At its core, Heroes of Aviel is a game focused on controlling and conquering land to bring glory to your God!

Players can purchase Land Plot NFTs which give them income paid weekly in the $AVIUM token, but beware: other players can conquer your land and take half your income.

Land Plots

Players can buy an NFT which is the deed to a Plot of Land in the world of Aviel. Land Plots come in five varieties, each variety entitles the player to a different amount of income from the land. Most types of Land Plots are aligned with a god which means they generate more income and favour, but they also can be conquered by enemies. More significant types of land generate more income.

*As Land Parcels have no significant structures, and are not aligned with a god, they cannot be conquered.

Income

For land plots other than Land Parcels, the owner of the land gets half the income produced by the land, the other half goes to the Controller of the land. When new land is introduced to the world the owner of the land automatically becomes the controller of the land, thus gaining all income.

If land is conquered (see below) the conqueror must hold the land for a full 24 hour income period to receive income. If they leave the plot with no defending army the control reverts back to the Owner. If their army is defeated before the period ends they will not receive income.

The same applies to Protectors (see below). They must also protect the plot for a full 24 hours to receive income.

For unaligned Land Parcels which cannot be conquered the owner always gets all income from the land (but such income is small).

The daily $AVIUM income for each Land Plot type is as follows:

Controlling and Conquering

Another player may become the Controller of an aligned land plot, and therefore receive half of the income generated by the Land Plot, by conquering the land plot. To do so they simply move their army to the plot they wish to conquer. This action will start a battle where the attacking army battles any defending armies present on the land plot.

In order to conquer the Land Plot the attacker must defeat each defending army on the Land Plot. Each defending army is fought one at a time. The attacker may choose to stop attacking after a battle finishes or they may choose to enter the battle and fight the next defending army. If there are no more defending armies on the land plot the attacker conquers the land.

Any aligned plot will always have at least one defending army. If there is no army defending the plot then a militia will be formed to help defend the plot. The militias size and strength will depend on various in-game factors.

Offline Battles

An army defending a plot will always be involved in battle even if the player who owns that army is not online. Their army will be controlled by the Hero (i.e. an AI playing with basic tactical awareness).

Defenders and Protectors

You cannot attack a land plot that is controlled by your god, nor can you conquer a land plot that is aligned with your god. If you move your army on to a land plots that is controlled by your god, you automatically become a Defender of that land plot.

You can attack enemy forces that occupy a land plot aligned with your god to reclaim the land plot for your god. If you are successful in doing this your army will become the Protector of the land plot. The protector gets the same income as a conquering army.

You can also become a Protector by moving to a land plot aligned with your god that has no occupying armies. Moving your army away from the land plot will mean you lose your protector status and control will revert back to the owner.

The owner of the land may Oust the protector and regain control of the land plot by doing two things:

1. They must move an army of the same or greater type to the land plot (i.e. if the army is protected by a platoon they must move a platoon to the land plot, if it is protected by a squad they can move any army to the plot).

1. They must pay the protector a fee calculated according to the Ousting Cost table below:

Favour Bonuses for Owners

There is additional incentive for Land Owners to maintain control of their plot. Specifically owners who also control their plot will satisfy their god which will result in their Heroes defending the Owned plot gaining a notable favour bonus each day.

Land Sales

Read about our Land Sales under Tokenomics:

Land Improvement and Constructions

After the Open Beta release we plan on adding features which let users improve their land. Specifically players will be able able to construct new buildings which add features to their land plot. The type of plot will influence the type and number of structures that can be built. For example you could:

• add a Blacksmith shop to a Village which will allow you to generate additional income from your plot

• add an Archers Tower to your city which increase the defenseive characteristics of the plot

The gods play an important role in Heroes of Aviel. Every unit and even the land itself is aligned with a god. You can only create armies from units that follow the same god and units can only attack land that is not controlled by your god. Each God has a colour which features prominently on units aligned with the gods. Lands controlled by a God are indicated with the same colour.

There will be two gods at Launch: Valara the Godess of Justice whose devotees ollowers are typically human soldiers, priests and knights, and Kadarak the God of War whose followers are typically orcish warriors and shamans and their Goblin followers. More gods will be added over time, with each god comes a new set of Land, new Heroes and Soldiers, and new Quests.

Favour

Actions in the world of Aviel will gain your Heroes the favour of their god. For example if you conquer an opposing city or clear a dungeon the Heroes in the battle will gain Favour. Unlike experience points Favour can also be lost, for example if you decline a battle or lose a battle you will lose Favour. Favour is one of the most important 'scores' in Heroes of Aviel and will be the basis of the main leaderboard.

Aside from serving as a leaderboard Favour also unlocks in-game features such as reducing the recovery time from exhaustion or access to new quests.

Battles are at the core of Heroes of Aviel. Take your units in to a turn-based tactical battle against monsters or other players, use your skill and knowledge to win the day. You cannot conquer land nor complete quests without battle!

Combat takes place on an isometric square grid between two opposing armies. These armies are made up of various units and led by a Hero or General. Units have combat stats and special abilities which can be used to defeat the enemy army.

Combat is turn-based with each unit in an army acting one after the other, this set of actions makes up the armies turn. Because all actions from an individual army come together, surprise and momentum can make for a key advantage. Each turn each unit can move, attack, and use an ability. Attacks and abilities may damage and incapacitate enemy units and when all of the units from an army are incapacitated that army loses the battle.

Exhaust not Exterminate

Although the 4th X in ‘4X’ usually stands for Exterminate, units in Heroes of Aviel cannot be destroyed. The gods of Aviel are more than fond of warriors and battle, and any unit incapacitated in battle will revive in at a nearby temple or altar. After units are revived they will be in an exhausted state and unable to move or take place in battle for a number of hours.

This allows for meaningful combat where the outcome matters without putting players valuable NFTs at risk.

Players can purchase Items or win them by completing Quests and Dungeons. Items are equipped to Heroes to boost stats and give them new abilities. Each hero can wield three Items: a Weapon matched to their abilities, Armour matched to their class, and a magical piece of Jewellery. Like almost everything else in the game Items are freely tradable NFTs.

Quest items are typically the same for every player who completes the quest, however for items found in Dungeons there are hundreds of thousands of possible items combinations and the specific rewards are generated when the player completes the Dungeon. The ability to find unique item items allows for players on a lower budget to play a big role in the games economy.

A basic Long Sword may be have different qualities such as its tier or the material its blade is made from. It can also have magical qualities like Flame which increase its damage or even grant abilities like Water Walking. Each of these facets of the blade can be combined changing the statistics, properties, and value of the blade, along with its visual representation.

Although conquering and controlling land is a very important part of Heroes of Aviel we also ensure that there is an enjoyable single player experience with a low barrier to entry. Buy any Hero from us or on the open market and you can begin playing the single player game, either through questing or by finding and conquering Dungeons.

Quests

Quests add depth and lore to the world of Aviel. They will typically be part of a Campaign which tells a specific story about the world of Aviel. The Campaign will include a collection of cutscenes and tactical battle scenarios which will require careful planning and execution. They may also include other elements like puzzles. Completing a Campaign, or sometimes an individual Quest, will provide the player with rewards: typically a specific named quest Item. Ocassionally the rewards may include new Heroes or Soldiers.

Dungeons

Dungeons are the name we give to instanced single player battle experiences that appear (and disappear) in the world of Aviel. These dungeons may in fact be a dungeon which the player has to clear of monsters, but they could also be a mysterious tower, or a portal to another dimension!

Importantly Dungeons appear at random, anywhere in the world, and in some cases may appear only for a short amount of time. Players not only need to conquer the Dungeons they need to find them.

Unlike quests the loot from dungeons is highly randomised with better chances of good loot for those who clear the dungeon first.

There are two main types of playable units in Heroes of Aviel, Heroes and Soliders. A Hero is a powerful unit that can lead other units, each army must be led by a Hero and thus you must own one hero to play the game. Heroes are typically stronger than other units and they may have special abilities. Heroes stats and abilities can be enhanced by equipping items. Soldiers are the the standard units that make up most armies. Whereas heroes tend to have individual characteristics, stats and abilities, soldiers of a given type are all the same. Soldiers will typically have just one or two abilities tied to their archetype (a basic Priest can cast a Heal spell, a priestly Hero may have many spells). Soldiers are typically weaker than a Hero of a similar archetype, although this is not always the case, there are some very powerful Soldiers.

Generals

A typical Hero can lead a 5 person Squad which is made up of Soldiers or other Heroes. But some Heroes have the General keyword listed in their abilities. If a Hero has this keyword then the unit can be called a General and they are capable of leading an army much larger than the typical 5 man squad. This larger army, called a Platoon, can be made up of as many as 30 Soldiers plus the General!

Although Platoons cannot be used for adventuring (they cannot complete quests) these larger forces are critical for conquering and defending cities.

Experience and Levelling

Every time a unit performs an action such as participating in a battle or quest they have the change to gain experience points. When a unit gets enough experience points it levels up and gains a new title and increased stats. Both Heroes and Soliders can level up, although there is more opportunity for progression for hero units, see below:

Soldiers Levelling Table

Hero Levelling Table

* Demi-God status is not granted purely based on experience points.

Heroes of Aviel is a 4X game with a strong focus on turn-based tactical combat. It is loosely inspired by the classic game Masters of Magic (1994), but it takes place in a persistent online world where players battle each other for land, glory, and the favour of the gods. Heroes of Aviel also includes single player quests and dungeons more like one might find in a single player RPG or tactical combat game.

Heroes of Aviel is also a web3 game where ownership of core in-game spaces, items and units are controlled through the use of Non-Fungible tokens (NFTs). Users can freely buy and sell these NFTs, or even create new ones for example by levelling up units in game to promote them or by combining items to create more powerful items.

Disclaimer: This is a draft - information in this whitepaper is subject to change.