Kalam
An alternate-history real-time strategy game
Two crowns. One river. Neither will fall.
The premise
For a century the Cholas of the river delta and the Chalukyas of the Deccan plateau fought over the rivers of South India. In real history both dynasties eventually gave way to other powers. Here, neither ever does.
So the rivalry outlives everything: chariots, armoured elephants, then gunpowder. Every age brings new weapons to the same two crowns, and the same question. Who holds the river?
சோழர்
A river-and-sea empire that turns the wealth of the delta into force. Ship troops behind enemy lines, land elephants on the beach, and keep the horse ports open, because a fleet lost at sea stops everything.
ಚಾಲುಕ್ಯರು
A plateau power that shapes the battlefield before it fights. Fortify the passes, breed horses where no fleet can reach them, and hold the lancers back for the moment the enemy overreaches.
How it plays
A full real-time strategy game designed for a phone. Forgiving touch targets, no hidden gestures, and the camera is never taken from you.
Monsoon rain floods the fords. Ridges give archers the high ground. Hold a crossing and the whole battle turns.
The Cholas ship war horses in from Arabia; the Chalukyas breed theirs on the plateau. Blockade a port and the Chola cavalry stops. Raid a pasture and the lancers go hungry.
A navy that lands armies behind your walls, against forts that turn every approach into a killing ground.
The armies
Broad sword, tall crimson shield. The line every Chola army is built around.
Plateau-bred horses and long lances. The strongest standard unit on either side.
Brass tusk caps, archers in the howdah. Slow, heavy, and very hard to stop.
Ash and drumbeat. Curses the enemy, shakes their nerve, steadies your own line.
Healer and firebrand: flame, binding vines, poison mist and healing light.
Iron plate and a walled howdah. Rarer than the Chola beast, and harder to bring down.
Commanders
The emperor on the royal elephant. Where he stands, the line holds.
He took the tiger banner across the sea. Stronger on ships and in landings.
Master of the plateau forts. Defenders fight harder within sight of him.
Restless and fast. The further he rides from home, the more dangerous he gets.
Two chroniclers
Each campaign has its own poet and its own ending. Chola soldiers speak Tamil; Chalukya soldiers speak Kannada, with English subtitles.
“Thanjavur is still young. Rajaraja’s officers want a town worthy of the river. I would settle for one with a roof that does not leak.”
“Koppam is a place where two armies will later tell the same story with different verbs.”
Three ages, one rivalry
c. 610–660
Chariots, brick forts and cliff-cut temples. Capture wild elephants, the prize of the age.
c. 985–1070
Granite temple-cities, an imperial navy and armoured elephants. Whoever controls the horse trade controls the war.
c. 1500–1565
Matchlocks, cannon and rockets. Saltpetre is the new prize, and foreign ships want the horse ports.
The launch campaign
A four-mission prologue teaches both factions. Then ten missions under each banner, from the Kaveri delta to the Strait of Malacca and the walls of Kalyani.
Fair from the first tap
Download free and play the prologue plus the first two missions of each campaign. One purchase unlocks the rest, for both factions.