                       LOADING INSTRUCTIONS:

IBM  AND COMPATIBLES:  Insert MS/DOS or PC/DOS 2.1 or higher  into 
drive A and power up computer.  At the A>,  insert game disk  into 
drive A and type PARAVIA.


                            BACKGROUND


     It  is  A.D.   1400  and  you  are  the  ruler  of  a   tiny, 
undistinguished Italian city-state.  You are very  ambitious,  and 
intend to build your little city into a kingdom. Life is short, so 
you have only a limited amount of time.  The welfare of your realm 
depends  on the decisions you make.  If your decisions  are  wise, 
your holdings will grow,  and you will achieve loftier titles.  If 
your  decisions  are foolish and your rule  is  incompetent,  your 
serfs  will  starve,  and  you may be  invaded  by  more  powerful 
neighbors.  Good administration of your growing city will  include 
managing  the  grain  harvested  by  your  serfs,  setting  taxes, 
exercising justice, and investing in public works.

     You may play by yourself,  as the ruler of Santa Paravia, and 
try to establish your kingdom before 1420.  Or,  if you wish,  you 
may  invite up to five other people to play with  you.  They  will 
become rulers of neighboring city-states,  and compete with you to 
be the first King or Queen.


     There  are  four phases to each person's  turn:
          
            1.) The Harvest phase

            2.) The Tax and Justice phase

            3.) The Display  phase

            4.) The Public Works phase.


                        THE HARVEST PHASE:

     At the beginning of the harvest phase,  you learn how much of 
your  grain reserve has been destroyed by rats and how much  grain 
has been harvested.  The size of the harvest is determined by  the 
amount of land you have,  the number of serfs you have to work the 
land,  how much grain has been left in reserve to seed your  crop, 
and by the weather. It takes two serfs and five steres of grain to 
put ten hectares of land into production.  (A hectare is equal  to 
2.47 acres or ten thousand square meters, and a stere is a measure 
of volume, equal to approximately 1.31 cubic yards.)

     Remember that any serfs working in the woolen mills will  not 
be available to farm,  and the grain eaten by rats cannot be sown. 
In famine years,  you will not harvest enough enough grain to feed 
the  population and grain prices will be high.  It pays to keep  a 
substantial amount of grain in reserve.  However,  if you keep too 
much,  you  will  simply be feeding the rats.  In  years  of  good 
weather,  you  will  have more grain than  you  need,  unless  you 
neglect agriculture for commercial development.

     Several useful figures will be displayed on the  screen.  You 
will be told how much grain you have in reserve,  (which  includes 
grain harvested that year),  the grain demand,  (the minimum grain 
necessary to sustain your current population),  the current  price 
of grain,  the current price of land,  and the number gold florins 
currently in your treasury.

     At this point,  you may choose to buy grain,  sell grain, buy 
land,  or  sell land.  To make your selection,  press  the  number 
corresponding  to  your choice.  When you're finished  buying  and 
selling and are ready to move on,  press <0> (zero) or the  Return 
key to continue.

     You will be asked how much grain you want to release to  feed 
the population.  You MUST release at least twenty percent,  but no 
more  than  eighty percent of your reserves.  Type the  number  of 
steres you're willing to release and press Return.  If you release 
less  than  the demand,  some of your serfs will  starve.  If  you 
release more than the demand,  serfs and merchants will  immigrate 
to your city-state to take advantage of the surplus.


                      TAX AND JUSTICE PHASE:


     During the tax and justice phase,  you may set or change  the 
tax rates and the level of justice in your city-state.  Low  taxes 
encourage  commerce,  while  high taxes raise  income.  There  are 
hidden  penalties for harsh tax rates and for unfair  justice,  so 
raising one tax may lower the income from another.  You must  find 
the right balance, and that may change from one year to another.


                          DISPLAY PHASE:


     During the dislay phase,  you will see a map of your  domain. 
You  can examine this map to determine your strategy  and  tactics 
for the following years. It is important to note both the adequacy 
of your defenses and the ratio of serfs to land. At the upper left 
of  this screen is a representation of a serf.  If the serf is  at 
the  top  of the screen,  you have enough serfs for  your  current 
amount of land;  if the serf begins to fall,  you need more  serfs 
for optimum harvests. At the top right of the screen is a soldier. 
If you have enough soldiers to defend your land,  the soldier will 
be  at the top of the screen.  As with the serf depiction  on  the 
left,  if he falls lower on the screen,  it is a sign that you are 
in need of more soldiers.

     If you have more serfs than you need to farm your  land,  you 
are feeding unproductive workers.  If you have more land than  you 
can put into production,  some of your land will lie  idle.  (Idle 
land can be profitable when used for speculation, though.)


                       PUBLIC WORKS PHASE:


     The public works phase gives you an oppprtunity to invest  in 
markets,  palaces, cathedrals, and woolen mills. These investments 
will  create  jobs,  attract  more  people,  and  raise  your  tax 
revenues.  You  may also equip some of your serfs as  soldiers  to 
protect your city-state. If your defenses should become inadequate 
for  the  amount of land you have,  you may be  invaded,  so  it's 
important to keep at least one soldier for each thousand  hectares 
of land and it's a good policy to double that level of defense.

     Markets attract merchants,  increase tax revenues,  and  also 
produce  income.  The wool industry employs serfs,  increases  tax 
revenues, and produces profits. Palaces both increase tax revenues 
and attract nobility. Cathedrals increase clergy.

     After the public works phase,  your resources are tallied  to 
see  if you've earned a new title.   The titles,  from  lowest  to 
highest, are:

          For men:  SIR,  BARON, COUNT, MARQUIS, DUKE, GRAND DUKE, 
                    PRINCE, and KING

          For Women:  LADY, BARONESS, COUNTESS, MARQUISE, DUCHESS, 
                      GRAND DUCHESS, PRINCESS, and QUEEN.

     The first player to become a King or Queen wins.



                            STRATEGY:


     The most critical factor in the beginning of the game is  the 
balance  between  land,   serfs,  food  production,  and  economic 
development.   Soldiers, merchants, clergy, and nobles place heavy 
demands on your grain supply.   If you build your commerce  faster 
than your grain production,  you may have to deplete your treasury 
to  buy  grain.  On the other hand,  if you are slow  in  building 
markets and woolen mills,  your tax revenuses will be limited, and 
you won't have the money you need to buy more land.

     Land prices are determined partly by the relationship of  the 
grain  harvest  to the grain demand.   Overpopulation  raises  the 
price  of land by increasing the demand.   This makes it  wise  to 
keep  excess  land so that all of your serfs are always  at  work.  
Another  advantage  of excess land is that you can  sell  it  when 
prices are high and then buy it back again when prices drop.

     Grain prices are determined by the law of supply and  demand.  
When there are a lot of people and only a little grain, prices are 
high. When a lot of grain is available, prices are lower.  You can 
save some excess grain to sell when the prices go up, but the rats 
make  it difficult to make a profit this way.   The amount of  the 
yearly harvest is determined by the weather.   (Average weather is 
more likely than extremely good or extremely bad weather.)

     At   the   end   of   the   game,   good   strategy   demands 
diversification. Your title is determined by a formula that allows 
one point for each one building,  five nobles,  ten clergy,  fifty 
soldiers or merchants,  two thousand serfs, five thousand florins, 
or  six thousand hectares of land.   The program also takes  into 
consideration an economic aspect of your city-state,  but conceals 
this  from  the player.   Each factor is limited to a  few  points 
depending on the skill level of the game, with higher skill levels 
requiring more diversification.   Your Justice level is subtracted 
from  the total,  so it takes much longer to achieve higher  ranks 
with outrageous justice than it does with very fair justice.  Once 
you gain a title,  you cannot lose it, so alternating your Justice 
level may be effective strategy.

     One last word of caution:  You can spend more money than  you 
have but,  without any notification,  you will be charged interest 
at the rate of fifty percent on any balance owed after your  taxes 
are collected.   If you owe too much, you'll go bankrupt, and your 
realm will collapse around you.


     
           Best of luck, Sirrah!  Rule wisely and well. . . 





                      OTHER NOTES AND HINTS:


     At  the Tax and Justice Phase,  you may change the levels  of 
the   tax  collection  and  law  enforcement  policies   of   your 
administration.  When you do so,  you might note that each  change 
will affect the total revenues brought in that year. Some policies 
are  unproductive;  the revenue figure is a good  guide,  although 
some changes take a year or so to be noticeable.

     While  you are in the Public Works phase,  you may press  the 
number 6 and see a Comparison screen.  This will tell each  player 
how many serfs,  nobles,  clerics,  etc., are present in his city- 
state. Remember, in order to win, you must dominate the figures in 
these  categories.  The  Comparison screen can show you  where  to 
concentrate  your  resources.  There is much information  on  this 
screen;  you  will  see what is needed to win if you refer  to  it 
often  and  remember  what you've  seen.  (Special  Note  for  IBM 
players...  if you press 6 to get the Comparison screen,  and  you 
see nothing but a blank black display,  you need to make sure that 
the  file  ANSI.SYS  is included  in  your  CONFIG.SYS  file.  The 
nformation is there, but unless ANSI.SYS has been made active, the 
letters are the same color as the background,  and the whole thing 
looks blank.)

     Use your wits and your skills of rulership.  May you climb to 
the heights with the best of them! Above all...


                             ENJOY!!!



