---
title: Victory and Defeat
description: How factions win, survive leadership losses, and leave the game.
---

Eagle0 is a struggle to become the last surviving faction. The game ends when only one faction remains; that faction wins. If no factions remain, the game ends without a winner.

## When a faction survives

A faction remains in the game while it has both:

- at least one faction leader; and
- at least one ruled province or moving army.

Losing a province is therefore serious, but it is not necessarily immediate defeat. An army already marching can keep a landless faction alive long enough to conquer somewhere else.

## Losing your faction head

The death of the faction head does not automatically destroy the faction. Another surviving faction leader succeeds them.

If no faction leader is available but the faction still has a province or moving army, the strongest surviving vassal can rise to become both faction leader and faction head. The faction is destroyed only if no vassal can succeed.

Creating additional leaders with **Swear Kinship** protects the faction against a sudden leadership loss. A candidate must belong to the faction, have at least 95 loyalty, and be with the faction head when the command is used.

## How a faction is destroyed

A faction is destroyed when either condition is true:

1. It rules no provinces and has no moving armies.
2. It has no faction leaders after the succession check.

When a faction is destroyed:

- its provinces become unruled;
- its incoming armies are removed and their supplies remain at their destinations;
- its heroes lose their faction assignment; and
- diplomacy and outstanding offers involving it are removed.

Those heroes are not necessarily killed. They may remain in the world in unaffiliated states and interact with surviving factions later.

## Strategic implications

- Keep a succession option by gaining another leader or maintaining a capable vassal.
- Preserve at least one province or viable moving army.
- Do not assume an enemy is eliminated merely because its last visible province falls; it may still have an army in motion.
- Remember that conquest can release, capture, or displace heroes without destroying their former faction immediately.

## Quick answers

**Do I win a battle by killing the enemy faction head?**  
Not automatically. Leadership succession may keep the faction alive.

**Am I defeated as soon as I lose my last province?**  
Not if your faction still has a moving army and a leader.

**Can a faction with provinces survive after all its leaders die?**  
Only if a surviving vassal can rise during the succession check.

**How does the whole game end?**  
The final surviving faction wins. If every faction is destroyed, there is no winner.

For tactical battle victory rules, see [Shardok Victory Conditions](/concepts/shardok-victory-conditions/). For leadership roles, see [Heroes](/heroes/#faction-leaders) and [Factions](/factions/#leaders).
