Training: Tavern / Alchemist Hut
Innate Ability: Ambush: The Raider gets no line-of-sight reduction in forests.

About: Life amongst the Serpent is not easy, and there are some who - by virtue of laziness, misfortune, or general unpleasantness - find no craft or trade by which to earn a living. These embittered men often become cruel Raiders, whose trademark is to pillage remote towns by night, then set them ablaze to distract pursuers. Spying out enemies through tangled forests is second nature to a Raider.

Intelligent Serpent generals find uses for such men, pressing them into service in exchange for pardoning their crimes. Brandishing torches and lanterns, they are unsuited to single combat, but matchless at reducing enemy fortresses to cinders.
 

BATTLEGEAR Brushfire: Raiders are vicious fighters and plunderers, but not always brilliant strategists. The cunning ones frequently become professional Thieves, learning to set brush fires in rice fields and forests that destroy precious resources and further cover their tracks. Caltrops: The Metal Shop manufactures these wicked four-pointed stars fashioned so that one spike always points up. Pursuers intent on revenging themselves upon Raiders, and careless of the ground beneath their feet, are likely to find themselves crippled for life.

Training: Tavern / Sharpshooters Guild
Innate Ability: Looting (targetable): The player will get a "pick-up" cursor over fresh corpses. Clicking on the corpse, the player will gain a percentage of the cost of that unit.
 

About: On the field of battle, there is more than one way to achieve greatness. Veteran Bandits shun the tedious practice, rigorous self-discipline and strict honor prescribed by the ancient masters of the martial arts. Yet they have seen more death, spilled more blood, and survived more combat than all but the greatest Samurai. The secrets of their longevity: never turn your back on a breathing enemy, never fight a stronger foe, and never take prisoners.

The Bandit's swordsmanship is chaotic, unpredictable and furious, especially when he finds himself cornered, and with his long experience in living off the land he never fails to scavenge a few ounces of food and water off a fallen foe. His skill with the crossbow is also fearsome, and he knows just where to place his shots in order to cripple his foes with pain.

BATTLEGEAR Stealth: If he wishes to work a bit harder as he travels, a Bandit can make himself all but unseen as he moves. Paralysis Darts : The Metal Shop can coat the Bandit's ammunition with a quick-acting poison. It causes no lasting harm, but swiftly induces painful, intense muscle spasms that render an enemy helpless.

Training: Alchemist Hut / Sharpshooters Guild
Innate Ability: Pass-through Damage: The Cannoneer's shots go through enemies and buildings, damaging all it passes through.

About: Where the Serpent Musketeer is arrogant and disliked by his fellow troops, the Cannoneer is respected and feared. Hauling tremendous cannons fashioned from solid tree-trunks and pig iron, these massive men of few words lumber about the battlefield stoically, though few others could even lift their burdens. These cannons fire heavy iron shot with such force that they often kill several men at once as they rip through terrified and scattering enemy ranks. Practically one-man siege engines and usually knowledgeable in the ways of masonry, lone Cannoneers have been known to demolish granite fortifications in mere minutes.

At close range, the Cannoneers thrust and bash their ponderous guns, ripping flesh and shattering bones. Yet, burdened as they are, they are unable to parry or dodge enemy strikes, and thus require infantry support to be truly effective.
 

BATTLEGEAR Smoke Bombs : The crafty Thieves' Guild has long used small smoke bombs to generate confusion during their daring escapes. These larger versions are a recipe for battlefield chaos. Mines: These compact explosive charges, available at the Metal Shop, are forced deep into the ground by the cannon's blast, where they sleep harmlessly until awakened by the hapless footsteps of an enemy.

Training: Tavern / Sharpshooters Guild / Alchemist Hut
Innate Ability: Cursed Swords: When the Ronin loses all his hit points, he thrusts his swords into the ground, leaving them behind for a short time. The swords cause nearby allies to do more damage, while nearby enemy damage is reduced.

About: In every age and nation, there are wise men of heroic strength: those whose swords shine in the nightmares of a hundred widows, and whose martial arts skills are no longer quite human. So it was with the samurai of the Dragon, and so it is with the Serpent Ronin: dark mirrors of their ancient counterparts, rejecting the samurai's code of honor as weakness, yet honing their talents to just as keen an edge. Such men make deadly foes, on or off the field of battle.

In combat, Ronin wield a pair of razor-edged katanas, reasoning that their unholy proficiency with two blades will strike fear into those who cannot brandish one with equal force. In order to master this complex fighting style, they train only with blades, disdaining the Samurai's bow. When one of these hardened veterans perishes in battle, his accumulated ferocity and bitterness curses the very place of his death, while spurring his allies on to vengeance.
 

BATTLEGEAR Blood Bond : The Thieves' Guild is not considered a scholarly group, but they do have access to certain volumes of dark sorceries. Using these, a strong-willed Ronin may enslave another's soul to his own. Such a Ronin finds himself invulnerable to harm, as his wounds are magically transferred to his helpless slave's flesh. Yin Blade : When plated with certain alloys of iron and blood in the Metal Shop, the Ronin's katanas gain the ability to suck the very life force from their victims. This replenishes the health of the Ronin, and increases the mystical Yin force available to his master.