Fall of an Empire News

Hi all, I've got some good news: in three months, we're releasing a prologue, "Path to the Throne". If you've played the demo, it's a total overhaul of that. I thought it wasn't all that great - too mechanically simple, too janky, to be a proper grand strategy game. So for the past ~12 months I've been totally redoing the game to better fit my vision.



Revamped Combat: The system has been rebuilt from the ground up for more strategic depth - rather than the simple system where two armies battle it out with no player interaction, they're now made up of multiple phases, in which each army can choose from one or more actions to turn the tide of the battle - bribe your enemies, spy on them to see what units are fielded the next phase or switch which units you will field. This is all done in real-time.

Espionage: New covert options to undermine rival factions - spy on them, steal from them, sponsor rebellions in their territory.

Resource & Food Management: Balance your needs more carefully with 18 resource types with different effects - some are needed to build specific units, some are for improving relations with vassals, some are needed to produce different kinds of resource. Food is required to maintain your population and your population's relations with you - lacking food causes starvation.

City Buildings: Construct and upgrade buildings to shape your urban centers - churches, walls, military barracks, monasteries, granaries, workshops, docks and more. Each level of settlement has different types of building - small rural churches in villages, basilicas in large cities. Special locations like monasteries and military camps can construct special buildings like cloisters and redoubts.

Improved Graphics & Animations: Including new siege combat visuals, better lighting and post processing, new models, shaders and textures, a cleaner, more intuitive and better-looking UI (with more tooltips and a more efficient use of space), and more.

Better AI: The enemy AI has also been improved to be more challenging - it now makes better and more tactical decisions about what to build, where to attack and how to control its armies.

Seasons: The game world now changes according to the season - snow gradually comes down the mountains in winter, in autumn the leaves of deciduous trees turn red and fall from the branches, the grass dries out in summer. This also affects the game world - certain resources are produced more or less depending on the season, so the player has to build granaries to prevent starvation.

Procedural Cities: Watch your settlements grow organically based on size and fortifications.

Expanded Factions: Three distinct factions to defeat with unique dialogue trees and diplomatic options - Corvinia, Virturia and the Imperial Domain.

Enhanced Settings: More control over your game experience - granular graphics and audio settings.

All these features will, of course, also be added to the main game, which will be released in Q3 next year. Your continued feedback will be crucial as we move towards the final release.

Path to the Throne will be available on Steam for Windows on October 1 9am PST. Stay tuned for our upcoming trailer. As always, check out the Discord or r/fallofanempire for more news.

The Republic of Vicisoria was founded as a trade colony of Sarmachia circa the 12th century BC. Originally a small post developed to exploit whales and valuable spices, the colony fell under the influence of Rephsis shortly after its history began.


Vicisoria was the birthplace of the Guild system that later spread to the rest of the Empire. Most of the governance of the province was originally led by the guilds, with each one having the ability to make their own laws (as long as these laws didn't conflict with a law of another guild, a problem that caused multiple long-running disputes and low-level conflict between them).

For seven hundred years Vicisoria was ruled by a hereditary council consisting of the leaders of the four (originally seven) biggest trading guilds and two representatives from the Naval Guilds that defended the province. Over time the wealth and power of the two guilds grew to equal that of all trading guilds combined, and after a quirk of inheritance led to the admirals of both becoming the same person he overthrew the council and led the province himself as its Admiral, with total approval from the Emperor, who retained the right to pick the Admiral's successor.


Vicisorian sailors were the first to discover the southern continent of Zeugitania, and the first to begin building colonies there. The five Zeugitanian provinces were known for their culture, which was strongly influenced by that of Vicisoria, which became prosperous from controlling trade and exerting influence over the southern provinces. However, it was dealt a major blow when famine struck the colonies and the cities started being harassed by barbarians from beyond the desert. After the imperial decision to abandon the five provinces, the remaining population was largely resettled in Vicisoria, giving the province's culture an exotic flavour.


The current Admiral of Vicisoria is Constantinus. It was his great-grandfather who finally began passing the reins of power from father to son, without consulting the Emperor in Rephsis. Constaninus's goal will be to continue this arrangement, and any hints of its end will not go down well. Descendants of Zeugitanian colonists also wish to attempt to restore control over the former colonies, although this is an expensive task that's almost certainly doomed to fail. Vicisoria, as an important naval power, is vital for the safety of the empire. If the Western Provinces fall to barbarians it will be open to attack, and this would be disastrous for your future as Emperor.

The Western Provinces are the sparsely-populated military frontier of the empire of Rephsis. Arid and difficult to defend, these underdeveloped lands are under threat from barbarians.



The area was originally uninhabited aside from a few barbarian tribes. Its coasts, however, were rich whales. Trade outposts were established around 750 BC, but were generally unprofitable due to barbarian raids. The region became prosperous when the Seven Western Provinces military frontier was established in the fourth century BC, and the province's cities experienced a boom in their population.

When the whales disappeared from the oceans the provinces fell into a steep decline. In 20 AD an envoy sent by the emperor in Rephsis found that not only had the cities ceased to exist but that there was no trace of their existence. Villagers of the surrounding areas were ignorant, and it was determined that they had no knowledge that there had ever been cities in their area, even when they should have been only five miles away.



With no cities and no financial base, the Western Provinces were put under the command of a High Protector, appointed directly from Rephsis and reporting directly to the Emperor. After seven hundred years the current High Protector is Tertullian, a celebrated Corrinan legionary commander who served in the Revolt at Thiuginaz.

Tertullian is a stern man, loyal to a fault to the Empire - although not necessarily to the Emperor himself. Years of defence against barbarian incursions have left their toll on the frontier, and the lands he rules directly lack the dense population required for its upkeep. As such, the High Protector requires a steady stream of manpower from the rest of the Empire. Too high and Tertullian may feel like using his force on other targets, but too low and the borders of the Empire itself will be in jeopardy.

Sarmachia is the second-most powerful province of the empire, and as such is ruled by the second-most powerful man in the empire.



The August, governor of Sarmachia is a hereditary title dating back pagan times when the Empire was divided in two, one half ruled from Rephsis and one from Sarmachia. Provinces were successively brought under Rephsian control in a series of civil wars, and as a measure to keep the peace the core of Sarmachia's territory was organised as a new province and its ruler was allowed to keep the title of August.

As a hotbed of paganism and the centre of the Lion Cult and Parmidia-worship, Sarmachia dominated the continent in religious matters, even after being re-subjugated by Rephsis. However, their fortunes changed when Christian emperors outlawed pagan beliefs and wiped out the province's shrines.

Currently, the ruling class of Sarmachia resents their status in the Empire. Despite their huge population and wealth the they are only granted the same Senatorial representation as every other province, and their trade guilds are considered second-rate at best. Many in Rephsis believe that Sarmachia never truly abandoned their pagan ways.



August Julian is the current ruler of Sarmachia. Ascending the throne at the age of 15 after his father's death, Julian is a young but ambitious and opinionated ruler. While outwardly a staunch Christian, he has nonetheless criticised the destruction of the temple of Parmidia, a move that drew condemnation from the Church in Apsodenia.

His main concerns are surviving the deadly politics of his court. Strong factions developed during his five-year regency and his regent, the Count of Sirmona, antagonised what could have been some of his biggest supporters. However, if he's able to overcome these threats and unify the province he may be a dangerous threat to you.

Ruling a vast continent isn't simple, and for an empire in decline it's even more difficult. As such, an emperor can't control every aspect of it directly - instead it's split up into twelve provinces:

• Sarmachia
  
• Siparria
  
• Tesqua & Montania
  
• Corrina
  
• Apsodenia
  
• Upper Fluvia
  
• Lower Fluvia
  
• Vicisoria
  
• Thiuginaz
  
• Variana Inferior
  
• the Imperial Domain
  

Of these, only the Imperial Domain is under your direct control. All the others have their own governors - in some that's a senator, others a general, chief or king. These rulers have their own goals and ambitions, which can be a help or a hindrance when they come into conflict with your opponents or yourself respectively.

Each provincial ruler has a level of loyalty toward you. The exact value is hidden to the player, but you'll be able to make an educated guess on their opinion toward you, whether it's hostile, neutral or happy (let us know in the comments whether you'd prefer an actual indicator or whether it would be better to infer it from their dialogue).

The rulers will want you to do certain things for them. These can range from a bribe, to stationing troops at their cities to quell unrest to resolving a dispute with a neighbour in favour of them. It's a careful balancing act, and pushing a vassal too far can make them withhold taxes from you, refuse to allow you to recruit armies from their settlements or even completely turn against you.

Provinces vary in size and power, so you'll need to decide which rulers you want to placate and which ones can get thrown under the bus (or chariot) because you don't care about them. The only province which can never betray you is the Imperial Domain, which is powerful but not powerful enough to defeat two vassals if they went against you.

In future Dev Diaries we'll go more into detail about the provinces and their rulers, but next up is the game's combat system.