Leaders
When a player joins a game, he chooses a leader to govern his nation. Here are the leaders and the abilities they provide:Necromancer
Necromancers twist the forces of death and nature to their own ends. Casualties from battles within a necromancer's territory return from the grave as undead units of varying types. The type of unit depends on what the unit was in life. Also, small bands of skeletal warriors join the necromancer in any capitals he controls each turn.
Paladin
Paladins are virtuous holy warriors who despise evil (and necromancers in particular). Paladins have the ability to "turn undead" each turn, which destroys some undead units in a target area. Paladins can also summon special hero units which require no supply. The type of unit summoned depends on what nation the paladin leader is playing.
Valkyrie
Valkyries are heroic mistresses of battle. They have an ability to smite an area each turn, destroying some units. They also personally take the field, appearing on the map as a unit which requires no supply. If the valkyrie perishes, she will defy death and return again the following turn in the player's capital.
Aristocrat
Aristocrats are members of a ruling class. They have learned to squeeze extra resources from their nation's populations. Each turn, extra palace guards join capital cities owned by an aristocrat. Also, aristocrats receive a small amount of extra gold each turn.
Diplomat
Diplomats are skilled at creating value without resorting to combat. They receive extra gold from treaties, and can "annex" an unowned area each turn if it is within two areas of their territory (can cross sea areas). If more than one diplomat tries to annex the same area, the annex fails.
Master Thief
As implied by the name, this leader can steal. Each turn, a master thief can steal a small percent of gold from the treasury of a target player.
Dragon Master
The dragon master can purchase any species of dragon, regardless of what nation he leads. Also, dragon masters receive a 15 gold discount on the price of all dragon purchases.
Merchant
A merchant leader is skilled at managing and making gold. This leader receives extra gold depending on the size of his territory. More areas mean more gold. Also, the merchant earns interest on any unspent gold in his treasury.
Paragon
A paragon is a legendary leader known for his virtue and integrity. A paragon suffers additional penalties when breaking treaties, so players should be more likely to trust paragon leaders. Additionally, paragons gain extra victory points each turn. These gradually accumulate over the course of the game, and can add up to quite a bit the longer a game lasts.
Scholar
Through meditation and study, the scholar leader gains an extra magic point each even-numbered turn. He also has a 10% chance to gain an extra magic point on odd-numbered turns. These go into his personal pool of magic points, not to any structure's point pool.
Betrayer
A betrayer has earned his name by siding with the Outsider nation. There can be only one betrayer leader per game. The betrayer is the only nation able to ally with the Outsiders, and they have a permanent treaty with them. Furthermore, they are the only nation that can cede areas to the Outsiders. In addition to gaining a permanent ally, the betrayer will periodically receive free units or gold from the outsiders. It is thus in the interest of a betrayer leader to prevent the outsiders from being eliminated. Last, as the betrayer has already double-crossed all the nations of the world, they suffer decreased penalties when breaking treaties with other nations. Since there can be only one betrayer per game, when the game server launches a new map the true betrayer is chosen from all players who selected this leader type. Any who selected this leader type but are not chosen to be the betrayer become necromancers instead.