Kavithan Protectorate

• Sponsor benefit: Cities and Outposts acquire new tiles twice as fast.

After both the Great Mistake and rising sea levels displaced its population, many commentators were quick to dismiss the Indian Protectorate--to their great loss. Whereas other countries might have been content to wallow in despair, the Indian Protectorate underwent one of the greatest cultural transformations that a civilization has undertaken, becoming culturally dynamic, indomitably optimistic, and cleverly resourceful. With one-sixth of Old Earth's population within its borders, and under the charismatic, enlightened guidance of syncretic religious mystic and prophet Raj Thakur, the Protectorate has launched a space program that is the pride of its people. The program is celebrated in song and movie, with every boy and girl from Punjab to Tamil aspiring to work on "our Prophet's Dream." Now Raj Thakur's only child, Kavitha, has assumed her father's mantle. Work continues on the Prophet's Dream and life on new worlds.

Playstyle

Kavitha Thakur is the epitome of a peaceful expansionist. She's capable of declaring war, but it's likely that you're only in danger if her borders slam into yours and your treatment of aliens and other Leaders goes against her. Use trade convoys to keep her happy, and you might end up with a loyal friend instead of an enemy whom you can't trust.

If you're playing against Thakur, give her a little time to overexpand. She'll throw cities all over the place, leaving them somewhat exposed. That makes her a valuable target once you have your military geared up and ready to go. Someone else might beat you to the punch, but that can be turned into a victory, as well. You can always let them tire themselves out in the early phases of the war, join Thakur by declaring war against her opponent, and "defend" her territory by claiming the cities that she's lost. You can always eat the rest of her cities later, as she'll be in even worse shape than before due to the first war.

When playing as part of the Kavithan Protectorate, your job is to expand quickly but safely. This isn't as easy as it sounds. Fast expansion is easy with this sponsor, but that leads to low Health and a higher risk of invasion from enemies who are jealous of all your new land. Always defend your colonists and their outposts as well as possible, and augment your city's natural defenses with extra units. Consider trade routes to more martial stations so that you can beef up your military without having to sacrifice extra production time in your cities.

Kavitha Thakur

• Strengths: Growth, Culture
• Weaknesses: Military, Infrastructure, Science

A revered religious icon thrust into a position of both political and military power, Thakur is calm, almost to the point of being detached, as if she exists in two places at once. Although she appears young, she is likely very old; she speaks slowly, carefully considering her words and drawing on decades of memories and experience. Her goal is a peaceful coexistence to heal the wounds endured by the generations following the Great Mistake. Insults and aggressive tones are meaningless to her and fall on deaf ears. Her responses are almost always cordial, thoughtful, and even-handed. However, if driven far enough, she will use the sheer numbers and devotion of her followers to protect those who share a similar ideology.

Although Western scholars are almost uniformly incredulous, the followers of Kavitha Thakur hold fast to the claim that she was born on the first day of June, 17 years before the events of the Great Mistake, making her well over 200 years old. More reliable estimates concede that she may be considerably older than the average life expectancy.

As the daughter of revered northern mystic Raj Thakur, Kavitha had a strong spiritual connection at a young age. She often experienced near-catatonic states of "disembodied concentration," during which she was said to have had visions of the far future. To the devotees of her father, this only served to solidify their belief that she would one day supplant him in his role, as he himself had declared upon her birth.

Nearly 80 years after Raj Thakur's journey to the Kush, Kavitha's followers numbered in the hundreds of millions as the stories of her and her father became legend among desperate and forgotten peoples. Despite a number of political and military candidates tailored for the position, when it came time to elect a leader for the now geographically diverse region under their control, no one saw a means to overcome Kavitha's popularity. Swept up in a nearly uncontested vote and thrust into a position of political authority she neither desired nor prepared for, Kavitha focused her early efforts on what she knew best: humanitarian campaigns. She focused her vast resources on repairing the damage done by her predecessors to the people of the Indian subcontinent.