Pax Illuminaten Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Rules Usage
• Components
  • Cards
  • Placards
  • Tokens
• Setup
  • Setup the Event Pile
• Key Concepts and Terms
  • General Terms
  • Other Important Terms
• Luminary Card Anatomy
• Luminary Card Terms
• Overview and Objective
• Sequence of Play
  • Event Phase (p.34)
  • Action Phase (p.14-28)
  • Check Phase (p.29-33)
• Action Phase
  • Scout
  • Influence
  • Extort
  • Organize
  • Expel
  • Oust!
  • Scheme Action
  • Claim Faction Card
  • Claim Plot Card
• Check Phase
  • 1. Plot Check
  • 2. Event Check
  • 3. Redraw
• Event Phase
• End Game
  • Faction Scoring
• Playing with Bots
  • Bot Setup
  • Bot Scripts
  • Bot Terms
  • The Bot and Favors
  • Additional Rules
  • A Bot Turn
  • Bot Plots
  • Plan Card Direction Priority
• Plot Aid

Rules Usage

Words that are Capitalized refer to terms, components, or actions in the game. Terms are defined in the Luminary Terms and Key Concepts and Terms section (p. 6-11).

Rules with multiple numbers with an "/" in between means that you use the first number in a 2-player game, middle number in a 3-player game and last number in a 4-player game.

Components

Cards

• 57 Luminary cards
• 13 Plot cards
• 6 Faction cards
• 15 Event cards
• 20 Contact cards (numbered IV - XXIII)
• Starting player card

Placards

• 4 Areopagus placards (double sided)
• 3 Bot placards (double sided)

Tokens

• 4 Bonus action cubes
• Bot token
• 60 Favor tokens (10 of each type: Nobility, Professions, Magistrates, Artists, Scholars, Clergy)
• 80 Influence disks (20 of each type)
• Chamberlain token

Setup

1. Shuffle the Luminary cards to form a face-down draw deck.
2. Assemble the map. Draw and place Luminary cards face-down in the center of the table as shown in the image to the left.
3. Build the Court. Draw 5 cards from the Luminary deck and place them face-up in a line next to the draw deck to form the Court.
4. Put the Chamberlain token over the leftmost card in the Court.
5. Setup the Favor pool. Put 6/8/10 Favors of each Faction next to the map to create the Favor pool. Put the rest back into the box.
6. Give each player an Areopagus placard and the matching Influence disks. Place the placards as shown in the setup image, based on the player count.
7. Deal 4 Luminary cards from the deck to each player.
8. Shuffle the Contact Cards and deal each player 1 face-up Contact card and slide it partially under their Areopagus placard.
9. Gain starting Favor. Each player collects 1 Favor matching each of the Faction symbols shown on their Contact Card.
10. Starting player. The player with the lowest numbered Contact card is the starting player and takes the starting player card.
11. Place the 4 Bonus action cubes next to the Favor pool.
12. Arrange Faction cards. Shuffle the Faction cards and then deal out 3/4/5 cards face-up next to the map to make a Faction row. Put the rest back into the box.
13. Reveal 2 public Plot cards. Shuffle the Plot cards and deal 2 face-up next to the map.

Setup the Event Pile

14. Deal 1 private Plot card to each player. These are secret to the other players. Leave the rest of the Plot cards in a pile near the map.
15. Create the Event deck as follows:

• Separate the Edict Event cards and the Special Event cards, and shuffle both sets/decks.
• Draw 3 Edict Events and 3 Special Event cards and shuffle them together. Do this a second time and then stack the two piles together. The 3 excess cards are put back into the box.
• Return the remaining Special Events to the box.
• Place the Event pile close to the Court (as a reminder to draw Events before the Redraw phase).

Key Concepts and Terms

General Terms

• Influence: Each player has their own supply of Influence disks. Influence is placed on Luminary cards to compete for control over the card and towards meeting the conditions of Plot cards.
• Map: The map refers to all of the Luminary cards in the center part of the table that forms the play area of the game. The arrangement of the map depends on the player count (see Setup images p.2).
• Adjacency: Two cards on the map are Adjacent if they share sides. A card is also considered Adjacent to itself. Influence is also Adjacent to other Influence in the same way.
• Edge & Interior Cards: Map cards that have at least one edge that is not Adjacent to another map card are Edge cards. Interior cards are those completely surrounded by other cards.
• Factions: Factions include: Nobility, Professions, Magistrates, Artists, Scholars and Clergy. Each Luminary card is associated with 1 or 2 Factions.
• Favor: Favor is the basic resource in the game, and comes in 6 colors associated with the 6 Factions.
  • Gaining & Paying Favor: When Favor is gained, take the applicable number of Favor from the Favor pool. When Favor is paid, unless otherwise specified, it is returned to the Favor pool.
  • Matching Favor: A Favor that corresponds to the Factions listed on a Luminary card selected to perform an action (see Acting card p.10).
  • Important! Exchanging Favor: During the active player's turn, when paying Favor costs for actions or abilities they may pay 3 Favor of a single type and treat it as 1 Favor of another type. The gained Favor does not provide or require an actual Favor token, as the gained Favor is paid immediately as part of the Favor cost of the action or ability.
  • Important! Subverting Favor: If there is not enough Favor remaining in the Favor pool when a player gains Favor, they instead take that type of gained Favor from the player(s) of their choice. If there is still insufficient Favor, that additional Favor is not gained. It is not allowed to take Favor from an Edict card, unless a card ability allows it.
• Control of a Luminary card: If a player has more Influence on a Luminary card than any other player, the player is in control of that card. If players are tied for the most Influence, no player has control of that Luminary.
• Lodge: A Lodge is a contiguous sequence of at least 3 Adjacent Luminary cards on the map that share at least one Faction in common. Multi-Faction cards can be part of multiple Lodges. Lodges are formed regardless of whether the individual cards contain Influence or not.
• Control of a Lodge: To control a Lodge, a player must have at least 3 Influence on any of the Luminary cards in that Lodge and more Influence than any other player in that Lodge. If players are tied for most Influence in a Lodge, no player has control of that Lodge.

Other Important Terms

• "ANY": When the term ANY (in all capitals) is used, it denotes that all cards of the indicated type may be selected for an ability or action, ignoring adjacency requirements.
• Hand Limit: The default Hand limit is 4 Luminary cards. The Hand Limit only applies to Luminary cards.
• Discard piles: Cards are placed face-up in a discard pile. Players may not look through this pile.
• Reshuffling Discard Piles: If the Luminary card draw pile is empty, immediately shuffle the discard pile and place it face-down to form a new draw pile. The Event card discard pile is never reshuffled.
• 2/3/4 Numbering: A sequence of three numbers divided by slashes is associated with the different player counts. Use the left number in a 2-player game, middle number in a 3-player game, and the right number in a 4-player game.
• Areopagus placards: Each player begins with a preprinted Influence on their Areopagus placard at the edge of the map. The player's Areopagus is always considered to have an Influence on it.
  • Areopagus placards count as being Adjacent to the 2 Map cards it is next to for resolving actions.
  • Areopagus placards never count as part of a Lodge and do not count towards achieving Plots.
  • A player's preprinted Influence on their Areopagus cannot be targeted by a rival's actions.
  • An Areopagus has a Contact card placed partially below it. The Favor value of an Areopagus placard is 1 Favor in each of the 3 Factions shown on the Contact card.

Luminary Card Anatomy

Luminary cards are the primary component of the game and constitute a player's hand of cards as well as forming the play area. A number of key concepts are associated with Luminary cards (numbered on the card diagram): 1. Faction icons, 2. Rank, 3. Favor value, 4. Locations, 5. Influence cost, 6a. Ability Effect, 6b. Ability Type - Frame & Icon, 7. Affiliation, 8. Strength, and a Historical note.

Luminary Card Terms

1. Faction Icons: The Luminary's associated Faction icons.
2. Rank: Each Luminary card has a Rank denoted by a numeral as shown below.
   • Rank I, Rank II, Rank III, Ace, and Crown.
   • Rank I, II, and III cards have 2 Faction Icons, while Ace and Crown cards have only 1 Faction icon.
3. Favor Value: The Rank of a Luminary card determines its Favor Value as follows:
   • Rank I: 1 Favor from either of the card's Factions (player's choice).
   • Rank II: 2 Favor; one from each of the card's Factions.
   • Rank III: 3 Favor; one from each of the card's Factions and a third from either Faction.
   • Ace: 3 Favor of the card's Faction.
   • Crown: 2 Favor, or when EXTORTING, gain 2 Favor for each Influence on the card.
4. Locations: Locations are the circle areas on the Luminary cards where Influence is placed.
   • The Luminary card's Rank determines how many Locations are on the card. Only 1 Influence can be placed in each Location.
5. The Influence cost: The cost to place Influence on a Location is shown by the Favor icons inside each circle.
6. a) Ability Effect b) Ability Type: Each Luminary card has an ability associated with the Scheme action (see Scheme action p. 23).
7. Affiliation: Luminary cards may belong to the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians (applicable during certain actions).
8. Strength: Number value from 2-6, a Dagger symbol, or a Hammer symbol, used when resolving Challenges (p. 20). Ace cards show the Dagger symbol as their Strength; Crown cards show the Hammer symbol as their Strength.
9. Acting Card: Some actions and abilities require the player to select a Luminary card where they have Influence to be the Acting card. The selected Acting card will be the card used to carry out an action, typically onto an Adjacent card that will be the Target for the action.
10. Target Card / Target Influence: The Target card (or Influence) refers to the card (or Influence) where a given action is selected to be performed.

Overview and Objective

The goal of Pax Illuminaten is to be the first player to accomplish the conditions listed on at least two Plot cards.

The Plot cards available will vary from game to game, and each Plot card specifies certain arrangement of Luminary cards on the map and their Factions as well as player Influence that is needed to satisfy the Plot's condition.

The first player able to satisfy the conditions on two Plot cards during their turn immediately wins the game. Certain Event cards can also trigger the end of the game, in which case the player with the greatest Influence across the six Luminary Factions will win the game instead, see End Game (p. 35-36).

During a player's turn they will be able to perform a number of actions to shape the Map of Luminary cards and spread their Influence. Players will generate Favor, the game's resource, from cards where they have Influence to power their actions. Players can also Scheme, by playing cards from their hand to a sequence of cards on the table in front of them, and perform a combo of special abilities.

Sequence of Play

The game proceeds over a series of rounds, with each player taking a turn as the active player during the round. Play proceeds clockwise, starting with the first player. The active player's turn consists of three phases: Event Phase, Action Phase, and Check Phase.

Event Phase (p.34)

At the start of the active player's turn, the active player does the following in order:

1. Adjusts Favor on any active Edict Event cards in front of the active player.
2. Discard any previously activated Special Event card.
3. Select a new Event card to activate if they have one available.

Note: During the first round of the game this phase is skipped, as players will not begin their turn with any Event cards.

Action Phase (p.14-28)

During the active player's turn, the active player takes any of the following actions in any order:

Main actions - up to 2 total (see p.14-22): Scout, Influence, Extort, Expel, Organize, Oust.

Free Actions:

• Scheme Actions - any number of times (see p. 23-25).
• Claim Faction Action - Once per turn (see p. 26-27).
• Claim a Plot Action - Once per turn (see p. 28).

Check Phase (p.29-33)

The active player does the following in order:

1. Plot Check. Check if Claims on any Plots need to be adjusted.
2. Event Check. Event cards are drawn and Edicts may be revealed.
3. Redraw. Cards played during the round are discarded and all players draw back to their Hand limit with the non-active player(s) drawing first. Refresh the Court.

After completing the three phases, play passes to the next player in clockwise order. The game will continue with players taking turns until a player achieves a Plot Victory or Faction Scoring is triggered (see End Game p. 35-36).

Plot Victory: If the active player has their Influence placed on 2 or more Plot cards that player wins the game during Plot check.

Faction Scoring: If a 5th Edict Event card has been discarded, play proceeds until the end of the current round (i.e. all players get an equal number of turns) and then Faction scoring (p. 36) is used to determine the winner.

Action Phase

During the action phase, the active player may perform up to 2 Main Actions, any number of Scheme Actions, a Claim Faction Action (once per turn), and a Claim Plot Action (once per turn). These actions can be taken in any order, but each action must be fully completed before another action can be taken.

Example of an action phase: 1 Scheme > 1 Main > 1 Claim Plot > 1 Scheme > 1 Main.

Scout

Use Influence to search for nearby Luminaries.

Choose a card with your Influence to be the Acting card and a face-down card that is Adjacent to be the Target card.

Pay 1 Favor matching the Acting card and then draw the Target card to your hand.

Place any card from your hand face-up into the Target card's position on the Map (this can be the card you just picked up!).

Influence

Pay Favor(s) to spread your Influence onto an Adjacent Luminary card.

Target a face-up card with open Locations that is Adjacent to your Influence.

Place 1-3 Influence on the Target card and pay the Influence cost for each Influence placed. You cannot place more Influence on the card than there are open Locations.

Influence is always placed starting with the top-most open Location.

Influence of different players can be placed on the same Luminary card provided there are open Locations. The exception to this rule are Crown cards. If one player currently has Influence on a Crown card, no other player can place Influence on that Crown card (even if a card effect says Influence "any card").

Extort

Use your Influence on Luminary cards to "extract" Favor from them.

Target a card where you have at least one Influence and collect Favor equal to its Favor value from the Favor pool. You can choose to Target your Areopagus Contact card to gain its Favor value.

If an ability allows you to treat Rival Influence as your own, you may Extort from those cards.

Whisper Rule: If there are Adjacent card(s) directly next to the target card that have the same rank (i.e. Rank I, Rank II, Rank III, Ace, Crown, etc.) and that contain your Influence, also collect the Favor value of those card(s).

Conspire Rule: Anytime you collect Favor from a card that contains Rival Influence, after collecting the card's Favor you must give your Rival(s) one of the collected Favor for each of their Influence on the card. If the Favor pool is empty, and you cannot collect the full amount, collect as much as possible and give yourself the amount of Favor you would normally retain first, and then give any remaining available Favor to your Rival(s).

Extortion Limits: A specific card can only generate Favor once per turn. This applies to the card Targeted for the Extort action as well as those affected by the Whisper rule or other abilities.

Organize

Move placed Influence to Adjacent Luminaries.

1. Choose a Faction where you have at least 1 Influence on a Luminary card of that Faction.
2. Pay 1 Favor of the chosen Faction.
3. Perform up to 3 moves, as described below.

Moves: Each move allows you to move 1 of your Influence from a card of the selected Faction to an open Location on an Adjacent card. Multiple different Influence disks may be moved and/or a single Influence token may be moved multiple times, so long as each move starts from a card of the selected Faction and that no more than 3 total moves are performed.

Expel

Remove a card from the Map and replace it with a card from the player's hand.

Choose a card containing your Influence to be the Acting card and an Adjacent card to be the Target card. The Target card must NOT contain Rival Influence unless an ability allows otherwise.

Pay 1 Favor matching the Acting card per Influence on the Target card. If there is no Influence on the target card, this action has a minimum cost of 1 Favor.

Discard the targeted card on the Map and replace it with a card from your hand.

Move any of your Influence from the original card onto the new card. Any of your Influence that does not have an available Location on the new card is returned to your supply.

If allowed to target a card with Rival Influence (i.e. due to a card ability), the new Luminary card must first have sufficient Locations for all Rival Influence to be accommodated.

Oust!

Challenge a Rival in a bid to remove their Influence.

Ousts are resolved in 2 steps.

STEP 1: Issuing an Oust

Choose a card with your Influence to be the Acting card and an Adjacent card with Rival Influence. Target one or more Rival Influence belonging to a single player on that Adjacent card. For each targeted Influence, pay 1 Favor matching the Acting Card, then go to STEP 2.

STEP 2: Resolving a Challenge

A. Determine initial Strength. Each player's initial Strength is the number of their Influence Adjacent to the targeted Influence, which includes a player's Influence on the Target card as well as their Influence on Adjacent cards and Adjacent Areopagus. If any player has a higher initial Strength than the other, they have the advantage and the other player has the disadvantage.

B. Add to Strength. Each player must simultaneously choose and reveal 1 card from their hand, modifying their initial Strength as follows:

• 2-6: Add the card's Strength number to their initial Strength.
• Dagger (Ace): automatically win if played by a player with the disadvantage (counts as zero otherwise).
• Hammer (Crown): automatically win if played by player with the advantage (counts as zero otherwise).

If both players trigger an automatic win, both cards cancel each other out. The active player must choose to either press the Challenge, in which case both players select and reveal a subsequent card, or else call off the Challenge, and the defender wins.

Note: If a player has no cards in hand, it counts as if playing a 0 Strength card.

C. Determine the Victor. The player with the higher Strength or that triggered an automatic win is the winner. Otherwise, the defender wins.

If the defender wins, nothing further happens. If the attacker wins, proceed to D & E below.

D. Remove Defenders. The defending player returns their Targeted Influence to their supply and gains 1 Favor of their choice from the Favor pool for each returned Influence.

E. Bonus Follow Up Action. The attacker places 1 bonus action cube on the targeted card. This cube may be spent this turn only as a bonus follow-up action and does not count as one of the active player's 2 Main actions but is subject to all other conditions and required costs.

The attacker may only spend the cube as a bonus Influence, Organize, or Expel action and may only be used on the card with the cube on it. This bonus action needs to be used this turn but it does not need to be used immediately. It can be used after performing other actions this turn. Once the bonus action is performed or the current turn is complete, remove the bonus action cube. If using the bonus action to Organize, pay Favor in any Faction per the Organize action, but the moves may only be used to move Influence onto the card with the bonus action cube.

Scheme Action

The Scheme action allows the active player to play a Luminary card from their hand face-up onto the table in front of them to trigger the ability written on the card.

The first such card played on a turn will start a new Scheme Sequence and trigger the card's ability. There is no limit to how many times a player may Scheme during their turn. Each time this action is taken a subsequent time, an additional card is added to the Scheme Sequence, provided that the additional card is eligible to be added (see Continuing a Scheme below).

Triggering Abilities: When a card is played to start or continue a Scheme Sequence, the card's ability may be triggered. The type of ability listed on the card determines how its ability is resolved.

Buff Action Ability Type: Buffs go into effect immediately and remain in effect for the duration of the current turn, generally providing a benefit to a specific Main action. Buff actions automatically go into effect and may not be ignored. All Buffs remain in effect even as other cards are added to the sequence. Buffs are accumulative.

Bonus Action Ability Type: Bonus Actions provide an additional Main action that is resolved immediately and does NOT count towards the limit of two Main actions. Bonus actions are subject to the normal requirements and costs of performing the Main action, except where noted differently in the ability's description. Bonus actions must be taken immediately after playing the card to the Scheme and cannot be saved for later in the turn. Bonus actions may be ignored and not taken if desired.

Special Actions Ability Type: Special Actions provide unique abilities that are resolved immediately following the ability's description, and cannot be saved until later in the turn. Special actions may be ignored and not taken if desired.

Quick Favor: Once per turn, instead of using the ability of a card in a scheme, the active player may instead collect the card's Favor value. Turn this card sideways as a reminder that it was used for Quick Favor and not its ability. Cards played for Quick Favor can be used to continue a Scheme as normal.

Continuing a Scheme: Additional cards can be played to continue the Scheme and trigger their abilities, but at least one of the Factions of the subsequent card must match at least one Faction on the previous card.

Aces: Aces can be played following from ANY previous card in the Scheme Sequence, you collect the Favor value. Then ANY Luminary card can be played following an Ace.

Crowns: Crowns can be played following from ANY previous card in the Scheme Sequence, but once played a Crown will END the Scheme (e.g. no more cards can be played after a Crown). The Ace and Crowns have a rainbow indicator as a reminder that they can be linked to any color.

Claim Faction Card

Once per turn, the active player may claim a Faction card from the Faction card row or from another player provided that the active player Controls the largest Lodge of that Faction (see Control a Lodge under Key Concepts and Terms p.7). If there is a tie for the largest Lodge, treat the tied Lodges as if they were one for purposes of determining who has the most Influence in that Faction. If players are tied for the most Influence, no player is in Control and the Faction card cannot be claimed.

A claimed Faction card is placed face-up in front of the claiming player.

Effect of Faction Cards: Faction cards each have an once per turn ability and a passive effect.

Once Per Turn Ability: Each card lists a "once per turn" ability, which can be used by the controlling player during their own turn. This ability does not count towards the 2 Main action limit or count as part of a Scheme. After using this ability, turn the card sideways as a reminder that the ability has been used. Turn it back upright at the end of the turn.

Passive Effect: Each Faction card has a passive effect, which can only be utilized by the controlling player and is automatically in effect.

Losing Faction cards: Players will only lose control of a Faction card if the card is taken from them by another player that successfully uses the Claim Faction action. Even if a player no longer controls the largest Lodge of the associated Faction, they will retain control of the Faction card, until the Faction card is taken from them by another player.

Claim Plot Card

When taking this action, if the active player currently meets the conditions on a public or personal Plot card, they may place 1 of their Influence on that Plot card to indicate that they have met the Plot's conditions.

A player may only take this action ONCE per turn, even if they meet the conditions of more than one Plot card in the same turn.

If the chosen Plot card is their personal Plot card, flip the card over and reveal it to all players. Only the owning player may place Influence on their personal Plot card.

Multiple players may have Influence on the same public Plot card.

Meeting Plot Conditions: The following restrictions also apply to meeting Plot card conditions:

Condition 1: A set of cards used to meet a Plot card's conditions cannot completely overlap and/or be completely contained within a set of cards used to meet another Plot card's conditions. Some overlap between the two sets of cards can occur, but neither set can be completely contained within the other.

Condition 2: For Plot cards specifying the use of a Lodge, a specific Lodge may only be used once by a given player in meeting those Plot cards. Thus, if a player is trying to achieve two different Plot cards that require a Lodge, two different Lodges must be used by that player, one for each Plot card.

Check Phase

The Check Phase has 3 steps: 1. Plot Check, 2. Event Check, 3. Redraw.

1. Plot Check

During this check, all players check their claims on Plot cards as follows:

Losing a Plot Claim: Check to see if any player no longer meets the conditions on a Plot card where they have an Influence. If so, their Influence is immediately removed and placed below the Plot (it is not returned to their supply). Note: If a Plot card is removed from play for any reason, any Influence on or below the Plot card is returned to their owners' respective Influence supply.

Regaining a Plot Claim: If a player has previously lost their Claim to a Plot (i.e. has Influence placed below that Plot card) but currently meets the conditions on the Plot card, they may move their Influence back onto the Plot card. A player can only win during their own turn. Note: Regaining a Plot card this way does NOT count towards the limit of only claiming a Plot card once per turn.

Victory Check: If the active player has Influence on two or more Plot cards, they immediately win the game.

2. Event Check

Event cards will come into play and either trigger an Edict Event or a Special Event.

During the Event Check, the active player looks to see if any Ace or Crown cards were revealed by any player during their turn. An Ace or Crown counts as revealed only in the following situations:

• Ace / Crown was played face-up to the map
• Ace / Crown was played as part of a Scheme action
• Ace / Crown was played when resolving an Oust challenge

Draw Events: If at least 1 Ace or Crown was revealed, the active player draws the top 2 cards from the Event deck. They then select 1 Event card to keep and place the other back face-down on top of the Event deck.

If the Event draw pile is empty, no Event cards are drawn and the Event discard pile is NOT reshuffled.

Note: If more than 1 Ace or Crown was revealed, the active player still only draws 2 Event cards and picks 1.

Resolve Event Card: How a card is resolved depends on the type of Event selected:

Edict Event: Edicts immediately go into effect. Place the Edict card face-up in front of the active player and move ALL Favors from ALL players of the Faction indicated on the Edict to the Favor pool, then take 6 of the indicated Favor and place it on the Edict card itself. Favor on the Edict are treated as out of play until it is returned to the Favor pool (see Event Phase p.34).

Special Event: If the selected card was a Special Event card, the player keeps it in their hand. Event cards do not count towards the Hand Limit. Held Special Event cards may come into play at the start of that player's next turn (see Event Phase p.36).

3. Redraw

During the redraw step, do the following in order:

1. Discard all cards used as part of Scheme actions or in resolving Ousts to the discard pile.
2. All non-active players, in turn order left of the active player, draw back to their Hand limit from the draw deck.
3. Then, the active player draws back to their Hand limit by drawing any combination of cards from the Court and/or Luminary draw deck as described below. When drawing from the Court, a maximum of 2 cards may be drawn (staying within the Hand limit). If 2 cards are drawn, 1 card MUST be the one below the Chamberlain AND the player must pay 1 Favor of their choice to the pool. If only 1 card is drawn from the Court, it may be any card and no Favor costs needs to be paid. When drawing from the Luminary pile, players may draw cards provided they stay within the Hand limit.
4. The active player refreshes the Court as follows:
   • First, discard any card below the Chamberlain (if there is one).
   • Then, move the Chamberlain to the next position to the right. If it is already in the rightmost position, move it back to the leftmost position.
   • Last, refill cards onto the empty spaces of the court from left to right until there are five face-up cards.

The Court is always refreshed, even if no players drew any cards. Note: You do not slide any cards in the Court.

Empty Draw Pile: If the Luminary draw pile is empty at any time, immediately shuffle the discard pile and form a new draw pile.

Event Phase

At the start of the active player's turn, Edicts and Special Events are managed following the steps below:

1. Advance Edict Events. If the active player has an Edict card in front of them, return 1 Favor on it to the Favor pool and move 1 Favor to the active player's supply. If the Edict has no remaining Favor on it, discard the Edict card. Important! If 5 or more Edicts have been discarded, this triggers the final round of the game (see End Game).
2. Discard Active Special Events. If a player has a Special Event card face-up in front of them, discard it to the Event discard pile.
3. Activating a new Special Event. If the active player has 1 or more Special Event cards in their hand, the player may choose one to play and activate its effect. Each player may only have 1 Special Event active at a time. There may be more than 1 Special Event active at the same time, just by different players. All players may use the effects of any active Events.

End Game

The game ends in one of two ways:

Plot Victory: If the active player has Influence on 2 Plot cards during their turn, they win the game.

Faction Scoring: If 5 or more Edict cards are in the Event discard pile at the end of the current round (i.e. all players have an equal number of turns) then the game is scored based on the players' control of Factions (see Faction Scoring below).

Faction Scoring

If the game proceeds to Faction scoring (i.e. after a 5th Edict is discarded), player scores are determined as follows:

1. Determine the largest Lodge of each Faction to be the Scoring Lodge for that Faction. Reminder! Factions not at least three cards in size do not constitute a Lodge and will not count for scoring purposes (see Lodges p.12). If there is a tie for the largest Lodge, treat all the tied Lodges of that Faction as a Scoring Lodge.
2. Tally Influence in Scoring Lodges. Each player scores a point for each Influence they have in a Scoring Lodge. If a given Influence is part of two different Scoring Lodges, that Influence is counted twice (once for each distinct scoring Lodge).
3. Determine the Winner. The player with the most total points wins. If there is a tie for most points, the player holding more Faction cards wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Playing with Bots

A Bot can be added to a 1-3 player game, providing a non-player opponent. There are 4 different Bots to choose from, that all have different complexity and difficulty levels.

Bot Setup

Setup the game as a normal, counting the Bot as one of the players with the following modifications: Choose a Bot and place its gray Areopagus together with the gray Bot Overview/Standard scripts placard.

1. The Bot's Areopagus is placed as if it were a player's Areopagus. Orient the Bot's Areopagus so it is readable for at least 1 player. Some Bots (Count of St. Germain and Joseph II) may have specified placements for their Areopagus, see the Bot's Areopagus for info.
2. Place the Standard Bot Script placard easily readable for at least 1 player.
3. Give the Bot a Contact card and 3 matching starting Favors.
4. Give the Bot all the Influence tokens of 1 color. Place 1 in the indicated slot on the Bot's Areopagus.
5. Place the Bot Pawn on the Bot's Areopagus.
6. The Bot does not get any Plot card or Luminary cards.

Bot Scripts

Each Bot has a script on its Areopagus placard that the Bot follows when performing action(s).

The Bot always performs actions with numbers (1-2-3). Then if possible, the Bot performs the first eligible letter action (a/b/c) that is listed below a numbered action.

In the scripts there are subconditions marked with a star that if true, perform the associated action, otherwise skip to the next one (see example on p.40).

In addition to the Bot's script there is a Standard scripts placard. All Bots refer to these actions and performs these in the same manner unless specified in the Bot's script. When an action (in color) is stated, check if the Bot has a special action defined on its Areopagus, otherwise it is defined on the Standard script placard.

Bot Terms

• Bot card: Where the Bot pawn is.
• Oust card: The card that the Bot plays during an Oust. It is played from the top of the deck.
• Plan card: A card the Bot uses to determine priority. It is revealed from the top of the deck.
• Primary Faction: The topmost of the Faction icons on a card.
• Secondary Faction: The bottom most of the Faction icons on a card.
• Rival: A Rival player to the Bot.
• Target card: The card that the Bot Targets.

The Bot and Favors

A Bot does NOT pay Favor costs as normal, unless stated otherwise in the Bot script.

During Ousts the Bot always pays all Favors matching the Bot card to increase their initial Strength by 1 per Favor paid (even if they do not win).

When a Bot Extorts, it prioritizes to collect/keep the Primary Faction when needed to choose the ones to collect or to give to another player.

Additional Rules

If a Bot can earn a Faction card it takes it, but gains no benefit from it.

The Subverting Favor rule still applies when playing against a Bot.

A Bot Turn

The Sequence of play is as normal. A Bot takes its turn in clockwise order based on the placement of its Areopagus.

Event Phase: If the Bot has any Edict card in front of them, return 1 Favor to the Favor pool and 1 to the Bot's supply. The Bot does not use Special Events.

Action Phase: The Bot performs the action(s) following its script.

Check Phase: The Bot checks if they have won by fulfilling at least 1 of their Plots and if not, it checks for Event triggers. The Bot will trigger an Event if they (or any other player) revealed an Ace or Crown during the Bot's turn. Flip over the top card of the Event deck. If it is an Edict it goes into play immediately. Otherwise it is discarded.

Redraw phase: Any Plan card and the card below the Chamberlain is discarded. Move Chamberlain 1 step to the right and refresh. If Ousted, the human player may redraw back to their Hand limit from the deck.

Bot Plots

A Bot wins if they, during their turn, meet the conditions of at least 1 of the 3 possible Plots as stated on their Areopagus.

Plan Card Direction Priority

When a Script says Plan, the Bot flips the top card of the Luminary deck. Looks at the Strength number on the revealed card. Then look at the Direction Priority map on the Bot's Areopagus. This determines the Adjacent card the Bot will Target with its action. The orientation of the direction map is relative to the Map of cards as indicated by the placement of the Bot's Areopagus. If the Target card is off the Map you cycle clockwise to the next card from the Targeted card from the Bot's perspective.

Plot Aid

Reference list of the Plot cards and their conditions:

• Fringe Enlistment: Control a Lodge that contains at least 4 cards along the map edge, with at least 4 of your Influence in total.
• The Inner Circle: Have Influence on 4 cards in an interior group. Each card must be Adjacent to two other cards in the group.
• Freemason Union: Control at least 1 Freemason card belonging to EACH different Faction.
• Enlightened Authority: Have 4+ Influence on I-rank cards and more Influence on II-rank cards than each other rival.
• Rosicrucian Foil: Control at least 3 Rosicrucian cards with at least 5 of your Influence on them, and Control more Rosicrucian cards than each other rival.
• Dispersed Contacts: Control any 8/6/6 cards.
• Path of Whispers: Have Influence on each card in a Lodge that connects from the top row of the map to the bottom row.
• Consort of Peers: Have Influence on a card and on three directly Adjacent cards of the same Rank.
• Line of Exchange: Control a Lodge containing at least 3 adjacent cards in the center row.
• Influential Converts: Control at least 3/2/2 I-rank cards.
• The Grand Lodge: Control a Lodge that is at least 5 cards in size with at least 5 of your Influence in total.
• The Areopagite Vassal: Control a Lodge that connects your Areopagus and at least one rival's Areopagus.
• Shadow Alliance: Have Influence on at least 3/4/5 cards that contain rival Influence.