Campaign

In the single player campaign of Eador: Masters of the Broken World, the world has been destroyed in the Cataclysm and shattered into numerous shards that now float in the Astral. These individual shards of the old world are vulnerable to being consumed by Chaos. Only the power of immortal Masters can protect these shards, and the player will assume the roles of one such Master in the campaign.

Each Master controls a shard that is also the source of his power, and he can expand his power by conquering new shards and merging them with their own. The goal in the single player campaign is to find a way to survive the onslaught of Chaos. In the course of the campaign, the player can encounter up to 16 other masters in the Astral, and there are 12 different endings to explore.

Campaign events

See main article: Astral Events.

There are numerous events which happen throughout the player's campaign. Some of them are scripted to occur at the specific turn or after conquering a specific number of Shards, some others under various special conditions. One of the common and recurring events is meeting new Astral masters.

Inhabitants of the Astral

Zarr

Zarr is your Gremlin familiar, and serves as the first (and for a period only) NPC you can speak with in the Astral. He offers you your first clues as to the nature of the campaign world, and will gleefully offer more information as time passes in the campaign. He is opinionated on practically everything, and difficult to get to shut up once you ask him a question. His statements frequently lean on the fourth wall, so to speak, and thus can't be considered very trustworthy. He claims (if asked) that you won his service for "an eternity and a half" in a card game, where the stakes were his service against your becoming part of his "deus ex machina" (playing the part of the deus, naturally).

Masters

These are the AI counterparts that compete with you, in order to get as many Shards as possible. You will meet them as you progress through the campaign, and can speak with them in the Astral between campaign turns. Each has a specific personality, alignment, and goals.

Masters of Eador
Oinor / Beleth / Doh-Gor / Vianta / Oumm / Stenriya / L'Anshar / Dariol / Ul-Dagan / Herskil / Erdu / Dorikos / Adrageron / Ranadil / Nameless / Magnus.

Endings

Reach the turn limit

(Generic ending)

Each campaign has a fixed turn limit that depends on initial difficulty. Reaching the turn limit will lead to an unstoppable Chaos horde invading Eador.

• On Beginner difficulty this happens at Astral turn 90, on Overlord at turn 55.
• You get a warning about it around 10 turns before it occurs.
• To get this ending quickly you can repeatedly end turn in the Astral.
• Note: This is a Steam achievement.

Defeat all the other Masters

(Generic ending)

Destroying all other masters will unite the Eador under your rule, and end the game.

• You only have to destroy 15 masters as Ul-Dagan is removed for you by Zarr (during the Talisman quest line) or after you defeat Erdu.

Surrender in the Astral

(Generic ending)

Surrendering the game will leave Eador to its own fate.

• Use the surrender option in the exit menu when you are in the Astral.

Be unable to continue the campaign

(Generic ending)

If you end up in a situation where there are no valid targets to attack, the game ends.

• This can happen at the start of the game if you fail to take enough shards before meeting other masters or before you are able to attack other masters.
• To get this ending quickly, at the start of the game repeatedly attack a shard and surrender on turn one of the shard battle. Eventually there will be no more shards that you can attack and this ending triggers.

Lose your own world

(Generic ending)

When you are defeated on your home shard after some other master attacks it, the game ends.

• Doh-Gor attacks just after he meets you and other masters will subsequently attack from time to time.
• When a master attacks you get this ending if you lose the shard battle or you surrender.

Destroyer of Life

("Bad" ending)

You can join L'Anshar and help him to destroy all life in Eador.

• When you meet L'Anshar you will be given the option to kill the mortals on your world.
• Agree immediately or agree at a later time however do not wait too long as after a while L'Anshar turns hostile and the option is blocked.
• Continue to conquer shards until you are large enough to trigger the ending.
  • This will happen either just before or just after you meet the last master, Magnus, when your world is hovering around Herskil and Adrageron.
• Once your world is large enough a dialogue automatically appears in the Astral.
  • Choose the option to destroy all mortals on all worlds to get this ending.
• Note: This is a Steam achievement.

Servitude Ending

("Bad" ending)

You can become Beleth’s servant, which will allow him to overcome other masters and rule the whole Eador.

• At initial contact agree that he is to be the master of Eador and that you will be subservient to him.
• Beleth will then ask that you have your population worship him.
• After conquering a few more shards you will be given the option of choosing who your people should worship, choose Beleth.
• Continue to conquer shards until you are large enough to trigger the ending.
  • This will happen either just before or just after you meet the last master, Magnus, when your world is hovering around Herskil and Adrageron.
• Once you are large enough a dialogue automatically appears in the Astral.
  • Choose to become Beleth's servant to get this ending.

The Talisman Ending

("Good" ending)

You can help Erdu in assembling the Talisman to protect Eador.

• Speak to Erdu about Eador's defense to learn about the Talisman, and agree to help create it.
• Erdu will ask that you defeat Ul-Dagan first, agree to do so.
  • Attempt to attack Ul-Dagan to find out he has a barrier up.
  • Tell Erdu about being unable to attack Ul-Dagan and Erdu will tell you to get assistance from the Gremlins.
  • Speak with Zarr and tell him about the machine on Ul-Dagan's world.
    • Zarr will now be busy however you can end turn in the Astral (i.e. you don't have to conquer more shards) to progress.
  • Zarr will return and open a dialogue in the Astral.
    • Tell Zarr you want to destroy the schematics and parts, Zarr will protest, persist down this dialogue path and eventually Zarr will refuse to hand over the schematics and parts.
  • Tell Erdu that you are unable to obtain the parts and that the Gremlins have them.
    • (Alternatively, you can have Zarr give you the schematics and parts and then choose to destroy them).
• Erdu will then tell you that the Talisman requires three pieces.
  • You find them one piece at a time, one shard at a time, on any unowned shard you set out to conquer.
  • You are told about the exploration location that contains each piece and you need to clear those locations to find it.
    • Not every location will contain the piece however they do appear to have a fair probability of being found.
  • The first piece is in an Abandoned Temple.
  • The second piece is in a Labyrinth, you will need to search for the Heart and when you find it (which is random), defeat the Minotaur's guarding it.
  • The third piece is in a Primeval Thicket.
• Once you have all three pieces the Talisman is automatically assembled however you still need to destroy Demon spawns on shards.
  • These can be identified by province locations occupied by Demons and Demonologists.
  • Far greater value is placed on higher rank creatures so to complete this quickly focus your search in provinces that are far from any master's castle province.
    • This includes areas of a shard that are unoccupied (i.e. no master starts in or near it), and provinces that are equidistant between your castle and another master's castle.
    • A good guide is the strength of the defenders of a neutral province - if they are numerous and contain high rank units the guards at exploration locations will also typically contain high rank units.
  • If you are thorough and you clear the larger shards you can complete this in two shards or potentially even one.
  • The progress value is continually tracked so you can make some progress then complete the shard to see that progress and, if it is insufficient, reload a save from the shard battle and continue clearing until you achieve your desired progress.
• When enough Demons are destroyed this ending triggers.

The Keys of Truth Ending

("Good" ending)

The player can collect all the Keys of Truth to gain rule over Eador.

• There are seven keys and they are found in reverse order.
• Keys are either on unowned shards or are held by, or obtained with the help of, another Master.
• For keys on shards:
  • You must find the key before you finish the shard as you do not get a second chance.
  • You will be notified that a key is present within a few turns (around 5) of the start.
  • Not every shard will have a key on it.

• Key 7 you always learn about around when you meet Stenriya.
  • You will learn about the Keys from the Wounded Old Man event during conquering the shard.
  • Tke key is found on an unowned shard in an Abandoned Temple location in the province named Valley of the Ancients.

• Key 6 is held by Stenriya.
  • You have to speak to her about the key and follow a dialogue path questioning her about the key until she asks that you defeat Doh-Gor.
  • Agree and then defeat Doh-Gor.
  • Speak to Stenriya again and she refuses to hand over the key.
  • Attack her world and defeat her to obtain the key.

• Key 5 is found on an unowned shard.
  • It is in an Ancient Ruins location in the swamp province named Khorian Bogs.

• Key 4 is found in the world of the dead which can be reached through the following means:
  • L'Anshar:
    • He will give you the key willingly if you agree to destroy mortals on your shard (or have already did so).
    • Or you might extort him by threatening to tell everyone about the secret that his soul is stored in a phylactery (an information that you might have obtained from Ul-Dagan by giving him an Ancient Part).
    • Alternatively, you might forcefully take the key from him by defeating him.
      • Note that if you decide to destroy him, you will only gain the key if you attack him through the dialogue asking for the key. This is the dialogue tree starting with the question "Do you know how I can enter the world of the Dead?", following with "The Key of Truth is kept in the world of the Dead. I need it.". After that L'Anshar will ask you to destroy mortals on your shard and you might reply "I'm not going to do that. Give me the Key, or I'll destroy you!", which will allow you to attack him and will grant you the key after his defeat.
      • On the other hand, you will not obtain the key after defeating him if you attack him through "generic" way ("Time to cast you into Chaos, L'Anshar. Prepare for battle!")!
  • Beleth, who will tell you about how you need to find an Altar of Death location and send a hero through it.
    • This information will cost you 100 Astral Energy and will utilise gremlins passing some secret message from Beleth to the shards he owns.
    • You can then do this on any unowned shard.
  • Zarr, who assists if L'Anshar and Beleth are both already defeated.

• Key 3 is found on an unowned shard.
  • It is in a Ruined Tower location in the forest province named Wood of Lost Dreams.
    • In the New Horizons mod, the location is called Tower of Hope and the province Forest of Forgotten Dreams, guarded by Elves.

• Key 2 is held by Dariol.
  • Dariol should give it to you if you ask nicely.
  • If Dariol is already defeated it will instead be in the Astral Vault which Zarr can help you access.

• Key 1 is found on an unowned shard.
  • It is in a Dragon Lair location in a province named Draconia.

Once you have all of the keys a dialogue automatically appears in the astral and you are given the option to use the keys to obtain this ending.

The Destroyer Endings

("Bad" endings)

These three endings involve the Destroyer and have one aspect in common: they require that you find Ancient Parts.

• You get one part for free before you meet Ul-Dagan, during an astral event where the populace of your world sends it to the Astral.
  • Keep this part, do not throw it away or sell it.
• You will need to find 4 more parts.
• You cannot find more parts until you meet Ul-Dagan and ask him about topics that he will not answer unless you give him a part.
  • You do not have to give Ul-Dagan any parts at this point, only find out that he wants them.
• Once you know Ul-Dagan wants more parts they can be found on any unowned shard, in the following exploration locations:
  • Dark Cave
  • Ruined Tower
  • Ancient Ruins
  • Primeval Thicket.
• The chance of finding a part is very low so you will probably have to clear a large number of them, and delay finishing a shard, until you find one.
• IMPORTANT : Only find one part per shard.
  • You can find multiple parts per shard however only one transfers to the Astral yet it appears that it counts any others as found internally, preventing you from finding more.
  • Thus to avoid blocking Destroyer related endings finish conquering a shard after you find a single part.
  • Therefore you will need to conquer at least 4 shards to find the 4 parts you need for these endings.

Allow Ul-Dagan to assemble the Destroyer

You can give Ul-Dagan enough Ancient Parts so that he finishes the Destroyer himself.

• Ul-Dagan needs you to give him 5 parts in total which you give to him via dialogue by asking about various topics.
  • One topic is regarding the Cataclysm and is available when you meet Ul-Dagan.
  • Three topics become available as you meet other masters, with the last master being the Nameless, the second last master you meet.
  • One topic is about Doh-Gor's amulet and requires you to defeat Doh-Gor, keep his amulet, inspect the amulet, ask Zarr about the amulet, and then ask Ul-Dagan about the amulet.
• Once you have given Ul-Dagan 5 parts then on the next Astral turn you will get this ending.

Use the Destroyer to eliminate all other masters

You can assemble the Destroyer on your own and use it to destroy other masters.

• You need 6 Ancient Parts in total to build the destroyer.
  • You get one part for free.
  • You need to find 4 parts on unowned shards.
  • Ul-Dagan already has one part which you get when you take his schematics and parts.
    • If you give Ul-Dagan parts in exchange for information then you will also get those back (i.e. no parts are ever lost).
• Erdu must be alive as Ul-Dagan is automatically defeated if you defeat Erdu.
• Once you have 5 parts you must take Ul-Dagan's schematics and parts.
  • Attempt to attack Ul-Dagan to find out he has a barrier up.
  • Speak to Erdu about Eador's defense and learn about the Talisman.
  • Agree to help with the Talisman, agree to kill Ul-Dagan, then tell Erdu about being unable to attack Ul-Dagan and Erdu will tell you to get assistance from the Gremlins.
  • Speak with Zarr and tell him about the machine on Ul-Dagan's world.
    • Zarr will now be busy however you can end turn in the Astral (i.e. you don't have to conquer more shards) to progress.
  • Zarr will return and open a dialogue in the Astral.
    • Tell Zarr you want everything Ul-Dagan was working on and that you intend to use it (i.e. don't say you want to destroy it).
    • Zarr will be busy again and you can progress by ending the turn in the Astral again.
  • You will now get the schematics and parts (including any parts you gave to Ul-Dagan earlier).
    • Examine the parts and schematics.
    • Choose to keep them.
• When you have 6 parts in total you will get a dialogue on the next Astral turn (you can end turn from the previous step if you already have all 6 parts).
  • Assemble the Destroyer then choose the option to destroy the other masters to get this ending.

Use the Destroyer to subdue all other masters

You can assemble the Destroyer on your own and force other masters to surrender.

• The process of getting this ending is the same as the other Destroyer ending.
• The difference is that in the final dialogue you choose to use the Destroyer to force the other masters to surrender.