Dread League



For centuries, necromancers and vampires have resided in the frozen north of Griffonia, with only the Arcturian Order to protect the other nations of Griffonia from invasion.

Yet the patrols of the Arcturian Order grow infrequent, and the fractious league still plots from its hidden fortress of Magehold, their numbers swelling as practitioners of dark magic are compelled to travel there by the calling of the strange evil that taints the land.

Rosa Maledicta, a pony necromancer of skill, ambition, and talent - is a rising star in this dark council. She is prepared to go to any length to unite the Dread League into a true empire and wipe the curse of life from the world.

Will the mortals be ready to face the oncoming tide, or will hordes of flesh and bone consume them all?

The Structure of the League
The ancient and long-lived Dread League is one of the most peculiar nations in all of history, with a political system run by two societies of liches and vampires. The necromancers of the Society of Bones raised ancient bones as skeletons and recent corpses as zombies, raiding graveyards and fresh battlefields to create a powerful tide of mindless horror. Their most powerful necromancers became liches, near-immortal individuals with their souls sealed away in a phylactery. The vampires of the Coven of Blood, though few in number, fought with superpony ferocity and agility, converting promising individuals to their number, and entrancing mortals to serve them as servants and soldiers - thralls. Their education, appreciation of tactics and manipulation gave them a subtle danger different from that of the mindless hordes.

The ghouls provided the unglamorous backbone of the empire. Intelligent and undead, they needed to feast on flesh, especially brains, to prevent decay into mindless zombies, and provided the labour, manufacture, and intelligence needed to run the empire. The Arcturian Order was founded to halt the tide of the Dread League, but they found inhabiting an inaccessible frozen wasteland difficult, and soon dwindled in number and strength. Interest in fighting in some eternal crusade against the dark forces of Magehold dwindled, and patrols that once scoured the land now rarely passed.

Rosa Maledicta
Change is stirring in the Dread League. Rosa Maledicta is one of many necromancers who are struggling for control over the fractured nation which is the Dread League. Rosa has recently risen as the de-facto leader of the necromancer council, but in the fickle lands of darkness, that may well quickly change. Rosa rules with an iron hoof, crushing all opposition with ruthless aggression and tyranny.

Once a unicorn living in the peaceful lands of Equestria, she has been called to the land of the dead by promises of power and justice. She was never happy in Equestria. Ponies rejected her dark talents and she has been betrayed by her old pony friends more times than she can count.

Never again. If the world will not love her, the world will learn to fear the name of Rosa Maledicta...

Starting Mechanics
The Dread League's gameplay is completely dominated by three sets of penalties and bonuses.

Detached Country represents the Dread League as essentially a land forgotten by time and cut-off from the rest of the world, mostly stagnant. Magehold national spirit represents the Dread League's unique attributes as an undead army. Diplomatic Penalties - The undead are mortal enemies of all life, and all factions receive a penalty to opinion. The Dread League cannot improve opinion, and thus cannot trade with anyone.
 * penalty to research speed,
 * to construction speed and to Production Efficiency Cap
 * Cannot be justified on
 * Mass armies of the dead - Recruitable population, and  monthly population represent their large size and quick production, and 0% non-core ponypower to represent that (living) non-core ponypower cannot be used for their armies. They also receive  Width for Infantry and Magical Infantry, allowing them to fit greater hordes of undead into any battle
 * Need little supply, with supply consumption,  division attrition, and no heat or winter attrition. This means that Dread League armies can function effectively across tough terrain and in almost all conditions.
 * Research Penalties - with a further penalty to research on top of the Detached country penalty, you won't be researching fast
 * Command Power Mechanics - With command power generation, command power will generate far more slowly. This command power can be spent on unique abilities - Dread League does not have the standard Force Attack / Last Stand / Staff Office Plan abilities.

Cannot Justify Wargoals - The Dread League will have two enemies. First, the Arcturian Order, and then, every nation on the planet. There are no half measures when it comes to this war.

In short, the Dread League uses giant hordes of low tech, attrition/supply immune undead to overwhelm enemies, and will have to do so alone without the benefits of war justifications. The Dread League starts with 2 regular trained division totaling 12k used ponypower equipped with medieval melee weapons.

Raising the Dead
Starting with 25% recruitable population (out of a total population of ~1.7 million), the Dread League shouldn't struggle to fill their armies for the conquest of the Arcturian Order. However once the war is won, extra bodies will pose a problem, as the Dread League cannot receive non-core ponypower.

The Dread League receives new decisions to begin converting the living in their conquered states. Running this decision will use crystals and reduce PP gain, but in exchange, each month, a portion of the living in conquered states will be killed and added as undead ponypower.

These hordes shall provide more than enough ponypower - the Dread League's greatest challenge is producing enough weaponry to equip its near-endless manpower.

Spending Crystals
Dread League special abilities are unlocked with the Mors Lucis focus. The Dread Army relies on the use of and  for many of their special abilities.

Just as with production, resource usage is temporary. For example, Steel will be unavailable for use whilst it is being used to produce guns, but available once production is ended. Similarly, Crystals will be unavailable for use whilst being used for Dread League decisions, but will return after some time once the decision is completed.

Spending Command Power
With command power generation, command power will generate far more slowly. This command power can be spent on unique abilities - Dread League does not have the standard Force Attack / Last Stand / Staff Office abilities. Note that these abilities are extremely powerful, and will likely be critical to the success of the Dread League.


 * Drown them in Bodies
 * Base Cost 0.22/battalion, 7 days
 * Attack:
 * Breakthrough:
 * Organisation Losses:
 * Strength Losses:
 * Cannot Retreat While Attacking


 * Terrorise
 * Base Cost 0.22/battalion, 7 days
 * Division Recovery Rate:
 * Divisions Speed:
 * Breakthrough:
 * Strength Losses:


 * Undying
 * Base Cost 0.22/battalion, 14 days
 * Organisation Losses
 * Strength Losses

Rosa's Transformation
Once Rosa reaches the end of her respective Bone / Blood tree, she will take a quest for the Chalice, which will ascend her to a more powerful being - a Lich or Vampire. This will grant her very large bonuses, shown below.

War With the Arcturian Order
On completion of the Ravening Hunger / All Consuming Horde focus, the Dread League may declare war upon the Arcturian Order for 100 political power. However alternatives are available for both the Coven of Blood and Society of Bones paths. Should either attempt fail war will be automatically declared.

Diplomacy (Coven of Blood)
Rosa may call a diplomatic meeting with the Arcturian Order. The Arcturian Order will have an opportunity to agree to a meeting or decline.

Should a meeting be agreed, Rosa can attempt to corrupt their leadership, or falsely propose a treaty of peace and friendship.

Corruption Effort

The Arcturian Order will receive a decision on whether fall under Rosa's sway
 * Rosa Succeeds - Rosa will attempt to further corrupt their leader and propose unification. The Arcturian Order will receive a decision
 * Rosa Succeeds 2 - Arcturian Order is annexed
 * Rosa Fails - War is declared


 * Rosa Fails - Arcturian Order will counter, attempting to sway Rosa from her corrupted ways. Dread League will receive a decision on this.
 * Rosa Agrees - Rosa agrees to disband the Dread League and their members shall embrace the light. Arcturian Order receives a focus to auto-annex them.
 * Rosa Refuses - ' War is declared.

Treaty Effort

Rosa will request peace and friendship under false pretenses. The Arcturian Order will receive a decision.
 * They are receptive - Rosa is taken back and they push the idea. Dread League receives a decision
 * Agree to peace - The Dread League is annexed by the Arcturian Order.
 * Refuse - War is declared


 * They reject the idea - Rosa will accuse them of hypocrisy and not embracing the peace they claim to defend.
 * They embrace her criticism - embracing darkness, they will join the Dread League
 * They dismiss her words - war is declared.

Infiltration (Society of Bones)
The Dread League will send a small team of their finest necromancers to raise dead behind the lines of Arcturian Order, striking deep within their territory. Three methods will be available, each with a different effect on them if successful. The war will begin after completion, regardless. In general, this method will succeed.
 * Food Sabotage
 * Recruitable Population:
 * Monthly Population:


 * Industry Sabotage
 * Production Efficiency Cap:
 * Production Efficiency Growth:


 * Terror Attacks
 * Recruitable Population:
 * Army Organisation:
 * Effect of Enemy Partisans:
 * Army Offence:

The Black Crusade
Once the Arcturian Order is defeated, the Focus Finus Omnium Vitarum is unlocked, which will start the Black Crusade. '''This will continuously declare war on any neighbouring countries. '''The timing and positioning is absolutely critical, as it will mean taking on heavy hitters such as the Griffonian Empire, River Federation and even eventually Equestria. Do not capture a neighbour unless you are prepared to war with their neighbour.

The post Crusade Tree provides generous allocations of factories, urgently needed buffs (notably a piercing / hard attack buff that will enable the Dread League to manage against tanks), and even a further -100% to research speed. However, all of these take a long time.

More critical are the Black Crusade Decisions, that will help offset a critical lack of tech. All tech bonuses are from research if not ahead of time, or for ahead of time penalty if ahead of time. Once the Dread League has taken >9 nations, every major and faction leader will be given an event to declare war on the Dread League.

Can you conquer the entire world with an army of undead and complete Rosa's mission?

Coven of Blood and Society of Bones
Rosa Maledicta must choose between the two competing factions - the Coven of Blood and Society of Bones. These trees must be completed before the Dread League can go to war and they have a dramatic effect on the style of gameplay. The Vampires of the Coven of Blood are more powerful combatants, and will dramatically reduce the tech penalties of the Dread League. The skeletons of the Society of Bones are more numerous, hardy, and organised, but retain the very large tech penalties.

To summarise, the Coven of Blood favor a more aggressive attitude when going to war. Their focus tree helps the Dread League stay at odds with the enemy by reducing technology research penalties. Their bonuses to division attack, planning, speed and recovery rate help them launch successful offensives against the enemy, help your divisions quickly recover and get ready to defend your newly gained territories. Their bonuses to division attack, speed and recovery rate also help them quickly encircle divisions and prevent any attempts of the enemy to relieve the encirclement. While the Society of Bones favor a more defensive attitude when going to war. Their focus tree helps them repel any attempts by the enemy to launch a successful offensive or counteroffensive by giving bonuses to division defence and organization. Their focus tree does not give any bonuses to research time reduction or division attack, but instead give bonuses to division training time, monthly population and recruitable population. This favors a war of attrition tactic when deciding to attack, forcing you to micromanage your divisions, deciding which exact divisions and the amount of them to use when attacking certain provinces and waiting for the enemy to wreck their own supply lines and use up all of their available ponypower by stacking more and more divisions in one state.

Supporting Trees - Ghouls and Voodoo
The following two trees can help develop the Dread League. They are not mutually exclusive.

Staff and Designers
Political Advisors Tank Designer Ship Designer Aircraft Designer Materiel Designer Industrial Concern Theorist Chief of Army Chief of Navy Chief of Airforce Military High Command