The Legacy of Qun-Jin (Episode I)

Map Name:	The Legacy of Qun-Jin  (Legacy_of_Qun-Jin.h3m, Legacy_of_Qun-Jin_expert.h3m)
Map Maker:	Dan Heath
E-Mail Address:	pope@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Map Type:	Singleplayer, 1 Human Only, 2 Computer Only
Language:	English

Description:	You are Amara, seventeenth daughter of Qun-Jin, the now-dead Elf emperor.  Qun-Jin conquered an entire Heroes of Might and Magic III board as his kingdom, but his empire collapsed after his death.  You are the 28th and last of his children; try to win back what is rightfully (more or less) yours!

Special Win:	NONE
Special Loss:	NONE
Special Other:	NONE

Explanatory Note:There are two versions of the map in this .zip file.  They are the same map, except that the "_expert" map is harder than the standard map.  Most people should play the standard map, but those who cannot get enough challenge ("super-hard-core maniacs" as one of my reviewers called them) should go for the expert version.

Design Notes:	My goal in creating this map was to make a very challenging, but very honest, map.  No gimmicks, no spending hours shuttling troops back and forth, just a pack of well-equipped adversaries.  Your goal is to recapture your empire and then some; the in-game text windows should tell you everything you need to know.

Play-Testers:

	Jeff Davis (Shademantis), ruj@email.msn.com ("Super hard-core maniacs who cant get enough challenge will drool all over their keyboards with your map!  I consider myself a pretty skilled HOMM III player, but this sucker humbled me.)  
        Stefan "Satans Puppet" Bjelkfelt, S.Bjelkfelt@hem.utfors.se ("I found it a little bit easy on the hard level, but after moving up to expert or even impossible - the map really rocked!")
        Al Mytko, dexterholland99@hotmail.com  ("Your design is one of the best I've seen ever.")
	Jagan, jagan@powersurfr.com ("I think you have a great map design and interesting story.  Overall I found the map a terrific struggle at any difficulty setting.")

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Please see the Legacy of Qun-Jin web site at http://www.sapros.com/maps/index.html for news, updates, and information about sequel maps.

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The Full Story:

You are Amara, seventeenth daughter of Qun-Jin, the now-dead emperor of the elves.  Qun-Jin was a mighty emperor; he united the squabbling nobles of the elvish nation under his banner, and brought, for a time, peace and order to the countryside.  Qun-Jin was as wise as he was powerful, and he knew that the restless noblemen were too headstrong and avaricious to remain content during a time of peace.  To keep the nation united, he launched a great war of conquest; under his capable leadership, elf armies, together with their traditional allies, penetrated deep into the surrounding wildernesses, crushing the forces of the mighty warlords which had, for generations, threatened the elves from the East. 

Qun-Jin did not survive to solidify his gains.  As his armies were returning in triumph from the conquered territories of your traditional enemies, a mysterious fever overtook him, and two days later he was dead.  His wife, your mother, died the next day of the same ailment.  Qun-Jin's general, a capable and honest soldier, returned to the capital with the bodies, and the nation was plunged into mourning.

Your father had left explicit orders establishing the succession; the throne passed immediately to his first child, your eldest sister, Corinna.  Over the following years, however, the empire began to disintegrate.  The nobles resumed their hereditary feuding, and Corinna faced several direct challenges to her rule.  The internal difficulties kept Corinna too busy at home to maintain an effective administration in the remote territories captured by her father; they slid first into anarchy, then into organized revolt.  Before five years had passed, enemies were again massing on the borders of elf territory, and the headstrong leaders of the elf factions were too completely at odds with each other to mount an effective defense.

What followed was a logical consequence of the disunity and short-sightedness of the elves.  Corinna was killed in battle as her forces struggled to hold the pass through which your enemies were mounting an invasion.  Her successor, your brother Tyrrel, held the pass for another fortnight before he, too, fell beneath the claws of a Wyvern and the defense at the pass collapsed.  Over the next months the invaders poured through the pass; for a short time an elf counter-attack seemed to be gaining ground, but ogre sorcerers launched a sneak attack on an unprotected province of the kingdom by opening a portal to their fortresses on the underground sea.  In the resulting melee, the elf advance crumbled.  To make matters worse, a few days later several of the king's children were assassinated by a group of disgruntled noblemen; you yourself barely escaped with your life.

The series of military disasters has ended as it must:  only one city remains under your control, the remote fortress called Madake.  The petty, fractious lords whose intransigence brought about the empire's downfall have reaped their reward:  their smoldering corpses lie unburied were they fell, and their castles lie in ruins.  You are the last of Qun-Jin's children; all of your siblings have fallen to the forces of the invaders or the treachery of your countrymen.  The kingdom is in ruins, your armies have been all but annihilated, and the hordes of the enemy are massing for their final assault. 

Time is against you.  The enemy has the advantage of numbers.  Your people are dispirited and hungry.  The countryside lies in ruins.  Let the game begin.

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**End Story (what follows is an icky copyright notice)

Copyright Notice:  All text, original character names, and story is copyrighted by Dan Heath, 1999, and may not be reproduced without my permission.  I hereby grant permission for this document and these maps to be freely distributed, provided that 1) they are not modified in any way and 2) this document is included with them and 3) they are distributed free of charge.  These maps may not be packaged for sale without my express permission.  Heroes of Might and Magic is copyrighted by New World Computing, 1996.  