallucinations for the next turn and is not going to be of any use. Entering this location also incapacitates a unit. The smoke blocks missile attacks from entering the area. Units stacked with the affected units have to leave the affected area. Undead(don't breathe), gnomes (gasmasks) and animated statues (don't breathe) are immune. Special: Yes, affected players need to sit on the ground for an entire game turn, look at their hands and say:“whee fingers!” a lot. And do nothing else. It requires a shipment of lotus petals to be bought from the elves. 1 red manna for each unit immobilized.