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.

Every game will start with a king and a heir and a queen who is captured by bandits.

Population

Population is divided into 4 categories of people: peasants, warriors, criminals and slaves.

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

Peasants migrate to the city, the the number of migrating peasants depending on the average Mood.

If there are not enough living spaces people will become Homeless, which reduces their Mood by 14. Homeless people will sleep inside a Temple if one is built and in front of the Hall if no Temple is built.

Characters who are unhappy or listen to a Sermon of Faith at a Temple may become fanatic. Fanatic characters have the "Fanatically relogious" thought thought (+12 Mood) and also enjoy pain. If fanatics stay unhappy for too long they can raise a rebellion.

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 AM and 9 AM. If there is a Temple they will pray there. If there isn't any but there is an Altar they will pray there. Otherwise they will pray at home but this will be less effective.

Slaves

Slaves are paid directly in resources rather than Gold and are given jobs before peasants. 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 building requires a worker to give slaves their food and alcohol.

Slaves may or may not yearn for freedom, which is shown when hovering over them. If a slave yearning for freedom is unhappy they may attempt to escape. The chances of escape are higher if they are homeless.

Enough unhappy slaves can instigate a slave uprising.

Slaves can be obtained by punishing criminals or capturing them after a battle. They can also be bought and sold at the Holy Caravan. Each slave has a price of 15 Gold, which can be increased by the following:

• +15 if the slave is 14-15 years old
• +10 if the slave is 16-25 years old
• +5 if the slave is 26-35 years old
• +20 if the slave is female
• +10 if the slave is not yearning for freedom

Criminals

Peasants who are unemployed and unhappy for too long will either leave the city or become criminals. Criminals will steal Flour, rob peasants on the street, and even break into the homes of peasants. After a few days they may become cutthroats.

Crime can be combated by deploying patrols, constructing Scaffold buildings or terror.

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.

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. Prices may randomly change but they also depend on a lesser extent on the Trade skill of the lord trading with the Holy Caravan.