World

The world map

The world map is divided into regions. Every region has a city and two villages. Each city increases its population and gold proportionally with how many lords it has. Hovering over a city's number of books will list what books it possesses. Lords and armies are also visible on the map. Lords move fast and cannot be attacked. Armies move slow and can be attacked by independent and suzerain kings.

When two armies meet on the world map a battle icon will appear above them. Clicking on it will display a comparison between the two armies, and in the middle a balance of power bar that shows which army is more powerful and by how much. You can then choose to play out the battle automatically, fight it manually, or retreat.

Certain actions on the world map require either an adult lord or a messenger. Sending a messenger costs 1 Paper and uses the skills of the king.

The kingdom will start with the protection of the Loving Family, which prevents other kings from attacking you, demanding anything or conducting dark deeds or intrigue. It lasts until the city has a population of 50 or you do one of these actions first.

Cities can be burned to the ground. If burned to the ground, any king can pay 300 Gold to settle the ruins. The province will be restored as a vassal, with the sent lord becoming its king.

Independence

Kings can be suzerains, independents or vassals.

• Suzerains are lords that have vassals.
• Independents are lords which are neither vassals nor do not have vassals.
• Vassals are lords that have a suzerain.

Vassals cannot attack cities, raid villages or demand tribute from kings and must pay Gold to the suzerain that scales with the vassal's city population. Anyone who attacks a vassal will severely worsen their relations with the vassal's suzerain. Dark deeds are not possible between a vassal and a suzerain. When the suzerain king dies all its vassals become independent.

A vassal's will get between +25 and -25 Opinion with its suzerain depending on the difference in army strength.

Provinces

Norland contains 25 provinces. The following provinces are available when starting a new game:

Province	City resources				Village resources	Difficulty
Enchantment	1	1	2	3		Easy
Silverhaven	2	2	1	2		Easy
Sparksville	3	1	2	2		Easy
Brightvale	3	0	2	3		Normal
Crystallight	1	2	3	0		Normal
Goldshire	3	1	1	2		Normal
Crystallia	1	1	1	0		Hard
Frostkeep	3	2	0	0		Hard

Villages

Every province has two villages, which will tribute one resource to the province's city every 4-6 days.

Independent and suzerain kings can raid a village to take half of the produced tribute and capture prisoners. Villages have a number of defenders armed with Daggers that will fight back if raided and if the village is in the province of another king it will reduce relationship between the two kings by 20.

The owner of a village's province can pay 400 Gold to double the province's migration for 5 days and 100 Gold to halve the province's migration for 5 days. These actions are started by selecting a village but affect every village in the region.

Bandit camps

Bandit camps can appear if enough peasants leave to join the forest banding. Unless they are destroyed or bribed the forest bandits will periodically attack the province's villages and eventually the city. There are two ways of handling bandit camps:

• Attack. If victorious the camp will be destroyed and you will gain 25 Gold per bandit, +5 relationship with neighbors and +12 relationship with the Matriarch and any prisoners in the camp they will be freed. If defeated any hostages will be killed and the bandit camp will send an army to the city in a few days. Hovering over the Attack button will show the possible Gold loot and before sending the selected army the game will display the estimated chance of victory.
• Bribing costs 30 Gold and prevents attacks on the city and the growth of the bandit camp for a week. This action requires a lord or messenger.

Bandit camps in the province of another king may send offers. Accepting an offer reduces relationship with the province's king by 7 and the bandits can later use the Gold to gain more bandits.

• Hiring Bandits costs 350 Gold and gives 7 bandits with a Combat skill of 5 and no weapons
• Sale of Prisoners gives prisoners and costs 12 Gold per prisoner
• Sale of Rings gives Holy Rings at half the price of the Holy Caravan

Diplomacy

There are multiple kings you can interact with on the world map by clicking on their cities. You can interact with specific lords in another city by choosing "Lords" from the action menu. Lords will have a flag behind them in the actions menu which shows what city they're from.

Send the guest will make the selected lord go to the selected city and interact with the lords present. This action cannot be performed by messengers.

Independent and suzerain kings can attack cities. This will reduce relationship with its king and if the city's king is not an enemy it will also reduce relations with all neighbors and the bishop by 20. If victorious it will steal some Gold.

Marriage is only available if the relationship between two kings is at least +5. The bride will move to the husband's city and the husband will pay a price in Gold that scales with the strength of the bride's city. Relationship between the two kings will be increased by 30.

Improving Relationships

The following actions will improve relationships with the selected city:

• Spend Time is identical to the regular action.
• Wolf Hunting is identical to the regular action.
• The Envoy's Visit improves relations depending on the performer's Manners skill level.
• Offering to the king: Transfers 200 Gold from the city to the targeted city and improves relations depending on the performer's Manners skill level but repeated use will lead to lower increases.
• Restore Relations is only available if one of the lords has the Persuasion skill as their talent and skill level is at least 15, costs 10 Holy Rings and improves relationships.

Politics

Politics are actions that will change the relationship between two cities.

• Threat of Plunder. The city's king will surrender all their Gold or refuse. If they refuse you will be required to attack their city. If you win you will take all Gold from the city. If relationship is Enmity or Mortal Enemy it reduces relationship with the city's king by 15. Otherwise reduces relationship with the city's king by 50 and with everyone else by 20.
• Burning to the Ground threatens to destroy the city and reduces relationship with the city's king by 130 and with everyone else by 20.
• Slander against a neighbor requires at least 25 relationship between the kings. It worsens relations between the target and another king depending on the performer's Persuasion skill but also reduces relationships.
• Praise of the Neighbor requires at least 25 relationship between the kings and improves relations between the target and another king depending on the performer's Persuasion skill.
• Peace Treaty requires at least 25 relationship between the kings and costs 200 Gold. If accepted, for 10 days both kings cannot attack each other's cities, raid each other's villages, offer each other vassalage, perform dark deeds on each other, and their relationship is increased by 20. The treaty will end early if one of the kings dies.
• Withdrawal from Vassalage is only available towards the suzerain lord. If the suzerain is significantly weaker they will grant independence. Otherwise they will attack the city in a few days. If their army is defeated you will become independent, otherwise you will remain a vassal. Reduces relationship with the suzerain king by 20 and with all neighbors who dislike you by 10.
• Politely Demand Tribute is only available to kings who are not vassals and will demand 500 Gold. Relationship with the city's king are reduced by 25 and the king will refuse if they have a sufficiently large army.

Expansion

Expansion politics are actions that will expand the border of the cities.

• Invite to your Alliance requires an army that is not twice smaller than that of the city's king's.
• Demand Vassalage is only available between independent kings and reduces the relationship between them by 25. The city's king will either become a vassal or refuse. If they refuse you will be required to attack their city. If you win the king will become your vassal. Removes the protection of the Loving Family.
• Offer Vassalage is only available between independent kings whose relationship is at least friendship and reduces the relationship between them by 50. The city's king will either become a vassal or refuse. If they refuse you will be required to attack their city. If you win the king will become your vassal. Removes the protection of the Loving Family. They are more likely to accept.

Dark Deeds

Dark Deeds are actions that require cutthroats to be present in the city and cost 50 Gold per persuaded cutthroat. Their success depends on the number of cutthroats that the sender can persuade to undertake the deed. Whether they succeed or not they will reduce relationship with the city's king and the Matriarch. All Dark Deeds remove the protection of the Loving Family.

Dark Deed	Objective	Success chance	Relationships with king	Relationships with Matriarch
Lord's Assassination	Kill the selected adult lord	10% per persuaded cutthroat	-60	-12
Kidnapping a Lord	Kidnap the selected adult lord	10% per persuaded cutthroat	-60	-12
Library Robbery	Steal all books from the city	20% per persuaded cutthroat	-12	-9
Hall Robbery	Steal 200 Gold per convinced cutthroat	10% per persuaded cutthroat	-12	-9

Unholy Horde

The capital of the Unholy Horde

The Unholy Horde will only appear if it has been enabled at game creation. On day 3 you will receive a notification about a cult in the norther woods. On day 5 the Unholy Horde appears in the north-western corner of the map. The Unholy Horde will raid all villages of neighboring cities and every 5 days it will attempt to conquer another province. If they win the city and all lords are destroyed. The king of the Unholy Horde has very high Combat and Command skill levels.

The Unholy Horde cannot be negotiated with. Their cities can be attacked and if victorious will improve relations with everyone by 50.

The Unholy Horde will leave after 55 days and can be defeated earlier by capturing its capital city.