The Living Realm

The realm changes with what its adventurers do, and with the passing of day and night. See how it stands right now on The Realm Today, or type /realm in chat.

Shadow and liberation

Beyond the Heartlands at the centre, the realm is split into eight regions, one for each direction of the compass: the Eastern Marches, the Dawnwood, the Northern Reach, the Frostfells, the Western Wastes, the Sunken Fens, the Southern Expanse and the Ember Coast. Shadow slowly creeps over every region, and every monster slain there pushes it back (champions push five times as hard, nemeses twenty).

The darker, the richer. Above 25% Shadow, every kill in a region gives more experience and gold: +1% for every 2% of Shadow, so +12% at 50%, +25% at 75% and +37% under total Shadow.

The Call to Arms

Every hour the region deepest in Shadow is named in a Call to Arms: it is announced in chat, shown at the top of the game screen, in /realm and on The Realm Today. Every monster slain there while the call stands earns Valor, bonus gold of 25 + 12 per circle (more for champions and nemeses), and counts toward the Shadowbreaker deed.

When you cross into a region the game tells you its state, and the browser client shows it at the top of the screen.

Living towns

Each region has a town, whose trading posts serve the whole region. Posts stand along every compass road out from the throne (see trading posts); when you enter a region the game tells you where its nearest one is. A town prospers when adventurers spend gold in it and fight nearby, and slowly declines when it is left alone.

• Struggling: prices are 10% higher.
• Steady: normal prices.
• Thriving: prices are 5% lower.
• Flourishing: prices are 10% lower, and the inn heals you fully whenever you visit a trading post.
• Fallen: if its region's Shadow reaches 95%, the town falls and its trading posts lie in ruins. Push the Shadow back under 50% to retake it.

Sieges on the throne

Every so often a monster army marches on the Lord's Chamber. For 45 minutes, every monster slain anywhere in the realm cuts the army down (champions count for 5, nemeses for 20).

• Victory: everyone who fought is paid for their share, and the King's coffers gain 25,000 gold.
• Defeat: for a day monsters hold the throne room: no Steward or ruler can make decrees, the Heartlands' monsters are 30% stronger, Shadow spreads across every region, and the King's coffers lose a quarter of their gold.

Realm projects

The realm works together on one great project at a time. Each needs gold, given at any trading post (choose Realm Project), and monsters slain by anyone. The greatest givers are named on The Realm Today. Each finished project helps everyone, forever:

Nemesis monsters

A champion that kills an adventurer, and sometimes an ordinary monster, becomes a nemesis. It gets a name and a title ("Bane of" its victim, then "the Player-Eater", "the Dread" and "the Unstoppable"), keeps its size, and roams a region, wandering to a neighbouring one now and then. Every victim makes it stronger and raises the bounty on its head. It is most likely to find the adventurer it last killed.

Slay a nemesis to claim its bounty and an Enchanted piece of its hoard, and drive back the Shadow where it fell. Up to five roam at once.

Monster ecology and rare creatures

Every kind of monster has a population. Hunt one kind hard and it grows scarce: its neighbours move in, emboldened, a little stronger and worth a little more. Populations recover over a few hours. Some creatures appear only when the conditions are right:

• A Shadow Wyrm: in Blighted regions, at night. Terrible, and terribly rewarding.
• The Golden Stag: in Liberated regions, by day. Swift and harmless, and it carries a fortune.
• A Frost Giant: in the Deep Frost season, from circle 10 out.

Day, night and the seasons

Night falls for one hour in every three. At night monsters roam more often and are 15% stronger, but give 15% more experience. The season changes every Monday: