What (if any) is the relationship between your Active and In Decline race?

Question

If the special power of the active race pertains to regions occupied by the race you have in decline, are you allowed to collect coins for that?

For example, you control the Iron Dwarves which are in decline and occupy Mining regions. Your new Active race are Mining Drow.

Can you collect extra coins for the Mining regions that the Iron Dwarves occupy even though it's the Drow special power that allows you to collect extra coins for occupied mining regions?

What is the relationship between races that are Active and In Decline? Can your Active race occupy a region that's already occupied by a race you have in Decline?

Answer 1

No, powers cannot be shared between races. They are specific to one race only.

Sometimes though, powers carry on in to decline. When you flip over your race/power tokens to go in to decline, it usually has symbols or graphics on the back that show what powers remain in decline. If it is just blank then you have no decline powers (See backside of Dwarves, Ghouls, and Trolls race cards here (Courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com). See also spirit power). However, these decline advantages are still specific to that particular race.

For the second question, how does an active race occupy a region owned by your race in decline?.. Page 4, section 2, 2nd Column, says:

A player may choose to conquer a Region occupied by his own In Decline token, if he wishes to: He will lose that token, but might gain access to a Region that is more profitable for his new Active Race tokens to occupy.

This is the only for your active race to occupy a region in control of your decline race. The same rules apply as conquering any other region.

Answer 2

No, Races have only one Special Power badge associated with them. You will see it referred to as a Race and Special Power combo throughout the rules. A Race does not share its Special Power with any other Race. Races in decline usually lose their Special Power badge. (excerpt from Entering In Decline, page 8). The relationship between your Active and in-Decline races is that you score Victory coins for the regions both occupy at the end of each of your turns.

To do so, the player flips his current Race banner upside down, so that the duotone In Decline side becomes visible to all, and discards the Special Power badge that was associated with it as that Special Power badge is no longer in effect, unless dictated otherwise (e.g. Muddy, Reborn, Royal, etc…). The only relationship between your Active and In-Decline races is that you score Victory coins for both of them.

Your Active Race cannot occupy your In-Decline race without conquering its Region (and discarding the in-decline race token). Nothing prevents you from attacking your in-decline race as noted on page 6.

Note: A player may choose to conquer a Region occupied by his own In Decline token, if he wishes to: He will lose the tokens, but might gain access to a Region that is more profitable for his new Active Race to occupy.

Answer 3

The only relationship (unless a specific power says otherwise) is that they both give money to you. They don't interact, so your Drow example would garner no extra income.

For you second question the answer is simple, you occupy the region the same way anyone else would, exterminate* the in decline race there and take it.

*Sorry, I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately.

Answer 4

The only relationships are that...

1. both pay you victory points/coins
2. when your active race goes into decline, your prior in-decline race goes away.

Each race's special powers are explicitly only for the race they are on.

Each Special Power badge gives a unique benefit to the race it is associated with. (p. 8)

and

The Races

The list that follows details the benefit(s) conferred to each race; the number of matching Race tokens received when selecting this Race banner is indicated by the numerical value listed on the banner. (p. 9)

and

Special Powers

In the description of Special Powers that follow, when we use the term "you" or "your", we mean the Race tokens of your race associated with this Special Power. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, this usually excludes any token In Decline from your earlier race. (p. 11)

Note that the only power that affects another in-decline race in the base box is "Spirit" and then only by virtue of not eliminating it when the spirit race goes into decline.