HearthenValePolitheums & Land
Getting land is easy. Settling is hard.
Every player can own a little piece of the world in their first session. Founding a city on the frontier is a different matter: it takes a Politheum, a charter and a week of holding the line.
Ways to get land
| Land | Who | Cost | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settler's Grant | Every new player | Free for 30 days, then low rent | One plot on the outskirts of the capital you choose |
| Capital plot | Anyone | Rent to the Crown | Rent rises as a capital fills up |
| Homestead | Any player, on the frontier | A small fee | One 8 × 8 claim per player, with room for a home and one workplace. Raiders may visit, but it can never be captured in a war. |
| Plot in a player city | Anyone the Politheum sells to | Set by the Politheum | Defended by the city's Soldiers |
| Founding a city | A Politheum of 10+ members | A City Charter, then a 7-day trial | See below |
Land is cheap while the world is young and gets dearer as each region fills, so early land is easy to get and later land still means something. A capital plot left unpaid for 30 days is marked abandoned; after 60 it goes back to the Crown, and anything stored there moves to a capital warehouse where you can recover it.
What is a Politheum?
Politheums are HearthenVale's player factions, and the only kind of player group in the game. There are no separate guilds.
Shared everything
A name, a crest, a charter, a shared treasury and warehouse, and ranks: Founder, Councillor, Citizen, plus any custom ranks you invent.
Your rules
The charter decides how decisions are made: the Founder decides, the Council votes, or every Citizen votes. It covers land prices, city taxes, membership, Soldier wages and war.
Open or closed doors
Each Politheum picks a policy: Open, By application, Invite only, or Closed. It can change any time and is shown on its public page.
Joining is optional
Without a Politheum you can still play fully in the capitals, buy plots in any city that sells to outsiders, and trade with everyone.
You belong to one Politheum at a time. After leaving one, you wait 72 hours before joining another.
Founding a city
Founding a city is meant to be one of the biggest things a group of players can do together.
- Gather tenYour Politheum needs at least 10 members.
- Win a charterBuy a City Charter from the High Charter Court in Goldspire.
- Choose a siteFrontier land, well away from every capital and outside every other city's claim.
- Survive the trialFor 7 days: build a Town Hall, palisade and well, keep the site supplied every day, and hold off raids that grow stronger each day.
- Raise your bannerSucceed and the city claims the land 24 tiles around its Town Hall. Fail and the charter is lost; the half-built walls become ruins.
Cities grow. As a city gains residents, buildings and finished city projects, its claim grows in tiers, up to 64 tiles from the Town Hall. Claims never overlap, and a claim can't swallow a homestead: the homesteader can sell to the Politheum or stay as an enclave.
Living in a player city
If you own a plot
- It's yours while the city stands, recorded as a deed on the server.
- Sell it back to the Politheum or to another player (the Politheum may charge a transfer fee).
- The Politheum can only take it back after 30 days of unpaid city tax.
- If another Politheum conquers your district, you keep your plot and pay tax to the new owners, or take 14 days to sell up or move out at no cost.
If you run the city
- Decide who may gather inside your claim: everyone, citizens only, or plot owners only.
- Set land prices and city taxes through your charter.
- Pay weekly upkeep from the treasury. After 4 unpaid weeks the claim shrinks one tier a week; at zero the city falls to ruin.
- Even then, residents' stored goods move to the nearest capital's warehouse, where they can be recovered.