====== Player Cities ======

Player cities on Beyond Sosaria let you found a player-run settlement, attract citizens, levy taxes, place civic structures, and grow your city through ranked levels driven by population.

===== Founding a City =====

A city is created from a //City Hall Deed// — one of eight architectural variants: Fieldstone, Sandstone, Marble, Necro, Asian, Wood, Stone, and Plaster. Deeds are sold by the //City Planner// vendor at **100,000,000 gold** each. The same vendor sells an //Architecture Tool// for **1,000,000 gold**.

When you target a location to place the city hall, the system checks the following:

  * The terrain must be valid for placement.
  * No other city's guarded region may lie within a 40-tile radius of the target point. If another city is in range, placement is rejected and you are told to move at least 40 yards away.
  * Placement on Ilshenar is currently allowed by the toggle, but Ilshenar's per-facet cap is 0, so no Ilshenar cities can exist.
  * Mayor eligibility is open to all players.

On a successful placement the deed spawns the chosen city hall, a pair of linked strong wood doors, a //City Voting Stone//, and a //City Management Stone//. A Level 1 region (50×50 tiles, centred on the deed point) is created and registered. The founder becomes the first citizen, receives the title //Lord//, and has the title shown by default.

===== Map Limits =====

Per-facet caps on the number of cities:

^ Facet ^ Maximum Cities ^
| Felucca | 0 |
| Trammel | 50 |
| Ilshenar | 0 |
| Malas | 5 |
| Tokuno | 0 |

Cities cannot be founded on any facet outside this list.

===== City Levels =====

Level is recalculated each city update tick based on current citizen count. Breakpoints, area, and lockdown caps:

^ Level ^ Title ^ Citizens Required ^ Area Offset ^ Approx. Area ^ Max Lockdowns ^
| 1 | Fort | 1 | 25 | 50×50 | 25 |
| 2 | Village | 5 | 30 | 60×60 | 50 |
| 3 | Township | 20 | 35 | 70×70 | 100 |
| 4 | City | 40 | 40 | 80×80 | 500 |
| 5 | Kingdom | 50 | 45 | 90×90 | 1000 |
| 6 | Empire | 100 | 50 | 100×100 | 3000 |

If the population falls below 1 citizen at update time, the city is disbanded: the management stone is removed, all lockdowns are released, landscape items are cleared, and the region is unregistered.

Maximum citizens per city is hard-capped at **100**.

===== Region Behaviour =====

The city region behaves as a guarded region with a few player-relevant rules:

  * The guard flag follows the management stone's //IsGuarded// setting.
  * House placement is denied to banned players; otherwise it follows the stone's //AllowHousing// setting.
  * Monster spawning is allowed inside the region.
  * The mayor controls city items by speaking three phrases while standing in the region:
    * //"I wish to lock this down"// — lock down a targeted item.
    * //"I wish to release this"// — release a locked-down item.
    * //"I ban thee"// — currently disabled (see Banning).
  * Players entering or leaving receive a level-titled message; banned players are warned on entry.

===== Membership =====

A non-citizen joins in one of two ways:

  * The mayor uses the //Sponsor// action to invite them.
  * The candidate is targeted while standing within 5 tiles of the city's management stone.

A join is rejected if the candidate is banned, is the mayor of another city, or is already a citizen of another city. On a successful join the player is added to the citizen list, receives the //Citizen// title (shown by default), and a join notice is broadcast to all current citizens.

You do not need to own a house inside the city to be a citizen.

A citizen can resign at any time through the //Resign From City// button on the citizen gump.

===== Banning =====

City banning is currently disabled. Attempting to ban a player returns the message //"City banning has been disabled."// Existing banned entries are still honoured: banned players cannot place houses inside the region and are warned on entry.

===== Governance and Elections =====

A //City Voting Stone// stands next to every city hall. Elections tally every **30 days**:

  * If two or more candidates have run, the candidate with the most votes becomes mayor.
  * On a tie, or if fewer than two candidates have run, the current mayor stays in office and the candidate and voter lists are cleared.

Only citizens can interact with the voting stone (double-click to open the voting gump). All citizens are currently eligible to run for mayor.

===== Taxation, Treasury, and Maintenance =====

A new city is seeded with a treasury of **1,000,000 gold**.

The city update timer first runs **24 hours** after founding and then every **7 days**. Each tick runs maintenance first, then collects taxes if the city survives:

  * **City hall cost.** **100,000 × Level** gold per cycle is deducted from the treasury.
  * **Treasury shortfall.** If the treasury cannot cover the hall cost, citizens are notified that //"Lord British has revoked the city permit"//, all lockdowns become movable, landscape items are deleted, the region is unregistered, and the city is disbanded.
  * **Income tax.** The current income-tax amount is withdrawn from every citizen's bank. If a citizen cannot pay, they are flagged as owing back taxes and the unpaid amount accumulates.
  * **Property/housing tax.** Same handling as income tax, using the city's housing-tax amount.
  * **Travel tax.** Charged at the city's moongate when a traveller uses it. Not collected on the update timer.
  * **Treasury warning.** If the treasury falls to **1,000,000 gold or less** after collection, every citizen receives a "less than 1 million gold in the treasury" warning.

Note: the in-game //Maintenance Report// gump displays a projected hall cost of //5,000 × Level//, but the amount actually charged is //100,000 × Level//. Treat the report figure as cosmetic until corrected.

Tax rates are set by the mayor from the city management gump (income, property, and travel prompts).

===== Civic Structures =====

The civic structures available include: City Halls, City Banks, City Taverns, City Moongates, City Stables, City Healers, small/medium/large Gardens, and small/medium/large Parks.

The //City Planner// vendor stocks only the architecture tool and the eight city-hall deed variants. Deeds for the other civic structures (banks, taverns, moongates, stables, healers, gardens, parks) are obtained through other means; their distribution is not currently documented in-source. All civic structure deeds undergo terrain placement checks, but the 40-tile city-range check is //not// reapplied for these secondary buildings.

===== City Resurrection Stones =====

A //City Resurrection Stone// charges a resurrection fee on revive and a corpse-retrieval fee on corpse recovery. Both fees are deposited into the city treasury. The mayor sets each fee through the city management gump.

===== Lockdowns =====

Only the mayor can lock down items. While standing inside the region, the mayor says //"I wish to lock this down"// to lock a targeted item and //"I wish to release this"// to release it. The current lockdown count must remain below the level cap shown in the City Levels table. Locked-down items become non-movable; releasing, disbanding, or removing the management stone makes them movable again.

===== Wars and Alliances =====

Each city tracks its current wars, declared wars, war invitations, allegiances, declared allegiances, and allegiance invitations. The mayor manages these through the city management gump (declare war, declare allegiance, cancel allegiance, declare peace, and the view-status panels). City-vs-city combat and ally checks are enforced through the city's war and allegiance state.

===== Discord Integration =====

Citizen joins, tax-revocation disbands, abandonment disbands, and update reports are broadcast to a Discord webhook configured by staff. There is no player-facing control for these broadcasts.

===== Commands =====

  * ''[GovHelp'' — opens the government help window. Available to all players.
  * ''[FindCities'' — lists every city on every facet. Game Master only.

===== Configuration Reference =====

Production values currently in use:

  * First update delay after founding: 24 hours
  * Update interval: 7 days
  * Election interval: 30 days
  * Starting treasury: 1,000,000 gold
  * Level area offsets: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 tiles
  * Level lockdown caps: 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 3000
  * Citizen thresholds by level: 1, 5, 20, 40, 50, 100
  * City proximity check: 20-tile offset (40-tile minimum separation)
  * Maximum citizens per city: 100
  * Maximum banned per city: 0 (banning disabled)
  * Ilshenar placement toggle: enabled, but Ilshenar city cap is 0