Preparation

Step 1: Hand out Faction Leaders

 * Shuffle the six double-sided Faction Leader cards and hand them out randomly to each player. Each player views both sides of his card and places his choice face-up in front of him. This will be his Faction Leader throughout the game.


 * Place any unused Faction Leader cards back in the box.



Step 2: Prepare the Destiny Cards

 * There are 9 Destiny Cards in total: 1 King and 8 others.

Who Will Be King?

 * If there are any players who want to be King, determine one randomly from among the claimants by rolling dice; the highest roller gains the King's Destiny Card. Reroll tied results until a winner emerges.


 * If nobody wants to be King, all players roll dice.

Will There Be A Defender?

 * Place the Defender Card face-down to the side and shuffle the other Destiny Cards


 * While the Destiny Deck is face-down, randomly remove 2 cards from the deck and place them on top of the Defender card. These three cards are the Auxiliary Cards. Shuffle them.


 * Randomly take one of the Auxiliary Cards and shuffle it into the Destiny Deck. Then, remove the Auxiliary Deck from the game.


 * In this way, only 1 out of 3 games will have a Defender in it.

The Hand Of Destiny

 * Hand out 1 Destiny Card face-down to each player. Any cards left over stay hidden and are removed from the game.

Step 3: Claim Homelands

 * Starting with the King and moving anti-clockwise, each player claims a homeland on the board and takes his coloured control markers, Champion Cards, and Champion markers. The King's homeland is always the yellow territory in the middle.


 * After all homelands are claimed, players must move their seats at the table so that their homelands are directly in front of them.


 * Place your Warrior marker at your Capital City and place the Warrior card face up next to your Faction Leader.

Step 4: Prepare the Event Deck

 * Shuffle the 3 stages of Event Cards separately. Then, take out 1 random card from each stage and remove it from the game. Place the remaining two Stage 1 cards on the top of the deck, followed by the remaining Stage 2 cards. Place the remaining Stage 3 cards at the bottom.


 * Lastly, flip over the top card of the Event Deck. This will be the Event Card for the first year. The icon on the top of the card determines whether the Rotation will go clockwise or counterclockwise.


 * The King takes the Initiative Marker. Play begins with the Policy Phase, proceeding in Rotation determined by the visible Event card.