7 Player map, suitable for both singleplayer (hopefully) and multiplayer.
A lot of the decorations in this map depend on modding - you need either Ziggurat or Evolved mods to play with without it looking a bit patchy or ugly. mod download here: https://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1231
MAP LORE:
For an age Hamardis was a powerful state run by spiritually pure Highmen. Governors enacted the will of the gods that dwelt on the island of Dralzine. Though reclusive and never seen directly, these beings were trusted for the life and beauty they brought to the land. The government they fostered ruled with a light hand, relying more on river and road tolls and no other form of taxes.
That age of order and prosperity began to fade once a foreign sorceror visited the Citadel of Hamardis. He sold the Gods an orrery and telescopes to view the mundane world, and stranger devices which could peer into the Void. Distracted by these pursuits and the lure of the unknown, the Gods ceased to issue commands to their Governors. The land-curse of the Howling Desolation has crept within a few hundred miles of the Palace to the south-east, and the desert of the west has advanced closer to the waters of the Dralzine Lake. The once-mighty Governors have ceased to support each other: some have been overthrown entirely while in other places they serve as mere judges of commerce and land disputes. Foreign and local tribes have established their own rule, while Goblin refugees flood in ahead of the Desolation.
Only the Hamardis Citadel itself, maintained by a monastic order, remains loyal to the Gods of Dralzine. In the surrounding lands they have faded to legend. Frustrated by the centuries-long command to leave the Gods undisturbed, one young monk and his friends burst into the sacrosant inner chamber, finding those strange beings had gazed too long into the Void. Their footing in the mundane world had been weakened and they could act only as comatose shades, a terrible decline from their former glory.
That monk vowed to find a way to reawaken his Gods and to track down the sorceror. He knew that it would require wealth and power to do so, far more than a forgotten island monastery could command. He and his friends knew they could not reveal the truth to the common people of the island. Instead they acclaimed the young man as the Prophet of Hamardis, and declared that the Gods had commanded him to reconquer the lands for them. Just as before, none were allowed to enter the chamber of the Gods.
This is a good map. One problem I have with it is that it is especially difficult for Highmen. Father Hameldun has no life spheres? Even though the one mana node nearby is life? Personally, if I play Highmen I do so to use the life spells. For myself, I changed it to 4 life and 3 air spheres.
Posted on 03/12/22 @ 12:52 PM 
