The campaign map
The Messalith campaign map: the 50 regions of a lost Europe, who holds them at the start, what a garrison means, and how the exiles take ground.
Regions
The map is cut into 50 regions, built from real elevation data (see the dry sea). Every region is held by the exiles, the Glass Court, the Brine Choir or nobody. At the start:
| At the start | Regions |
|---|---|
| Unclaimed | 20 |
| The Glass Court | 19 |
| The Brine Choir | 10 |
| The exiles | 1 |
The full list, with what each region is worth, is on regions.
Garrisons
Every region the enemy holds has a garrison from 1 to 5. The garrison sets how many enemies its missions field. A power's regions start at 2, and regions next to one of its fortified places start 1 higher (to at most 4). Unclaimed country starts at 1. Named places carry their own.
Garrisons change. The rival war wears them down, a fallen city takes 2 off every region of that power next to it, and a lost garrison creeps back one step every 4 weeks.
Regions the exiles hold have a garrison of their own, from 1 to 3. It goes up by 1 once a region has been held for 4 weeks, and by 1 with a joined refuge or a taken place in it or next to it. It blunts the strikes that come against it.
Taking ground
The squad can attack any region next to one the exiles hold. The mission is fought on that region's kind of land, against its holder, and its size comes from the garrison. Win it and the region is the exiles', along with any refuge in it. Lose it and the casualties stand, and the region stays where it was.
Unclaimed regions are raided by the nearer power. Taking one means beating a raiding party.
A week at a time
One week passes for every mission. In that week new exiles arrive, crowns come from held forges, garrisons recover, the powers fight each other and they strike at the exiles. See the war.