Lords

Lords can be used for building management or undertaking quests. However they will refuse to undertake quests if their Mood is low unless they have the "Strong will" personality trait. A lord will have a green, yellow or red background depending on their Mood.

Needs, thoughts and mood

Every character has a Mood, which ranges from 0 to 100 and is the sum of all thoughts. Thoughts arise from events, desires and needs. If a need is fulfilled it will give a positive thought, while if it is unfulfilled it will give a negative thought. If Mood falls below 25 the character will become unhappy. The average mood of peasants affects the level of migration.

Needs generally decreases over time and they are fulfilled through specific actions character mostly perform on their own. The need for Rest is automatically replenished when not working. There are 5 needs:

• Sleep: If it becomes completely empty, the character will collapse and fall asleep regardless of what is happening. It is satisfied by sleeping.
• Food: If it becomes low it can lead to hunger and eventually starvation. It is satisfied by consuming food such as Flour, Meat or Rutabagas.
• Rest: It is replenished slowly by not working and quickly by consuming alcohol at a Tavern.
• Piety: It is satisfied slowly through praying and quicker at Temples or Altars.
• Care: Only available to children. Is it satisfied by actions between parents and their child.
• Sex: Only available to adults. Is it satisfied during dating.

Skills

Every character has 8 skills, which determine their effectiveness when undertaking tasks and are increased by training. Children gain more experience from training.

• Manners provides a significant bonus to relations and interest. However, a significant difference in skill level can lead to rejection between lords. It is increased by learning Rhetoric.
• Trade determines the effectiveness of trading goods. When trading on the global map, each point of Trade skill difference increases or decreases prices by 3%. It is increased by learning Economy.
• Persuasion determines the effectiveness of actions related to communication and influencing other characters, including certain deep conversations. It also affects the effectiveness of sermons. It is increased by learning Rhetoric.
• Intellect determines the speed of acquiring knowledge, the speed of writing books, the likelihood of insight, and the probability of winning dice games. It is increased by learning Philosophy.
• Management determines the amount of additional production when the character is assigned as manager. It is increased by learning Economy.
• Teaching determines the amount of experience transferred during teaching. It is increased by learning Philosophy.
• Combat determines the probability of evading or blocking the enemy's attack based on the difference in skill level. It is increased by learning Warfare.
• Command determines the magnitude of the mood, and thus bravery, bonus for warriors in the commanded army. It is increased by learning Warfare.

Personality traits

Every character will have a number of personality traits, which affect how the character behaves:

Trait	Effects	Reason
Unattractive	-10 interest from other characters
Attractive	+10 interest from other characters
Beautiful	+20 interest from other characters
Diplomat	Character can convince enemy kings to forget all grievances and return to normal level of relations
Forecaster	Each Holy Caravan visit will notify you of the upcoming prices
Defender of Order	Likes kings who destroy bandit camps Dislikes kings who tolerate bandit camps in their provinces and interact with them
Greedy	Likes kings who have twice more Holy Rings than themselves Dislikes kings who have twice fewer Holy Rings than themselves
Supporter of Power	Likes kings whose armies are twice bigger Dislikes kings whose armies are twice smaller
Scientist	Likes kings with higher Intellect skill than themselves
Early balding	High chance of experiencing baldness earlier than usual	Inherited
Low fertility	-30% chance to become pregnant	Inherited
Mental impairment	Has the "Joy of foolishness" thought (+8 Mood) -50% experience from learning	Inherited
Courageous	Higher threshold for bravery	Happy childhood
Empathetic	Social thoughts are enhanced	Happy childhood
Strong will	Works when unhappy	Happy childhood
Resistance to addictions	Lower chance of developing dependencies	Happy childhood
Tendency to addiction	Higher chance of developing dependencies	Unhappy childhood
Combat instructor	Training warriors at the Training Ground gives double experience
Defender of the city	Doubles the bravery and pain threshold of the commanded army
Head chopper	Higher chance of decapitating opponents if equipped with a weapon

The "Combat instructor" trait requires a Teaching skill of 15 to function.

The "Defender of the city" trait requires a Command skill of 15 to function.

The "Head chopper" trait requires a Combat skill of 15 to function.

Actions

Characters can undertake various actions. Actions between parents and their children will satisfy the Care need.

Learn

Learn actions increase a character's skill. After choosing the action you must choose another lord as teacher. The effectiveness depends on the teacher's Teaching skill and each skill can only be increased up to the teacher's own skill level. The action will be performed daily as long as it is possible and decreases Rest for both characters. Each lesson provides experience points that scale with the teacher's Teaching skill.

• Rhetoric: increases Manners and Persuasion skills
• Economy: increases Trade and Management skills
• Philosophy: increases Intellect and Teaching skills
• Rhetoric: increases Combat and Command skills

Social

• Communication
  • Spend Time: The characters spend time together. There will be 2 deep conversations, one started by each character. The probability of conversations being good or bad depends on each character's Mood.
  • Wolf Hunting: Only available to adult characters if there are wolves available for hunting in the forest.
  • Challenge to a Duel: Only available to adult characters if both participants have armor and weapons. Removes the desire for the death of the enemy if any exists between the duelists. The duel continues until one of the participants dies or loses consciousness. The more pain the duelist inflicts upon their opponent, the easier the rest of the duel becomes.
  • Play Dice: Only available to adult characters. Bets 5 Holy Rings. The outcome is random but partially influenced by both characters' Intellect skill.
• Intrigue
  • Seduce
  • Bribe: Only available towards lords in another city. It costs 7 Holy Rings and decreases the targeted lord's loyalty towards their king. The amount of loyalty decreased depends on the performer's Persuasion skill. If loyalty falls below 25 and the targeted lord is the heir they may raise a rebellion.