Six factions · per region · drift over time
The system that quietly gates everything else.
Loyalty unlocks buildings, shrines, recruits, and district happiness. Earn it on purpose — losing it is a one-week dig out of.
Six factions per region. Loyalty is per-region — what you owe the nobility in Greenwood Forest is independent of what you owe the merchants in Casaril Coast. The score drifts daily based on your buildings, decisions in the Heartbeat feed, and patron alignment. Decisive events jolt the meter by a larger one-time amount.
Sources of drift
- Buildings: each constructed building tilts loyalty toward 1-2 favored factions.
- Heartbeat decisions: accept/decline answers tilt the originating faction directly.
- Patron consecration: aligns the temple faction, cools the others.
- Climate / district events: regional shocks generate small daily ticks.
Loyalty tiers
- Hostile — building unlocks blocked, quest cooldowns extended.
- Cold — neutral. No bonuses, no penalties.
- Friendly — tier-2 buildings unlock, occasional gifts.
- Loyal — tier-3 unlocks, named-member recruitment opens.
- Devoted — capstone buildings + unique faction quests.
The six factions
Nobility
Old blood. Old land. Old grievances.
- Cares about
- Civic buildings, formal address, quest chains that defend their claims.
- Hates
- Apostasy from their patron, militia uprisings, public-market reforms.
- Unlocks
- High-tier civic buildings, named-member recruitment from noble houses, courtly quests.
Merchants
Gold-counters and caravan-runners.
- Cares about
- Trade routes, caravan acceptance, marketplace + customs buildings.
- Hates
- Closed gates, military checkpoints, hostile patron alignments.
- Unlocks
- Marketplace tiers, +1 caravan slot, exclusive bazaar recipes.
Artisans
Smiths, weavers, alchemists.
- Cares about
- Crafting buildings, workshop upgrades, recipe completion.
- Hates
- Refining-tier downgrades, raw-material monopolies, sloppy patron rites.
- Unlocks
- Refinery tiers, workshop specializations, master-craftsman named members.
Militia
Citizen-soldiers — drilled, not paid.
- Cares about
- Patrols accepted, garrison buildings, regional defense quests.
- Hates
- Bandit-friendly merchant caravans, civic disarmament, foreign mercenaries.
- Unlocks
- Garrison + watchtower tiers, patrol upgrades, militia captains as recruitable members.
Common folk
The people who actually live here.
- Cares about
- Residential buildings, food supply, refugee acceptance, fair taxes.
- Hates
- Heavy taxation, military checkpoints, neglect during disasters.
- Unlocks
- Population growth, residential tiers, occasional named-member migrants.
Temple
Whichever patron's hand is on this region.
- Cares about
- Patron shrine consecration, doctrine tier progress, pilgrim hospitality.
- Hates
- Apostasy, rival-patron festivals, defaced relics.
- Unlocks
- Shrine doctrine tiers, patron-gated recipes, sanctified named members.
See also: Heartbeat feed for jolt events, Patron shrines for temple-faction alignment, and the per-region pages for current loyalty snapshots.