Iron Empire¶
Civilization
An empire of legionaries where honor decides your trades and an insult means a duel.
| Kind of world | Civilization |
|---|---|
| Serum in the arrival Box | 1 ampoule |
| Native Serum stand-in | None: bring spare Serum |
| Quests | None |
iron-empire-fortWhat happens when you arrive¶
You step out onto green meadow hills with horses, cows and sheep grazing, and a few soldiers in iron walking the slopes. These are the legionaries of an empire that holds every hill in sight, and they are perfectly polite. They are also keeping count of your honor. Here, honor is what buys your way home: the Serum is for sale, but only to travelers the empire respects. Now and then a horn calls the watch in the distance, and iron answers it.
The rule: honor¶
Every traveler starts with 50 honor. It can rise to 100. Below zero, the whole legion hunts you on sight ("Your honor is spent. The legion will hunt you now."). Each dawn your honor recovers by 10, but never above 50.
| What you do | Honor |
|---|---|
| Win a duel (bring the legionary below 30% health so they yield) | +15 |
| Lose a duel (you die) | -5 |
| Flee a duel (more than 24 blocks away for 10 seconds, or leave the world) | -20 |
| Open the commander's strongbox in a fort | -15 |
| Strike a quartermaster | -20 |
| Strike a legionary who has yielded | -25 per blow |
| Kill a legionary, in a duel or not | -30 |
Losing is cheaper than running
A lost duel costs only 5 honor; running from one costs 20. If a duel is going badly, it is better to fall honestly.
Duels¶
Strike any legionary and you have given insult. The whole legion does not pile on: only the one you struck fights you, in a fair duel ("The legionary raises a sword: you have given insult, and the legion will have satisfaction.").
- Bring it below 30% of its health and it yields: it lowers its sword and salutes. You gain 15 honor.
- A legionary that has yielded won't fight again for two minutes. Don't hit it. Hitting a soldier who has yielded is "the gravest dishonor".
- Don't finish it off. Killing one costs 30 honor, which wipes out two wins.
iron-empire-duelThe quartermasters¶
Each fort has a quartermaster who trades. Every quartermaster carries the always-on trades; the others turn up at some of them and not at others. An offer your honor doesn't reach yet shows the standing it needs.
| You give | You get | Honor needed |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Wheat | 1 Emerald | any |
| 6 Iron Ingots | 1 Emerald | any |
| 1 Emerald | 6 Bread | any |
| 2 Emeralds | 5 Cooked Beef (some quartermasters) | any |
| 4 Emeralds | Iron Sword (some) | 40 |
| 4 Emeralds | Shield (some) | 40 |
| 5 Emeralds |  Lotus Extract (some) |
40 |
| 7 Emeralds | Iron Helmet (some) | 60 |
| 10 Emeralds | Iron Chestplate (some) | 60 |
| 12 Emeralds | Golden Apple (some) | 75 |
| 20 Emeralds |  Serum Ampoule (every quartermaster, 2 per stock) |
75 |
You start at 50, so two duels won (50 + 15 + 15 = 80) is enough to buy the Serum.
iron-empire-quartermasterThe forts¶
Forts stand far apart across the hills (a few hundred blocks between them). Inside you'll find the quartermaster, a
storeroom barrel and the commander's strongbox (a trapped chest). Both hold the same garrison stores: bread,
cooked beef, iron ingots, emeralds, arrows, leather, the odd iron sword or shield, 
Lead Ingots, a little
Somnium Powder, and sometimes a golden apple.
The barrel is free to take from. The strongbox costs 15 honor. Open it only if you can spare the honor, and never when you're close to zero.
Serum and getting home¶
- The arrival Box's cache holds just 1 Serum Ampoule. Plan to buy more.
- There is no native Serum stand-in, but quartermasters sell Serum Ampoules outright (20 emeralds, honor 75)
and Lotus Extract (5 emeralds, honor 40), and the fort stores can hold Somnium Powder.
- Emeralds come from the fort stores, or from selling wheat and iron to the quartermaster.
Tips¶
- Two clean duel wins is the fastest way to the Serum. Bring good armor and a sword, and stop swinging the moment your opponent yields.
- Farm wheat or bring iron from home to trade for emeralds: 20 emeralds is a lot without a stockpile.
- If your honor drops below zero, get out of sight and wait for dawn. Each morning gives 10 back.
- Take the barrel's loot, leave the strongbox.
Birds¶
Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.
- Standard Eagle: common
- Dishonor Goshawk: rare, dangerous
The traveler's tape¶
Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.
Read the journal (spoilers)
The legionaries here are courteous to a fault, and they keep a count of every stranger's honor. Strike one and you will not face the legion, only that soldier, in a fair duel; bring them to one knee and they yield, and the legion thinks the better of you for it. Run from a duel, or touch the commander's strongbox, or raise a hand to a quartermaster, and the count falls; let it fall to nothing and every soldier on these hills will come for you. The quartermasters sell to the honored first: arms, then armor, and last of all the ampoules that took me home. Two duels won was enough. Losing one costs less than you would think; fleeing one costs more.