Overview of Classes in Battle Realms. Wolf Clan
The Wolf Clan lives closer to nature than other clans. They are as fierce as their namesake and sometimes appear simple and superstitious. After a long, bloody struggle, they were enslaved by the Lotus Clan. Members of the Wolf Clan tribe are brutally strong, and the Lotus used them as laborers in their mines for metal and mineral extraction. Rejecting conventional weapons, they preferred stones and tools. Eventually, the Wolf Clan managed to free themselves from the invading Lotus Clan. Of all the clans, the Wolf is most attuned to nature; this is the center of their religion, and even their homes, tools, and weapons are made from raw stone and unprocessed wood. Their religion and magic—druidism—worship the power of nature, inspiring their fighters and crushing their enemies. Among all the clans, only the Wolf Clan does not seek to conquer and control their opponents; their sole aim is to return home, to the island submerged during the cataclysm.
Level: n/a
Rice: 0
Water: 0
Attack: piercing
Projectile: n/a
Weakness: none
Strength: none
Training: no (automatic)
Innate abilities: construction, repair, training, resource gathering; healing: unit can naturally heal to full health
About the unit: Peasants of the Wolf Clan are brave and spirited, viewing their work in the fields as less of a chore and more a lifestyle they enjoy. They spend all day tilling the land they love, building the clan's strength, and keeping their families fed. So, what is there to complain about?
Level: n/a
Rice: 30
Water: 30
Attack: magic
Projectile: magic
Weakness: none
Strength: fire
Training: Life Grove
Innate abilities: Healing – through endurance can heal oneself or an ally
About the unit: Druids of the Keirn stand at the heart of the Wolf Clan. They alone practice the sorcery of their lost homeland. Wolf warriors refuse to learn magic, whereas druids believe that the realms of spirit will be better traversed by those who devote their lives to wisdom and healing rather than bravado and slaughter. They also pass down the clan's history from mother to daughter, and each druidess knows at least 1,000 tales, from crude jokes to holy fables. Thus, even though the Wolf Clan rarely uses books and written knowledge, they know more about their origins than even the almost immortal Lotus Clan members.
In battle, the druid calls upon her plant allies to ensnare and slow the enemy. She can also perform intricate spells that grant Wolf warriors superhuman abilities. However, these spells are gifts from the spirits, and she must periodically return to the cairn to meditate and seek their favor. When the druid is not in battle or praying, she can be found in the rice fields, which always grow faster and more abundantly in her presence.
Combat skills:
**
**
Blessing: after praying at the cairn, the druidess can bless three of her warriors with greater strength and skill before being compelled to return for further enlightenment.
Level: 1
Rice: 30
Water: 40
Attack: slashing
Projectile: n/a
Weakness: none
Strength: none
Training: Arena
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal
About the unit: Brawlers of the Wolf Clan believe that in battle, as in life, simplicity always triumphs over sophistication. With this aim, these warriors wield enormous double chunks of granite in battle, striking with enough force to shatter a fully grown oak or to tear limbs from enemies' sockets. This unique and straightforward fighting style, like most that are currently practiced by the Wolf Clan, evolved during the slaves' revolts in the mines. Regardless of how vigilant the overseer, slaves in the mine have no hindrance when it comes to possessing stones.
To be honest, a chunk of granite suffers from certain shortcomings as a weapon; heavy to wield, and crushing strikes are useless against armored opponents. Brawlers prove that an enemy afraid to fight bare-chested is hardly worth caring about.
Combat skills:
**
**
Zen Punch: the druidess's blessing can inspire the brawler to fight with extraordinary resilience. This single, perfectly timed strike is best used against overly confident foes. It can cut down those who foolishly believe their strength will be heroic.
Level: 1
Rice: 30
Water: 40
Attack: smashing
Projectile: smashing
Weakness: none
Strength: explosion, fire
Training: Throwing Grounds
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal; piercing damage: thrower's shots pass through enemies and buildings, dealing damage through.
About the unit: The origins of wolfball are lost in the mists of time. Even those few wolves with a taste for history know only that this sport has been played for all time. Famous bloody matches that took place 500 years ago are still eagerly recounted by the fire. Scholars of the outside world are divided on whether wolfball developed as a means of avoiding war or simply as a diversion.
In any case, it is the most dangerous sport ever invented, featuring a dozen players, crude weapons, and an iron ball the size of a human head that has to be introduced into play with a huge fork with 2 tines. Surprisingly, several wolves have died during the game, but no outsider has ever lasted even one round of play. The best wolfball players take their forks into battle, tossing heavy granite boulders at opponents just before skewering them.
Combat skills:
**
**
Lava Stone: the druidess can enchant the thrower's fork so that it heats ordinary stones to a searing, near-melting temperature. These fragile projectiles explode upon hitting the ground, showering any nearby enemies with scalding shrapnel.
Level: 1
Rice: 30
Water: 40
Attack: melee
Projectile: n/a
Weakness: none
Strength: magic, fire
Training: Quarry
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal.
About the unit: Brutes started as prisoners among prisoners, slaves among slaves. They were the ones who in a rage wounded or killed the Lotus overseer. Such crimes would earn death from most masters. Nevertheless, the Lotus understands his nature of cruelty and knows that such people would suffer more from continued servitude than from death.
So they were chained to incredibly heavy stones around the clock, magically forced to work twice as fast as normal slaves. They slept in their chains, moving only when the ore deposit was exhausted. They took their revenge on the day of the Wolf's uprising, when the Lotus learned that their "prisoners" had not only developed their strength to carry their boulders but also to swing them like terrifying bone-crushing hammers. Once dragged, they were unsurprisingly quick on their feet.
Combat skills:
**
**
Damaging Boulders: bolstered by the druidess's singing, a brute can swing his boulder in a full circle, hitting and scattering enemies in all directions.
Level: 2
Rice: 60
Water: 70
Attack: piercing
Projectile: piercing
Weakness: explosion
Strength: smashing
Training: Arena/Throwing Grounds
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal.
About the unit: Wolves have always preferred active, outdoor lives and show little interest in developing machines to help avoid effort; thus they are not particularly talented engineers. However, they picked up a few tricks in the slave mines and recently invented their own version of a servant’s crossbow. Naturally, like with all things Wolf, size triumphs over delicacy. This enormous, rickety ballista launches 20-pound logs with enough force to break through solid fortifications, skewering up to 3 people at once.
Other wolves mockingly refer to this weapon as "a huge toy for big children." The ballista has a specific role on the battlefield: it reloads slowly and is more dependent on assistance from quicker defenders to survive. So far, no throwing weapon has dealt a bigger blow.
Combat skills:
**
**
Totem: made by the druidess, these small, intricate totems come from sacred offspring. When ignited, they embed themselves in the ground, covering the area with a beneficial aura that bolsters the wolves and slows their enemies. The ballista man must repeat a simple chant to maintain the power of the totem; unfortunately, this distracts him from firing his weapon.
Level: 2
Rice: 60
Water: 90
Attack: melee
Projectile: n/a
Weakness: magic
Strength: explosion, fire
Training: Arena/Quarry
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal; destruction: hammerers demolish structures with incredible force.
About the unit: Oftentimes, Lotus overseers must order large slabs of slate to be broken into smaller pieces. This job fell to the hammerers. Slaves of the Wolf Clan approached the task with relish, turning to their natural instincts—smashing something repeatedly until it fell apart. The choice of tool was a hammer, exceeding its normal size, and under the guidance of Gribak, this simple task became a training ground for a secret style of combat based around a single, crushing blow.
Hammerers lament that no one appreciates the intellectual side of their discipline—their keen eye for weaknesses in structure, and the mental focus required for maximum shattering force.
Combat skills:
**
**
Deafening Slam: the deafening slam is created by an egregiously clumsy hammerer, whose missed attack sometimes knocks watchers off their feet. When inspired to greater strength by the druid's blessing, a hammerer can stun units in a wide area with a single strike to the ground.
Level: 2
Rice: 60
Water: 90
Attack: fire
Projectile: explosive substance
Weakness: magic
Strength: slashing, fire
Training: Quarry/Throwing Arena
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal; piercing damage: resin thrower's shots pass through enemies and structures, damaging them through.
About the unit: The art of the resin thrower developed as a tactic for staying alive in the mines. As enslaved wolves dug deeper into the earth, something terrible began to happen: entire groups of miners were found dead in lower tunnels, their bodies marked by no brutality. At first, these deaths were attributed to underworld demons. Only after a skeptical Lotus overseer demanded that these bodies be inspected with a torch—and they exploded in a follow-up explosion—did the wolves realize their people had been struck by a odorless toxic gas, and that only their faith in dimly flickering lanterns had kept them from combustion.
The obvious solution was to explode this gas from a distance. The burning resin proved a hot and most reliable substance for the task. Ever eager to demonstrate their bravery, resin throwers of the Wolf take it upon themselves to throw burning mud with their hands, protected only by torn strips of cloth. These resin throwers are feared in battle, largely for their spirited disregard of pain concerning the agony that burning fists can inflict.
Combat skills:
**
**
Scorched Earth: together, the resin thrower and druid can amplify the burn of their unit’s power so they can leave a fiery trail as they retreat. Nothing makes a wolf angrier than retreating, and nothing diminishes the enemy's torment more than the wails of scorched foes.
Level: n/a
Rice: 30
Water: 30
Attack: melee
Projectile: pack of wolves
Weakness: none
Strength: none
Training: Wolf Den
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal.
About the unit: The Wolf Clan's relationship with 'their' animal is purely symbolic. Undoubtedly, clan members strive to emulate the best qualities of the wolf—strength, endurance, and loyalty—but they also pay homage to the spirit of the Wolf and believe that they are distant relatives of these quiet stalkers of the woods.
The Leader is part priest, part driver, and part combat instructor rolled into one. He freely communicates with wild wolves, converses in their tongue, lives with them, and builds relations with them. Once a month, the leader leaves his village to work with his pack under the full moon, usually returning with his face and hands covered in dried blood. The leader participates both in wolf hunts and in festivals, considering this the greatest pleasure that an ordinary man can achieve.
In battle, the leader fights with primal strength and bravery. His wolves pose great danger, as they become ready to tear the throat of anyone who dares to harm their master.
Combat skills:
**
**
Howl: with the blessing of the druidess, the leader is granted the true voice of the wolf. No matter how far he is from his den or how besieged by the enemy, he can summon companions to his side for as long as anyone lives.
Level: 3
Rice: 90
Water: 150
Attack: slashing
Projectile: n/a
Weakness: none
Strength: slashing, explosions, fire
Training: Arena/Throwing Grounds/Quarry
Innate abilities: healing: unit can naturally heal to full health and does so faster than normal.
About the unit: The berserk is the embodiment of the Wolf warrior ideal. Sleeping beneath the stars, abstaining from cooked meat and plant food, he still embodies the unique humor and humanity of the Wolf Clan. Berserks savor the art of storytelling, recounting their savage tales from the woods and jungles to frighten listeners around the campfire. They also take delight in sport, being worth ten men on the wolfball field. Still, while wearing a human form, they say they are already one-quarter wolf.
Such a warrior is fearsome in battle. He constantly charges at his sturdiest adversary, basing this on the premise that bravery makes for a better story than cowardice, even in the face of the hero's death. The Clan fable claims that three raging berserks once decimated a company of nearly fifty men, fifteen of whom were trampled by others in the rush.
Combat skills:
**
**
Lycanthropy: only the berserk has the strength and wisdom to survive the greatest of the druidess's spells, which is both a blessing and a curse: the transformation of man into beast.