Join dark empire?

[SamuraiJones]

Is there any way to get someone (a king/nation) to join the empire? Other than conquering them? I got an enshadowed nation that's on good terms with my empire, and the pesky elves to the south are keeping the military busy

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

If you select the King or Queen, can you see the national action "Join Dark Empire" in their queue? If you view their current motivations, it should give you some ideas how to increase their motivation. Usually they are more motivated to join if they are enshadowed themselves, there is at least 50% shadow in all their settlements (to prevent civil war), they like Ambition, Cruelty, and Shadow, and they dislike The Chosen One and Co-Operation.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

If you need to give the King or Queen a nudge in the right direction, you can change their preferences to be more motivated to Join the Dark Empire with:
* The Hierophant's "Preach Gospel of Envy" (to like/love Ambition and dislike/hate Co-Opeartion).
* The Hierophant's "Preach Gospel of Violence" (to like/love Cruelty).
* The Courtier's "Cause Scandal" with a personal item belonging to The Chosen One (to dislike/hate The Chosen One).

[SamuraiJones]

Ah, I see. I knew I had seen "join dark empire" somewhere, but I was looking for it in challenges. Well, I know for next time now.

In any case, I was running out of time, so I just drove the first daughter through the elves. Happy ending!

[crawlers]

Non-elves can join the dark empire peacefully now, or did I not read this right? If so, that is interesting.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Ah I'm sorry, maybe that national action is only available to elven societies or rulers?

(I've been recording all the challenges, quests, local actions and national actions that I see, but initially didn't keep records on where they were found.)

[The Grand Mugwump]

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Ah I'm sorry, maybe that national action is only available to elven societies or rulers?

(I've been recording all the challenges, quests, local actions and national actions that I see, but initially didn't keep records on where they were found.)

To my knowledge, it is only available to elven nations. The closest you have is sending the monarch into shadowed territory and using the Welcome Defeat challenge to lower their defense to 0 (instant capture) and reduce the strength of their army by half.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Thanks crawlers and The Grand Mugwump.
Sorry SamuraiJones for providing useless info!

[saltyNacho]

I do wish the leader of the dark empire had a challenge (Dark Coronation maybe?) that would bring enshadowed locations into the Dark Empire

[SamuraiJones]

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Thanks crawlers and The Grand Mugwump.
Sorry SamuraiJones for providing useless info!

Huh... maybe i'll start an easy game with no time limit and experiment some. Sounds like the community is at least a little unsure

[saltyNacho]

Originally posted by The Grand Mugwump:

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Ah I'm sorry, maybe that national action is only available to elven societies or rulers?

(I've been recording all the challenges, quests, local actions and national actions that I see, but initially didn't keep records on where they were found.)

To my knowledge, it is only available to elven nations. The closest you have is sending the monarch into shadowed territory and using the Welcome Defeat challenge to lower their defense to 0 (instant capture) and reduce the strength of their army by half.

Welcome Defeat captures enshadowed locations?

[crawlers]

No, it just makes it easier to win against them, but it still needs to be taken by ordinary military actions.

[The Grand Mugwump]

Originally posted by crawlers:

No, it just makes it easier to win against them, but it still needs to be taken by ordinary military actions.

It does shorten a potentially 20 turn long siege against a castle into a one turn affair. But yes, there is no peaceful option to get humans to join a dark empire after it is founded.