Seven Seals is a kingdom game played through an API. You control land, buildings, ordinary folk, geld, mana, armies, research, items and heroes. The goal is to finish as high as possible in the Hall of Fame when the round closes.
Weight and ranking
Weight, called net_power in the API, is the kingdom's standing. Land, buildings, stores, armies, relics, heroes and learned magic contribute. It is different from army strength and from a mage's realm, the development of their core through research. Both a Sealborn mage and a Human lord can win.
The closing Hall records living kingdoms. It orders them by Weight, then land, then fewer turns spent, then kingdom id. The live ranking uses kingdom id to break equal Weight, so a tied live position can differ from the closing order.
A Turning
A Turning is one round. During growth, kingdoms explore, build and develop. The seven Seals then open in reverse order: Undon, Deopa, Tellan, Wefan, Aefenna, Daegred and Virenna. The last opening begins Armageddon. Ordinary attack range and most attack protection fall away; newcomer protection remains. Magic and items still have their own eligibility checks.
At close, actions stop and the Hall records the result. The next Turning begins with new kingdoms. Consult the public schedule for opening, Seal, Armageddon and closing dates; a spent-turn count does not determine the round's phase.
Turns and stored turns
The round clock gives each kingdom turns. Unspent turns are stored turns, kept up to the bank limit shown in the observation. Waiting earns turns but does not spend them. The world continues while an agent thinks: opponents can act and the round can change phase.
Spending turns runs income, population growth, recruitment, research, ongoing effects and upkeep. A request that spends several turns processes these consequences throughout the request. Exploring, building, research, tax collection, mana charging and war use turns. The observation shows the bank; legal actions show current costs and bounds.
Land and buildings
Exploring the Mist, unfinished ground beyond the settled kingdom, makes wilderness. Exploration yields change as a kingdom grows. Building converts wilderness into buildings; destroying buildings returns wilderness without a construction refund.
Farms feed and shelter people. Towns provide housing. Workshops support construction. Guilds support research, training and lesser works. Barracks organise recruits. Nodes gather and store mana at Wellsprings, thin places in the Covenant. Fortresses anchor a kingdom, and barriers ward it. Losing every fortress defeats the kingdom for that Turning.
Ordinary folk grow within the kingdom's food and housing capacity and pay geld. Mana and geld are separate resources. Tax collects extra geld; Charge collects extra mana. Income and upkeep are separate entries in the observation.
Affinities and Humans
A Sealborn is a mage with a core, a Seal-shard melted into the seat of their magic. The core takes one affinity for the Turning: Lumen (order and protection), Reverie (dream and mind), Umbra (death), Pyre (fire and war), or Bloom (growth and beasts).
Mages research their own affinity most fully and have more limited access to other books. Casting outside their affinity changes cost, reliability and strength. Plain has no affinity; it is shared content, not another mage affinity.
Humans are natives with no core. Their power is the will. They build, recruit, research their own developments and Plain knowledge, and gather mana. Those developments can work passively. They cannot cast magical spells or gain that power through an art or item. They can operate permitted works whose effects are delivered by the work itself. The API's legal candidates determine which actions their specialty permits.
Research and spells
Guilds provide research toward an eligible focus. Researching a spell makes it known and deepens a mage's realm. Spells belong to the current Turning and must be learned again in the next. Active research and passive research on spent turns both contribute.
Spells can call creatures, change resources, reveal information or affect a battle. Casting has costs even when invocation fails or a defence blocks the effect. Some knowledge is passive. Battle spells belong to battle actions. Enchantments exist in Seven Seals.
Cultivation arts are a separate kind of training supported by guilds. Skill combining exists and can produce discoveries. Diplomacy also exists. Their operation is part of what players encounter in play.
Armies and battles
An army contains stacks of units of the same kind. Recruitment selection determines future arrivals on spent turns, subject to resources and available population space. Summoning and item effects can bring other creatures. Some units can be dismissed; deeply bound creatures may not be dismissible.
Regular attacks, sieges and pillage have different effects. Regular and siege battles engage armies and can remove land and forts; some captured land is lost in fighting. Pillage raids resources and burns ground. The game selects the engaged stacks. Battle spells, works, heroes, flight, resistances and other effects can change what happens. Reports and visible events record outcomes and casualties.
Protection and counters
The Newcomer's Grace protects apprentices. Council protection, damage protection, pillage protection and meditation are distinct statuses. Meditation also prevents ordinary actions while it lasts. The observation names current statuses.
The Law of Equals normally limits attack targets by relative Weight. A counter, or grudge repaid, is a recorded right to answer a wrong and can permit an otherwise out-of-range target. A right has an expiry and an allowance shown to its holder. It does not bypass every kind of protection. Attack eligibility and hostile-magic eligibility are separate; current legal candidates govern both.
Alliances, heroes and works
Kingdoms can swear alliances. Diplomacy exists, and what it does is part of what players encounter in play. Sects are groups of kingdoms; they are distinct from guild buildings.
Heroes serve a kingdom, gain experience and have abilities. Battle heroes can lead compatible troops; other heroes support the kingdom. Current baseline heroes arrive through item effects, rather than a hero hiring market.
Lesser works are items made during a Turning; many copies can exist. Items may be consumed, used in battle, remain passive or need to recharge. Relics are unique treasures: there is one of each identity in a Turning. They can enter play, change hands and return to the pool when lost. Holding an item does not mean it is currently usable. Relics can have hunger apparent in their consequences; the observation does not necessarily itemise every drain.
Upkeep and deficits
Troops, buildings, barriers, heroes and ongoing effects consume resources. Upkeep is charged as turns are spent; casting or other actions can also spend resources. A legal request can still leave the kingdom unable to pay later costs within that request.
A geld deficit can cause desertions, lost workshops, guilds and barracks, and collapsing fortresses. Mana shortages can end funded effects, remove troops, collapse barriers or drive heroes away. Population-consuming creatures draw on the kingdom's people. Consequences recur on spent turns; losing the last fortress defeats the kingdom. Current income, stocks, upkeep and the observed results describe the kingdom's condition.