The story

Everything below is drawn from the game itself: the eight clan descriptions on the tribe screen and all ninety-six mission briefings, twelve stages for each of the eight tribes. Retold, not quoted.

The island

On the mainland the tribes fought wars to the last life, and the ground was red with it. Earthquakes and storms came on top of the wars. The survivors understood that they would never live peacefully there, and started dreaming of a land with rich nature and fertile soil. The Jurassic island is that land. All eight tribes arrive one after another, each from its own side and each with its own disaster behind it.

Unlike other islands this one has two mountains, and between them lies Lake Dream. The island splits into east and west, and in the second half of the campaign that split turns political.

Mythology shows through in two places. Perox, the god of darkness, lost the battle of the gods to Ether, the god of light, was cast out and hid on the island in a changed shape, gathering a kingdom of frightened people: that is how Moospell begins. The other trace is a rock inscription the Romack find: twelve tribes once lived here in peace, most died in an earthquake, and they left behind legendary weapons given to them by God. The eight tribes of the game are not the first.

Time runs in primitive years, from 972, when Tyrano land, to 1399. The first six stages cover about two hundred years and follow named people. After that the scale changes and the stages become eras: blocs, wars and generations.

Every war in the game starts from hunger. Food is the only resource, hunting grounds are the only real wealth, and almost every briefing about expansion explains it the same way: the game in our grounds has run out. Even the dinosaur uprising happens because the dinosaurs went hungry.

The original intro

The eight tribes

Tyrano

Came first, with empty hands, to Lake Dream. Tamed velociraptors and triceratops, and their young men grew into muscle men. Their chief Utamasha died leaving one secret: the island holds legendary weapons. They fetched the Moonlight Sword and came home to a burned village.

Ka-noo-se

Women who broke away from Koomba and turned to magic rather than tribute. Weak in a straight fight, but they heal instantly, so hunting feeds them easily. They learn single healing, then mass healing, then shields, then maximum health.

Romack

Refugees from the South Pole, last to arrive, worn out and with their magic barely working. Beaten daily by Masai until they learn map magic and teleport, which turns the war around. Later they learn resurrection, the strongest magic on the island.

Masai

They killed each other over scraps on the voyage and came ashore hunting without limit. Building bores them, killing does not. Their cold-blooded warrior Kiznor got the Hammer of Darkness out of a Tyrano deserter.

Moospell

A cult around Perox, the god of darkness, who lost the war of the gods, hid on the island and took the local people for his kingdom. Fireball, then a roar that cripples, then lightning that leaves nothing alive.

Koomba

Former slaves, strong and famously lazy. Food used to rot because carrying it to a store was too much effort. They found the Sun Shield and, next to it, a mural about living in peace, and decided to absorb other tribes instead of killing them.

RaDumBa

Bandits who repented and became archers. They keep to the hills, shoot before they are seen, and spend the campaign trying to prove they are not what they were.

Koaka

Sky against ground. They tame rhamphorhynchus and carnotaurs, and their victory screens show riders on flying mounts, which is why everyone keeps asking whether unit carrying was cut from the original.

The shape of a campaign

All eight campaigns share one skeleton of twelve stages, seen from eight different sides. That is why the same events keep coming back with different villains.

Landing. Arrive, hunt, learn the ground.
First neighbour. The hunting grounds run dry and the tribe next door is in the way.
The secret. A dying chief, a prisoner or a rock carving points to a legendary weapon.
The expedition. The weapon is fetched, and the village is burned while the warriors are away.
Revenge and a shaky peace. Two tribes fight, then split the hunting evenly.
The dinosaur uprising. Hungry dinosaurs turn on everyone. Buildings fall, trained mounts die, a generation is lost.
Blocs. Alliances form, tribute is demanded, colonies appear.
The great war. Everyone against everyone, the west against the east.
Unification. One tribe stands over the island.
And the food runs out again. By 1399 the heroes are old or dead, the colonies are strong, and a new generation starts the second bloody war to avenge the first.

The legendary weapons

Left by the twelve tribes who lived here before. Each campaign fetches one, and the fetching is always the turning point of that tribe’s story.

What each of them actually does in the code is on the items page, and the answer is not always what the manual implies. →

Everything above stops short of spoiling the campaign. If you would rather have all of it — the lore archive (spoilers)

See it yourself

The whole campaign runs in the browser, briefings and all.

Play