World Structure¶
Geographic Model¶
Use a layered structure:
Continent: one major landmass at launch.Region: large biome-driven territory with culture, climate, monsters, and trade identity.Area: sub-region containing routes, fields, ruins, caves, and settlements.Site: exact mission or gathering location.
This supports exploration, regional markets, and knowledge accumulation without needing a fully simulated open world.
Starting World Principles¶
- Launch should center on Trevalkaan with surrounding roads, farms, ruins, and wild sites.
- The first playable footprint should sit inside one surrounding region so travel, economy, and event pressure stay readable.
- Travel time beyond the city outskirts should still matter economically.
- Not every district, outpost, or supplier should produce the same goods.
- Local monster knowledge should be easier to build near the launch hub before expansion widens the map.
Spawn Logic¶
Characters should begin in their chosen village, then travel to Trevalkaan after completing the village intro arc. The origin choice should influence:
- starting village and early community
- beginner contacts
- starting codex knowledge
- starter recipes or supplies
- first-board bias
Launch Footprint¶
Trevalkaan(placeholder name): the main hub city. Market, guild, board, crafting, and social center for launch play.March Ring: farms, mills, roads, ruins, and hunting grounds attached to Trevalkaan.Outlying Sites: exact mission, gathering, and survey locations reached from the hub.
Region Rollout¶
Launch begins in one frontier region centered on Trevalkaan. Additional regions expand later.
Initial Launch Region¶
Frontier Marches: temperate borderlands, farms, goblins, wolves, barrows, and road pressure around Trevalkaan.
Planned Later Regions¶
Frost Tundra: cold settlements, fur trade, undead barrows, ice beasts.Sunscar Desert: caravans, oases, tomb expeditions, dust predators.Storm Coast: fishing ports, cliffs, elementals, raiders, sea-caves.Ashwood Wilds: deep forests, fae borders, herbs, beasts, cursed groves.
Biome Effects¶
Climate should influence food and water consumption, route risk, disease chance, gear demand, and expedition planning.
World Scale¶
The world uses real-world-grounded distances so the expedition resolver can compute travel time from actual numbers rather than arbitrary ticks.
The world is a flat-top hex grid at approximately 1 km² per tile (each hex is ~1.24 km wide, ~1.07 km tall). All distances below are also hex counts.
| Layer | Distance / Hex Count |
|---|---|
| 1 hex | ~1 km² area |
| Trevalkaan city proper (center + 6 inner districts) | ~3 km across — 7 hexes |
| Trevalkaan full footprint including outskirts/slums | ~4 km across — 19 hexes |
| City outskirts to immediate farms and March Ring edge | 0–2 km (0–2 hexes from outskirt edge) |
| March Ring — inner belt | 2–10 km from city gates |
| March Ring — outer belt | 10–30 km from city gates |
| Within-region far sites (post-launch content) | 30–80 km |
| Full Frontier Marches region diameter | ~200 km |
| Region-to-region separation | 100–300 km |
These distances drive the expedition resolver. 1 km of travel = 1 hex crossed at the terrain's movement modifier applied to effective speed. See Tile Types Reference for per-terrain traversal times.
Named March Ring site distances from Trevalkaan gates:
| Site | Approximate Distance |
|---|---|
| Outer Fields | 2–4 km |
| East Briar Thicket | 7–9 km |
| Millford Crossing | 12–16 km |
| The Quarry | 14–18 km |
| North Road Relay | 23–27 km |
Movement and Travel Speeds¶
Base speed for a healthy unencumbered adult on flat road terrain is 5 km/h. Speed is reduced by armor worn, encumbrance carried, and the terrain type of each hex crossed. It can be increased by skills and by carrying a cartographer's route map.
| Travel Mode | Sustained Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| On foot, unencumbered, no armor | 5.0 km/h | Reference base |
| On foot, expedition pack (loaded) | 3.5 km/h | 0.70× modifier |
| On foot, light armor | 4.6 km/h | 0.92× modifier |
| On foot, medium armor | 4.1 km/h | 0.82× modifier |
| On foot, heavy armor | 3.5 km/h | 0.70× modifier; stacks with pack |
| On foot, expedition pack + heavy armor | ~2.45 km/h | 0.49× combined; heavily burdened |
| Pack animal — mule or donkey | 3.5 km/h | Same pace as loaded foot; character carries no encumbrance penalty |
| Light riding mount — horse, trained beast | 10 km/h | Standard riding speed on roads and trails |
| Heavy working mount — draft beast, war horse | 7 km/h | Lower speed, higher carry threshold |
| Elite trained mount — fast species, peak specimen | 15 km/h | Requires Mount Riding at Expert and a Champion-tier mount |
Terrain speed modifiers (applied on top of travel mode speed), full traversal time table, and cartographer familiarity bonus are in the Tile Types Reference.
Expedition Duration Formula¶
expedition_time = (site_distance_km × 2 ÷ travel_speed_kmh) + site_time_h + wilderness_activity_overhead_h
Site time by type:
| Site Type | Site Time |
|---|---|
| Simple skirmish or patrol zone | 0.5 h |
| Standard hunt or gathering zone | 1 h |
| Moderate site — small ruins, outpost | 2 h |
| Major site — dungeon, boss chamber, large ruins | 3–6 h |
Wilderness activity overhead: +0.5 h per activity selected. If no valid targets are found, most of the overhead is refunded — approximately 0.1–0.2 h is consumed as scouting time.
Example Expedition Durations¶
| Expedition | Distance | Travel Mode | Travel | Site | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Fields hunt | 3 km | foot, loaded | 1h 43m | 1h | ~2h 45m |
| East Briar Thicket — hunt | 8 km | foot, loaded | 4h 35m | 1h | ~5h 35m |
| East Briar Thicket — hunt | 8 km | riding mount | 1h 36m | 1h | ~2h 36m |
| North Road Relay — escort | 25 km | foot, loaded | 14h 17m | 1h | ~15h 17m |
| North Road Relay — escort | 25 km | riding mount | 5h | 1h | ~6h |
A riding mount roughly halves travel time on inner ring sites and turns outer ring overnight waits into afternoon-length sessions.
Mounts¶
A mount reduces expedition travel time, relieves encumbrance, and extends the practical range of a character's daily activity window.
What Mounts Do¶
- Riding mount: cuts travel time significantly. Speed benefit scales with
Mount Ridingskill and mount tier. - Pack animal: does not speed up travel but removes the encumbrance penalty — the character moves at full unloaded pace while the animal carries the gear weight.
- Combat-trained mount: eligible for use in hostile encounter zones. Untrained mounts are stable-held or tethered at the site perimeter during fights.
- Specialty mounts: certain creature types are faster in specific biomes, better suited to cargo roles, or harder to acquire but substantially higher-performing.
How to Get a Mount¶
- Stable purchase: Arujoki, Rumiarr, and Trevalkaan North Gate Ward all have stables selling horses, ponies, mules, and draft horses. Purchased mounts start at Tamed tier.
- Wild capture: taming a feral creature found in the field using the route-action taming system. Requires
BeastbondingandTamingat the species floor. Tameable species include wild horses, wild mountain ponies, Forest Stag (Kaaduaran), Plains Aurochs (Maesarw), wolf variants, and Forest Bear (Tapiokarhu). Seemount-system.mdfor the full species table and taming mechanic. - Breeding: planned post-launch feature. Not available at launch.
Mount Condition and Care¶
Mounts have stamina, health, and a trust level that degrade without ongoing attention. A mount pushed through repeated hard expeditions without rest or care will drop below its trained performance ceiling and may become unmanageable in hostile conditions.
Feed is a hard daily requirement. A mount that is not fed loses condition, then stamina, then trust. A starving mount will not accept a rider regardless of skill level. Feed must be sourced, stored, and included in the expedition supply package whenever a mount is taken. Different mount species may require different feed types — grain, hay, dried meat, or specialty forage.
The Mount Husbandry skill governs ongoing maintenance. A well-maintained mount holds its trained tier and can slowly improve trust between expeditions.
Mount Tiers¶
| Tier | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Wild | Untamed. Lives in the field. Cannot be ridden until a capture attempt succeeds. |
| Tamed | Domesticated. Can carry cargo or serve as a basic road riding mount. |
| Bonded | Trust raised through sustained contact and care. Full riding speed bonus active. |
| Trained | Performance improved through deliberate training work. Eligible for rough terrain, harder expeditions, and combat-adjacent zones. |
| Champion | Peak condition and trust. Achieved through sustained investment across all mount skills. |
See skill-catalog.md for the full Mounts and Taming skill tree.
Route Network¶
The world map is a hex grid. March parties move hex by hex, and each hex has a movement_class that sets the travel speed for that tile. Named roads and trails are not abstract edges — they are sequences of hexes with a specific movement class burned into the terrain data.
Players can choose any hex path they want. Taking a road hex sequence is fastest; cutting across wilderness hexes is valid but slow.
Hex Movement Classes¶
| Movement Class | Speed Modifier | Condition Tracking | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
road |
1.0× (base) | Yes — full condition states | Maintained road hexes; named inter-settlement routes |
trail |
0.7× | Partial — Disrupted only | Trail hexes; shorter paths between villages and minor sites |
wilderness |
0.4× | None | Off-path hexes; no board support, variable by terrain type |
The resolver uses the movement class of each hex the party crosses to compute total travel time. If a player deliberately avoids road hexes and cuts through wilderness, the wilderness modifier applies for those hexes.
Every hex crossed by a march is marked traversed in the player's tile knowledge. Stopping to survey a hex advances it to explored, revealing its resource nodes, creature presence, and any hidden site footprints.
Road Condition States¶
| Condition | Speed Modifier | Board Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 1.0× | No modification to travel time or pay |
| Disrupted | 0.75× | Escort and patrol orders appear on board; pay elevated to Priority |
| Blocked | Route impassable | Emergency clearance and reroute orders generated; reroute adds wilderness-rate movement to the detour segment |
Road conditions are set and cleared by the settlement tick. Active threat events (bandit raids, supply route disruptions, structural damage) set roads to Disrupted or Blocked. Completing the relevant board orders restores Clear status.
Branch Warden patrol completions directly maintain road condition: if a road segment has no completed patrol order in the last two ticks and a threat event is active, that segment's condition degrades one step.
Named Routes and Village Travel Times¶
All travel times below assume on foot with expedition pack (3.5 km/h) under Clear road conditions. Riding mount times use 10 km/h.
| Route | Distance | Foot (Clear) | Mount (Clear) | Road Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trevalkaan → Arujoki (River Road east) | 12 km | 3h 26m | 1h 12m | Named Road |
| Trevalkaan → Polheen (Western Ford Road) | 13 km | 3h 43m | 1h 18m | Named Road |
| Trevalkaan → Talmaes (Southern Farm Road) | 15 km | 4h 17m | 1h 30m | Named Road |
| Trevalkaan → Metsadu (Thicket Trail NW) | 14 km | 4h | 1h 24m | Trail |
| Trevalkaan → Rumiarr (Northern Escarpment Road) | 16 km | 4h 34m | 1h 36m | Named Road |
| Trevalkaan → Coedwair (Logging Road NE) | 18 km | 5h 9m | 1h 48m | Named Road |
| Arujoki → Coedwair (River-Forest Trail) | 12 km | 4h 57m | — | Trail |
| Arujoki → Polheen (Maren bank track) | 24 km | 9h 54m | — | Trail |
| Polheen → Metsadu (Western Thicket Path) | 9 km | 3h 43m | — | Trail |
| Rumiarr → Coedwair (Ridge-Forest Path) | 11 km | 4h 32m | — | Trail |
| Talmaes → Polheen (South-West Farm Track) | 18 km | 7h 26m | — | Trail |
Mounts cannot be used on trail routes with technical sections (the ridge-forest path, river-forest trail). Named road mounts are valid.
Road Security and Board Relationship¶
| Segment | Maintaining NPC | Threat Event That Disrupts |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Escarpment Road | Branch Warden Killaitzi (Rumiarr) | Claim Jumpers, cave creature surges reaching the road |
| Logging Road NE | Branch Warden Rianumaq (Coedwair) | Logging Road Blocked, illegal logging gang spillover |
| Southern Farm Road | Branch Warden Boldwyn (Talmaes) | Bandit Grain Theft, Feral Livestock Escape |
| Western Ford Road | Branch Warden Piraax (Polheen) | Ford Sabotage, Caravan Ambush |
| River Road East | Branch Warden Tapaulo (Arujoki) | River Creature Incursion (road-adjacent), Smuggler Cache |
| Thicket Trail NW | Branch Warden Sisumur (Metsadu) | Predator Surge, Poacher Ring road overflow |
When a village's security band drops to Strained, the road segment maintained by its Branch Warden automatically degrades to Disrupted. When it drops to Threatened, the road degrades to Blocked.