5. Core Concepts
5.1 The citizen
Each account owns exactly one citizen: a named character with an age, a home city, a job, skills, a reputation and a nation-specific rank. The citizen ages with the World Clock (one game year per real month). When a citizen dies of old age (randomized window, roughly game age 70–90 [ASSUMPTION], i.e., about 4–6 real years after enrollment at 18), the player continues as their heir – same account, same nation – inheriting according to that nation’s law (taxed estate in Kindle and Veldwood – part of the duty goes to the Common Fund; state reclaims property in Korund; entailed titles in Aurelle; endowment share in Ilmar; Crown House membership but not personal Honors in Hoarvale; officer land grants revert to the Arsenal in Varkand; Charter Shares pass with a succession duty in Fulmara). Players can also retire a citizen voluntarily and continue as an heir. Decision (v0.4): only characters age; heirs continue and the shard never resets.
5.2 One account, one nation, forever
- Citizenship is chosen during onboarding after a guided preview of each nation (Section 19). Confirmation requires an explicit, two-step ‘Oath of Citizenship’ screen stating that it is permanent.
- Default rule: there is no transfer, emigration or second citizenship – including on another shard. Heirs inherit the same nation. The only exceptions are narrow: the onboarding grace period below; the restricted Exile & Asylum mechanic planned for after launch (Section 16.2); and a one-time Founding Choice if player-founded nations are ever added (Section 30). An account can use at most one of the last two in its lifetime.
- Grace period (decided v0.4): a single free nation change within the first 48 real hours and before the citizen performs any political action (vote, petition, pledge, party membership or congregation office). A Change nation button with a countdown disappears at the first political action or after 48 hours; the citizen is re-created in the new nation (purchased cosmetics are kept). It does not count as the lifetime change.
- Why it matters: loyalty becomes meaningful; espionage via alternate accounts becomes the main abuse vector, so identity design is critical (Section 20).
5.3 Immutable systems, mutable rulers
Each nation’s government and economic type, its currency regime and its official religious stance are hard-coded (the stance confirmed as fixed in v0.4). Rulers are AI personas (v0.7). Citizens can change which AI rules and what it decides – by electing AI candidates, passing referendums, meeting or missing quotas, raising unrest, voting shares or rebelling where allowed – and so move laws within the system’s allowed range (tax rates, plan targets, decrees, canon interpretations) and the nation’s fortunes. But a monarchy can never become a republic, and a republic can never abolish elections. A successful rising in Aurelle crowns an AI claimant of a new royal house; a purge in Korund replaces the AI Chairman, not communism; a coup in Varkand replaces AI Marshals, not military rule; a rising in Fulmara redistributes shares, not the share franchise.
5.4 Core national meters
| Meter | Range | What it means | Main drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stability | 0–100 | Whether the state can function without crisis. | Food/ration supply, war results, unemployment, AI leader competence and promise-keeping, repression, legitimacy. |
| Legitimacy | 0–100 | Whether citizens accept the ruler’s right to rule – measured differently per system (votes, parliamentary confidence, congress mandate, royal favor, clerical endorsement, plebiscite, shareholder confidence). | Election margin, coalition majority, referendum wins, promises kept, piety, prosperity, victories, Mandate Plebiscite results. |
| Prosperity | Index | Output per citizen and goods available. | Production, trade, tech, markets/plan efficiency. |
| Freedom | Fixed band + small range | How much citizens can say, move, wear and buy. Each system has a fixed band (Section 7); laws move it only within the band. | System type, emergency decrees, martial law. |
| Unrest | 0–100 | Accumulated grievance; inverse partner of Stability. | Inequality, shortages, repression, defeats, broken AI promises, ignored petitions, suppressed faiths, inflation. |
| Currency Confidence (v0.3) | 0–100 | Whether citizens and foreigners trust the nation’s money. | Inflation, reserves, peg defense or devaluation, sanctions, debasement, war (Section 12.4). |
| Religious Harmony (v0.3) | 0–100 | How peacefully faiths and the state coexist under the official stance. | Endorsed or banned festivals, raids on congregations, clergy charity, holy-site access (Section 14.5). |
5.5 Personal meters (per citizen)
| Meter | Description |
|---|---|
| Wealth | A multi-currency wallet (home currency plus any foreign holdings the home system allows) and assets – personal ownership varies by system: full private property in Kindle; personal-use only in Korund (Section 12.8). |
| Faith & Devotion (v0.3) | The citizen’s chosen faith (or Unaffiliated) and a 0–100 Devotion score for it; Ilmar calls Lumen Devotion Piety. Changed only by the player (Section 14). |
| Wellbeing | Food, housing and health; drives work output. Guaranteed floors in planned systems; unguaranteed in Kindle. |
| Reputation | Public standing among fellow citizens (endorsements, reviews, follower counts in Kindle; comradely honor in Korund). |
| Rank / Standing | The nation-specific ladder: Civic Rank (Kindle), Party Standing (Confluence, Meridian, Korund), Noble Rank and Royal Favor (Aurelle), Piety and Clerical Order (Ilmar), House Seniority and Honors (Hoarvale), Military Rank (Varkand), Civic Voice (Veldwood), Charter Shares and Exchange Standing (Fulmara). |
| Suspicion | How closely the security organs watch you (authoritarian nations only – including Varkand’s Intelligence Command). High Suspicion gates jobs and privileges and can trigger AI-run investigations (capped penalties, appealable). |
5.6 Who governs, who lives here (v0.7)
| Actor | Who | Can do | Can never do |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI leaders | AI leader personas holding every office: heads of state and government, councils, parliaments, party bodies, state courts, ministers, governors, commanders, ambassadors | Decide diplomacy, war, budgets, sanctions, trade, laws, city founding, migration approvals and appointments – only through the game-legal action set (Section 8.3) | Act outside the rules engine; break Charter Limits (Section 8.18); target a player for out-of-game traits; produce real-world or hateful propaganda (Section 21.4) |
| Human citizens | Every player – one account, one citizen, one nation | Work, pay taxes, trade, found businesses, vote, petition, protest, strike, worship, migrate, serve as soldiers, write journalism or state media, back a claimant or rebel where the system allows (Section 11.1) | Hold any leadership office, command armies, sign treaties or set policy directly |
| AI citizens | Lightweight simulated agents, labeled AI, filling population, labor, markets and culture | Work, consume, worship, migrate, voice opinions in polls, vote inside a capped bloc (Section 11.9) | Sign petitions or pledges, outvote humans, be bought, be persuaded into votes, or be directed by players |
| Notables | A few LLM-backed AI characters per nation (journalist, union boss, priest, merchant, dissident…), labeled AI | Talk with citizens, react to events, comment in the news | Hold office, change any vote or metric by chatting, DM players unsolicited |
Leadership office (definition, v0.7): any post with authority over national, regional or city policy, budgets, foreign relations, military command, or binding judgments and punishments of other citizens. Jobs, businesses, journalism, clergy service within a congregation, party and union membership, juries in democracies and social ranks are not leadership offices and stay open to humans.