-- Necropolis mod for Dominions II
-- Created by Edward Vaughn

-- COPYRIGHT NOTE

	In some cases I have modified graphics originally created by Illwinter or other Dominions II mod designers in order to create the graphics for Necropolis.  In those cases, the artwork belongs entirely to the original artist and I make no claim to originality.  Your work was exceptional and I simply could no pass up the opportunity to use it to make my own mod better.

-- BACKGROUND STORY

	Lament with me, brother.  Our great city is dead.

	In an ancient time, the city-state of Necropolis bore another name and stood as a bastion of civilization.  Its leaders sought to eradicate the perceived threat of dark magic and began an inquisitorial campaign to root out all spell-casters and fortune tellers in the realm.  Many were captured, tried, and exiled, and a few were slain when they resisted.  But the city fathers could not have imagined their terrible luck when they detained an old woman known only as the Withered Witch.

	At the conclusion of her trial and conviction as a magic-user, the Withered Witch rose from her seat and shrieked a terrible cry.  She screamed, in madness it seemed, that the city would stand forever!  She was banished forthwith.  And though the inquisitorial prosecutors thought such a prediction hopeful, its source was unsettling for the witch had vengeance in her eyes as she cried out.

	In fact, the Withered Witch had lain a most foul curse upon the city and all its residents.  As its citizens lived and aged, their bodies grew old and weak as was natural.  But at the point of death, when the breath was exhausted and the heart stilled... their minds did not lapse.  Those who were seemingly dead remained aware and able to move to their bodies, even to speak.  They became something, not alive, not dead, but still not... undead.  They became the purgators.

	Over centuries, the purgators became the dominant class of citizens.  True death was impossible to a member of the everdying class.  As the body decays and flesh and ligament fall away after death, a purgator begins to emit an ethereal glow.  In time they appear only as ghostly spirits, pale and twisted visages of themselves in life.  But a crucial side-effect to this transformation is an increased awareness of the magical energies at work in the world.  A purgator's magical potency increases with time and it is said that the original purgators have evolved to a higher form and that their spirits inhabit the entire city at once.

	And that city is now known as the Necropolis, City of the Everdying.

	Beneath the ancient city a vast network of catacombs has been built and there reside the generations of the everdying.  Yet further still into the earth does the city extend.  Under the catacombs are the endless tunnels and caverns of the Underworld where the brutish troglodytes and reclusive gnomes live.  Over the ages, the purgators have come to make these keepers of the Great Dark their allies.

	Purgators despise the undead.  Unlike skeletons, ghouls, soulless, wights, banes, and other undead beings, the citizens of Necropolis still possess every ounce of their individuality, awareness, and souls.  Indeed, they are essentially the living soul of a human being trapped in the husk of a slowly rotting corpse.  And unlike vampires or other intelligent undead, the purgators have not fallen under the umbra of evil.  The priests of the city utilize holy power and can banish undead and demonic hosts.  Their single-minded goal is to find the power to repeal the curse lain on their souls so many centuries ago.

	Necropolis utilizes human light infantry, sacred purgator elites, troglodytes, gnomes, and purgator and etheral mages and priests.

-- DESIGN NOTES

  -- This mod adds the following nations to Dominions II:
	-- Necropolis (replaces Machaka)

  -- This mod adds the following items to Dominions II:
	>> Armor
	-- 380 Necropolitain Gaiter (helmet that is in fact only a metal band around the neck)
	-- 381 Necropolitain Greaves (body armor worn on the arms and legs)
	-- 382 Necropolitain Headdress (gilded helmet in the ancient Egyptian style)
	-- 383 Necropolitain Hauberk (the previously mentioned greaves enhanced with a chest plate and girdle)
	-- 384 Full Necropolitain Armor (a hauberk with chainmail augmentation)
	-- 385 Winged Necropolitain Headdress (a large helmet with additional protection)

	>> Weapons
	-- 780 Khopesh (hooked sword of the ancient Egyptian style)
	-- 781 Judge's Sceptre (weak club-like item with a defense bonus)
	-- 782 Sun Bow (powerful, accurate bow with great range and fire effects)
	-- 783 Cursed Blade of the Everdying (a khopesh with decaying magic)
	-- 784 The Long Death (a mythical two-handed khopesh with decaying magic)

  -- This mod adds the following name list to Dominions II:
	-- 128 Necropolitain (Egyptian/Arabian origins)

  -- This mod adds the following monsters to Dominions II (in the range of 1718-1736):
	>> Pretenders
	-- 1736 City Father, a pretender god, one of the oldest everdying, he has passed beyond the umbra of manifest form and is said to inhabit the entire city at once; he communicates through astral dreams and telekinetic omens, but can no longer leave Necropolis; he is a powerful astral mage (3), can easily gain other disciplines (10 ea.), and is illusionary, etheral, and immortal; he produces astral pearls (1)

	>> Heroes
	-- 946 Hero, a famous living warrior armed with a golden bow
	-- 947 Marshal of the Underworld, a famous purgator warrior armed with a massive khopesh
	-- 952 Master of the Scales, an ethereal judge of great power and influence
	-- 953 Mortarch, the leader of the Necropolitain church

	>> Commanders
	-- 1735 Judicator, a high judge in life, now an elite etheral wizard who has completely decayed and taken on a spirit form; he is a powerful astral mage (3) and has random levels of skill in elemental magic (3)
	-- 1734 Arbiter, a purgator judge who has begun a career in the magical arts after death; he is a burgeoning astral mage (1) and has a random level of elemental magic (1)
	-- 1733 Suicide King, a member of a purgator order which hastens the march to infinity by taking their own mortal lives; they walk now, bearing the wounds of their deeds and awaiting the final sloughing-off; they are powerful priests for the city (3) and cause fear (0)
	-- 1732 Acolyte, a living member of the church and weak priest (1)
	-- 1731 Marshal, a purgator who has served in the army since life and has become an eminent commanding figure
	-- 1730 Advocate, a living human general of average leadership
	-- 1729 Old Hand, a stealthy purgator armed with poisoned weapons and capable of assassination attempts
	-- 1728 Agent, a stealthy no-leadership commander who functions as a scout and spy; he is a living human being

	>> Recruits
	-- 1727 Sentinel, experienced soldiers who continue to fight for the city after their transition; they are physically weaker and can't heal w/o a laboratory, but are well-armed and armored and very skilled
	-- 1726 Catacombs Guard, elites of the living human troops; they are skilled and well armored
	-- 1725 City Guard, sword-armed infantry with slightly higher stats that the basic troops
	-- 1724 City Guard, axe-armed infantry with slightly higher stats that the basic troops
	-- 1723 Necropolitain Warder, axe-armed infantry with tower shields; traditionally mixed in archer regiments to provide the shooters cover during battle
	-- 1722 Necropolitain Archer, generic bowman levy from the living population
	-- 1721 Necropolitain Skirmisher, generic human infantry armed with a spear and javelins
	-- 1720 Necropolitain Spearman, generic foot-soldiers with medium-length spears and light armor

	>> Miscellaneous
	-- 1718 Slain, a broken-bodied and unarmed purgator that crawls towards its enemies shrieking and attacks them with claws and teeth; when living Necropolitains die in battle, they become this beast, but are lost after the fight
	-- 1719 Terrified Ethereal, a frightening entity that moves toward its foes screaming and swinging its immaterial limbs in rage; when a terrified purgator dies in battle, it becomes this before being lost

	-- Note: all purgators are lifeless, magical beings, poison resistant (100), poor amphibians, never heal, and need not eat 
	   (they are almost undead, but do not have the actual "Undead" flag and so can't be banished)

  -- This mod changes the following monsters in Dominions II:
	-- 345 Gnome; the unit's graphics and description are replaced and it is armed with a hammer
	-- 946 Machaka Hero; replaced with unit listed above
	-- 947 Machaka Hero; replaces with unit listed above
	-- 952 Machaka Hero; replaced with unit listed above
	-- 953 Machaka Hero; replaced with unit listed above

