Founding a Village
Pay a large gold cost and place a city pylon. The area around it becomes your protected claim, and you name your settlement. Protection is gold-funded and decays over time — it must be recharged from the settlement treasury, keeping the map alive and contested.
Pylon Placement Rules
These are enforced continuously by the server, not just at placement:
- Ground level only, with a flat, empty, roofless 16×16 footprint.
- No liquids or fire within a 16-block radius.
- A clear 4×4 corridor from the pylon to the edge of the claim, always reachable — block placements that would violate this are simply refused.
The Tier Ladder
Upgrading takes gold and active, paying residents — you can't buy a metropolis, you have to populate one.
| Tier | Gate | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Village | Founding cost | Claim, name, pylon, rentable parcels |
| Town | Residents + gold | Local marketplace |
| City | More residents + gold | Sales tax and a city treasury |
| Metropolis | Many residents + gold | City bank, highest tax ceiling |
Parcels & Rent
Owners subdivide the claim into parcels that players rent. Tenants get full build and protection rights inside their parcel — the owner cannot touch a rented parcel, which is what makes the rental market trustworthy. Rent is pulled automatically from each tenant's bank account into the settlement treasury.
The Treasury
Every settlement has its own gold balance. All upkeep is paid from it — there is no other way to pay upkeep.
- In: sales tax (City+), automatic rent, and deposits by the owner or managers — this is how a patron funds a settlement.
- Out: automatic upkeep, and withdrawals — owner only.
Permissions
| Action | Owner | Manager | Citizen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build in settlement | Yes | Yes | Own parcel only |
| Define parcels / ban players / designate PvP areas | Yes | Yes | No |
| Deposit into treasury | Yes | Yes | No |
| Withdraw from treasury / set sales tax | Only | No | No |
| Disband or transfer ownership | Only | No | No |
Bans Are Enemy Flags
Banning a player doesn't wall them out. If they enter anyway, they're flagged an enemy of the settlement: everyone is notified, anyone inside may attack them without consequence, and the flag clears when they leave.
Losing a Settlement Peacefully
If the treasury can no longer cover upkeep and the settlement has tenants, a 24-hour buffer opens: existing subletters may bid for ownership, and the former owner may bid too — a redemption window, not a confiscation. The treasury does not transfer on an economic lapse. The other way to lose a settlement is by force — see Sieges.