26. Monetization
Model: free-to-play with cosmetics and an optional supporter subscription. Hard rule: no pay-to-win – nothing purchasable affects votes, AI leaders’ decisions, Notables, production, combat, rations, Favor, Piety, Devotion, Standing, market access or money: no real-money path to any in-game currency, the Tessera, shares, coupons or exchange rates, and no paid ‘blessings’. Prices below are [ASSUMPTION] placeholders to validate. v0.7: no purchase buys influence over any AI leader, extra Notable messages, chat priority or a better place in a press-question queue; the supporter subscription and cosmetics fund LLM costs (Section 22.13).
26.1 Cosmetic constraints by system
Because a citizen can never leave their nation, the store only shows items the citizen can legally use. This turns the uniform rule from a monetization problem into a design feature.
| Nation | What can be sold | What cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Kindle | Full wardrobe, home décor, vehicle skins, newspaper themes, company logos frames, devotional décor for any faith | Votes, influence, money |
| Confluence | Moderate wardrobe, canal-boat skins, home décor, festival lanterns | Party Standing |
| Meridian | Consumer fashion, apartment décor, SEZ shopfront styles | Party rank, exam results |
| Korund | Uniform-compliant items only: regulation tailoring variants (fabric weave, fit, weathering), a personal apartment interior visible to guests, poster frame styles, personal radio sound themes, coupon-book cover designs, UI themes | Non-uniform clothing; medals and insignia (earned only); any religious item (hidden shrines exist only via the gray market, never in the store) |
| Aurelle | Court dress (displayable once the matching rank is earned), heraldry design slots, house kites, Kinward name-stone carving styles | Titles, Favor, coin designs (the mint is the Monarch’s) |
| Ilmar | Order-appropriate vestment embroidery, sanctum candles and glass charms, home shrine décor; minority-faith décor for registered faiths | Piety, Devotion |
| Hoarvale | Full wardrobe, home décor, party rosettes, Trading House office themes | Honors, Crown House regalia, Moot seats |
| Varkand | Civilian wardrobe, uniform tailoring variants (cut, weathering), barracks and home décor, UI themes; at Red Alert flashy civilian items show only indoors – never removed or lost | Rank, decorations, passes, Alert exemptions |
| Veldwood | Full wardrobe, home and Grove-festival décor, petition-stand skins | Signatures, votes, welfare benefits |
| Fulmara | Full wardrobe, trading-house livery templates, ship and warehouse skins, votive ship models | Charter Shares, Charge, Toll Coupons, route charters, votes – no real-money path to any political or monetary asset |
26.2 Revenue streams
| Stream | Design | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Supporter subscription | e.g., $4.99–$7.99 per month: cosmetic monthly item, UI themes, profile frame, longer personal history archive, priority shard queue | Convenience must not include production or political power. |
| Cosmetic store | Direct purchase; no loot boxes, no randomized paid items | Regional pricing [VERIFY payments provider] |
| Age Pass | A per-Age cosmetic track (free and premium tiers) earned by playing | Rewards nation-compliant cosmetics only |
| Founder packs | Pre-launch supporter tiers with cosmetics and name reservations | Must not reserve nations, names of AI personas or any political lever |
- Ethics: no ads in the client at MVP; spending limits for minors per platform rules; transparent pricing.
- Fairness check: Korund (always) and Varkand (at Red Alert) players have fewer wearable options; compensate with more earned prestige items (medals, insignia, monuments with their name) and more desirable non-wearable cosmetics.
- Faith cosmetics (v0.3): devotional décor, festival clothing and temple ornaments are sold only for faiths the citizen’s nation allows in that setting (e.g., public temple ornaments not in nations where the faith is private-only); they never change Devotion. Wallet and coin skins (purse styles, coupon-book covers) are fine; banknote and coin designs belong to the issuing authority and are not sold.
- Fulmara special rule: because money is political power there, the store must never sell anything convertible to Charge or tradeable for shares; supporter-subscription perks give Fulmara players nothing that touches the Exchange.
- Ten-nation store cost: every cosmetic is authored per nation rule set, so the art pipeline needs per-nation item variants; prioritize cross-nation items (UI themes, home décor) to keep content cost manageable [ASSUMPTION].
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