1. The 48 action tiles are sorted by symbol (not by color). The three stacks are mixed separately and placed in 3 face down stacks.
   Then the top 6 action tiles from each of the stacks are revealed and placed in 3 columns below each stack. In total, there are 18 available action tiles at the start of the game.
2. Victory point token, resources, houses and Mana are placed on the table within reach of every player.
3. The character tiles are all laid out on the table, within easy reach of all players, with the “Night” side facing up.
4. Land tiles are sorted by color.
5. Each player receives:
   • 1 player board, 1 city board, and 1 summary card.
   • 1 sun marker to track the movement of the sun. The sun marker is placed on the “2” space on the sun track at the top edge of the player board
   • 1 sun disc, which is placed on the land space with a sun symbol on it. From now on, this disc is referred to as the Sun.
   • 1 mana stone, which is placed in the mana storage area of the player board.
   • 1 bag, which is used to store victory point tokens collected during the game.
6. The starting player is randomly decided and receives the starting player dragon.

1. Beginning with the starting player, each player selects 1 land tile of his choice. The following tiles may be selected: brown, gray or green. Since each player may choose any tile type, it is possible that several players start with the same type of land tile.
   

   Note: The blue and black land tiles can not be chosen at the start of the game.

2. After choosing their starting land tile, each player places it on the center space of his player board, and then places a resource cube of the same color on top of it.
   Next, 4 land tiles of each type are placed face down in 5 separate stacks. All of the remaining land tiles are mixed together and placed face down in another stack (known as the additional stack).
3. From each of the now 6 stacks of land tiles, the top tile is turned face up on the stack, and a resource cube of the corresponding color is placed on each of the face up tiles.
4. Sort the 8 special tiles by their type and place them face up in 4 stacks, next to the land tiles. There are 2 of each of the 4 types in the game
5. The players in 3rd and 4th position (clockwise from the starting player) now select 1 additional resource of their choice, and place this cube on their starting land tile in the center of their player board. This bonus cube must not be the same color as the cube already present on the starting land tile. These two players now have 2 resources on their starting land tile. All other players do not receive this bonus.

In each of the 4 action turns, each player, in player order, takes 1 of the available action tiles and performs the associated action on it.
Beginning with the starting player, each player begins his action turn by taking one of the face up action tiles on display. However, he may only choose from the tiles that are the lowest in each of the 3 columns.

Note: If any column has no action tiles remaining in it, this action is no longer available in the current phase.

The player places his selected action tile below his player board underneath the designated space with the matching color. The symbol itself on the action tile does not matter for tile placement.
In other words, the red action tiles are placed below the red space on the player board, the blue tiles are placed below the blue space, and the yellow tiles are placed below the yellow space.

Note: There is no designated space on the player board for the gray action tiles. Therefore, if a player takes one of the gray action tiles, he may place it below any of the 3 colored spaces on the board.
The action tiles are stored below a player’s board with the objective of earning bonus actions.

After placing the action tile below his board, the player performs the action shown on it.

“Create one land” means that the player may take either any one of the face up land tiles (along with the resource cube on top of it), or any of the face up special tiles.
He may choose between any of the available face-up land tiles or special tiles. He then places the selected land tile (and the corresponding resource cube) or special tile on his player board in the land area.

What are the rules for placing a land or special tile?

• The player may place a land or special tile on any of the light gray hex fields on the player board. He may not place them on the orange hex fields around the edge of the land area.
• A land or special tile may only be placed on an empty hex field that is adjacent to a field which already contains a land or special tile. The player may never place a land or special tile on a hex field that is not connected a to field with a tile.

  Note: In addition, a tile may never be placed on a hex field containing the sun. A field with the sun on it is off limits!

• The player may not place a land or special tile such that the sun is enclosed (completely surrounded by land or special tiles).
• When a player takes a land tile, he does not reveal a new tile from the stack at this time. Special tiles, however, are always displayed face up.

"Construct one temple or one city building” means that the player takes 1 house from the general supply.
This can be constructed as either Temple, which is placed on his player board or City Building, which is placed on his city board.

For each construction, no matter which type, the player must pay a certain amount of resource cubes (as described below). These cubes must be taken from land or special tiles (on the player board) that contain them. The player returns any such cubes used for construction back to the general supply.

By taking this action, the player can construct exactly one temple on one of his land or special tiles.

To pay the construction cost for a temple, any resource cubes may be used. The number of resource cubes needed depends on the number of temples already present on the player board:
The first temple constructed costs 1 arbitrary resource, the second two, the third three and so on.

If a player does not have enough resources, he cannot construct a temple.

After the player has paid the required resources, he takes a house from the general supply and places it as a temple on one of his land or special tiles on his player board.

Note: There can never be both a temple and a resource cube on the same land or special tile. If there is already a resource cube residing on a tile on which a temple is to be built, the player must put the resource cube back into the general supply first. Therefore, it is wise to spend this resource cube before deciding to construct a temple on that tile, or to construct the temple on another tile (if possible).

Only one temple may be constructed on a land or special tile. A temple may be constructed on any tile, and do not have to be constructed adjacent to each other.

What does a player gain when constructing a temple?

Whenever a player constructs a temple on his player board, he receives mana. The player takes the mana from the general supply and places it in the mana storage area on his player board.The amount of mana stones the player receives depends on the number of temples already present on the player board:
The first temple earns 1 mana, the second 2 mana, the third 3 mana and so on.

When the sun’s “illumination” effect occurs, the temples also earn victory points.

By taking this action, the player can construct exactly one city building on his city board.

Each constructed city building provides various benefits (in the form of incresaed movement of the sun marker or earned mana stones), special functions, and victory points at the end of the game. Not every city building provides all types of benefits and/or functions, however.

To construct a city building, the player must pay the resources shown in the lower corner of the building. White resources represent neutral resources, and can be paid for with a cube of any color.

Resources not available may be substituted with 2 arbitrary resources.

If a player does not have the specified resources available, he cannot construct a city building.

After the required resources are paid, the player takes a house from the general supply and places it on his city board, covering the pictured resources just paid, indicating that this building has been constructed. From now on, the player gains all the benefits and/or functions of the city building.

The player immediately moves the sun marker on his sun track forward by the number of spaces shown on the city building space (if applicable).
He also takes the number of mana stones shown on the space(if applicable) once from the general supply and places them on the mana storage area of of his player board.

Victory points earned by the city buildings are awarded to the player at the end of the game, during the final scoring.

Some city buildings have a one-time function (indicated by ), while other city buildings may have a permanent function or no function at all.

The sun is moved clockwise around the player board.

The sun must always move over empty hex fields (fields without tiles) that are adjacent to fields that contain either land or special tiles. That is, the sun must always touch a land or special tile on at least one side as it moves.

The sun may move along the edges of the land area (through the orange hex fields) if any land or special tiles lie at the outer edge of the light gray hex fields, i.e. the sun can use that area for its orbit.

Reminder: No land or special tiles may be placed in the orange hex fields around the edge of the land area.

The sun marker’s position on the sun track of the player board indicates the maximum number of spaces that the sun can be moved.

At the beginning of the game, each player’s sun has a maximum movement of 2 spaces, but this amount may be increased through the benefits of certain city buildings.

Note: The sun must always be moved at least one space when taking the “moving the sun” action.

When the sun ends its movement, it “illuminates” all land and special tiles that are adjacent to its resting space. The “illuminated” land tiles and temples then earn rewards for the player.

Note: The sun may not end its movement on the same field twice in a row gaining the same reward.

For each empty land tile that is "illuminated" by the sun, the player receives one resource cube of the corresponding color. The cube is taken from the general supply and placed on the tile.

The player does not receive a resource cube if the “illuminated” land tile already contains one (with the exception of the Warehouse), or if a temple has been constructed on the land tile.

For each temple that is “illuminated” by the sun, the player receives victory points. 1 victory point is earned for the land or special tile on which the temple is constructed, and in addition, 1 victory point is earned for each land or special tile that surrounds the temple.

It does not matter if the “illuminated” temple is built on a land or a special tile, or whether the surrounding land or special tiles are empty or contain any raw materials cubes; victory points are earned in any case.

Therefore, an "illuminated" temple may earn between 1–6 victory points. The player takes the appropriate amount of victory point tokens from the general supply and stores them in his bag.

No rewards (neither resource cubes nor victory points) are earned when the sun “illuminates” a special tile. Special tiles only earn victory points during the final scoring at the end of the game.

The player receives 5 victory points once the sun has moved one complete orbit around the land and special tiles on the land area. This most likely will not happen in a single turn.

In other words, if the sun has circled all of the land and special tiles on the player board once, and is moved on or through the gold-outlined fields , this is considered a “full orbit”, and the player takes 5 victory point tokens and puts them in his bag.

The victory points for a full orbit of the sun may only be earned once per turn. Even if the player is able to move the sun on or through the gold-outlined fields twice in a turn (a rare occurrence), he still earns only 5 victory points.

The player only earns another 5 victory points the next time his sun makes a full orbit (on a future turn).

It is possible to create a “dead end” in the land area. A hex field is considered a dead end if 5 of the 6 sides of that field are adjacent to land or special tiles. Thus, the field has only one open side.

Any 1-field-wide path of empty hex fields that leads to a field with only one open side, is also considered a dead end. Therefore a “dead end” can span across several fields.

The sun must never be moved into a dead end! That is, if the player has created a dead end, the sun must pass by it! It make take more than one turn to avoid a dead end.

Special case: A situation can occur where the player, over the course of the game, constructs land and special tiles in a way that creates a dead end around the sun. In this case, the next time the player performs a “move the sun” action, he must move the sun out of the dead end. He can split this “move the sun” action over multiple turns, if necessary. In this situation, the sun’s movement may not lead back into the dead end on a later turn.

Taking a “bonus action” means that the player may choose any one of the three main actions (create one land, construct one temple or one city building, or move the sun), and perform it immediately. He may choose an action even when no face up action tiles of that type are available below the draw pile of action tiles. The player does not take an action tile when performing a bonus action.

The player must immediately perform the bonus action. He cannot save it for a later time. He may pass on performing the bonus action, however, if he wishes to for any reason.

A player can earn bonus actions in two ways:

• By placing four action tiles of one color below his player board.

  Once a player has placed the 4th action tile of one color (gray tiles are “wild”) below his player board, he receives a bonus action. This bonus action is performed immediately after the player has performed his regular action for the turn. After performing the bonus action, the player places the four action tiles used to gain the bonus action in a discard pile.

• By constructing the “Palace” city building

  Once a player has constructed the “Palace” city building, he first increases his sun movement by 1 space and takes 1 mana stone from the general supply, as shown on the city building. Then, the function of the “Palace” allows the player to perform a bonus action immediately, one time only (as indicated by ).

Phase 1 of the game ends once each player has taken a total of 4 action turns. In a 4-player game, this means that 16 action tiles will have been taken from the display of tiles below the draw piles.

The 2 remaining action tiles are then added to the discard pile. Any action tiles still below a player’s board will remain there. At this point, Phase 2 of the round begins.
See rules changes in a 2- or 3-player game

The purchase cost for each character tile is shown at the top of the tile. This varies from 2–4 mana stones. The player returns the appropriate number of mana stones to the general supply.

The player takes the character tile and places it (“Night” side facing up!) near his player board.

The player may purchase any character tiles still in the display.

To activate a character, the player must have already purchased it and placed it in his play area.

The activation cost of a character tile is shown along the bottom of the “Night” side of the tile. Each of the character tiles has an activation cost of 3 resource cubes. The player must pay the appropriate resource cubes to the general supply.

Finally, the player turns the tile from the “Night” side to the “Day” side. This indicates that the character tile is now active.

The player immediately moves the sun marker on his sun track forward by the number of spaces shown on the character tile. He also takes the mana shown on the tile once from the general supply, and places them on the mana storage area of of his player board. The activated characters also earn victory points for the player at the end of the game for certain items, see appendix.

Players take turns puchasing and/or activating character tiles, until all players either cannot or do not wish to continue. In this way, it is possible for a player to purchase and/or activate more than 1 character tile in Phase 2.

After all players have decided not to continue with Phase 2, Phase 3 of the round begins.

Any land tiles that were not taken in the previous round are discarded from the game. One new land tile is revealed from each stack, so that 6 tiles (1 for each of the 5 land types, plus 1 random tile from the additional stack) are available again for the next round. A resource cube of the appropriate color is placed on each face up land tile.

The special tiles remain as they are. There are only ever a total of 8 special tiles available throughout the entire game.

Remaining action tiles are discarded. New action tiles are now revealed for the next round. From each of the three draw piles, 6 action tiles are revealed and placed face up in 3 columns as before. A total of 18 new action tiles are laid out. If there are not enough action tiles available in any of the three draw piles, the discarded action tiles of the corresponding type are shuffled to create a new draw pile.

The starting player dragon is passed to the next player in clockwise order. The players in 3rd and 4th position (clockwise from the new starting player) now select 1 bonus resource cube of their choice. This resource cube is placed on any existing land or special tile. It does not matter whether the selected tile already contains a raw materials cube or not. However, a land or special tile can never contain more than 2 resource cubes at a time. All other players do not receive this bonus.

The next round now begins with Phase 1.

3-Player Game

In a 3-player game 3 rounds are played. Each player is starting player exactly once (as in a 4-player game). In Phase 1 of each round, each player takes 6 action turns instead of 4. Therefore, all 18 action tiles will be taken from the display at the end of the phase and none will have to be discarded.

2-Player Game

In a 2-player game 4 rounds are played, and each player is the starting player twice. In Phase 1 of each round, both of the players take 4 action turns (as in a 4-player game).
However, the following additional changes are made:
In Phase 3 of Round 1 and Round 3, there will still be 10 face up action tiles remaining in the display. When replenishing for Round 2, these tiles are not discarded, and no additional action tiles are added to the display. Instead, Round 2 will be played with only those 10 tiles remaining from Round 1. In Phase 3 of Round 2, replenishing is done following the normal rules (discard the 2 remaining tiles, draw 18 new tiles).