HoRRis Lupercal [YARR!] has only been playing Illyriad for around six months, but he has already become a familiar name and made his own stamp on the game. You may know of the gargantuan effort HoRRis has put into his empire planner Luper-Tools , his LUTIP trading programme to encourage trade at smaller hubs, or his fledgling Lupercalian Union [TLU] alliance and the cool medal he sometimes gives as a reward for prestige build donations. He came to Illyriad through Steam achievements, but stayed for the sandbox, the long-term planning and the community.  We talked in  about achievement hunting, cluster building, trade hubs, Luper-Tools, gaming, and what keeps him logging in.

  Welcome! Thanks for visiting Voices of Illyriad - a series of discussions with players from Illyriad's Elgea and Broken Lands.  The  ABOUT  page of this site gives a general view of the intent, which is broadly to offer an insight and dynamic that rarely presents itself in the game naturally. I am pleased to bring this new series to the community, and hope you find it an enjoying read! About Me: I have played Illyriad since February 2025, so am still relatively new. You may know me as the guy who is (was) constantly doing prestige builds and asking for resources, the proprietor and sole occupant of Turtle Island, and until recently one of the leaders of [YARR!]. As of June 2026, I have hit my target 32 towns and have decided to wander the lands solo for the time being, visiting other alliances. I've been playing multiplayer games for over 20 years, from the wild west of dialup days on mplayer.com playing Aliens vs. Predator, Age of Empires 2, Diablo 1...

Thirion , also known as  Ellania and DragonHunter , is one of Illyriad’s largest and most well known players. He is the first player to reach 60 cities , has run some of the biggest accounts in the game, has led and supported major alliances including ITG and SMA. He has also been at the centre of some of Illyriad’s most important debates about warfare, tournaments, training and the future of the game. We talked about the state of the game, building 48 cities in 34 days, why he abandoned Thirion, leadership, tournament players, PvP systems and warfare, and what still keeps him interested.

Bolism [SYWTH] , also known through his dwarf account Justic Badstone , is one of Illyriad’s most prominent slaughterers of fauna, and has long been my personal hero.  I was a month or two into Illyriad with a few new towns under my belt, not knowing whether the game was for me or not. Someone linked me to the SYWTH profile to understand hunting a bit more, and the depth and complexity of game mechanics became immediately obvious, and I was hooked. Anyway... Many players will know Bolism from his GC personality, and the useful reference material on the SYWTH alliance profile (linked further below). He is one of those players who has gathered a lot of practical knowledge and data over many years, then shared it back with the community. We talked about a lot, includings, old alliances, terrible advice, legendary players, and his new battle calculator.   Let’s start with the basics. Where in the world are you based, and how long have you played ...

Temur is an orc of few words, but many will recognise as a friendly GC regular.  He founded The Red Orc Clan [ROC] as a relatively new player, with an open, roleplay-friendly view of orcish bloodlines and a preference for letting players grow at their own pace. We talked about orcs, founding an alliance, radio call-ins, and why it is best not to reveal a long research project... Note: this interview was conducted whilst Temur was still leading ROC, he has since joined the pirate fleet over at YARR.

The Last Daughter [YARR!] will be a familiar name to some, but not to others.  Some players may remember her from the old Faction Play days in ELVES. Others may know her from a high-profile troll hole conflict, recent tournament work with YARR , or also recently the winner of a player-led Underworld hunting event where she killed over one million Underworld troops in around 40 days. We talked about how she found Illyriad during COVID, why she prefers a compact military account, what she has learned from small-scale fighting, and why troll holes need fixing.   Let’s start with the basics. Where in the world are you based, and how long have you played Illyriad? I'm based on the west coast of the USA, and have played this game since 2020. How did you first discover Illyriad, and what attracted you to it? I first started playing during COVID. Since my job went remote during the pandemic, I was looking for something to pass time at home. I fou...