History VideoGame / Majesty

* {{AFGNCAAP}}: Your character is only ever addressed as "Sovereign." The most detail we get about them is that they have a son (who is kidnapped and needs to be saved in the Elven Treachery quest)

* AnAxeToGrind: Barbarians use this [[DualWielding in conjunction with]] a [[CarryABigStick club]].

* GeniusBruiser: The Final boss of Majesty 2 is [[BigRedDevil The Barlog]], it turns out that its short for [[TheSpock "Baron of Logic"]].

** Also seen with [[spoiler: The Abomination's easter egg.]]

** Your Royal Advisor asks the Sovereign this in the victory text for [[spoiler: "Vigil For a Fallen Hero."]] A fair question, as the victory came with a high cost: [[spoiler: those heroes [[KilledOffForReal who aren't dead]] are suffering something like [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD from witnessing the Abomination's power.]]]] All for what was essentially a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

** Taken UpToEleven in the sequel with Lunord's Uprising. It's an event that changed the entire world of Ardania, and you can only learn about it by reading flavor texts of the some temple units.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Healers are usually purely about support, but can turn extremely aggressive if their temple or the Palace is attacked. A group of Healers who rush to protect their temple can turn into a frighteningly effective gang of mutually-supporting [[KnifeNut Knife Nuts]].

* KnifeNut: Cultists, who throw them. Healers and gnomes use daggers, as well.
** Rogues in the sequel dual wield knives.

* {{AFGNCAAP}}: Your character is only ever addressed as "Sovereign."

* MagikarpPower: Gnomes start out pitifully weak and are really useful only to get your initial guilds built. However, those with enough time and patience to grind them up to level 10 (8 in ''The Northern Expansion'') through the fairgrounds or forcing them into combat through some means will transform them into Gnome Champions, which have stats nearly on par with [[GameBreaker PALADINS]]. This is only a relative boost, however; their stats are still fairly low relative to other melee heroes of the same level.

* NintendoHard: The final mission of the original game, "Day of Reckoning", which had various boss monsters attack you pretty much every day. They also brought a slew of DemonicSpiders with them when they appeared. And in the expansion pack, there's the aforementioned "Legendary Heroes" mission and the Master level quest "Spires of Death", in which the titular towers had ridiculously high hit points, would blast any hero that came near with extremely powerful spells, and ''respawn with full health'' if you don't destroy all of them within a single day. Not to mention "Vigil For a Fallen Hero", where you ''can't recruit any heroes'' and have to make sure the ones you start with don't die. That's not even counting the downloadable quests "The Wrath of Krolm", which had a boss with ''four thousand hit points'', and the {{Unwinnable}} "Balance of Twilight."
** "Tomb of the Dragon King." Have fun being attacked by ''at least'' three dragons every three days or so, and having a paltry amount of starting gold. Your kingdom will be reduced to rubble many times over. This troper actually found it more difficult than "The Day of Reckoning."
*** This can be somewhat alleviated by making a mad rush for priestesses and hoping their skeletons stall/kill the dragons, until your kingdom is more developed.
** ''Majesty 2'', and how! Each guild only holds 3 heroes, and the more advanced classes aren't available right away in most of the "beginner" and "advanced" quests. There is one mission where the kingdom is constantly under fire by a dragon, with minotaurs and serpents attacking your kingdom every 5 minutes, and including the annoyance of sewer rats and ratmen! Good luck hoping your heroes will survive the constant attacks in time to find the witch who will help you find a way to defeat the dragon...and did we mention this particular mission is listed as "Advanced", rather than "Expert"?
*** After a while, the missions become essentially luck-based. Monster Kingdom is downright impossible after a few levels in due to the rampant cheating the AI puts you through.
*** YMMV, and then some. Actually, one of the biggest complaints about this game is that once you get past the minute 10 mark on (most) maps, if you're still alive, you've won. The dragon level would probably qualify as more of a [[WakeUpCallBoss Wakeup level]]

* RedshirtArmy: Your non-hero units are basically worthless in combat. Indeed, the best you can hope for from even [[InformedAbility "elite"]] guardsmen is that the troll that appeared from the sewer entrance next door will miss them a couple of times before they die, thus allowing TheCavalry to stop the guardhouse from being destroyed as well.
** A kingdom with a Temple to Fervus and one to Krypta will likely soon have a high number of charmed, if weak, mook allies. The Temple to Fervus even produces its own animals for this.
** Not so weak if those Priestesses and Cultists are lucky enough to charm the likes of Vampires, Shadowbeasts, Werewolves, and Medusae.

* ShoutOut: In addition to wizards named Gandalf, in the cell phone version you can have warriors of discord named Nazgûl, elves named Legolas (compounded because the elf sprites greatly resemble Legolas as portrayed by Orlando Bloom), and dwarves named Gimli. It's a wonder they haven't gotten a call from Tolkien's lawyers.

** Just keep them far, FAR away from [[NighInvulnerable medusae]], [[BossInMookClothing greater]] [[MookMaker gorgons]], and [[AttackReflector vampires]] at all times.
** Subverted with the priestesses of Krypta: They have low defense and health, but [[TheMinionMaster regularly create skeletons]] to fight for them, which distract monsters from the priestesses themselves. They also have a life drain spell, which can keep them alive if they manage to survive a hit or two.

* ActionGirl: Priestesses, Healers, Solarii, and Paladins.
** [[{{Elfeminate}} And possibly the elves, but it's hard to tell]]. According to the flavor text of the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks "re-imagining,"]] the Elves serve the human world in gender shifts.
*** In the sequel (which has better 3D graphics), the elves are clearly female, with large assets. The other heroes are also changed a little: all rogues are now female (however, you can upgrade them to assassins which look male, but [[TheVoiceless don't speak]], so it's hard to tell), and the clerics are female too (upgradable to priestesses for Krypta and Agrela), while paladins now upgrade from fighters, and thus will always be male.

** Literally. The manual contains a lot of vignettes about life in Ardania. Additionally, flavor text is provided for all buildings and units. You can literally click on just about anything from treasure chests to a random pack of magical flowers and immediately get a explanation of its mechanical benefits and flavor.

* ApathyKilledTheCat: The tax collectors and builders are programmed to neither question nor flee the waves of AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters and are usually among the first to die when the land is invaded. This is improved in ''Majesty 2'', where the peasants and tax collectors will attempt to flee if they are in danger. They still die in droves though, I hope you like that "AHH! *ching ching*" sound!
* ApocalypticLog: Subverted in "The Ranger's Tale" on the original Majesty website. The ranger's journal entries get increasingly more despondent as he's stalked by Rrongol the Hunter and he closes with hoping that the journal can serve as a warning to others. The next entry starts with "Rrongol's roasted flesh was a little gamey..." Two of his guildsmen showed up in the nick of time.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Averted. You yourself cannot go destroy the dark castle of the liche queen, dragons, minotaurs, etc.; you must coax your heroes into destroying the dark castle of the liche queen, dragons, minotaurs, etc., and whatever offensive and defensive spells you can cast are done under the paid auspices of your hero's guilds.

** Elves, as far as the races are concerned. Statistically, they’re among the best ranged attackers in the game, and they enable your marketplaces and inns to generate extra gold. However, they have the lowest unit-to-building ratio of any faction at a measly ''two'', and you’re bound to lose every bit of that extra gold, plus some, to the untaxable Elven Lounges and Gambling Halls, which will inevitably start popping up like mushrooms not long after you recruit your first elf. Thankfully though, you can convince your heroes to destroy them with reward flags. Once you get rid of them, the massive gold bonus you get from the Elven Bungalows do make them worthwhile.

* BarbarianHero: Barbarians, Warriors of Discord

* TheBerserker: As explained in TooDumbToLive, below, all the heroes can be this, but some more than others. Barbarians and warriors of discord are infamous for doing ''nothing but'' -- they're strong, but they'll die the moment they hit something they can't take because they never back down.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Healers are usually purely about support, but can turn extremely aggressive if their temple is attacked too much. A group of Healers who rush to protect their temple can turn into a frighteningly effective gang of mutually-supporting [[KnifeNut Knife Nuts]].

* BoringButPractical: Warriors and marketplaces.
** Also, building ballista towers constantly, which is time- and gold-consuming, but guarantees [[GameBreaker you'll be practically invincible]].

*** [[FridgeLogic They're demonic trees. There are a lot of trees, so there would be a high daemonwood population...]]
** Dragons are also extremely difficult to kill and can two-shot even high-level heroes, though they aren't as common. The exception is when you have Priestesses to raise.Fighting a dragon gives a lot of experience, and since their BreathWeapon is of the "ranged" category, skeletons are almost immune to it. Unless a Priestess actually wanders somewhere alone and gets killed, her skeletons will ZergRush any dragon and slowly kill it.

*** [[YetAnotherStupidDeath I'm MELTing!]] Wizards + Vampires = Tears and Graveyards

* CaptainErsatz: Krolm, the God of Barbarians. Sounds pretty [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian familiar]], doesn't he?

* CallASmeerpARabbit: Elven "bungalows", which bear little resemblance to the modern British or North American English use of the term. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungalow Explained]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: In one quest, "The Siege", you need to fight an enemy monarch who can do the exact same things you can: build stuff, place reward flags, hire heroes, etc. However, all of his caravans have twice as many hit points as yours, which is annoying since destroying his caravans is the simplest way to win.
** He also has practically infinite amounts of money unless you make an effort to destroy said caravans. Furthermore, he starts with a fully-developed kingdom and fully-upgraded temples; you do not.
** Your wizards also join him (presumably because they're snobbish upper class {{Insufferable Genius}}es), so he has access to both wizards and their spells, which you cannot get during the quest, ever.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Most egregious with ''buildings'', of all things. As long as there is a single hit point left, your peasants can rebuild it. But if not, whoops! Looks like you'll have to build a new one.

* DarkIsNotEvil: You can build temples to the gods of chaos and death, but the god of chaos is also depicted as the god of nature, and the goddess of death [[AllThereInTheManual simply presides over death, rather than seeking it, and sees herself as something of an egalitarian]].

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler: Most of your units and buildings and a few enemy ones have a verbal Easter egg that can be accessed by selecting them by holding down shift and hitting the quotation mark key. This will cause the unit to spout an amusing line such as the Guardhouse's "Ey, whose turn for the donut run?". You can also tap the enter key to bring the in-game chat box up and type in the words "planet fargo" (without the quotation marks) for another Easter egg in the form of a piece of techno music sung by Venn Fairweather.]]

* EnemyMine: In the sequel, the priesthood of Ardania launches a coup via the "Spirit of Kings" and kicks you and your adviser out. There's only one organization left to turn to: the monsters you spent the main campaign killing off. Awkward, yes, and you [[ContinuityNod have to resolve the new problems you gave each monster group not too long ago.]]

* BaldWomen: Healers of Agrela.

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Rogues, represented in-game by their being the class most susceptible to rewards. "[[FamousLastWords Leave... my gold...]] ''[[FamousLastWords alone]]''..."

* FogOfWar: The map is black (or greyed, in the sequel) when you start. Rangers will explore for free and with a good line of sight, and you can use reward flags or wizard guild spells to speed things up.

* MageTower: The Wizards' Guild building is a nest of towers, and wizards are also able to build ancillary "Wizards' Towers" which allows the player to cast spells within a certain distance of the tower. More towers leads to a greater area where spells can be cast. They can also be temporarily enchanted, which allows them to automaticaly shoot energy bolts at enemies. In ''The Northern Expansion'' there is the Sorcereor's Abode, which is also a tower that allows the player to cast a different set of magic spells.

* TheQuest: The preset map missions all give you some kind of goal to achieve within a certain time limit. This ranges from trying to find a sacred healing chalice for a plague that you are also suffering, obtaining a relic to boost your people's morale, or turning a WretchedHive into a respectable town.

* SupportingLeader: The player character acts as the sovereign of the land and decids what to build and what heroes need to be recruited, while the heroes actually go on the quests that accomplish the goal for the scenario.

* AllThereInTheManual: Literally. The manual contains a lot of vignettes about life in Ardania. Additionally, flavor text is provided for all buildings and units. You can literally click on just about anything from treasure chests to a random pack of magical flowers and immediately get a explanation of its mechanical benefits and flavor.

* ArcherArchetype: Rangers. Subverted with hedonistic elves and greedy, [[ShapedLikeItself roguish]] Rogues.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Direct damage spells, for the most part. Being able to deal damage to ''any'' monster on the map is always nice... but they have to be spammed like crazy to have any real effect, which will eat through even a 10000+ gold reserve like popcorn. And if you try using them on a monster with magic resistance, about half of those will be negated anyway. Wizard guild spells particularly so, since they have a limited range to begin with.

* BackFromTheDead: A fully upgraded Temple to Agrela or Krypta will grant you resurrection spells. This is useful, as resurrected heroes keep their level intact.
** The sequel shifts the resurrection function to a graveyard building, eliminating the need to invest heavily into high level temples to access that ability. However, graveyards are placed automatically the first time a hero dies, and [[BlessedWithSuck periodically spawn animated skeletons and zombies]].

** Daemonwoods can easily slaughter unprepared heroes, are rather difficult to kill, and are actually quite common in a lot of quests.

** Dragons are also extremely difficult to kill and can two-shot even high-level heroes, though they aren't as common.
*** Dragons are actually perfect for level grinding Priestesses - fighting a dragon gives a lot of experience, and since their BreathWeapon is of the "ranged" category, skeletons are almost immune to it. Unless a Priestess actually wanders somewhere alone and gets killed, her skeletons will ZergRush any dragon and slowly kill it.

* TheQuest: What you send heroes on.

* WasItReallyWorthIt: Your Royal Advisor asks the Sovereign this in the victory text for [[spoiler: "Vigil For a Fallen Hero."]] A fair question, as the victory came with a high cost: [[spoiler: those heroes [[KilledOffForReal who aren't dead]] are suffering something like [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD from witnessing the Abomination's power.]]]] All for what was essentially a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* SupportingLeader: You, at least in terms of the traditional RPG storyline.

* MageTower: The Wizards' Guild building is a nest of towers, and wizards are also able to build ancillary "Wizards' Towers" which allows the player to cast spells within a certain distance of the tower. More towers leads to a greater area where spells can be cast. In ''The Northern Expansion'' there is the Sorcereor's Abode, which is also a tower that allows the player to cast a different set of magic spells.

You have inherited the crown of the kingdom of Ardania, a MedievalEuropeanFantasy kingdom with a surplus of [[TheHero heroes]] but a desperate need of an [[TheLeader inspired leader]] to lead them to victory. Taking up the throne of Ardania, it is your duty as Sovereign to forge alliances with [[FiveRaces the other races]], placate the gods, hire heroes to defend your kingdom, and send them on quests to drive back the AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters that threaten Ardania's borders.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The elven lounges (read: bordello) and the "luxuries" it sells.

Gameplay starts with the player in control of their palace. From here, they can send out peasants to construct new buildings, including guardhouses for the RedshirtArmy, shops, and guilds, temples, and enclaves for other races. The last three all allow the player to hire heroes, the bulk of the game's units. Uniquely, Majesty does not allow the player to command their heroes directly - heroes will act intelligently based on their artificial intelligence, shopping and going hunting on their own time, but they can be enticed to act by placing bounties on specific enemies.

Although the player can cast a few unique spells, the bulk of the gameplay is based at the grand strategic level, where the player must make important strategic decisions. Only one non-human species can be brought to the city, due to ElvesVsDwarves - should it be the industrious gnomes, the stout dwarves, or the graceful and silver-tongued elves? Many temples are also mutually exclusive, so the player much choose his religious affiliations carefully. The game plays out in a unique fashion, with a clever sense of humor and a well-developed backstory.

An expansion back, appropriately titled ''The Northern Expansion'', was released in 2002; it was released with the original game in a box set called ''Majesty Gold''. A sequel, ''Majesty Legends'', was in development, but was eventually canceled. Paradox has since acquired the rights to the franchise, and ''Majesty 2'' is out now.

A version of ''Majesty'' has been recently developed for cell phones and UsefulNotes/IOSGames, by Herocraft and Paradox Interactive. To save on memory, it cuts out and/or fuses the functions of many aspects of the original ''Majesty''; for example, you can only build temples to Agrela, Krypta, or Krolm, and they're all mutually exclusive. Additionally, you can no longer hire gnomes, their dwelling instead providing a one-time reduction to construction time on all buildings on the map, although it still prevents you from hiring elves or dwarves, and several types of heroes, such as rogues, are removed entirely. This version takes, if possible, an even more tongue-in-cheek look at the stereotypical fantasy setting than the original version did, replacing the graphics with cartoony sprites and adding a number of blatant references (your wizards can randomly be named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]]). The campaign is significantly shorter as well, comprising a handful of linearly unlocked missions.

Apart from the main games, numerous spin-off games set in the same universe have been released. The first one, ''Defenders of Ardania'', is a tower defense and offense game. The second, ''VideoGame/WarlockMasterOfTheArcane'', is a turn-based 4X game in the style of ''VideoGame/MasterOfMagic'', and is considered a SpiritualSuccessor of that game. There's a third spinoff game titled ''Videogame/{{Impire}}'' (no, that is not a typo) which borrows gameplay elements from ''Videogame/DungeonKeeper''. It was released on February 14, 2013.

** Taken UpToEleven in the sequel with Lunord's Uprising. It's an event that changed the entire world of Ardania and you can only learn about it by reading flavor texts of the some temple units.

** Elves, as far as the races are concerned. Statistically, they’re among the best ranged attackers in the game, and they enable your marketplaces and inns to generate extra gold. However, they have the lowest unit-to-building ratio of any faction at a measly ''two'', and you’re bound to lose every bit of that extra gold, plus some, to the untaxable Elven Lounges and Gambling Halls, which will inevitably start popping up like mushrooms not long after you recruit your first elf. Thankfully though, you convince your heros destroy them with reward flags. Once you get rid of them, the massive gold bonus you get from the Elven Bungalows do make them worthwhile.

*** Dragons are actually perfect for level grinding Priestesses - fighting a dragon gives a lot of experience, and since their BreathWeapon is of "ranged" category, skeletons are almost immune to it. Unless a Priestess actually wanders somewhere alone and gets killed, her skeletons will ZergRush any dragon and slowly kill it.

** "Ooh! Pretty star!"

* CrapsackWorld: It's hidden by an often humorous approach, part pastiche, part parody. At a closer glance, however, considering the abundant monster population, black sorcerers and evil mages (as evidenced by the amount of quests tied to some kind of curse), constant undead and "greenskin" incursions, hellishly dangerous unique bosses, doomsday scenarios and the often skyrocketing casualty rate of normals (i.e. non-heroic {{Non Player Character}}s such as guards, tax collectors and peasants), the setting is really not that nice a place to live in.

** This still occurs with heroes and monsters, but is slightly less egregious because they leave behind short-lived gravestones, which can be the target of resurrection spells and from which your rogues can gather loot. Also, a dead hero can easily crop up later in a graveyard or mausoleum (the latter capable of being used to resurrect long-dead heroes). It's played absolutely straight with henchmen though...

* CrystalDragonJesus: Dauros.
** [[SubvertedTrope Not precisely]]. While Dauros generally takes the place of "God" in many expressions, the other gods are also prominent and worshiped.

* ElvesVersusDwarves[=/=]FantasticRacism: Gnomes, dwarves, and elves will gladly join your human settlements, but spit at each other. Well, the gnomes don't actually hate the others. It's just that the others really, REALLY hate the gnomes. (And even humans aren't a big fan of them.) It's also implied that the goblins and ratmen hate each other. (Then again, it's implied that the ratmen hate everyone. So do the minotaurs.)

** Gods are choosy about which of their family you can build temples to. Agrela/Dauros and Krypta/Fervus are mutually exclusive pairs. Lunord and Helia can coexist with either pair of their kids, but not each other. And Krolm shuts out ''every'' temple but his own.

** In the ''Monster Kingdom'' expansion of the sequel, Ratmen. "I will buy.... I will buy..... EVERYTHING!

** The chaos temples have a habit of doing this for your side as both can control various pets (undead and animals respectively). This tends to result in anything assaulting your town to get swamped by armies of undead and tamed beasts.
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** The chaos temples have a habit of doing this for your side as both can control various pets (undead and animals respectively). This tends to result in anything assaulting your town to get swamped by armies of skeletons and tamed beasts.