Horrors are otherworldly beings unaffiliated with any nation. They do not spawn naturally in the world as independents do, rather they have to enter through some use of magic or certain random events. Their most common means of appearing is to horror marked commanders, through blood magic, the horror cult event chain, and at the Cataclysm.

Horrors have a myriad of different attributes. All have high magic resistance, many are ethereal; additionally they typically possess multiple attacks with additional supernatural effects such as horror marking, life drain, as well as armor piercing or negating damage. There are three tiers of horrors, grouped by strength.

When summoned in battle, horrors will preferentially target units with horror marks. Units that are mindless are the last that they will prefer to attack, regardless of their horror mark status.

Horrors have been observed to be capable of casting restricted national spells such as Celestial Chastisement and Break the Third Soul.

The game has a concept of a "global horror level" which governs many aspects of their appearance, as well as their chance of upgrading:

When a horror is spawned, the game uses this value to upgrade the horror to a greater strength. This process happens as follows:

• Calculate the "base upgrade value". This is calculated as:

  (Province's Drain scale + 3) * 5 + (Unit's Horror Marks * 20)

• If this value is greater than 500, it is set to:

  500 + (old value - 500)/5, rounded down

• If the global horror level is greater than 1, the base upgrade value is then set to:

  (base upgrade value + (horror level / 2)) * (horror level / 2), rounding down after each division

• If requesting a lesser horror, roll a random number between 0 and 999. If the random number is less than the base upgrade value, continue as if requesting a greater horror. Otherwise, a random lesser horror is spawned.
• For spawning a greater horror:
  • The upgrade level used is (base upgrade value / 10), the global horror level, or 3, whichever is greater.
  • Roll a random number between 0 and 999. If this random number is less than the new upgrade level, spawn a Doom horror that is not already on the map. Otherwise, spawn a greater horror.

Additionally, if the global horror level is greater than 1 (during Astral Corruption or the two turns preceding the Cataclysm), there is a chance that any non-Mindless mage forging an item or casting a ritual suffers an attack by a horror immediately after completing their task. For forging items with two different gem costs, each half is evaluated separately.

• Calculate the "horror score" for the mage. This is given by:

  (number of horror marks on mage * 20) + 1 - Province's Drain scale + Number of Gems consumed in the action

• An attack then occurs if:

  horror score >= exploding d(350 / global horror level)

• If the horror score is greater than or equal to the result of an exploding d250, the attacker is a random Doom horror that is not already present on the map.
• If the horror score is greater than or equal to the result of an exploding d100, the attacker is a random greater horror.
• Otherwise, the attacker is a random lesser horror, with the number of attackers varying depending on the type of lesser horror selected.

Many lesser horrors do not simply attack alone, and tend to come with a variable number of non-commander versions of the same type as the selected parent. This is not always the case, some effect such as Hell Power do not spawn additional horrors of these types.

All horrors possess the following unit abilities:

These are the least threatening of the horrors, but often appear in multiple groups. Despite being the weakest, they can very easily be lethal to many commanders.

Unit	Abilities	Notes
Lesser Horror	Darkvision (100%) Fear (10) Ethereal Unsurroundable (2) Teleport Blink Amphibious Floating
Horror Mantis	Darkvision (100%) Resist Poison (5)
Float Cat Horror	Resist Poison (5) Ethereal Damage Reversal (12 vs MR) Blind Amphibious Floating
Soultorn	Regeneration (20%) Darkvision (100%) Pierce Resistant
Spine Membrane Horror	Blind Flying Pierce Resistant Ethereal
Belly Maw Horror	Darkvision (100%) Unsurroundable (2)
Brass Claw Horror	Pierce Resistant Shock Resistant (15) Unsurroundable (1)	The brass claws inflict armor negating shock damage.

These horrors are significantly stronger than their lesser cousins.

Unit	Abilities	Notes
Horror	Darkvision (100%) Fear (15) Ethereal Unsurroundable (5) Teleport Blink Amphibious Floating
Defiler of Dreams	Stealthy (80) Fear (10) Ethereal Unsurroundable (3) Teleport Blink Amphibious Floating Invisible Damage Reversal (13 vs MR) Cause Unrest (20) Blind
Mind Slime Horror	Reinvigoration (2) Fear (10) Ethereal Unsurroundable (5) Mind Slimer (25) Amphibious Floating Invisible Damage Reversal (13 vs MR) Innate Spellcaster (1)	Is a 5 caster.
Gore Tide Horror	Regeneration (50%) Fear (15) Ethereal Unsurroundable (2) Amphibious Resist Fire (10) Resist Cold (10) Resist Poison (10) Pierce Resistant Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Blind Slimer (4) Plague Carrier (8)

These horrors are unique and named, and are extremely powerful, possessing a number of special abilities. These may prove fatal even to some supercombatants. If under the control of a player, they have a chance per turn to disappear, yielding the message Suddenly, Doom Horror was nowhere to be found.

Additionally, they may destroy thrones in their current province if they appear on the strategic map for any reason.

Agon - Eater of Dreams possesses a number of notable features: he is one of two horrors to have an attack with an additional magic resistance negating soul slay effect, making him especially dangerous to immortals. He also has a 25% chance to raise any non-lifeless creature he kills as a soultorn, one of the lesser horrors. Unlike the other doom horrors, he will not move on the strategic map if controlled by the independents.

Additionally, should he enter the strategic map, he triggers a global event which applies a horror mark to 5% of the units on the entire map.

Umor - Eater of Gods has three different forms which he shifts between as he becomes wounded. His later forms have lower protection, attack and defence skills, but more ability-based protections. Additionally, as he is the only horror with the extremely rare astral fetters ability, effects such as the Ring of Returning will not allow a commander to safely escape from an assassination attempt by him. He has a 75% chance to move on the map if independent.

Kurgi - Slave to Unreason is an immobile 10 caster with an exceptionally large hit point pool. It has a 50% chance to move if independent. It also has 10 to use in every battle, which may allow it to cast spells such as Master Enslave. Its theft of reason attack can inflict feeblemindedness.

Scabiel - Maker of Ruins is a massive creature which possesses the unique ability to destroy forts in its current province. Of note is its tremor attack, which can strike 25 squares at a time. Its independent movement chance is 75%.

Rarku - Hunter of Heroes is one of the two horrors to possess a soul slaying weapon attack, alongside Agon. Of additional note is his high number of melee range attacks. His independent move chance is 100%.

Hruvur - Abomination of Desolation is a 68 caster that spawns 10 False Horrors at the beginning of battle. It unique among horrors in that it has the ability to swallow and digest victims. Upon death, it lets out a death wail, stunning creatures that fail to resist.