the game has five factions to be recruited or fought: the fey, the barbarians, the dwarfs, the giants, and the icelords. the main difference between this game and "the lords of midnight" is that the lords now all move and react independently, no longer content to sit in their castles and wait to be recruited. the enemy leader, shareth, also moves around, attempting to recruit armies and lords to her cause, so a major part of the game involves recruiting sufficient forces to counter hers. this makes the relationship between lords very important, as some lords can only be recruited by certain others. certain lords are vassals of certain others, and some may only be recruited by their lieges. recruiting a liege does not, however, automatically recruit all his vassals, nor their respective vassals. lords may also cooperate, recruit and fight each other independently, making the world much more dynamic than the previous game. there are many magic items to be found, most belonging to a single lord and having 'power in battle', as well as magic crowns, and the landscape and its features hold many surprises for the player.