Anyaral Toolbox
A collection of tools for playing Anyaral World of Twilight
It has been several years since the Delgon started their invasion of the Empire. In the early months they made strong inroads into the Northern territories, but with Danomar’s decision to break his oath and ride in defence of the Empire the tide was turned. The Delgon lost some of their early gains, but now hold several Northern towns, with a number of clans now swearing loyalty to the Enarii. The Enarii Roban and NurSen Gohral are still commanding the forces to the North, but the fighting is bitter, with neither side making any real headway.As the invasion was blunted, the Delgon looked elsewhere for easier gains. Their first target was a shocking and unexpected attack on the Engu clan’s capital city of Tonueil. In mere hours the coastal city fell due to a massive invasion by the Dhogu, gathering in unprecedented numbers behind the Enarii, Dehran. The Delgon followed, strengthening their hold on the city. Many of the Engu that escaped now work to undermine the occupying forces, with Cren Blaak leading a dangerous ragtag navy from the many islands off the Enguan Coast. Those unable to fight have fled to the south, with refugees looking for safe harbour from neighbouring and more distant clans.From the established base in the North West of the Empire, the Delgon encroached first to the South, looking to cut a path through the Naralon Forests, harvesting trees and other natural resources to fuel their engines of war. Expansion through that route proved difficult as they had sorely underestimated the anger of the Kedashi who defend the forests. Progress is still being made, but in the meantime good fortune came in the form of an invitation from the Terali council.Danakan had spent time travelling the Empire and the Delgon territories and returned home confident that he could play the peacemaker. He stood before the Terali council and convinced them to extend an invitation to a small delegation of Delgon, under the leadership of Eldeyn ‘the Gardener’, a peace-loving Enarii, to try and broker a peace between the two nations.The Delgon accepted the invitation, travelling down the coast in their newly-constructed fleet of ships from the Engu shipyards, but the Enarii that stepped down from the deck was not Eldeyn, but instead Dehran, accompanied by a large retinue of Dhogu and Delgon.Since their arrival, the Delgon and Dhogu have slowly expanded their foothold in the city. They are still officially seen as guests, but any attempt to negotiate a peace has faltered and many in the city believe that they have outstayed their welcome. Danakan has grown in influence during their stay and still places a high degree of trust in his old travelling companion, the Delgon priest Obal who has been acting as his advisor. NuraSen Todahlin is the notional leader of the Delgon forces, but NuraTan Obal has also been whispering in his ear and guiding his actions.Shortly after the Delgon arrival in Teral, Danakan sent his old friend Muri to stay with the Casanii – Muri had never got on well with Obal, and never learned to hold her tongue. Obal has become convinced that Muri is responsible for seditious posters and leaflets that have been seen across the city.The aging Emperor Arudor has become ever more fearful of the Delgon invasion, raising taxes to pay for the ongoing war and pulling several detachments of the Knights of Dimor in from the southern clans to protect the city of Gar Loren and to maintain the defence to the North of the city. He is furious that the Terali have allowed the Delgon into their lands and has cut off all support and contact, commanding that the trade families may no longer travel to the Teralin Coast. Dohra Tahiin, Engu councillor is staying within the city of Gar Loren, but his repeated petitions for aid to liberate the city of Tonueil have thus far fallen on deaf ears.The outer clans are struggling with supporting the war, the influx of refugees from the conflicted territories and the lack of support to help suppress the ever-present threat of the devanu.Captain Danomar recently travelled across the Empire at the request of the resistance forces within Teral – returning home to the land he forsook many years ago to join the knighthood. He was however captured before he could even enter the city and is currently being held prisoner.Arak Katain, a powerful devanu warlord has been gathering devanu hunting parties from across the Empire to his banner. Rumours that he killed one of the Delgon gods have only grown his reputation, but the depleted knights have failed to track him down and put an end to his growing alliance. There are fears that he may be looking to build a more permanent base of power to return to the devanu to their rightful place as lords of all they survey.
Here are brief descriptions of each playable culture and theme.
This is the broadest and most varied of cultures, allowing you to build a force from a combination of the various subcultures and allies that make up the great fubarnii empire. If you choose to raise an Empire force the best approach is to select one of the subcultures and build around that. The core empire is made up of militia, light cavalry and slingers, who can join any of the subcultures and provide a firm foundation. Building around that you could choose to play a range of different options, depending on the aesthetics or playstyle you like the look of.
These have always formed the core of the Empire forces – highly trained forces dedicated to stopping the devanu from growing more powerful. Knights are normally fielded alongside a core of militia, with a relatively small number of well-trained cavalry allowing dangerous coordinated strikes that can take down the most powerful of enemies.
Noble forces are almost invariably pompous and overdressed, but nevertheless the troops are exceptionally well-trained, accompanied by the characterful nobility they protect. Nobleguard forces will typically have a mix of infantry and elite cavalry and can be themed around specific characters, or even their valuable pets.
The Knights of Orel live in the difficult desert lands bordering the Argoran wastes. There has been long-standing antipathy between the Lords of Orel and the Emperors as they refuse to pay for protection from their knightly orders, instead maintaining their own defences. The Knights of Orel are often seen serving as mercenaries for other clans. This is a great choice if you like your fubarnii to be accompanied by small and large lizard creatures!
The Engu are large hulking fubarnii, who tower over their cousins from the more southerly clans. They have lost their homeland to the Delgon invaders, but bands of warriors still fight on. Engu forces are typically smaller in number, but make up for that with tougher warriors and more powerful attacks. You can also take on a more nautical theme, with large harpoons.
These are a more recent addition that allow you to build a very varied crew. They work particularly well in scenarios, but are flexible enough to be used in more standard games. They give a great excuse to build river scenery and make use of fun boats!
This is more of a fledgling force, built around characters and a handful of troops, but with Danakan or NuraTan Obal as a leader you can comfortably ally with Delgon troops and core fubarnii to give a very characterful and distinctive force. We are currently working on a campaign set in the city of Teral, so this is a good time to get involved.
Mike has always loved sculpting different characters and beasts that aren’t directly part of the various military forces. This has resulted in quite a population of non-combatant models… You can of course just collect these as fun additions, but they are also playable and most can be added to your choice of force (although they tend to be cheap and not overly powerful!) or used as a focus for building your force around.
I generally recommend that everybody should get a small force of Devanu! The adult devanu are very powerful, so just a handful of models can open up a wealth of game options with minimal investment. The individual devanu models have specific rules, but you can easily repurpose them for different roles.
While you can play with just one or two of the adult devanu and a handful of beasts, it can also be fun to play as a larger force of the younger, but still dangerous jenta outcasts.
Koi’Koi is a bit of a unique character, so gets his own special starter force. He is a crippled devanu who has managed to find a way to survive by building his own tribe of young devanu and casanii ferals. This gives an unusual mix of the two forces, but can also act as a great starting point to build out either the devanu or the casanii ferals.
The Delgon are very much the antagonists of the ongoing developments in Anyaral! The basic aesthetic of the Delgon lends itself to masses of dark-armoured troops trudging through the snow, led by ominous robed priests and accompanied by steampunk style creations. Plus, they can field their gods – the giant Enarii, each of whom is a unique and powerful character. When building a force you can choose to focus on the massed ranks of troops, or lean into the mechanised forces led by NuraSen Plutom or other mechanics, with KalMalog striders (with their ‘upgraded’ mechanical legs) and other mechanical creations.
The Dhogu were originally sculpted as a single unit to accompany the Delgon as allies, but the furry-hooved little mercenaries (and their rat-like skerrat) were fun to sculpt and well-received so keep growing in numbers. They can still be allied with the Delgon, but are often seen in their own forces with various woolly beasts and occasionally some large yartain (aka Chicken Bears) under control of Tak Sirahn. The most recent addition to the force is a small unit of Darseni: new, lighter cavalry to accompany the larger yirnak riders.
The Casanii are notionally part of the Empire, but they consider themselves to be a largely autonomous nation, made up of countless small tribes. The Casanii are some of the best troops in the game, even if their warriors might struggle to quite stand toe-to-toe against a devanu. They are swift and agile, with plenty of interesting creatures to use as mounts.
There is also the option to field a force of Casanii ferals – young Casanii who are left to survive on their own to prove themselves before they can rejoin the adults. They aren’t quite as elite as their older cousins, but they do get some fun beasts to help keep them alive, including the rather imposing dompaku!
The Kedashi are a somewhat unique force, made up of swarms of little bird-like frenu and plenty of scary beasts and monsters. I consider the Kedashi to be a slightly more advanced force to play, but once you get the hang of gathering the little frenu into powerful swarms they can be great fun. If you like the look of the force, but want to play in a more traditional manner you can focus on the trebarnii, the fubarnii-like servants of the Kedashi who can still goad the larger beasts into battle using big pointy sticks…