A road is useful because it leads somewhere. A market matters because a community gathers around it. A law has weight because people agree to live beneath it. In The City of Gold, civilization does not arrive as scenery built for players. It begins when players choose a place, make a promise to one another, and accept the work of turning that promise into a home.
Settlements are player-created and player-governed communities. They are the foundation of political, economic, and social life throughout the world: the places where Characters become Citizens, Houses put down roots, Institutions find a public purpose, Religions gather followers, commerce develops, and future realms gain the communities from which their authority is built.
A world built from the ground up
Our design begins with survival rather than sovereignty. A Kingdom should not appear because one player selected a grand title. It should emerge from communities that have endured long enough to need roads, courts, defenses, trade, knowledge, and institutions of their own.
That is the philosophy behind Settlements. Players first explore the world and choose a location whose geography, resources, routes, dangers, and neighbors can shape the community they hope to create. Founding is then a public act. A Founder names the Settlement, establishes its identity, and writes its Charter: the enduring document that states what the community stands for and what its Citizens pledge to build together.
Other Characters do not become Citizens through a silent menu toggle. They sign that Charter. Their signatures are a visible commitment to the new community, and ten valid founding commitments establish its first recognized rank: a Hamlet. The Charter, its Founding Citizens, and the history that follows remain part of the permanent world record.
From there, growth belongs to the community. Citizens gather, build, govern, trade, protect one another, and create the conditions for a more complex society. Houses, Institutions, Religions, Counties, Duchies, Kingdoms, and future political systems are not alternatives to this foundation. They grow upon it.
The five ranks of Settlement
Settlement progression follows one canonical hierarchy:
- Hamlet — 10–25 active Citizens
- Village — 26–60 active Citizens
- Town — 61–150 active Citizens
- City — 151–300 active Citizens
- Metropolis — 301 or more active Citizens
Population is important, but it determines eligibility, not promotion. A Settlement never advances automatically because its twenty-sixth, sixty-first, one-hundred-and-fifty-first, or three-hundred-and-first Citizen arrives. Every promotion also asks the community to demonstrate the stability and civic progress appropriate to the next rank. Those additional requirements will deepen over time as development connects Settlements to construction, economy, governance, security, and the wider world.
This distinction matters. A crowded camp is not automatically a functioning City, and a title cannot substitute for institutions. Promotion should be an achievement the whole community understands and remembers.
Settlement progress will also contribute to the broader Ranking System. We will keep that connection brief here because Rankings—and the different forms of standing they measure—deserve their own Developer Blog.
Civic buildings unlock civilization
Ranks are not cosmetic labels, and civic buildings are not merely larger versions of ordinary structures. Each rank opens a new layer of collective gameplay.
Hamlet — Survival
The first task of civilization is to meet a basic need.
Every Hamlet may establish a Well. Characters inside the Settlement radius no longer consume water. It is a modest beginning, but it changes the meaning of the place: this is no longer only a point on a map. It is somewhere people can reliably survive.
Village — Hospitality
A Village becomes more than a home for its founders. It becomes a place able to receive others.
The Inn provides protected lodging for Citizens and travelers. Characters remain physically present in the world while their player is offline; resting inside an Inn makes them significantly safer than sleeping in the wilderness. Hospitality therefore becomes both a social service and a practical reason for roads and journeys to converge upon the Village.
Town — Justice and security
As a community grows, informal trust is no longer enough. A Town unlocks the institutions through which players can establish law and public order.
The Courthouse unlocks the appointment of Judges and Lawyers, warrants, fines, and player-driven legal proceedings. Justice is not a background animation: it becomes a civic responsibility carried by Characters with recognized authority.
The Guard House unlocks the appointment of player Guards, policing powers, arrests, criminal investigations, and patrol duties. Together, Courthouse and Guard House give a Town the means to investigate wrongdoing, bring disputes before a legal process, and protect the people who have agreed to live there.
City — Infrastructure and commerce
A City can support permanent systems whose reach extends beyond individual Citizens.
The Barracks introduces NPC Guards, allows player Guards to command NPC patrols, enables automatic patrols and city defense, and establishes a permanent garrison.
The Marketplace creates a public center of exchange with rentable merchant stalls, buy and sell orders, and Settlement trade taxation. Commerce becomes visible, organized, and connected to civic authority.
The Builder's Hall unlocks municipal infrastructure projects: roads, bridges, walls, and future civic improvements. These are the structures that connect communities, protect them, and let a City's decisions reshape the surrounding region.
Metropolis — Industry, knowledge, and legacy
A Metropolis is a world power because its systems can operate at a scale no smaller community can sustain.
The Grand Harbor or Grand Caravan Exchange unlocks automated NPC caravans, automated merchant ships, scheduled trade routes, and long-distance logistics. Which form serves a Metropolis will depend on its location and connection to the wider world.
The Great Foundry unlocks heavy industry, advanced manufacturing, siege equipment, and monument construction. It is where collective resources and specialized knowledge become works capable of changing warfare, production, and the skyline itself.
The Grand University unlocks research, technologies, historical archives, scientific discoveries, and future world projects. Civilization should not only become richer or stronger; it should become capable of preserving knowledge and discovering what comes next.
Finally, every Metropolis may construct one unique Wonder.
A Wonder is unique, permanent, extremely expensive, and renowned throughout the world. Each will grant its own unique gameplay mechanic, and the choice will become part of the Metropolis's identity and legacy. Wonders deserve a full design article of their own, so for now we will leave one promise: building one should be among the greatest collective achievements in The City of Gold.
Build, belong, become legend
The sequence tells the story of civilization:
- Hamlet → Survival
- Village → Hospitality
- Town → Justice & Security
- City → Infrastructure & Commerce
- Metropolis → Industry, Knowledge & Legacy
Every promotion should feel like the community has learned how to do something it could not do before. New Citizens make growth possible, but cooperation, stability, construction, governance, and shared purpose make advancement real.
The journey begins with exploration. It becomes a Settlement when players choose a place and bind themselves through a Charter. It becomes a civilization when those Citizens keep building together. From that foundation will come the Houses, Institutions, Religions, territories, laws, trade routes, conflicts, alliances, and histories that make the world worth remembering.
You do not simply live in The City of Gold. Together, you build it.