Beginner's Guide

Norland begins with you arriving in a small village with the intention of turning it into the thriving capital of your future kingdom.

After starting a new game, the difficulty of the game will gradually increase during the first few days after starting the game. New mechanics will be introduced gradually, allowing players to adapt and develop their settlement peacefully. This behavior can be disabled by enabling Hardcore mode when starting a new game but this is not recommended for new players.

Population

Population is divided into 4 categories of people: Lords, Peasants, Warriors, and Slaves.

All characters age at a rate of one year per day.

If there are not enough living spaces people will become Homeless, which reduces their Mood by 14.

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.

Characters will pray between 8 and 9 AM.

Slaves

Slaves are paid directly in resources rather than Gold. By default they are only paid in food but they can be given alcohol as well from the Finance menu. They are housed in Slave Barn buildings. The buildings require a worker to give slaves their food and alcohol.

If a slave is unhappy and they still hold a desire for freedom they may attempt to escape. The chances of escape are higher if they are homeless. Alternatively, enough unhappy slaves can instigate a slave uprising.

Slaves can be purchased from the Holy Caravan, captured by defeating armies, or obtained by punishing criminals. Female slaves are more expensive.

Building management

The production menu

Some buildings require workers and instructions to function and will display an icon above if they do not currently have any. Instructions are given by assigning a lord as a manager. The same lord can be appointed as manager to multiple buildings and will try to visit each building every day, starting with the buildings that require instructions the most. Failing that, the instructions given by them are valid for three days. Each lord gives a production bonus that scales with its Management skill.

Once the workers receive instructions from managers they will begin working. At 6 PM workers will carry the produced resources to the warehouse. After work they receive their salaries.

Buildings that produce basic resources will produce them continuously without any input from the player. But buildings that produce resources that require other resources need direct orders from the player in the Production menu, where you can either place a one-time order to produce a certain amount or set a continuous production until a set amount is reached.

Hovering over the Economic Summary will list buildings that do not have instructions, that have insufficient workers, that are broken or non-functioning, as well as fields on the verge of depletion.

Finance

The finance menu

The Finance menu is is where wages and the sale of resources can be adjusted. On the left side you can adjust the maximum amount of a certain resource that can be sold every day, as well as its cost. On the right side you can adjust the wages for the population. Peasants, Warriors and Unemployed are paid with Gold while slaves are paid with food and alcohol resources.

Every character consumes 1 food per day, so the amount of food produced should be at least equal to the population and the food price per unit should be lower than the workers' salary. Characters who work also need alcohol every few days and their mood can be regulated with the quantity and price of the sold alcohol. Slaves receive food (and alcohol if allowed) for free but require a functioning Slave Barns building for that. Markets open after 6 PM.

Global map

On the global map you can see your city and neighbors with whom you can interact.

When two armies meet on the global 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 global map require either a lord that is at least 13 years old or a messenger. Sending a messenger costs 1 Paper.

Diplomacy

There are multiple kings you can interact with on the global map by clicking on their cities.

You can interact with specific lords in another city by choosing "Lords" from the action menu.

Dark Deeds are actions that will negatively affect the targeted city. Most of them requires cutthroats to be present in the city. The number of cutthroats is updated every few days. There are 4 Dark Deeds:

• Lord's Assassination requires cutthroats
• Kidnapping a Lord requires cutthroats
• Library Robbery requires books in the city's library
• Hall Robbery requires cutthroats

Politics are actions that will change the diplomatic relationships between two cities.

• Offering to the King requires 10 Holy Rings.
• Peace Treaty requires an army that is not several times smaller than that of the city's king's.
• 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 you defeat their army you will become independent, otherwise you will remain a Vassal.

Send the guest will make the selected lord go to the selected city and interact with the lords present.

Trading with another city is only possible when the desired city makes a trade offer, which will be displayed above the city in question, and also requires positive relationships and a lord or messenger. The prices are always better than those of the Holy Caravan. The prices will be adjusted by a further 3% for every point of Trade skill difference between the two kings. Trading will increase relations by 5.

Bandit camps

Sometimes bandit camps will be present on the map. Unless they are destroyed or bribed they will periodically attack the city. There are two ways of handling bandit camps:

1. Attack: if victorious the camp will be destroyed and you will gain loot, +5 relations with neighbors and +7 relations with the Bishop. If there are prisoners in the camp they will be freed. Hovering over the Attack button will show the possible Gold loot.
2. Bribe: prevents attacks on your city and the growth of the bandit camp for a week. This action requires a lord or messenger.

Holy Caravan

The Holy Caravan arrives every 2-3 days and is the primary source of Gold and Holy Rings. It's also a great source of books and slaves.