Hearths

Overview
Hearths are the heart of the settlement. Every settlement starts with an Ancient Hearth and can construct other  Small Hearths from the City Buildings menu. Hearths are buildings with Specialization that employ a single  Firekeeper to keep the Hearth lit by burning  fuel. Fuel can also be Sacrificed in the Ancient Hearth. Every villager takes their breaks at the nearest Hearth to warm themselves, eat, and fulfill their needs. By upgrading the Hearth with decorations, housing, and Service buildings, you can unlock up to 3 tiers of stackable benefits. The Ancient Hearth can get corrupted at Veteran Difficulty and higher.

Hearth Types
The heart of the colony is protected by the Holy Flame. Villagers gather here to rest, eat, and receive clothing. If the fire goes out, people will lose hope. No Hope Resolve effect: -20 Resolve.
 * Ancient Hearths :

Small Hearths cannot be built too close to the Ancient Hearth or to each other - the ranges of your Hearths (approx. radius of 9 squares) may never overlap.
 * Small Hearths :

Small Hearths are identical to Ancient Hearths, except you do not receive a Firekeeper bonus and you cannot  Sacrifice fuel. It is OK if Small Hearths go out, but villagers will be unable to rest or fulfill their needs at an unlit Hearth and will instead travel to the nearest available lit Hearth.

Fuel
There are 4 fuels that can be burned in Hearths:, , , and. Each Hearth you have in the settlement consumes fuel.

You can decide which type of fuel will be burned in each Hearth using the checkboxes next to the fuel types in the Allowed Fuel menu. All Hearths share this setting. If you have multiple fuels selected, the leftmost one will always burn first. There are also options in the settings that allow you to customize which fuels are automatically enabled when starting a new settlement.

Firekeeper bonus
Every settlement starts with an Ancient Hearth which must always remain lit. If the fire goes out, all villagers will lose 20 Resolve. To keep the flame burning, a Firekeeper and a steady supply of fuel is needed. The job of a Firekeeper is to bring fuel to the Hearth they are assigned to. They spend most of their time idle otherwise. Your choice of Firekeeper in the Ancient Hearth will grant your settlement a species-specific bonus. Small Hearth Firekeepers don't provide any bonuses.

Hearth upgrades
Level 1 Hearth upgrade is available from the start. Upgrading to level 2 and 3 requires you to unlock levels 2 and 4 of the Brass Forge respectively.

Click on the Hearth to see what is required to upgrade. As seen on the image on the right in the Upgrade Requirements section, we still need 4 Comfort Decorations and 4 Aesthetics Decorations before the Hearth upgrades to level 2.


 * Housing, Decorations, and Service buildings need to be placed fully within the Hearth Radius for them to count towards upgrades.
 * The Hearth upgrades itself automatically once all the requirements are fulfilled.
 * Both Ancient and Small Hearths can be upgraded.

Villager breaks

 * Main article: Breaks

Every few minutes villagers have to return to a nearby Hearth for a break, to eat, rest, and satisfy needs. All consumption happens during breaks. Villagers of different species take breaks at different Intervals.

Sacrificing

 * Main article: Sacrificing

Fuel can be sacrificed in Ancient Hearths to temporarily gain powerful positive effects. Sacrificing is extremely resource intensive and requires significant labor investment, or even restructuring of the whole settlement, should you wish you keep it up for an extended period.

Corruption

 * Main article: Blightrot

Blightrot infects Hearths. The more Blightrot Cysts a Viceroy generates from Rain Engine use or Glade Events, the faster their Hearths get corrupted during Storm Season, when Blightrot Cysts open up. Once the Ancient Hearth reaches the Corruption limit, it triggers Voice of the Sealed Ones. Voice of the Sealed Ones sends out 3 ghosts from the Ancient Hearth that seek out and kill 3 random villagers. As soon as the Hearth discharges, Corruption is reset to 0 and starts rising again.

Hearth Tips

 * Use as Hearthkeepers when you are running low on fuel and, especially on Marshlands and the Sealed Forest.
 * are nifty as Hearthkeepers before and after Glade Events to carry goods to and from these Events.
 * are excellent during the Storm Season as Hearthkeepers to keep Hostility down and stop Forest Mysteries from triggering.
 * are invaluable when playing World Modifiers like Land of Greed to slow down the Queen's Impatience.
 * as Hearthkeepers will help you in achieving Resolve - based Orders.
 * Since Firekeepers in  Small Hearths don't offer a species-specific bonus like they do in the  Ancient Hearth, you can take advantage of its  specialization synergy with Lizards.