RTF is a global modification that replaces all towns in the game.

Yes, I know where to download it, but the problem is that the link is to a post in a VKontakte group, but this is a group for the EWA mod. There is a separate .h5u extension file there.

In EWA, a static skill wheel is used with buttons attached on top of the image... I don't know how to work with such things, but I can create an integrated skill upgrade scheme without explanations - this will be the minimum program, and then I might figure out all this.

Well, this is just a raw version. Moreover, in the plot, there comes a time when everyone needs to unite, and the free cities become a kind of refugee camps (you can even make an introductory cutscene before the first mission), and because of this, such a situation occurs.

This is more like a development of the idea of the Haven castle from the current plans; there is also an alliance of refugees and broken factions, and the free cities "don't really trust outsiders" - the main population and troops consist of people, as in Dark Messiah and Might and Magic 10, and in Heroes 7, people, elves, and orcs generally lived separately in their settlements, so if the base of the cities are the standard free cities, the faction will fall apart due to internal conflicts