Nice idea!!! I will think of it. Well the terrain will be like this: South: desert and small villages and also some towns. Mid: Grasslands and small towns, some cites and rivers, heavy forestation. North: Icy mountains, some villages mostly nomad camps and hunters. West: The Empire's Heart, where the big cites are and the capital, where you will challenge the king and win! East: Desert and some cities to the northern parts where there is grass!
The Hawk Catcher idea made me think of a camp where you will be able to hire beast tamers, like hawk catchers, buffalo riders, jaguar lords and other guys like that. Also some races can be made and inhabit each area!! I thought of elves and dwarves, humans and orcs, minotaurs and lizardmen. Each couple will be hostile towards each other (e.g. dwarves vs elves and so on). Choosing your allies will grant you special units and the benefit of freely destroying enemies. But if you attack your allies they'll turn against you. You will also be able to choose Champions, heroes that will have level limits (someway) and so. This will make the battle even better. Special areas will be made, like freezy paths through mountains to reach the dwarven camps or hideouts deep within the forests to cover the elves, deep mines for the minotaurs and marshes for the lizardmen. The Orcs will be out in camps round the human cities and the humans will be fighting from the safety of their forts. Epic battles round the human forts and the big cities will be part of the game as well! Players will have to choose a side and then keep on fighting untill the enemy is killed. Another point will be the siege system! Players will be able to command about 20 different siege units and about 10 special based on the allies of the player. Dominating forts will cause the empire change their stance against you. If you aid the defenders, the King will give you gold (he is so stupid!) and if you aid the attackers, you will be granted access to the deepest fort chambers.
Having won a battle will give you the opportunity to kill your own allies as well. Being that bad will cause all six races to turn against you soon enough. And then, having no mercenaries you will be only able to ask the God of Darkness for help. If something like this happens, then you'll get a special spell to summon dark minions.
Magic will be divided into:
-Elemental magic:
>water
>earth
>fire
>air
-White Magic:
>Healing
>Battle Aid
-Black Magic
>Curses
>Magic Attacks
-Netral Magic:
>Summoning
>Transforming
Special classifications will be created for the units, like warrior, archer, hunter, knight, lord, master etc. Having units that have killed many opponents will be useful as they will "level up". They will get stronger and they will also uncover their names to you. Example: you have an orc murderer and he has killed 150 units, he will get the rank of knight and he will be able to cast some extra spells, he will have enchanced abilites and inventory as well! Some thing like this can change the game dramatically! Another thing will be creating your castle. Having tons of gold will allow you buying items and upgrading your castle. Having a stronger castle will aid you a lot when you want to fight some special enemy. Special enemies will appear every 5 levels and will have special drops. They will be called through a spell (you will type some code for this) and you will fight them to death. You will fight them in your castle alone maybe. They will be strong and very skilled. The castle will give you advantage if ti is made well. Building up special areas in your castle like a catacomb area or so, a teleport area or a storage area will aid you later.
More info soon!!!