The DOOMSDAY CLOCK
The Paradigm Worlds are constantly on the verge of self-destruction. They are consumed by hate, evil, and cruelty. Their kingdoms and countries are ruled by tyrants and dictators. Empires are falling, and they're taking everything with them. In this world in which you fight to survive, every dishonorable act - bribery, slave trading, cannibalism - brings you closer to chaos and anarchy.
The DOOMSDAY CLOCK is always ticking. Every day is a single tick of the clock - a countdown to hell. With every tick, enemy parties become stronger and better trained. Lords have bigger praties and use more advanced units.
Some exceptionally good deeds can turn back the DOOMSDAY CLOCK, but there is only one way to stop the world from falling apart - to prevent the DOOMSDAY CLOCK from advancing you have to build a temple in every town, meaning you must conquer the world to free the world.
The maximum value of the DOOMSDAY CLOCK is 666.
The day after the clock strikes this value, a vey bad thing happens.
From the void of chaos, a spawn of Ketele, Dark Motherwhore of Chaos and Despair arrives on the soil of the Paradigm Worlds. Ketele is the name given by fearful people and fanatic cultists to something that is beyond the perception of a humanoid's mind.
Ketele does not come alone. She has a huge, horrifying army. It is evil. It is aggressive. And it WILL hunt you.
The arrival of Ketele is followed by horrible events. She consumes the vitality of every living creature in the Paradigm Worlds. With each arrival, everyone on the planet loses part of their attributes. This loss becomes more severe with each cycle of the DOOMSDAY CLOCK.
In theory, at some point, attributes could drop below zero. Any unit this happens to will become Ketele's puppet. It will change its allegiance, relations, everything - just to fulfil one desire: to serve Ketele.
As the player you are the only one who can stop Ketele, so her very, very unfriendly attention will focus on you. Every puppet of Ketele will HATE you, will do everything possible to hurt you, until there is nothing left of you.
No matter if it's a powerful lord, king or a simple blacksmith, bartender or village elder, they will ALL turn against you.
There is some good news, however - the process is rather slow, and the most powerful units have rather low chances to fall under Ketele's control.
The DOOMSDAY CLOCK will reset the next day to a random value from a range of 0 to 666. Ideally, you will have some peace before the next wave of Ketele's influence spreads across the Paradigm Worlds... Unless you're unlucky.
A battle against Ketele's thralls is marked by a blood red sky, sometimes accompanied by reddish mist. Conditions will always be harsh in these fights, and you will need to prepare for battles that will be harder than usual.
As stated before, world events will have a huge impact on the DOOMSDAY CLOCK. Every war, every bad deed, will bring the world closer to the verge of another cycle of mayhem, each harder than the last.
You can always check the world's status in your reports screen.
Additionally, a special scenario add-on called "HELL - 6666" can be enabled at the start of any new game. When ON, your chosen scenario will start with all towns and castles being run by Outlaws. Paradigms will have only a single town and a single castle at their disposal, however all the lords still stand with their faction.
In HELL, The DOOMSDAY CLOCK is always set, and the coming of Ketele can trigger at any time. Consider it a super-hardcore difficulty mode.
"Though Ketele is worshipped and revered by the people of the Paradigm Worlds as a dark goddess,
it is actually more of a sweeping, global bio-plague that has evolved a degree of sapience."