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I was cleaning out my flash drive (got a new one for Christmas ^_^) when I found this.  I have no idea when I wrote it, but I never got around to posting it.  There's plenty of space to add more units and structures in this design, and it nicely sets out the faction.


Tharwain Settlements:

There are three types of Tharwain settlements: cities, forts, and villages.  Each one produces a very different flavour to its settlement.

Villages are smaller outlying settlements.  They are cheap to establish or repair if destroyed.  They seldom have strong defences, and cannot grow very large.  They are very lucrative economic centers, however, for how little it costs to establish them.  To create a new structure in a village, simply click on the town hall and select the type of structure you desire.  With the exception of defensive structures (which will prompt you to select a location), all buildings will be placed automatically by the citizens.  Basic structures such as farmland and houses will be appended automatically as the village grows.

Forts are military settlements.  They are strategic structures designed to control critical areas and provide support for outlying lands.  While they can offer some economic value, particularly as resource extractors, they are usually net costs to any lord, and must be supported by cities or outlying villages.  Forts begin small as a simple keep, but you can append military structures and extra fortifications to make them larger and better equipped to their strategic position.  Building works very similarly to villages, except since almost all fort structures are military you will almost always be prompted to place them. 

Cities are huge sprawling settlements that offer a powerful and compact economy.  Tharwain cities are built in concentric circles.  A keep is built at the center, and a small ring of structures forms the town center.  When this is filled, a new ring can be added and built outwards.  Each layer can have is own wall (although building a full sized wall for every layer may be prohibitively expensive), and more buildings are possible with each successive layer added.  Cities are expensive to build and maintain, but can be cash cows and powerful economic centers.  While not nearly as defensible as the compact fortress, the ability to have multiple layers of walls can make cities daunting targets.  Cities have built plots in each of their concentric rings.  Houses for the population will automatically be added around these structures (they don't take up build plots, in other words).  A certain saturation of the previous ring must be achieved before you can build outwards, both in terms of houses and structures on build plots. 


Tharwain Economy:

Like the other factions, building materials and raw metal are a significant concern for Tharwain.  However, another critical issue for any leader of Tharwain's forces is money.  Funding an army is expensive, if only for the food they eat.  Producing wealth is of critical importance for any Tharwain force.  Wealth is critical to the maintenance of all Tharwain infrastructure and its fighting force. 

Wealth can be amassed by cities and villages.  While under attack, wealth generation will cease.  This can make villages vulnerable targets, but only the layer of the city which is under attack will be disrupted; inner layers can function normally so long as the battle hasn't penetrated to them.  This makes cities somewhat more robust to raiders. 

Unlike other resources which have a stockpile limit, wealth can be amassed, allowing Tharwain to prepare for prolonged conflicts.  While large sums of money can be stockpiled, there is a factor to prevent you from reaching a state where you have effectively limitless resources prepared.  If you enter negative income for a significant length of time, costs will be increased.  If the negative income persists, costs will continue to increase.  This continues until you get back into net positive income or go bankrupt.  The penalty will slowly go away once you get back into the net positive.  This enables anyone - even the obscenely rich - to be worn down by a prolonged siege that is successful in cutting off their income.

Another factor for Tharwain is its workforce.  The size of each settlement greatly impacts its ability to generate wealth, build new structures, and recruit new soldiers.  People are an important resource for Tharwain, and can become incredibly dangerous if suddenly drafted.  Although a last-ditch effort (it's self-destructive to the economy), this can suddenly give Tharwain a massive swarm of units to engulf its enemies.  This penalty "caps out" based on your current wealth stockpile.  That is, the more wealth you currently have, the higher this penalty can get.  As your wealth stockpile decreases, this penalty's maximum decreases with it.  If your wealth stockpile hits zero, this penalty will be "pinched" to stop existing (that is, its "maximum" will be a 0% increase).

One final note is bankrupcy; when you have actually run out of currency.  When your income hits zero, it stays at zero.  You never actually get negative wealth, even if you still have a net deficit.  Instead, the quality of your army and structures will begin to deteriorate because of the scarcity of resources.  It is actually possible to maintain your army and settlements even in a deficit situation.  While their quality will suffer, they will still function properly.  This opens up countless new possibilities and playstyles. 


Tharwain Army:

One of Tharwain's most critical abilities is to be able to produce equipment and soldiers independently.  Equipment can be prepared and stored away for future use, enabling Tharwain to process metal before actually building the unit.  However, they must do this before unit training can begin.  This makes Tharwain's unit build times both longer and shorter than other factions; the combined training and equipment preparation time is very long, but if the equipment was prepared, Tharwain units can be built very rapidly. 

For simplicity sake, much of these weapons are categorized, and different units may share the same equipment.  Equipment is stockpiled at the settlement it is created in.  This means that the training of the unit must take place at that settlement.  People can be transferred, however, from one settlement to another.

All units cost support to maintain.  This will drain wealth from your coffers to support your army.  This makes huge armies difficult to support for prolonged periods of time, and balancing your economy versus your army critical.  You will receive a certain number of units for free (no support costs).  The number of free units you receive is based on your settlements; the more settlements you have (and the larger they are) the more free units you get.  During a time of bankruptcy, units that get "free" support will be unaffected by the bankrupcy penalty.  The priority for this benefit which determines which units receive it is based on veterancy.

Units can be trained and disbanded for the Tharwain faction.  There are two options when training a unit: you can give them proper training, or you can draft them.  When you draft a soldier, it has nearly no build time.  It simply goes and picks up its weapons.  This allows you to raise an army quickly.  However, it starts at level 0 (giving it a considerable penalty).  Armies can be returned to any settlement and disbanded, turning them back into working populace.  Recycling units using draft functions is a common strategy.  Remember that unit upkeep costs are the same for drafts and regular soldiers, however.  When you disband a squad, you lose its veterancy forever.


Tharwain units:

Peasants:
Armed with only what they could find at home, such peasants are often the last resort of very desperate communities.  Little more than a disorganized mob, such peasants are usually good for little more than delaying enemies or cutting them off.  They are no match for well equipped and well trained forces. 

Militia:
Properly equipped peasants may form militia.  These units have suitable armour and weapons.  With proper training and sufficiant numbers, militia can form an excellent fighting force.  Militia should not be sent into a battle without support or a numerical advantage, however, since their equipment is still minimal. 

Yeomen:
These militia archers are lightly armoured, and use bows rather than swords.  Yeomen offer exceptional performance in combat if properly trained.  They have earned a distinguished place in the Tharwain armies because they can be amassed in large numbers with relatively little expenditure in resources, and their arrows are no less deadly than any other type of archer.

Swordsman:
Properly armoured and equipped, a swordsman is a deadly foe to meet on the battlefield.  Full body chain mail and a breastplate, combined with a large shield, make the swordsmen a defensive force to reckon with, and their swords are powerful enough to crush flesh and bone beneath them.  Heavy swordsmen may not be as mobile as militia, but are far more potent in the battlefield.

Crossbowman:
More heavily armoured than the simple yeomen, and packing far more punch, the crossbowman makes a potent shock unit in medium-range battles and sieges.  Brutally effective against well armoured units, but lacking a fast rate of fire, crossbows are a perfect pick to deal with cavalry.  These are very supply intensive units to produce.

Knight:
The most supply intensive of all units, the knight is covered in armour.  He rides a steed that is covered in armour.  He has several weapons designed for a variety of situations, and is a terrifying foe on the battlefield.  His sheer mass makes his charge nearly unstoppable.  Knights make highest order of Tharwain soldiers, particularly if they can gather veterancy.

Halberdier:
Offering a balance between the need for a disciplined formation-based force and a strong melee fighter, the halbardier is a versatile asset to any fighting force.  In a tight regiment he can offer a strong defence against cavalry as a pikeman, but in the heat of battle he can use his weapon like an axe to cleave his enemies.  Effective and brutal, halbardiers make a potent heavy fighting unit for Tharwian.

Adept:
This lower ranking wizards are deployed in small teams to assist the armies of Tharwain.  Although not nearly as talented or experienced as real wizards, these adepts can still be quite dangerous when working in tandem to produce their magic.

Siege Ram:
With a canopy built overtop to defend it, and a huge battering ram suspended by chains, the siege ram is a powerful weapon in the hands of any Tharwain footsoldier.  Rams are perfect for breaking down walls or gates.

Catapult:
These larger siege weapons are designed to assault a fortified enemy position from a distance.  The catapult is designed to take down more entrenched enemies and bring the battle to an open field, or reduce the enemy defences to rubble.

Siege Walls:
Lightweight and mobile, these wooden walls are designed to be carried onto the battlefield and used as cover by a sieging force.  Siege walls are critical for any prolonged siege.  Although vulnerable to siege weapons, they provide cover for units that archers cannot penetrate.

Siege Tower:
When all else fails, a siege tower can be driven to the walls of the enemy and soldiers can invade from there.  These structures are designed to be virtual fortresses, where archers can do battle on approach, and soldiers can flood out upon arrival.

note: any Tharwain unit that is not mounted can man siege weapons.  There is no specialist operator unit.


Structures:

Blacksmith:
One of the critical structures to any military economy is the blacksmith, which can produce military weapons from raw metal.  The blacksmith will stockpile a certain number of weapons, but can only store so many before he runs out of space.  Blacksmiths can be set to different "speeds" of production.  The faster they produce the equipment, the more raw metal they will waste.  All blacksmiths within the same settlement will work at the same speed and work queue.  A blacksmith can also turn raw metal into wealth, as an alternate function.

Armoury:
A place to stockpile weapons, an armoury enables blacksmiths to continue working by adding extra storage space.  Be wary of filling armouries to the brim; they make excellent targets for thieving raiders or pillagers.  Equipment is evenly distributed in an automatic fashion between armouries in a single city.

Barracks:
This is the training ground for soldiers.  It is not necessary for drafting soldiers, but it is if you want to train them.  The barracks is more expensive in a city or fort than it is in a village.  However, it can train a larger number of units simultaneously and serves as a superior defensive structure.

Siege Workshop:
Where siege weapons are built.  The siege workshop is a large and towering structure that devours resources to produce fine siege weapons for the Tharwain army.  They are best placed near where the weapons will be used, as these weapons are slow and cumbersome.

Market:
You are limited to one market per village, or per layer of city.  The market increases the income of that settlement, and allows you to spend money in order to purchase either raw metal or building materials.  Markets have a significant upkeep cost, and should not be built unless the settlement has a sufficiant income to warrant their presence.

Plaza:
This open space allows the city to expand without filling its interior.  The plaza has little relevance other than keeping space open for future use, and enabling expansion as if the space was in use.

Wizard's Court:
The services of the wizards (with the exception of wizard heroes, which are summoned normally as any hero is) require a wizard's court, compete with trademark tower.  From a wizard's court, you may pay for one of their spells or even recruit some of their kin for battle.

Lumber Mill:
This structure can only be built in villages.  It increases the amount of building materials that can be refined from lumber, making the village more effective at gathering the resource from wood.  It should be noted that trees are not depleted faster, but rather more resources are gathered from them.

Farm:
This sprawling landscape is used to grow crops.  Farmland is critical to the survival of Tharwain, and it generates a considerable amount of wealth as well as increasing the population growth rate of your entire realm.  Farms are useful regardless of your playstyle, but difficult to defend. Farms can only be built in villages.


Tharwain Heroes:

Wizard:
The true wizards of Tharwain are a fearsome foe to behold on the battlefield.  Their knowledge of the arcane is deep, and their ability to manipulate it without peer.  Wizards have a wide variety and versatility.  While specialist spellcasters among the Nisyrran forces may have more power than the wizards of Tharwain, none can compare to the scope and versatility of the wizard.

Paladin:
In these dark times, many warriors have emerged who have become beacons of hope for their people.  Though traditionally the paladins are deemed to be knights in the service of one of the many sects of churches, anyone who selflessly stands to defend his lands and people seems to have earned this title.  Paladins have supernatural abilities to inspire and restore their allies, and are fearless warriors in battle.

Thain:
The new generation of leaders in Tharwain are the thains.  Usually seeking to gain or increase social standing through personal victories in battles, Thains can be very determined and motivated leaders.  They prove excellent commanders and warriors, inspiring and driving their allies in battle.