Instead of looking to claim enemy lands, the Spirits of Cerebria sometimes prefer to consolidate their influence over certain areas. Fragments that are not yet part of the Identity can be used to fortify a Realm.

This Action and its upgrades allow you to affect the Fortress location in a Realm. You can take this Action only if your Spirit Figure is on one of the 3 spaces next to the Fortress location.

NOTE: You can only perform ONE of the first three tears per Action, so either Fortify OR Exalt OR Raze. You must pay the base Action cost in any case.

These are the 3 spaces that are adjacent to this Fortress location.

Take this Action only in a Realm that your opponent does not control and only if the Fortress location is empty. You may spend 3 Willpower to place one of your unused Minor Fragments on the Fortress location. Place a +1 Intensity token on the space above it. You now have a bonus of +1 Intensity in that Realm (but not on any Frontier).

NOTE: If the Realm is controlled by neither team, building a Fortress there will give your team control of the Realm.

Exalt: Use this upgrade only in a Realm that your opponent does not control and only if your team already has a Minor Fragment on the Fortress location.

Spend 1 Ambition (in addition to the 3 Willpower you pay for the Action) to replace your Minor Fragment with one of your Major Fragments. Flip the +1 Intensity token to the +2 side.

NOTE: Using the Exalt upgrade changes the effect of the basic Fortify Action from placing a Minor Fragment to replacing a Minor Fragment with a Major Fragment. Therefore, to get a Major Fragment, you first need to choose the basic Fortify Action (costing 3 Willpower), and then as a later Action, choose the Exalt upgrade to replace the Minor Fragment with a Major one (costing 3 Willpower and an Ambition).

Raze: Use this upgrade only when adjacent to a Fortress location with an opponent’s Fragment. For 1 additional Willpower and an Ambition, instead of adding your own Fragment, you may either:
• Remove the opponent’s Minor Fragment (and the +1 Intensity counter), OR
• Replace the opponent’s Major Fragment with a Minor one and flip the +2 Intensity counter to its +1 side.

NOTE: Unlike the base Action or the Exalt upgrade, you may use the Raze upgrade even in a Realm controlled by your opponent.

After using the Raze upgrade, you gain an additional Action for this turn.

SPECIAL CASES: Fragments are intended to be limited. If the type of Fragment you need is not available, you cannot complete the Action. If your opponent has no Minor Fragments, you cannot raze their Major Fragment.

Benefits of Fortresses: Cerebria is a fast‑paced tactical game with constantly changing board states. Fortresses, however, add a more strategic layer to the gameplay. They have many benefits, but most of their power will only show over time. Fortresses provide the following advantages:

• They contribute +1 (or +2) Intensity towards the control of the Realm they’re on, making it harder to lose it to the other team.
• They contribute to the Aspiration of Fortitude.
• Most importantly, they can be added to the Identity during Revelations (under certain conditions as explained later). This gives you a way to add additional Fragments to the Identity, which is a major goal of the game.