This is the character sheet for Endless Legend. This list is organized by empire, and story characters will be described in their respective empires. Minor factions will be described here as well.
The Vaulters
This is a time of change for the Vaulters. For countless generations they lived as loosely-federated clans in the vast underground labyrinths that riddle Auriga. Their skills in mining and crafting made them comfortable, and their study of ancient artefacts slowly unlocked the secrets of their world's past. Though their origins were lost in legends and myth, they had found peace and prosperity in the deep places of the planet.
Suddenly, now, the Vaulters have been forced to abandon those ancient halls. The Great Quake broke walls and ruined roads and bridges; as their towns crumbled around them they fled to the surface. Some turn for answers to the priests in the Church of the Grey Orrery, others look for their leader, Zolya Ilona, First of the Bloodline. For a people deeply bound by tradition and unused to change, the surface of Auriga is a frightening place.
Torn between the secrets of the planet, their own traditions, and their need to survive, the Vaulters may struggle. But they will not fade, or surrender.
- A Commander Is You: A defensive Research Faction that can learn how to shield itself from the deadly winters and has a lot of means to boost strategic resource income, while also able to give a single type of strategic resource special benefits.
- Magitek: They make use of advanced technology by our standards but are in a fantasy setting, so this is a given.
- Matriarchy: The Vaulters have a history of being saved from disaster by female leaders; it's reached a point where it's now tradition that a woman, the First of the Bloodline, leads the Vaulters. All Vaulter heroes are women, while the regular forces are mostly men under their command.
- Mecha-Mooks: The Titan unit is a robot cobbled together from pieces of ancient Mezari tech.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike other factions, which were designed heavily toward fantasy-looking, the Vaulters' designs trend heavily toward sci-fi
— not even Steampunk, but more of a "aluminium-steel-lasers-electricity" style. This is due to them being descendants of an ancient spacefaring civilization. - Our Dwarves Are Different: Despite being Mezari, the Vaulters have a lot of these characteristics. They prefer life underground and have a vaguely Norse aesthetic, with ornate armor and tattoos featuring Celtic Knot-like and Norse patterns. Most men are depicted with thick facial hair, and the Marines have long, braided beards. The women go for Braids of Action instead. Their naming conventions are more Slavic, but that's also very fitting. Their faction bonuses lend them towards science and industry as well as the mining of useful metals. Of their unit types, their ranged unit uses a crossbow by default, and their first melee unit uses axes. They are also hardy and rugged, with bonuses that protect against the harsh effects of winter. Lastly, they make extensive use of Magitek, as seen in the Dawn Officer and Titan units.
- Palette Swap: Purchasing the deluxe version of Dungeon of the Endless gives you the Mezari, who are re-skinned Vaulters with a different leader screen and unit appearances. The blurb on the faction description makes it clear that the Mezari are supposed to be who the Vaulters were before they crash-landed on Auriga.
- Powered Armor: The Vaulter Dawn Officer unit wears this, allowing them to run at speeds that match that of cavalry units.
- Saved by Canon: The only race that canonically escapes Auriga whole. As of Endless Space 2, they've brought the Sisters of Mercy along, while the Broken Lords sustained serious damage to their population.
- Schizo Tech: For all their access to power armor, automated mechs and AI, the Vaulters still fight with swords, shields and crossbows (which look like high-tech assault rifles). Justified, as the Vaulters are mostly reclaiming this technology from the ancient remnants of their spacefaring ancestors.
- Teleporter's Visualization Clause:
- While a strategic resource booster is enabled, Vaulter armies can teleport between cities they control, with each district providing an additional tile that can send/receive teleporting armies. There's an achievement for teleporting in ten units to a city that's under siege.
- As of Inferno, Vaulters gain the further ability to teleport units from cities to join any hero-led army for free, whenever a Dust Eclipse is ongoing.
OpBot is an amnesiac android that gets unearthed by the leader of the Vaulter Zolya Clan, and who serves as her advisor and the viewpoint character of the Vaulter questline.
- Afraid of Their Own Strength: OpBot is very skilled with a knife. Once he begins to recover his memories, he seems to live in constant fear of losing control of himself and starting to kill people again.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Went on a killing spree with surgical tools after a psychological breakdown.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Is horrified when he remembers that he once murdered all of his patients. The fact that it was in the middle of a psychotic break doesn't lessen the horror in his mind.
- Amnesiac Hero: OpBot doesn't remember anything about himself except his name (which is stenciled into his chassis), influencing him to help the Vaulters partially so that he can try and regain his memory.
- Dark and Troubled Past: OpBot was a prisoner aboard the ship that brought the Vaulters' ancestors to Auriga. When the ship crashed, OpBot resumed his medical duties, was swamped with work, and eventually ran out of anesthesia, forcing him to operate on still-conscious patients. All this eventually caused him to snap and go on a killing spree with his surgical tools before he was shut down.
- Deadly Doctor: His position as the most skilled surgeon the Vaulters have does his mental condition no good once he begins to recover his memories of killing his own patients, and he eventually requests that Zolya assign guards to disable him if he goes on a murderous rampage again.
- Freak Out: Suffered the AI equivalent to a stress-induced psychotic break due to, as said previously, having to perform massively invasive surgery to save his patients' lives without any painkillers. This conflicted with his programming so much that he just broke and killed them all.
- The Medic: Eventually takes up position as a surgeon among the Vaulters, a position he held previously in a military unit before being aboard the prison ship that crashed on Auriga.
- Really 700 Years Old/Recurring Element: This is the same OpBot that appears in both Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Space, making him the oldest known character in the Endless universe.
The Wild Walkers
The Wild Walkers were simple elves living as hunter-gatherers in the forests. Their gift was to shape rocks and trees into great buildings; cities rose as green towers in the deep woods. But they had another, more dangerous ability: transferring their spirits to the animals of their world. This act, called the Sharing, lets an elf experience the wild, untamed energy of their totem animal.
Elves who Shared often, however, risked having the spirit of the beast burst out like a violent flame and take control during moments of stress. In spite of that, some sought increasingly savage beasts in order to experience Sharings of even greater intensity.
With individuals embracing the savagery of the animals and vanishing forever into the woods, the nation had to choose between the wild spirits of nature and the civilization of their towers. Troubled but determined, they forswore the Sharing, renamed themselves the Wild Walkers, and set out to build their towers away from their dark past.
Only time will tell if the Sharing still has its hold on their souls.
- A Commander Is You: The Wild Walkers employ Ranger-style units (their starting units and heroes use bows/crossbows) and an Industrial command style (they get huge industry bonuses for forests).
- In Harmony with Nature: The Wild Walkers started out like this, but with the dangers of the Sharing and the coming cataclysm, they were forced to adapt to form a new civilization. They use their abilities to control stone, wood, and earth to give themselves a massive industrial boost.
- Our Elves Are Different: The Wild Walkers are the closest thing Endless Legend has to elves, and are openly called elves in certain texts. They have a strong connection to nature itself, and their primary habitat is forests. In the game, this is reflected in their ability to know if an army is traversing a forest, which might give players an advance warning of other factions' intent, as well as several ways for them to boost their industry production from forests. Physically, what makes them different is their ears: Rather than pointed human-like ears, Wild Walkers have incredibly long, floppy, rabbit-like ears that resemble the tentacles on a Twi'lek.
- Space Elevator: How they plan to survive their planet's death.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He is one of the main characters of their story line and is the leader of their faction.
The Broken Lords
The Broken Lords are a faction of knights and town-builders; an aristocratic society that believes in honour, virtue, and justice. To succor the weak, to champion what is just, to root out evil wherever it may lurk — those are the ideals by which these noble warriors would live.
And yet, the Broken Lords are a crippled people that exist only as spirits wrapped in their great suits of Dust-enchanted armour. Other nations view them as monsters, for their race was fading when it discovered a deadly secret — that by consuming the life force of a sentient being they could extend their own life span. This rite of consumptions is, obviously, a complete betrayal of their principles and their history. The greatest hope of the Broken Lords, therefore, is to develop magic that will break this curse and allow them to live without destroying others.
Though the question remains, and haunt their thoughts: Even if they did find a cure, would they want to give up this powerful gift? Their codes and morality insists 'yes', but in their hearts it is much less clear...
- Animated Armor: The Lords of Amber Plains bound their souls into suits of armor to survive Auriga's collapsing climate, turning themselves into the Broken Lords. They no longer require food to survive, but instead must drain Dust from the environment or Dust contained within living beings.
- Bad Boss: They don't eat, and they favor buying buildings rather than producing them. This makes them nearly immune to the penalties from unhappy cities.
- Bling of War: The Broken Lords wear lavishly-designed armor the color of gold.
- Broken Ace: They used to be a mighty nation of chivalrous knights, and still hold to those ideals, but now their numbers are few, and their perpetual craving for mortal life-force threatens to overwhelm their honor code. Their new name, "the Broken Lords", is a pretty obvious acknowledgement of this.
- Cast from Hit Points: Inferno grants the Broken Lords the ability "Soul Burn" during Dust Eclipses, boosting their units' attack strength at the expense of health.
- A Commander Is You: Economist and Elite — the Broken Lords make much more Dust in general from the terrain around their cities. Only problem is, they have to spend money to increase population and heal units, so they need all the Dust they can get.
- Cursed with Awesome: Storyline morality struggle aside, consuming dust instead of food means no worry about starvation during winter, fewer must-have technologies to research, instant healing, mild penalty to exploiting your populations, and new settlements can bloom quickly after a few dust boosts.
- Saved by Canon: Mostly. They and the Vaulters are the only primary races to survive Auriga, since Broken Lords appear as freelance heroes in Endless Space. Unlike the Vaulters, however, it seems that so few remain that together they do not even form a minor faction.
- Evil Is Easy And Feels Good: The primary moral issue surrounding the Broken Lords is the fact that simply draining the life from living creatures is so much easier and more pleasurable than the time-consuming process of refining raw Dust from the environment.
- Horror Hunger: While something of a misnomer, "soul-eating" is an accurate enough description of what they do. And they enjoy it so much that the only thing holding them back is what's left of their chivalry and morals.
- Horse of a Different Color: The Ryders are mounted on large beasts that have undergone the same transformation as the Broken Lords themselves.
- Leitmotif: "The Search For Forgiveness" — a mournful violin piece with quiet discordant singing in the background during some parts, perfect for a faction that is both terrifyingly monstrous and undeniably sympathetic.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Souls possessing armor, who sustain themselves on the life energy of hapless victims and worthy foes alike.
- Stone Wall: Their early-game infantry, the Stalwarts, are extremely tough and will only get tougher with armor upgrades. However, this is offset by very low base damage.
- Tragic Monster: It's hard not to feel bad for them, despite the fact they are violent expansionist vampires who want to consume the life of your subjects. Quite a few Broken Lords hate themselves and what they have become, only clinging to life (despite the costs) because there is still a slight chance something on Auriga can cure them and their honor demands they see it through.
- Vampiric Draining: The Broken Lords feed on Dust, which they either digest in purified form (which is time-consuming to create), or drain from other creatures (which is quick and pleasant for the Broken Lord). Stalwarts gain a large health boost upon killing enemy units, Ryders regenerate slightly whenever they attack, and Dust Bishops heal adjacent allies by an amount equal to the damage they deal to enemies.
- One main menu screen shows that they drag surviving foes back to their cities to be ritually drained.
The point of view character in the Broken Lords questline, the king of the Broken Lords is searching for an alternative way to sustain his people other than draining the life out of others, as he wishes them to remain civilized and adhering to a sense of honor. However, he has to maneuver around the members of his court who don't share the same opinions...
- I Did What I Had to Do: Is pretty pragmatic in getting his people to reject the practice of life-draining, resorting to some fairly questionable methods to get troublemakers out of the way. Still, he reminds himself that it's for the common good.
- Number Two: Vinchus the artificer, who discovers the untapped potential of various artifacts throughout the story.
In the game, the Marquis is the main antagonist in the first part of the Broken Lords questline, and also later becomes a temporarily playable hero.
- Amplifier Artifact: Suluzzo's pendant is said to amplify the effects of his Vampiric Draining.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: Marquis Suluzzo champions the idea that the Broken Lords' new life-draining powers should be embraced and exploited to dominate other races.
- Villain with Good Publicity: By appealing to the Broken Lords' growing dependence on Dust, the Marquis acquires a sizable following among the people; to the point where many claim he should be the King's Hand, or even be king himself.
- Uriah Gambit: How the king finally deals with him in the questline. After being sent to invade another faction, the Marquis is weakened in the aftermath, which is then exploited to kill him and take his pendant. The King muses on the irony of this as he gives the order, but decides he'd prefer that his own honor be sullied so his people can keep theirs.
The Necrophages
The Necrophages are a scuttling monstrosity polluting the surface of Auriga; an insectoid menace that should be crushed under one's heel like the mutated cockroaches that they are. Or so the Vaulters, the Wild Walkers, the Broken Lords, and every other nation on the planet would have you believe.
Naturally, the Necrophages themselves don't share this view — in fact, they hold very few views other than fight, feed, and propagate. The Necrophages have found a niche in the environment that suits them very well: They win by numbers, by elevating the colony over the individual; by constant warfare. Something between a hive insect and an undead horde, they reproduce by laying eggs in the bodies of fallen enemies.
Occasionally the offspring even inherit elements of the host's DNA, accelerating their process of change and adaptation. Emotionless, relentless, and driven by their biology, the Necrophages do not waste time with diplomacy and commerce.
- Airborne Mook: The Necrodrone is a flying-type unit, taking the form of a monstrous, beetle-like insectoid that buzzes about.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Necrophages may have been the first Endless-created race on Auriga, but the Allayi are the actual first sentient Aurigan race. Looking at their introductory quote shows the sentient necrophages think otherwise, though.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: With varying levels of anthropomorphism, ranging from the mostly-humanoid Foragers to the beetle-like Necrodrones and slug-like Procreators.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: "Interspecific kleptoparasitic ovipositing parthenogenesis", meaning their Procreators can plant larvae inside of host creatures, which will then give birth to fully-grown and combat-ready Necrophages. This is seemingly in addition to their queens laying eggs.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Attempts to compliment the Necrophages will just make their leader scratch his head in bewilderment. By contrast, when they offer you a cease-fire during war, they'll politely thank you for feeding the hive with your troops.
- Bug War: The Necrophages are either at war with their neighbors, or preparing to go to war with their neighbors; they are incapable of going beyond a state of Cold War with anyone.
- A Commander Is You: Spammer and Brute. Stuck in constant war, but can turn their enemies into food or sacrifice excess population for a morale boost. (They get less food from the terrain than other factions, so they need to eat their enemies). Their cities can also expand physically more quickly than other races, resulting in sprawling hives covering their lands.
- Expy: Of the Cravers from Endless Space — a ravenous insectoid species constantly at war with all other factions to sate their hunger. It's heavily implied that the Necrophages were an in-universe attempt by the Concrete Endless to create their own equivalent to the Cravers through bio-engineering alone.
- Flawed Prototype: They were essentially meant to be the Concrete Endless' answer to the Virtuals' Cravers; however, they lacked the (at least basic) intelligence the Cravers did, and proved far less effective, causing the project to be abandoned.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Lacking true understanding of advanced science, engineering or magic, the necrophages' plan to survive the coming ice age is to simply hide eggs in every secluded place they can think of, in the hope that at least some of them will be safe.
- Hard-Coded Hostility: The Necrophages are incapable of moving above the state of cold war (where empires technically aren't enemies, but can attack each-other in owned or neutral territory) with anyone else in the game.
- Rogue Drone: Necrophage heroes are those who have consumed Dust-enhanced liquid and developed an individuality independent of the hive.
- Spawn Broodling: The Procreator. Any unit it attacks is infected with its offspring; for every infected unit that dies during the battle, the Necrophage army will gain a free Battle Born unit in the aftermath, allowing you to break an army's Arbitrary Headcount Limit. A Procreator attached to an army will ensure you receive a steady stream of basic reinforcements during even the most grueling campaigns.
- The Usual Adversaries: Considered to be this by the other races, especially the Vaulters and Broken Lords. Many heroes and artifacts earned their fame through campaigns against the Necrophage.
A Necrophage granted sentience and considerable intellect by Dust infection, He Who Meddles rises to become a great leader of his species. Searching for a means to realize his dreams of a Necrophage-ruled Auriga, he captures the Ardent Mage known as Rhiss al-Khali, who is more than happy to advise the would-be conqueror on the matter.
- All for Nothing: By the end of the game, He Who Meddles' ambitions are in tatters. His advisor and friend Ka-Riss, who he viewed as a the embodiment of his ideal for the necrophage species, devolves into just another dim-witted monster over time. On top of that, The End of the World as We Know It is nigh, so a true necrophage civilization wouldn't even have time to naturally develop. Meddles is heartbroken, but in the end he manages to find some measure of peace (or at least resignation) with the fact that his people will never be anything more than a Horde of Alien Locusts.
- The Anti-Nihilist: Develops something of an anti-nihilist attitude once he accepts that the Necrophage will likely never be more than a mindless bio-weapon, and decides that he'll make sure they'll at least never die out by hiding as many Necrophage eggs on the planet as possible to wait out the oncoming apocalypse.
- Despair Event Horizon: He comes close to hitting this towards the end of the main questline, once Ka-Riss begins to mentally degenerate and he realizes his dreams of a true Necrophagic civilization will never come true.
- Fling a Light into the Future: A villainous variation. When he realizes that Auriga's destruction is unavoidable, He Who Meddles orders the Necrophage hordes to spread out and lay their eggs in as many safe places as they can find; inside ruins, the hearts of dark forests, deep underground, all on the incredibly slim chance that at least a few eggs might survive the impending cataclysm.
- I Am What I Am: In the end, despite his grand plans being All for Nothing, He Who Meddles comes to terms with the fact that his species was probably never meant to rise that high to begin with, and makes preparations to Fling a Light into the Future. In the final chapter, he utters a variation of the trope name.We are killers. And I? I have found peace with that. We are what we are. And we will survive.
- In the Hood: He wears a ragged cloak over his body, and all we ever see of his face are his oversized mandibles.
- Uplifted Animal: Originally just another Scavenger, He Who Meddles was infected with Dust and gained sentience.
- Visionary Villain: He dreams of not only conquering Auriga and wiping out the other races, but of uplifting his barbaric people so they can form a true civilization, and even reaching for the stars beyond their homeworld (albeit out of hunger).
Rhiss al-Khali was once an Unctioneer of the Gray Reach Arcade. This Ardent Mage was too fascinated by mutation and evolution to stay within the confines of his society, however, and went ranging far and wide across Auriga in search of ruins and new species. He developed a fascination with the Necrophage and their adaptable, violent, chaotic society, to the point where he voluntarily underwent a process to adapt his own body to Necrophage traits. The sole subject of this experiment who was not killed outright or driven mad by the agony, Ka-Riss dreams of becoming even more Necrophage than the Necrophage themselves.
- Admiring the Abomination: He Who Meddles gives Rhiss a tour of the necrophage hive with the goal of intimidating him, but the mage acts like a child in a candy store. It gets to the point where his fellow prisoners are more afraid of Rhiss than the flesh-eating bugs holding them captive, and even Meddles himself is rather unnerved by the man's enthusiasm.
- Evilutionary Biologist: He identifies himself as a scientist to He Who Meddles, is fascinated by the necrophage, and when he meets He Who Meddles Rhiss immediately pitches the idea of blending Mezari and Necrophage traits to create a superior breed. Starting with himself.
- The Dragon: He becomes this to He Who Meddles after his transformation, serving as his advisor and one of his best swarm-leaders.
- Loss of Identity: While he initially retains his Mezari intelligence after becoming a Necrophage, Ka-Riss' mind begins to degenerate towards the end of the main story, until he becomes just another mindless beast, much to He Who Meddles' dismay.
- The Paragon: A villainous example — He Who Meddles privately admits that Ka-Riss, despite being a Half-Mezari Hybrid, is the perfect embodiment of their shared vision for the necrophage race; superior, predatory lifeforms capable of thinking rationally and organizing into a genuine civilization. When Ka-Riss suffers from a Loss of Identity, He Who Meddles interprets it as a sign that his dream might actually be impossible.
- Sole Survivor: Rhiss is the only person to survive the experiment into creating hybrid necrophages from captured Mezari. As Ardent Mages are all Combat Sadomasochists and practitioners of Blood Magic, it is implied that Rhiss' survival is due to his magical affinity and unnaturally high resistance to pain.
- Transhuman Treachery: He willingly converts into a Necrophage-Mezari hybrid, and then starts giving the Horde of Alien Locusts pointers on how to take over the world.
The Ardent Mages
The Ardent Mages are a people who were born in struggle and pain, and these conditions dominate their day to day lives.
Though they control great powers, they pay a great price to do so. To manipulate the powers of Dust, an Ardent Mage must dissociate their mind from their body. For this they have developed elaborate pain rituals, for the more they are able to withstand the agony and ignore the physical discomfort, the deeper their relationship with the Dust becomes. Pain has become a fundamental element of their society, to the point where children are taught from a young age to withstand it.
After falling out with the rest of the Inner Circle in dark circumstances, Zor Abaz has annexed her clan from the greater Ardent Mage nation, and struck out for new territory. The suffering must be great, even magnificent, if she is to prepare the Ardent Mages for the endtimes.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Their bid to survive Auriga's collapse, courtesy of Verda's research, is to use a great ritual to transcend physical form and leave the planet behind. The unique tech gained from completing the main quest explicitly compares this act to the ascension of the Virtual Endless.
- Blood Magic: Pain magic, actually. The Ardent Mages inflict pain on themselves to harness the Dust in and around them for magical effects.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Torture, scarification and self-flagellation is their way of life, and the basis of their Blood Magic. In-game, this is reflected by the three core Ardent Mage units having the "Ardent Fire" trait, which converts all lost HP into a higher attack chance.
- A Commander Is You: An Offensive Research faction that can place Field Power Effect generators to increase FIDS yields or improve troop abilities. Their military is composed of highly offensive-focused Glass Cannon units that do more damage the more wounded they are.
- Covered with Scars: Most Ardent Mages have this aesthetic, most of it self-inflicted to harness their Dust magic.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite their terrifying reputation and obsession with torture, they are a neutral faction primarily interested in torturing themselves, not other people. Flavor text and images show the people they sacrifice for rituals are their own criminals, which shows a lot of restraint when most other races have no problem taking countless captives to eat, drain, or enslave. A more cynical view some players have taken, however, is that only an Ardent Mage could survive the pain long enough for the spell to even matter.
- If Zor Abaz is taken as the archetypal Ardent Mage, then they seem to only value physical pain and don’t try to glorify emotional pain or eagerly inflict it on each other the way they do physical pain. Zor Abaz talks about the emotional pain of losing her brother much like anyone else would, in contrast with her glowing excitement at physical hardships. They do have hearts underneath all that scar tissue.
- Foil: They originated from the same plains as the Roving Clans and consider them distant relatives, but the two tribes couldn’t have ended up more different. While the Roving Clans are mercantile Technical Pacifists who pursue Dust for its value as a currency, the Ardent Mages are sadomasochistic warlocks obsessed with Dust's supernatural qualities.
- Horned Humanoid: The Ateshi Zealot, though closer inspection reveals that the horns are coming out of her eye sockets.
- Hot Wings: The Eneqa Wing, which is a phoenix in all but name. If its hitpoints reach zero during battle, it will turn into an egg from which, given enough time, the creature will rise again.
- Power Incontinence: Some Ardent Mages have been known to lose control of their Dust-granted powers, resulting in such pleasant ends as having one's heart beat so fast it explodes out of one's chest in a fiery conflagration.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: Downplayed. The player's Ardent Mage faction is a single clan that splintered away from the rest of their civilization, but they're no more or less villainous than the rest of their kind.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Implied. When interrogating enemy troops, they simply put them through the exact same rituals most Ardent Mages willingly subject themselves to on a daily basis.
After being framed for the murder of her brother, Verda Abaz, Zor Abaz and her followers flee the homeland of their people and establish a splinter faction. Zor's quest to avenge her sibling and discover why he was assassinated serves as the main quest for the Ardent Mages.
- The Protagonist: Of the Ardent Mages main quest.
The Roving Clans
Traders, explorers, and adventurers, the Roving Clans are viewed by many as the rogues and rascals of Auriga. The very wealthy rogues and rascals of Auriga, that is.
Plying roads and sea lanes with skill and courage, they are ever on the look out for new resources, new products, new markets, and new customers. The Roving Clans are so entwined in the business dealing of Auriga, that a tiny piece of every transaction somehow makes it into their coffers...
While their preference is for peace and trade, the Roving Clans should not be underestimated in war. With rapid, mounted units giving them an advantage in speed, they make difficult targets and frustrating enemies. Even their great cities can move, perched on the backs of the giant Setseke scarabs — an exploit unmatched by any other nation.
Patient, clever, and wily, the Roving Clans bring sophistication — and manipulation — to the peoples of Auriga.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Roving Clan AI is infamous for sabotaging and spying on empires it's supposedly at peace or even allied with.
- A Commander Is You: An Economist/Espionage/Industrial faction that can't declare war at all but makes a lot of money through peaceful trade with their neighbors. Their cities are all mobile and they start with all marketplace options open; mercenary units they hire are tougher and faster than regular units as well. Compared to the Broken Lords, who produce lots of Dust for basic survival, the Roving Clans produce Dust to spend on other resources.
- False Flag Operation: Mercenaries hired by the Roving Clans can still look neutral to other empires while under their control.
- Gold Fever: Dust Fever, as it is known in-universe, has been known to reduce men to gibbering maniacs, churning out papers and ledgers of their assets, looking for losses and thefts in every shadow.
- Horse Archer: The Kassai ranged units are mounted archers.
- Mobile City: The Roving Clans build their cities on the backs of massive Setseke beetles, each the size of a city block. Under most circumstances, the beetle hibernates as the Roving Clans peddle their wares and build, but in times of change the citizens can awaken the beast ("Setseke, ho!") and set off. While in motion, the city generates food, influence, Dust, and science, but cannot build anything. The beetles are surprisingly agile for their sheer size, having the same four movement points as most infantry units.
- Private Military Contractors: One of the Roving Clans faction traits lets them make use of mercenaries for False Flag Operations much earlier than other factions in the game, and their Mercenaries tend to be better than everyone else's.
- Proud Merchant Race: They prefer to trade with other factions and cannot declare direct war — it'd be bad for business, after all.
- Technical Pacifist: While the Roving Clans cannot actively declare war on other empires, they have no problem with hiring mercenaries to conduct a False Flag Operation, or pillaging installations on shared borders.
The fourth son of a fourth son, Ahsun ar-Delgùr, knowing he stood little chance of inheriting any of his family's wealth, set out to make his own fortune; a quest that would eventually lead him to try and unravel the mysteries of Dust and accumulate the greatest hoard of Dust in Aurigan history. His quest also serves as the main storyline for the Roving Clans.
- Framing Device: The Roving Clans questline is framed as Ahsun recounting his life's story to a listener.
- Gold Fever: Towards the end of his quest, Ahsun begins to wonder if he doesn't suffer from Dust Fever, as it is known in-setting. He quickly concludes that whether he does or not, it doesn't matter; he'll make his mark on history either way!
- Intrepid Merchant: Starts out as this.
- Merchant Prince: Becomes this towards the end of his quest, ruling over most of the Clans.
- Parental Abandonment: Admits to being guilty of this in the pursuit of his dreams.
- The Protagonist: Of the Roving Clans main quest.
- Self-Made Man: His goal in life, since he won't inherit any of his family's wealth. By the end of the questline, he's the leader of the Roving Clans and one of the richest beings on the planet.
- Smug Smiler: Always smiling even as he's mocking you or banning you from the marketplace.
The Drakken
An ancient and venerable race, the drakes and dragons of the Drakken prize lore, history, and wisdom above all things.
Few in number but exceedingly powerful, they do not seek war but rather relationships, information, and knowledge. Faction histories, artefacts, and ruins are highly prized by the Drakken while wealth, military power, and advanced technology are viewed as insignificant.
The gradual onset of longer winters has not escaped the notice of this race who are more attuned to Auriga's rhythms than all the rest. Already they have struck out across the vast planet, forging ties with all who share Auriga's lands. They understand well that even if the cataclysm comes again, their first duty is to preserve what the Endless left behind, so that one day, maybe in a hundred years, maybe in a thousand, their great teachers' creations will still endure.
- Ambadassador: Being the faction that focuses on diplomacy above all, their ultimate goal is to hold peace amongst all the empires of Auriga. This is reflected in their talents and abilities. Some Drakken heroes also gain the ability to make their army immune to minor faction attacks. The Drakken empire can also force peace or even force an alliance with any other empire, no matter how shaky their relationship is. Even when pulled into a war, the Drakken can immediately force a truce on the same turn, and the offending empire will have no choice but to accept it.
- Badass Bookworm: Drakken heroes are just as interested in preserving the past as they are fighting for the future. In fact, most Drakken heroes are archivists, researchers, and lorekeepers.
- A Commander Is You: Generalist and Diplomat. Loads of benefits to diplomacy, Influence accumulation for social policies, and the ability to outright force people to get along with them. Their Empire Plan opens up faster than everyone else and they have more slots for assimilating minor factions into their ranks, so they are functionally more flexible than other races.
- Lawful Stupid: Due to the AI not being able to differentiate factions like a player can, they treat you like a warmonger if you preemptively wipe out the Necrophages, AKA the biggest threat to peace on Auriga.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The Drakken are diplomatic peacekeepers with varying degrees of anthropomorphism, depending on whether they were born before or after the collapse of Auriga's climate: Wyverns have no hands, as their "fingers" compose their wings like a bat. Ancients are significantly bulkier than Wyverns but have similar anatomy. The Drakkenlings — who have only started to be born after Auriga started to die — have no wings and are instead bipedal. Drakken Heroes are bipedal and have arms, but have vestigial wings on their arms. All of them strive to become historians, researchers, and scholars.
- Pacifist Run: You get an achievement for winning the game as the Drakken without ever entering a war with another empire.
- Uplifted Animal: Drakken were uplifted by the Endless when they visited Auriga, given sentience and intelligence. As a result, the Drakken hold the Endless in deep, almost god-like reverence. The reason they're so interested in preserving the past is because they wish to maintain the legend of the Endless.
- Book Ends: The first and last chapter of the Drakken story both begin with the words "Kehangana is content." The first time is merely a statement, the last is a sign that she's Not Herself.
- Not Herself: After being touched by the spirit in the ruins, Kehangana's personality completely changes. She abruptly abandons her quest for answers and dedicates herself to the rigid stewardship of Auriga, dismissing everything else as "heresy and foolishness".
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the pioneering and outgoing Red to Prapaheni's conservative and change-averse Blue.
- Appeal to Tradition: Many of Prapaheni's actions are motivated entirely by her fear of change, believing that it'll reduce the Drakken to animals.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the conservative and change-averse Blue to Kehangana's pioneering and outgoing Red.
The Cultists
The mysterious cult is led by two creations that are remnants of the Endless: The Queen, imprisoned within her indestructible throne in the capital city, and the Unspoken, a wandering — and perhaps insane — being of enormous power.
Left alone on the planet for millennia, they have turned against their creators and sworn to destroy every trace of their existence.
The Cult maintains a single city where the Queen is entombed in her throne. Its power, therefore, is projected all across Auriga through proselytization and conversion, when the faithful followers and heroes of the Cult convince other, lesser peoples to join their cause.
Monolithic, fanatic, and ever-expanding, the Cult of the Eternal End will spare no effort, cost, or sacrifice to see that its will is done.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Cult of the Eternal End is led by malfunctioning Endless robots, who have dedicated themselves to wiping out the legacy of their creators.
- Ambiguous Robots: The core of the Cultists are Endless robots. There are plenty of "normal" people (presumably most of the inhabitants of their main city) in their ranks, but they wear masks that make them look just like the robots.
- Charm Person: They seem to employ this when converting tribes to their faith; something the Disobedient notices almost immediately.The Disobedient: I have seen this "conversion" again. What power do they have that makes others so glad to obey? Once you are converted, you never doubt or hesitate, just follow orders. As if you enjoy it. Like dogs, wagging tails, eager to please.
- A Commander Is You: Spammer/Espionage stuck in a one-city challenge — They get free soldiers from converted villages but cannot expand, so they work best at quick military victories using hordes of disposable conscript soldiers. Their city districts can level up twice from adjacency so they eventually get massive happiness bonuses.
- Cult: It's in the name. Their gameplay and main questline both revolve around spreading their beliefs across the world.
- Easy Evangelism: The Cultists can spend Influence to instantly convert any pacified tribe they meet to their religion, causing the village to periodically spawn un-upgraded units under the Cult's control, as well as gather resources and provide population.
- Evil Counterpart: In many ways, to the Drakken. The Drakken venerate the Endless as gods, and seek to unite the peoples of Auriga in an age of peace and prosperity. The Cultists, however, despise the Endless and forcibly indoctrinate lesser races to serve their needs.
- Eyeless Face: And they often have multiple faces, to boot.
- Keystone Army: Since they only have one city and can't build new settlers, the Cultists will be instantly eliminated from the game if they lose their capital.
- Land of One City: The Cultists can only control one province and a single, massive city — every other settlement they capture is immediately razed to the ground. This makes the Cult something of a Keystone Army, and forces them to rely on converted villages to gather distant resources, as well as produce hordes of un-upgraded Cannon Fodder to compensate for having only a single construction qeue.
- Marionette Motion: Their diplomatic representative moves in grinding, jittering motions like an aging theme-park animatronic, and is unable to hold still without some errant twitching. Their units also exhibit some of this.
- Mecha-Mooks: All of their faction-specific units are robots. They were presumably this for the Endless, millennia ago.
- More than Mind Control: Even if you were to realise you had been brainwashed into joining them, you wouldn't care anymore.
- The Minion Master: On an empire-wide scale. With only a single city, the Cultists lack the infrastructure to build large armies to match their enemies, so they rely on converted Minor Faction units to buff up their numbers and serve as meat-shields for their excellent archers.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: They wear black robes and capes over their ivory bodies, and official artwork depicts them with red faction markings.
- Sneaky Spy Species: Cultists of the Eternal End - or rather the sentient automata that form its higher echelons - are a variation. They only have one city and are unable to build more, but infiltrate and turn minor factions and induct them into their cult, sending these converts out as their shock troops. Heroes of the Cult are often very practiced at infiltrating other factions, too.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The Cultists have one ultimate goal — destroy the Endless and all traces of their existence.
- White Mask of Doom: The Cultists all have white blank faces. Their living followers wear these upon submitting to them.
- And I Must Scream: Still alive, still thinking, but unable to do anything but issue orders from the prison of her own body. This is also one of the reasons why she wants to destroy what's left of the Endless and anything associated with them.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Queen is very unstable, and her mental control over her subjects often results in random Cultists getting Mind Raped simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Leaking Can of Evil: She's trapped inside her throne, but she can still communicate and influence her subjects.
- Mind Rape: She seems to inflict this on her subjects almost on a weekly basis. Half of the Cult's Heroes are the result of random drones having their minds forcibly rewired to solve whatever problem the Queen was having at the time.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Arguably more powerful than the Queen, but seems content to let her rule the Cult directly.
- The Ghost: He's never seen throughout the game, though is constantly mentioned.
- Mind Hive: Every personality of the Unspoken is semi-independent and provides the names for a number of skills and artifacts.
- Mind Rape: In a more selective style than the Queen, the Unspoken abducts Dust-sensitive Cultists and heavily indoctrinates them to serve as Chosen — agents of the Unspoken with no free will or independent thought whatsoever.
- Token Good Teammate: The facet of the Unspoken known as Isiver embodies peace and harmony, and the Chosen influenced by it are said to have formed a sect of the Cult that followed an alternative interpretation of their religion. All mentions of Isiver and its followers are spoken exclusively in the past-tense, however, which probably isn't a good sign.
- Becoming the Mask: He starts out hating the Cult and seeking to undermine them from the inside, but gradually succumbs to the lure of power and the enthusiasm of the cause, until he ends up leading Cultist detachments of his own. For some literal symbolism, the artwork of the final quest mission — where the Disobedient monologues over finally giving in and joining the Cult for real — shows him about to don one of the Cult's distinctive white masks.
- Heel Realization: As the Cult spreads across Auriga and conquers more and more tribes, the Disobedient realizes how badly he'd been suffering from Motive Decay and starts resisting the Cultists again. It doesn't last long, and he soon gives up hope altogether.
- I Have Your Wife: When the Disobedient finally snaps and starts standing up to the Cult again, their response is to conscript his tribe into the army and threaten to use them as meat shields unless he backs down. He promptly surrenders and returns to his duties.
- No Name Given: We never learn his name — he's referred to simply as 'A Disobedient' by the Cultists monitoring him.
The Forgotten
The Forgotten are a faction that all others thought to be lost or dead. Against their will, they were forged into a tight society of violent and distrustful survivors, having spent the final years of the cataclysm alone on the surface of Auriga.
Now, as rifts in their society have led a splinter faction to declare its independence, the Forgotten are risking everything in the hopes that the other factions will accept them – or kneel before them.
Masters of deception, infiltration, and sabotage, the arrival of the Forgotten among the factions of Auriga will change everything. From pillaging extractors to assassinating governors, the rules of conflict will never be the same again.
The Forgotten are a DLC empire featured in Endless Legend: Shadows.
- Badass Creed: "We are the power in the shadows".
- A Commander Is You: Guerrilla/Espionage. For the most part, Forgotten units are very weak early game, with minor faction armies being able to crush you in harder difficulties. But they are permanently stealthed, and their heroes have unique bonuses for spying.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The Forgotten were originally Mezari/Vaulters that suffered horrific mutation experiments at the hands of a group of rogue Mad Scientists known as the Eugenicists. The Eugenicists wanted to modify the stranded Mezari so that they could survive in the at-the-time lethal surface of Auriga, but their methods were so repugnant that the first of the Forgotten rebelled and destroyed the laboratories where they were held, escaping to the surface and building their own nation there.
- Defector from Decadence: The Forgotten are split, with the player taking control of a faction that would claim a position of power in Auriga.
- Dual Wielding: Forgotten heroes and the Assassin and Myst units can all wield two melee weapons, and the Predator has the option of dual-wielding crossbows. This does in fact have a gameplay benefit, allowing Forgotten units to double up on traits from one-handed weapons (though their off-hand weapon only bestows 50% of its direct stat benefits).
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Forgotten could first be spotted in the Dust to Dust trailer for the base game. They wouldn't get added into the game proper until the second expansion.
- Founder of the Kingdom: Bayari Kulaa, the First of the Forgotten. She freed the first of their people from the Eugenicists' pens and led them to a new life in the surface. Her birthday is considered a national celebration.
- Ominous Fog: A heavy visual motif, befitting their stealthy nature.
- Right-Hand Cat: Their leader has a pet owl-moth-thing perched on his shoulder.
- Prophet Eyes: The Forgotten all have cataracted eyes that appear to either glow slightly, or strongly reflect light like those of nocturnal animals.
- Science Is Bad: Distrustful of scientists and inventors due to the suffering they endured at the hands of the Eugenicists, the Forgotten cannot see or exploit Science on the map — the only way they can advance their own tech is to barter for it or steal it.
- Sneaky Spy Species: Their gameplay style is built around the espionage system introduced in their DLC (with their heroes naturally being the best at it), and besides that all of their native units are capable of stealth on the world map.
- Swamps Are Evil: Maybe not "evil", but the Forgotten are quite sinister-looking and their territory in artwork is a fog-shrouded swampland, likely chosen for its relative seclusion and reputation as a dangerous biome.
Ziema Adya was once the Master Shadow — the head of the Warfarer's Divinity — and held ultimate responsibility for the health of the entire Forgotten militia. Bold, strong and gifted, she led her fighters by example. She was fearless in her pursuit of the enemy, and demanded nothing less from those who she led.
Today, that Zeima is perhaps gone forever; perhaps submerged so deep inside that she might as well have been vanquished. Beaten, burnt, flayed, her skill speaks of every detail of her torture. Her movements are tentative, her head always down. Her scars will be a long time in the unmaking — if they will ever *be* unmade. But there is hope: Stare her long enough in the eye, and you will still see the faintest flicker of the woman she once was.
- Broken Ace: She was the best-of-the-best among the Forgotten, but was captured in an ambush and tortured nearly to death. Although you soon rescue her, and she recovers to a point where she's arguably stronger than ever, the descriptions for both versions make clear that she'll never quite be the same person.Many say she is even more dangerous than the Master Shadow of yesteryear, but if you look closely, you'll see a recklessness in her eyes... perhaps, some might say, an emptiness. Some scars will never fade away. Ziema may have mastered the perfect dance of death, but at what price to her soul?
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Was on the receiving end of this from the renegade Forgotten faction.
- Dual Wielding: With Shadowbinder and Shadowbrand. Both swords possess traits that further boost the user's defence and attack, respectively, so long as the weapons are paired together on one hero.
- He's Back!: After training her a bit and repairing her magical weapons, Ziema's vitality and determination are restored. Her existing Hero Unit is replaced with a new one with superior stats, a powerful set of weapon items and a more confident-looking portrait.Ziema Adya reborn, a blazing phoenix raised from the ashes of her destruction, is a sight to behold. Reunited with her dazzling swords Shadowbrand and Shadowbinder, she is a howling dervish of blades and menace as she careens into battle; gouts of blood and spasming limbs trail in her lethal wake.
- Named Weapons: Her two glasssteel swords, Shadowbinder and Shadowbrand.
- Wrecked Weapon: Her Named Weapons were destroyed during her capture, and repairing them is the subject of a quest chapter.
The Allayi
When the Endless first came to Auriga, they did not find an empty planet, but one teeming with life — some of it intelligent.
The Guardians, caretakers of the planets, were one sentient species; another were their helpers and comrades, the Allayi. The Allayi were broken and scattered by the Endless, and for centuries they have survived on the fringes of existence. Handling their traditions and stories down in the form of a religious text, the Epistles, and a book of prayer, the Euchologion, they have been waiting in the snows and the shadows until Auriga once again needs them. And it seems that this time has come...
The Allayi are a people so closely aligned to Auriga that their very nature changes as the Dark Seasons occur. While they are friendly and defensive in summer, when the harsh winters arrive they become aggressive and dangerous, reflecting the madness of the planet. They are tied so closely to Auriga's fate that even their bodies alter to match the evolution of these extreme seasons.
Growing strong once again, the Allayi have returned, prepared to defend and preserve Mother Auriga with all their grim strength.
The Allayi are a DLC empire featured in Endless Legend: Shifters.
- Bat Out of Hell: Their heads do look like they belong to a bat, but for the most part averted.
- Bat People: They are humanoid creatures with bat-like features. They have wings, but they aren't attached to their bodies.
- A Commander Is You: Generalist/Gimmick. For the most part, their bonuses are fairly split, but they have the ability to "shift" between summer and winter forms, gaining different bonuses. And then there is their special connection to the Pearls of Auriga…
- Empathic Environment: Inverted Trope. Their bond to Aurgia is so strong they change with the seasons, both in appearance and personality.
- Healing Factor: Allayi in the summer are the only side whose units naturally recover health in or out of friendly territory.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The Allayi seem to have a mix of bat/moth features.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Enforced by their seasonal gameplay. During summer Allayi excel at trade, food production, and diplomacy. During winter, they are one of the best military factions in the game and the AI usually uses the Dark Season to get some payback on anyone who wronged them during summer.
- Winged Humanoid: With the unique twist that their wings are not attached, but rather float behind them; it's a mystery how they are able to fly at all.
The Morgawr
While much is known of the surface of Auriga, its oceans still guard many mysteries...
While the nations of the planet learned to meet, trade, and war on the seas, another force arose from beneath them. They are — or is? — the Morgawr, a twisted and possessed people that seem to be symbiotic creations of sea life and other, unimaginable species.
Constructed creatures that broke out of their prisons in the abysses of Auriga, the Morgawr are driven to seek the surface by forces they do not understand. Only trusting the waters, the Morgawr can disembark and embark everywhere and their troop transports are faster and stronger than anyone else. Masters of mind control and suggestion, they can control roaming Minor Faction armies for their own nefarious purposes.
Once the planet is theirs, however, their ambition may not be sated...
The Morgawr are a DLC empire featured in Endless Legend: Tempest.
- And I Must Scream: Morgawr remembers being aware while imprisoned for all those centuries. Their goal is to become strong enough that they can never be sealed away again.
- Black Spot: The nautical folklore version is a unique "diplomatic" option for Morgawr, which effectively places a bounty upon another empire, rewarding a bit of Dust to anyone who kills their units.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Morgawr's access to mighty sea monsters makes them the terror of the seas in any game they're present in, but their presence on land is far less imposing. Of Morgawr's three faction-unique units, only one of them is capable of walking on land, and they're a scrawny Support unit. A Morgawr player should expect to suffer some Early Game Hell until they assimilate enough Minor Factions to build a proper military.
- False Flag Operation: Morgawr can use Catspaw to take over neutral units and use them in a similar fashion to Roving Clans privateers, attacking the holdings of other players without betraying their involvement. On the flip side, Morgawr itself can't be fooled by such tactics thanks to its Psychic Powers — the catspaws and privateers of other empires always display their true allegiance.
- Hates Everyone Equally: Morgawr cannot stand the idea that anything could be stronger than itselves. In-game, its diplomatic messages are condescending at best and outright insult you at worst.
- Hive Mind: Morgawr is one mind spread across many bodies. It is noted that some Morgawr heroes are capable of disconnecting themselves from the Hive Mind, if they wish.
- I Am Legion: An odd case. Morgawr diplomatic messages use a bizzare mix of singular and plural words to indicate a mass of bodies that refers to itself as one being, as befitting their hive mind.
- Mind Control: Morgawr is capable of taking control of roaming minor faction armies by spending Dust, though such units suffer from inflated upkeep. They can also incite pacified villages to rebel against the faction that controls them.
- Power at a Price: Morgawr can create three different "totem" accessories, strange animal-fetish trinkets that amplify the Hive Mind, bestowing many powerful traits. However, units that bear totems lose 5% of their Hit Points every turn, which can eventually kill them.
- Psychic Powers: Morgawr's hive-mind is powerful enough that it can be weaponized to dominate the minds of other creatures.
- Sea Monster: Morgawr Vores and Leviathans are nightmarish sea monsters with giant maws.
- See the Invisible: Masterminds and Leviathans can see invisible units within their range of vision. In the former case, this is apparently due to their psychic powers.
The Kapaku
The Kapaku are a DLC empire featured in Endless Legend: Inferno.
- Alien Invasion: The Kapaku are not native to Auriga, or even part of the Endless' experiments on the planet — they hail from a volcanic world that was terraformed by the Sowers, and have fled to Auriga with the intention of terraforming it into a new volcanic world.
- Broken Pedestal: At first the Kapaku are thankful towards the Endless for saving them from the Sowers, and believe they sent them to Auriga so they can make it their new home. But after discovering the other races, and exploring Endless ruins, they realized that they were sent to Auriga to destroy the other races with their technology and help cover up the Endless' long, long list of transgressions and war-crimes. Horrified, the Kapaku begin tearing down statues of the Endless, and try to find a new method of surviving on Auriga.
- Destroy the Evidence: The reason the Concrete Endless shepherded the Kapaku to Auriga was to cleanse it of both the Endless' laboratories and all other living organisms, to ensure that no-one would learn of their inhumane scientific pursuits. Once they learn this, the Kapaku go out of their way to defy this by building a repository immortalizing the Endless' crimes, with the intent to make sure it survives the upcoming Endless Winter.
- Golem: The Kapaku are diminutive creatures, so their armies and labor forces are primarily composed of golems carved from volcanic rock.
- Hostile Terraforming: They thrive on volcanic terrain, which is rare on Auriga and inhospitable for other races, but they have the ability to terraform any tiles into volcanic ones through a process referred to as "volcanoformation", and their ultimate goal is to transform the entire world into a lava planet. Ironically, their original home was the victim of this at the hands of the Sowers, who routinely terraform planets into lush, Earth-like paradise worlds.
- Invading Refugees: The Kapaku are aliens with designs of Hostile Terraforming in mind for Auriga, but they themselves were left homeless by a similar terraforming project inflicted on their homeworld by the Sowers.
- Mysterious Benefactor: The Kapaku were saved from extinction by a group of Concrete Endless led by Overseer Elohys, who is shown obscured by a cloud of steam in the Kapaku's introduction cutscene. They ferried the survivors to Auriga, and granted them technology and Magma Man powers to supplement their golemcraft. It turns out Elohys wanted to use the Kapaku's tech to flood all of Auriga's surface with lava, to hide all the evidence of the crimes the Concretes commited there. This outrages the Kapaku, who rise up against them and kill them.
The Mykara
Ancient dwellers of the subterranean realm, with mycelial webs stretching throughout the crust, the Mykara are one of Auriga's oldest species. Legend has it they have broken onto the surface many times through the ages, in an eternal struggle with the great Urkan beasts.
The Mykara are a DLC empire who emerged in Endless Legend: Symbiosis.
- The Assimilator: The Mykara instinctively seek to absorb and mimic the best traits of other races to strengthen themselves, achieved by infesting living creatures. In-game, this is represented by the Mykara's ability to infest cities and gain various bonuses, which are different depending on which species originally owned the settlement.
- Beneath the Earth: The Mykara's bulk is a subterranean network of caverns and roots that spans the planet, originating from their nexus. In-game, the Mykara build entrances to this underworld by infesting temples and ruins they are aware of, allowing their armies to fast-travel across the world.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The true form of the Mykara is a single-celled organism, implied to be some type of fungus. They weren't even intelligent until they assimilated a Vaulter scientist studying them.
- Festering Fungus: The Mykara are a sentient, colonial fungus race capable of infesting just about any living creature, and their gameplay is based around spreading themselves across the map from a central nexus.
- Foil:
- To the Cult of the Eternal End. Both factions are locked to a single city, but while the Cultists are built more for localized power (hordes of expendable minor faction troops produced by converted villages), the Mykara can exert their influence at a far longer distance (their fungal blooms can be placed on any unoccupied resource deposit or temple/ruin they've already discovered, and their tunnels allow armies to teleport vast distances). The Cultists are Omnicidal Maniacs that destroy every city they conquer, while the Mykara opt to create a Ghost City infested by their fungus.
- To Morgawr. Both of them are Hive Minds, but while Morgawr is a single consciousness spread across thousands of bodies, with a massive chip on its shoulder, the Mykara hive mind is a composite of thousands of assimilated individuals and exhibits a more creepy-serene personality.
- Fungus Humongous: Mykara structures are, naturally, clusters of gigantic mushrooms grown to serve a specific purpose; among them city buildings, walls and fortifications, resource extractors, and gaping tunnels into the underground.
- Ghost City: They create these by having their fungus overgrow villages and cities, assimilating the genetic material within. These places are described as being deathly silent ruins, covered completely in Mykara fungus like a sort of Meat Moss. However, in gameplay terms, the populations aren't killed off or removed; they're simply rendered inert until the fungus is cleared away by another, non-Mykara empire.
- Hive Mind: The Mykara are controlled by a hive mind composed of every sentient being that succumbs to their fungus, according to their story quests. They also call upon Genetic Memory when creating their heroes, instilling autonomous fungal clusters with the skills and understanding of talented warriors and administrators taken by the infestation.
- Land of One City: Like the Cultists, the Mykara are locked to a single city and province for the entire game. They can infest other cities with their fungus to gain their resources and some special bonuses, but these cities are unable to expand, build new structures or recruit units.
- Mechanically Unusual Class: The Mykara only have one proper city, but can gradually use their powers to overgrow enemy settlements, which gives them additional resource generation and, after a few turns, special bonuses.
- Hive Queen: As the first sentient being assimilated into the Mykara upon their reawakening, Toth becomes their dominant mind, directing their actions across the campaign. Subverted towards the end, as the Hive Mind expands to include so many different people that Ágnes' sense of self erodes to nearly nothing.
- Loss of Identity: Over the course of the story, Toth's mind submerges deeper and deeper into the growing Mykara Hive Mind, until she eventually forgets her own past and becomes merely one more voice among the thousands of minds assimilated by the fungus.
- Monster Progenitor: Toth speculates that she may have become this unintentionally, musing that the common humanoid form of the Mykara might be primarily based upon her own genetic material.
- Rip Van Winkle: Toth discovers, to her horror, that the process of assimilating so utterly into the Mykara took nearly three centuries, when she thought she had merely fallen asleep for a single night.
- Sins of Our Fathers: When Toth discovers that those who destroyed her clan are likely centuries dead, she satisfies her need for vengeance by attacking their descendants.
Minor Factions
The Bos are centaurs, who live in herd groupings. They are nomad warriors, relatively simple and uneducated. Wearing little clothing, they are less well adapted to cold climates but still roam far and wide across Auriga. Bos herds build temporary shelters near pastures. Though their villages are not necessarily permanent, the warrior nature of this people ensures that they will always be vigorously defended.
- Counter-Attack: Their main ability gives them an extra counter attack.
- Hordes from the East: Can loosely be described as "fantasy Huns" with the very important difference that they and their mounts are the same being.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: Aside from physical similarities, Centaur is also the name of their faction unit.
The Ceratan are arachnoid centaurs; giant spider ticks with human torsos. They are a subterranean people, so tend to have white hair and pale skin. They prefer feed on anything warm-blooded, but can survive on cold-blooded beasts or even other insectoids. Like other insectoid species, Ceratan reproduce by laying eggs in large cocoons. The protection and care of these cocoons caused villages to develop, when otherwise the Ceratan would be migratory foragers.
- All Webbed Up: A surprisingly benevolent example. The Drider's support ability wraps a friendly unit in a protective cocoon, stunning them until their next turn, but giving them +100% defense and healing them for an amount equal to the Drider's damage stat.
- Creepy Good: While they look rather frightful with their arachnid features and bladed limbs, the Ceratan are quite peaceful, and their military unit is a dedicated healer.
- The Medic: Driders can immobilize an allied unit in a cocoon for a turn, doubling their defense and healing them in the meantime.
- Spider People: The basis of their design.
The Delvers have their origins in humanoids that were trapped deep underground after an earlier cataclysm. They fought their way back up to the light, an effort of decades that made them skilled miners, tunnelers, and explorers. Skilled with digging and mining, little is seen of Delver villages other than portals that lead into the earth. Beneath these simple portals, however, entire underground cities are likely to exist.
- The Blacksmith: One unique sidequest requires you to hire a few Delvers so they can operate an advanced forge built for people of their size.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: While there's no evidence of Delvers enjoying ale or speaking with Scottish accents, they're all short, have long beards, live underground, and are apparently quite skilled at mining and smithing. They also are obsessed with Dust (aka money) to the point that one of their traditions is an extravagant money festival, which you must help them prepare for as a faction quest after pacifying them. In a twist, the Delvers didn't adopt these Dwarven traits by choice, but developed them out of necessity after being trapped beneath the surface.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Their outfits incorporate lots of skulls.
- Spin Attack: Dredges possess the Circular Attack trait. When attacking in melee, they strike their main target for full damage, and all other adjacent enemy units for 50% damage.
Banished after a series of feuds, these Roving Clan families left the life of their caravans and cities, exchanging the luxuries of merchants for the hardships of warriors. The Clans secrets of beast control were used to master the great Burdemek lizards, turning the Dorgeshi into a fearsome heavy cavalry. The Dorgeshi villages show the care this people has for their mounts. They live in burrows along with the stables of their lizards, though it should be noted that their interiors are tiled or bricked, dry, and free of foul smells.
- BFS: They can equip claymores, which are disproportionately large in comparison to their bodies.
- Cool Mask: A combination helmet and mask, wreathed with a mail hood and sporting large horns.
- The Exile: Their warrior code put them at odds with the other clans. While they can be integrated into a Roving Clans empire, they can never truly be one of the actual clans ever again.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: A variant of this: they're the only unit with the Crippling Charge trait, which has a chance to stun enemies that increases per tile crossed.
- Proud Warrior Race: In contrast to their mercantile Roving Clan cousins.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The Dorgeshi were exiled from the Roving Clans for their violent nature, and they remain a highly aggressive Minor Faction, but in their unique sidequest it turns out that their exile was built on lies; the historical documents related to the banishment are forgeries, and the grisly trophies the Dorgeshi are said to keep aren't actually Mezari remains.
These beings are large and formidable multi-headed hydra. They have hands with claws capable of manipulating tools, but tend to fight with their large, fearsome jaws and teeth. Atypically viviparous, this fact has caused them to develop villages and social structures. Extremely protective of their young due to the small size of their litters, they are formidable in defense of their homes.
- The Grotesque: In the lore, they are said to be surprisingly sociable despite appearances.
- Lightning Bruiser: In spite of their large stature, they're apparently quite fast given that their faction bonus gives half a movement point per Erycis village subjugated.
- Multiple Head Case: Seven of them, all with drastically different shapes.
- Spin Attack: Erycis Vinesnakes possess the Circular Attack trait. When attacking in melee, they strike their main target for full damage, and all other adjacent enemy units for 50% damage.
- Snake People: Closest thing Auriga's got to them, anyways.
Blind, and focused more on what cannot be seen than what can be easily seen, the Eyeless Ones care little for appearances. Their villages reflect this fact, being simple mud huts with minimal decoration.
- Blind Seer: Related quests and lore indicate they can see entire different levels of reality than the ones who are "stuck" with traditional eyes.
- Creepy Good: They look fairly intimidating, but their faction unit is a dedicated healer, not a fighter, and they are more interested in religion and mysticism than violence.
- Eyeless Face: As their name suggests.
- The Medic: Their faction unit, the Caecator, is a support unit with the ability to restore the health of targeted allies, and has an aura that provides weaker, passive healing to adjacent allies.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: They've got some real chompers, though they don't really use them.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their bodies are covered in black chitin, and artwork depicts them with red faction markings. Subverted, however, as they aren't violent or even particularly dangerous.
These large, slow-moving herbivores retain some vestiges of their less intelligent ancestors. Though they are often on four legs for eating and resting, they rise up on two for observation or using tools. Simple creatures with simple needs, the villages of the Gauran are often basic things built of sod and deadwood. Uninterested in frills and decoration, the Gauran ask only that warmth and food be present.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Their hierarchy is led by alpha males, the best fighter in a given tribe. The unique quest of the Gauran is to defeat the army of the local alpha using only an unsupported Hero.
The origins of this species are found in a pack of wolves that were driven into inhospitably high tundra after losing a series of fights with the Drakken. Infected by Dust in an ancient ruin of the Endless, their new form has rendered them indifferent to the coldest environments and seasons. Geldirus villages are simple things, befitting a simple people. Often carved from slabs of snow or fitted rocks plugged with mud, their towns are more for storage and social connections than warmth and defense.
The Geldirus are a bonus Minor Faction for those who purchased the Founder/Emperor Edition of Endless Legend.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: They have some shades of Yeti in them, with their snowy white pelts and ape-like posture.
- Uplifted Animal: They were wolves once, or at least wolf-like creatures, until they were mutated and granted sentience by Dust exposure.
An echo or 'ghost' effect of the Virtual bombings, this faction are the partially intelligent remnants of Virtual Endless, typically found in ruins. Drawn naturally to ancient ruins and remnants of history, villages that are now inhabited by Haunts were once thriving centers of long-dead Aurigan peoples.
- BFS: Ended can wield claymores, and their roaming army spawns use them by default.
- Chain Lightning: The Ended's attack deals damage to multiple enemies in a chain.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Haunts are Virtual Endless that have been reduced to fragmentary echoes of their former selves, who just so happen to resemble skull-faced phantoms clad in moldering burial shrouds.
- The Man Behind the Man: The Drakken outwardly worship the Concrete Endless who once ruled Auriga, but the ending of their storyline implies that it is the Virtuals, the enemies of the Concrete, who are actually directing the Drakken civilization from the shadows. Kehangana gets too close to the truth, and a Virtual spirit apparently mind-wipes her for it.
- Only Smart People May Pass: A one-off quest tied to them has a group of Haunts protecting a broken Dust artifact, playfully challenging your people to figure out its original purpose before they hand it over. To succeed, you need to research several science-related techs, and then strengthen the science ministry. It turns out to have once been a component of a Hissho starship.
- Precursors: What they used to be.
These are itinerant tribes that follow herds and crops according to the seasons. Skilled foragers accustomed to living off the land, they are well known for their belligerence and their skill with the bow. Though migratory and warlike, Hurnas take great pride in the quality and the decoration of their homes. Though they can be taken down and moved, when they are set up they provide warmth and fellowship.
- Battle Trophy: Shares this with the Jotus. One quest ends with the Hurnas giving the Player a coat made of Jotus hide.
- Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: Orcs are known for their sophisticated use of the bow.
- Our Orcs Are Different: Aside from looking the part, 'Orc' is the name of the Hurnas' faction unit.
- The Rival: To the Jotus. One unique sidequest has them engaged in a bloody feud with the Jotus, forcing the player to pick a side. Even their racial units, the Orc and Tetike, are Ranged fighters of opposite purpose — the highly mobile Orc is geared for hit-and-run attacks with a longbow, while the Tetike's shorter range and extra counterattack make it better suited to front-line fire support with a crossbow and shield.
The ancestors of this faction were bred for blood sports and as watch beasts. The beasts have rudimentary intelligence and great ferocity; their clans are held together more by fear and strength than by more sophisticated social bonds. Closer to animals than civilized, reasoning beings, the villages of the Jotus reflect the rude and simple lifestyle of their inhabitants.
- Battle Trophy: Shares this with the Hurnas. One quest ends with the Jotus giving the Player a necklace made from a Hurna eye.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The resolution of the Jotus-vs-Hurnas dispute, if the player sided with the Jotus, notes that the Jotus are used to being hated by other races. Shedding blood for their sake therefore results in the Jotus becoming instantly loyal and trusting of the player's empire.
- Cargo Cult: They worship Dust, since it's what gave them their intelligence.
- Counter-Attack: Tetikes have an extra counter attack in melee.
- Heinous Hyena: Just look at the image, for starters. A rare example of the striped variety, too.
- Multiple Head Case: Two slavering hyena heads. At least one of them is awake and alert at any given time.
- The Rival: To the Hurnas. One unique sidequest has them engaged in a bloody feud with the Hurnas, forcing the player to pick a side. Even their racial units, the Orc and Tetike, are Ranged fighters of opposite purpose — the highly mobile Orc is geared for hit-and-run attacks with a longbow, while the Tetike's shorter range and extra counterattack make it better suited to front-line fire support with a crossbow and shield.
- Slave Race: They started out as this, though they apparently outlived their masters' empire.
The Kazanji generate energy not from food but from fire. They live in cold, dry, relatively barren areas. Their form is defined by a very dense and resistant skeleton, around which energies of fire and Dust coalesce. Accustomed to blazing heat, Kazanji villages are built on or near natural volcanic vents. As well as providing warmth and energy, it allows them to exploit a preferred habitat with little competition.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Kazanji are massive creatures, with their primary artwork showing that a Mezari-scaled shield is dwarfed by their kneecaps. In game, Kazanji Daemons are among the few conventional land units large enough to only be represented by a single model, where most other units come in groups of at least three.
- Chain Lightning: The Daemon's attack deals damage to multiple enemies in a chain.
- Dark Is Evil: The Kazanji intro graphic shows one sitting on a throne surrounded by loot and corpses, and they are one of the most aggressive minor factions; constantly pillaging and picking on weaker armies. Still, nothing is stopping you from incorporating them into your peace-loving empire.
- Lean and Mean: They're tall and almost skeletally thin.
- Our Demons Are Different: On the one hand they are towering winged humanoids with horns associated with fire. On the other, the Kazanji aren't explicitly supernatural, they aren't predisposed towards evil, and 'daemon' is simply a title used by their religious leaders.
- Winged Humanoid: With appropriate, leathery bat-wings. This allows them to bypass cliffs and ridges, and even attack through obstacles.
The Magtay are fiercely protective of their culture and their ways. Hard-working and independent, they see little need to bow to another empire and change ancient traditions. Known as a civilization of diligent farmers, the lands of the Magtay are easily identified by their intricate layers of terraces that climb the hills and mountains near their villages.
The Magtay are a Minor Faction added to the game to celebrate the completion of the the Chinese localization of Endless Legend.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Magtay are loosely based upon Chinese folklore.
- Plaguemaster: Zujajun archers have the Disease 2 trait, which means their attacks poison enemies, and the infected spread the contagion to adjacent units upon death. The Zujajun also sport the Disease Immunity trait.
Though bird-like in their appearance, the Nidya are closer to humanoid than one might think. The young are birthed, not hatched, and like other advanced peoples their habitats are carefully chosen for defense, foraging, and observation. Due to their wingspan and hunting traditions, the Nidya are not particularly attracted to living in trees. Building their tunnels and nests instead for easy access and escape, the Nidya keep a careful eye on their surroundings.
- Bird People: Though with some odd-looking wings that resemble moth feelers more than anything else.
- Spin Attack: Nidya Arpuja possess the Circular Attack trait. When attacking in melee, they strike their main target for full damage, and all other adjacent enemy units for 50% damage.
Slow-moving elementals, heavily affected by Dust. The Silics guard the great underground farms where crystal is grown and nurtured; promising ones are blessed with intelligence and life. Silic villages tend to develop around the underground lairs where Dust-enhanced crystals are grown and nurtured. The development is a slow process, guaranteeing that Silic settlements last for decades and centuries.
- Crystalline Creature: They're large, living crystals, who move around using rocky bodies. They reproduce by farming regular crystals and magically giving life to the best specimens.
- Irony: The Harmony hated dust, believing it corrupted and defiled them. Silics, descended from the Harmony, require exposure to dust to gain any sentience at all.
- Mighty Glacier: Harmonites have massive health pools and wield hard-hitting two-handed weapons, but move rather slowly.
The Sisters of Mercy are a small but respected nation, living simply though well in their solidly constructed towns. A recent offshoot of other humanoid peoples, they are content to dedicate their efforts to giving mercy where — and how — they deem it is most needed. Centers of worship and study, the towns of the Sisters of Mercy appear civilized and well-run, though they become quite uncivilized if attacked.
- Amazon Brigade: As their name suggests, the Sisters of Mercy are an all-female group.
- Church Militant: Though it's not stated what exactly their religion is.
- Martial Pacifist: While willing and more than able to fight, the Sisters are overall more interested in protecting and helping others. Two of their unique sidequests involve diplomacy, parleying with Minor Factions or forging peace treaties with other empires. The third, the only one that necessitates violence, is instigated when another empire goes around destroying Minor Faction villages instead of parleying.
- Of Corsets Sexy: The only armor they seem to wear are their sizable pauldrons.
- Saved by Canon: In Endless Space 2, it's revealed that the Vaulters took them along during the flight from Auriga.
- Shoulders of Doom: To make up for their lack of armor elsewhere, apparently.
- Status-Buff Dispel: Justicres have the Benediction ability, which removes negative status ailments from a friendly unit and makes them immune to further ailments for two turns. It also heals them a bit for good measure.
- We Help the Helpless: Their creed. One of their quests has them petition the player's empire to stop another empire from abusing Minor Faction villages, and their unique hero earned her fame by selflessly aiding a city stricken by plague.
These are giant and powerful ogres, simple-minded but humble and withdrawn. Their size and style shows that they are well-suited to heavy labor and digging pits. A simple people who migrate for reasons unknown, Urces will construct villages from local materials, then suddenly leave them empty and move on.
- The Berserker: While good guys, they feel emotions with such intensity that when someone wrongs them or their loved ones enough, they become "rumblers", rampaging across Auriga and lashing out randomly at the world that hurt their friends.
- Beware the Nice Ones: The description for the Rumbler unit. While the Urces are usually content to just wander around eating and building structures, they'll quickly fly into a rage when they or their friends are in danger.
- Dumb Is Good: Urces are intrinsically good, wanting nothing more than a quiet life of eating and building and friendship.
- Dumb Muscle: They're stated to be fairly dim-witted.
- Gentle Giant: Their bio states that they're a quiet and reclusive race, despite their size. Urce Rumblers, on the other hand, are very un-gentle.
- Hidden Depths: While they are Dumb Muscle, the Urces are very skilled at building things. One of their Assimilation Quests requires proving that you can build something large, build it rapidly, and without suffering any problems, which translates into building an improvement in less than five turns.
- Sweet Sheep: The urces consider sheep to be beautiful, kind creatures, and a unique sidequest that can appear once you integrate the urces into your empire sees an urce chieftian solemnly ask you to help find his lost sheep, Igor. He's a real handful once you find him, though, as you'll need to have a governor babysit the sheep in your capital for a few turns until the chieftain returns, where he'll singlehandedly devour 50% of the city's food production.
Other
A mysterious, seldom-seen minor faction that lives in the fortresses across the sea. Fomorians are the masters of shipbuilding, and any combat worthy vessel is usually derived from their designs. Most Fomorians still understand how to operate the fortresses they are housed within, so their cooperation is something worth earning... or demanding.
The Fomorians rule fortresses in the oceans and can be battled or parlayed with like minor factions. Rather than requiring assimilation, Fomorian naval units can instead be researched and built by any faction.
- City on the Water: The Fomorians live on the ocean fortresses that jut out of the water. Taking control of all the fortresses in an ocean region (usually at least two, sometimes three) grants control over that territory to the owner of the fortresses.
- Cool Boat: They build them. They might ask to examine your designs as part of the parley process.
- Death by Cameo: A Hissho stabs a Fomorian with his sword in their opening cutscene in Endless Space 2.
- Mechanical Lifeforms: Artwork in quest/parley screens and various items equippable for ships suggest that the Fomorians are some kind of mechanical life form, likely another creation of the Concrete Endless. They come in various shapes and sizes, not all of which are humanoid.
- Robot Republic: Fomorians are mechanical lifeforms who live in fortresses on the water.
- Saved by Canon: Possibly. Judging by their cameo in the Hissho's opening cutscene in Endless Space 2, some of them may have made it off Auriga. However, due to their unknown origins and them potentially being robots, it may be a case of them existing on multiple planets, though this would still mean that the species as a whole may have survived, even if the ones on Auriga were wiped out. More specifically, there seems to be a population of them in the Hissho homeworld of Uchi, guarding the technologically advanced ruins left behind by the Concretes, including a Behemoth.
- See the Invisible: Bathyscapes can see invisible units within their range of vision.
There are older and greater things in the universe than the Endless, whose few hundred centuries barely scrape the surface of history. What of those older entities, those other forces? Did they disappear before the arrival of the Endless, or could the Endless, at the height of their power, have contained and controlled them? And now that the Endless have faded or moved on, might some of these elder beings suddenly rise up again? These ancient giants, extensions of Auriga herself, have broken free from the chains with which the Endless imprisoned them.
The Guardians are colossal super-units that can be recruited through research and subsequent construction. There are five Guardians, each unique, and they are incapable of co-existing with other units in an army.
- Anti-Air: Neros, if equipped with the Vortex of the Waves, gains Flying Slayer 4, dealing an extra 50% damage to flying units.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Guardians are absolutely gigantic beings, to the point that it's a gameplay mechanic — a Guardian is so immense that it cannot be attached to a conventional army or led by a Hero. The task of constructing a Guardian's body is great enough that it takes an entire dedicated city district just to house the project.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: When Skoros attacks a unit, there's a 50% chance that unit will go berserk and move to attack the nearest friendly unit for two turns.
- Elemental Embodiment: Each Guardian represents a specific element. Fotios is Fire, Gios is Earth, Neros is Water, Atmos is Wind, and Skoros is Dust/Magic.
- Support Party Member: While no less dangerous than the other Guardians, Skoros' items are all designed to grant it a number of different support abilities, such healing, improved attack damage and improved movement distance.
- Tactical Superweapon Unit: The Guardians are comparable to nuclear options—colossal one-man armies that can easily change the tide of a battle by themselves with their outstanding stats and world map abilities. In return, with the amount of time and resources it takes to research and create one Guardian, you could build several city improvements and other units.
The Urkans are three unique super-units that emerge over the course of the game, periodically burrowing between unclaimed territories. The Urkans can root themselves in the ground to claim a province like a settlement, uproot themselves to battle as armies, and can train units of "Urkan Lice" to serve as garrisons or roaming armies. Empires can tame the Urkans by bribing them with luxury resources, or defeating them in combat. Controlling the different Urkans unlocks special research options tied to each.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: The three urkans all possess the Brotherhood of Urkans trait, which reduces the damage they deal to each other by 50%.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Like the Guardians, the Urkans are massive and unique units. Unlike Guardians, however, urkans are big enough to store unit garrisons. One perk researched from Chaka even allows the Urkans to serve as mobile watchtowers from which to survey the landscape.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Urkans and their "lice" are gargantuan insectoids.
- Complete Immortality: With the Indestructible trait, urkans are impossible to destroy by any means — upon being defeated, they simply flip allegiance to the empire that bested them.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Defeating an Urkan in combat causes them to join your empire.
- The Dreaded: According to flavor text, Fakir is the urkan the Mykara fear the most.
- Dual Mode Unit: A tamed Urkan can be deployed in one of two modes of operation at a time. While uprooted, Urkans behave like any other army. While rooted (in a neutral region), they give you effective control over this region and extract resources there.
- Kill It with Ice: The Urkans all possess the Winter Enervation trait, which gives them several stat debuffs during winter.
- Proportionately Ponderous Parasites: Urkan Lice are big enough to serve as a sort of basic militia unit for their respective Urkans' garrisons. Neutral Urkans will spawn roaming armies of their lice to infest local provinces.
- Attack of the Monster Appendage: Type 2. The sea monster is a stack of units representing the main body and its various tentacle limbs.
- From a Single Cell: If you can't destroy the entire sea monster stack within a single six-round battle, the destroyed parts regenerate.
- Kraken and Leviathan: A gargantuan alien squid terrorizing the waters of Auriga.
- I Have Many Names: As the quest description claims, it is known as Muumang to the Roving Clans, Durxeri to the Ardent Mages, and Gelysbyr to Morgawr, with potentially many other names from Auriga's other cultures.
- Tactical Superweapon Unit: A unique giant monster out in the oceans that can be hunted and slain for a hoard of loot.
- Airborne Mook: They have wings and they can fly over ridges and cliffs.
- Lost Technology: Another artifact of the Endless, the Scythers can be dug up and then built by the empire that finds them.
- Mage Killer: Their purpose is to destroy creatures heavily attuned to Dust, implicitly members of the Endless and the Lost. In the present day of Auriga, this translates into doubling their attack and damage attributes against the Guardians.
- Mecha-Mooks: They served as this for the Virtual Endless during the Dust Wars, but their limited effectiveness in their intended purpose led the scythers to be abandoned by their makers.
- Mercenary Units: The Scyther is available to all Major Factions that complete the Wings of Ruin quest and research their technology.
