Great guide for anyone considering purchasing the package. Well done and thank you for helping the community grow stronger

Very nice V, There's potentially another way to become a Mayor for free, unless this changes\has changed. By playing Kingdoms of Elyria!

Soon I hope. Praying to at least be in Vox by end of the year even if all the bells and whistles of KoE are not quite present.

Posted By Caspian here

We don't expect this to be a hugely common occurrence, but it is possible for new Mayors / Barons to emerge from KoE.

I don't know how I missed this - probably all the forum noise caused by the TSP event - but thanks for compiling such an extensive resource. Well done!

Thank you so much guys, if you have any feedback please let me know!

I'll do my best to get this question answered for you Dakbur!

Posted By Dakbur at 2:04 PM - Wed Sep 12 2018

Thank you! Very helpful guide!

Have the devs mentioned how easy it will be to delegate mayoral responsibilities? I know it can be done in theory, but I don't understand what it would entail. Will I have to find a real life person to accept them or will can it be delegated to an NPC?

Can we revoke the delegate's power? If so, is it trivial to do so?

I added an answer to your question hopefully it helps Dakbur!

Nice post for new comer!! good job

Thank you! Trying to help where I can. If you guys have any questions let me know! I'll be trying to set up a FAQ in the near future!

Nice guide.

But you should highlight that baron/baroness is a job, or a charge to be exact, just like county sheriff and ducal judge.

You can be mayor because of your pledge, or because you're the biggest landowner of a town-level settlement, but you can't be baron if the local duke don't contract you to do so.

You can "still" be a warlord running a successful military settlement (which improves in ranks differently than a civic settlement by the way).

I'm sure @Malais would explain that better than me, I'm too lazy to find the five exact ranks and building requirements. Many thanks to whoever can fill for me.

A baron is an "employee" of the duke

Only after their duchy selection will dukes know how many baronies they will need... but trust issues won't allow them to blindly accept anyone to watch their flanks.

So if someone wants to become a recognized baron, they need to find that community quite early. In my opinion, something the guide should stress a bit more.

I didn't follow, when nobility pledges were closed off, if there will still be some NPC counties, but I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be NPC duchies... though with the inactive kingdoms, there may be some nice opportunities there.

Otherwise, if they "just" want to be powerful unaligned or courtized warlords, they could wait to prove themselves on the field during Kingdoms of Elyria... as it will be a bloodbath with positive consequences for once.

Pledging for settlements is temporary

Since we speak about exposition pledges (since they will disappear at launch) and what happens during domain selection, there will be not-so-randomly generated spots for both type of settlements... actually more.

But they haven't been officially announced yet: resource villages for instance are a certainty, or tunnel entrances in the hrothi domains (which are the epitome example of a baron-esque settlement spot), etc.

It is important to note that many biomes won't be able to afford large settlements except for a few particular places: don't look at me like that, it is all over the lore and description of the tribes/biomes.

And by design, all tribes are far from being equal when it come to size... and I mean more than corpulence.

You may think that those "best" places would surely be reserved by nobility higher in the pecking order since every noble is a mayor as well...

Losing stuff

But the nobility's number one problem is the notion of Seat of Power: if they lose it, they lose their title (and what they pledge for). So they will have to decide if they feel secure enough to settle for a civic center... or a military citadel.

Some will want both, like in legends (or capital spots), as they forgot that the best place for a buzzling trading city is the worst place for an impugnable fortress to be.

That's why the game have the concept of baronies in the first place, distinct from more "civil" towns (a lot of nuances there).

Baron-esque occupation

If there is one thing I would advise to wanabee "barons" is to ask themselves if they simply want to enjoy a castle/citadel, which is perfectly fine as a civic town district. Then aim to be castellan mayor instead.

Or if they want to manage garisons, fortifications and warfare: be prepared to be a "banner" summoned or dragged into battlefields they generally won't choose, both in time and place. Then perfectly fine to become baron/warlord.

That's also why barons can more easily lose or quit the job and return to be a warlord/mayor, it is just a matter as how the initial contract was formulated.

Note that its physical evidence/existence can be destroyed, like any contract, and in absence of authored copies, nullifying the whole thing in regard of the law (and duties/payments/deployments)... though the Soul Affinity, Fame and Reputation will evolve accordingly.

** Mayor or major (landowner) Outside the mayor pledge, if someone is the biggest landowner (called elder at some point) of a settlement becoming town, they are the de-facto mayor, as simple as that.

Within smaller settlements, there are no game mechanics for zoning and urban planning... and thus no real mayor duties.

How mayor are designed may be changed by kingdom's law and local rules, but the necessary skill levels and technology won't be available to players at launch.

A mayor can lose the mayorship (and was never the owner of municipal/integrated lands... despite probably being part of their initial pledge), not their personal lands.

You could say that despite seating on a potential seat of power, (civil) mayors have no power... the bright side is an immunity to Casus Belli on the domain level. Barons as well naturally, since they hold a job, not a title.

Indeed the dance of dynasties is for nobles only, something mayors can become during a county's power vacuum (check the main tribe's ruleset about that particular situation).

As a general rule of thumb, wanabee mayors should prepare themselves to be disappointed (especially when it will be their time to select), or to be less pessimistic, not hold too many expectations on existing infrastructure or potential location.

Or else, all the players joining after launch wouldn't have access to that part of the gameplay, which would be sad and rather unfair.

Relations between Settlement and Nobility

As mayor, just like any citizen, there is no requirement to any fealty towards nobility, though it helps to not be in conflict with the local count as it is among their duties/priviledges to be able to:

• order new infrastructure to be build (or not) to facilitate resource exploitation and travels;
• gather taxes for the kingdom's treasury;
• veto the recognition of your settlement when it becomes larger than the town level (for infrastructure, trade routes and navigation);
• modify the "legal" fees for establishing land deeds (casually called land "purchases", which is inexact but close enough) for new parcels around that settlement.

All four can be circumvened, but don't expect to make friends that way. And if you go that way, prepare to have the duke and/or local baronies in your pocket so you don't fear much from the county.

Probably not an advice you should put in your guide though. :p

Barony needs

A barony can exist with almost no population, three parcels, a military building and that ducal contract... which means very accessible pledges to begin with.

Noteworthy, the initial EP and ability to choose an existing historical spot seems invaluable and specific to the aristocracy pledges available before domain selection.

Despite that, one only need to be able to sustain a garison (a single well-made parcel can easily host a squadron of 50 soldiers, their equipment and their supply) then defend when needed the nearby strategic place from there, outnumbered naturally, to be an asset to a duke.

In a nutshell

If you don't plan to spend more than the mayor pledge, the barony aspect is easier to do "right" than the town aspect.

If only because a big brother/sister (duchy) and its community will have your back by definition, while a mayor will struggle simply recruiting talents and guilds to survive the harsh winters... and actually "compete" with other local towns of the same community for assets.

Unless the whole thing is very well organized, but too soon, too much information lacking... yet.

Thanks for the info Violet!

Any advice for someone that is not interested in being a baron and all the ruling/politics bs. but sits on a baron pledge?

Thanks Violet ! That is much appreciated. Good work !

Remember to take some rest. Give love to your body. It will be grateful to you ;)

Posted By LaLicorne at 10/13/2018 1:41:55 PM

Thanks Violet ! That is much appreciated. Good work !

Remember to take some rest. Give love to your body. It will be grateful to you ;)

Posted By quette4000 at 10/13/2018 7:54:50 AM

Thanks for the info Violet!

Thank you so much for your kind words everyone <3

Posted By DerryFH at 06:23 AM - Sat Oct 13 2018

Any advice for someone that is not interested in being a baron and all the ruling/politics bs. but sits on a baron pledge?

There are multiple things that we can advise you to do with this situation:

1. You could give up your mayor title for EP -- this would give you more EP for your start within Exposition if you choose to go that route. It wouldn't give you a whole ton and it wouldn't be equal to the value of your package so it wouldn't be the best idea to do, however, it is an option.

2. You can transfer the title (with the upcoming feature that will be available soon) to someone that you trust, or your count, or your duke etc. This would (most likely as we don't know full details) addon to their settlement size increasing it by approximately 9 parcels. Which is actually a really good idea if this is something you're looking forward to doing.

3. If you're unsure that you want to do that or you don't have anyone currently to do that with or you want to wait till later and its past the point of being able to title transfer you can wait until after domain selection -- pick a suitable location, in a county you like and trust in a kingdom and duchy you like and trust -- and you can "will" over that title to someone you trust to run the domain that you have selected and probably set up during exposition or after launch. Whenever that ability becomes available anyways.

Those are the options that I am currently aware of and I really truly hope that they help! I'll also add that to the section of FAQS to help anyone that also would like to know ^.^

Thank you VioletWinterlynn those ideas gave me something to think of. I assume that I cannot keep the title and have it on let's say 2nd or 3rd soul, therefore might be tempted to either give it to someone that is interested or just keep it to myself but not assume the position. I wonder if I could be a "travelling noble", as I always wanted to chart maps, travel around the world.

My pledge was set to this level just because SBS never mentioned during KS that they will offer perks as simple add-ons to be bought in the game shop.

Very well written, Violet we appreciate the amount of time you have devoted. Thanks