Coming soon. In development. The cities are built on the server and tested, but nobody has played them in a real game client yet. The numbers below are the current design values and may be tuned before the Forgelands opens.
The Forgelands has no node, no mayor and no node siege. Its towns are freehold cities: walled settlements of freehold plots that guilds and alliances hold, run and fight over.
The four cities
There are four cities with 55 plots between them:
- Emberhold sits on the low plateau just inside the pass.
- Cinderport is in the south of the peninsula, above Cinder Bay.
- Ashenreach is on the middle plateau.
- Skyfire Hold is the highest of the four, on the north arm near the Sea-Cliff Watchtower.
Every city has the same heart: a forge plaza with the City Heart at its centre, a charter stone where the City Steward stands, the city's own Emberspring, a wall ring with gates where the roads come in, and an attackers' war camp outside the walls with a Siege Engineer.
Claiming a city
- The charter. A guild leader can claim an uncontrolled city for their guild, and an alliance leader can claim one for the alliance. You do it at the City Steward. A charter costs 200 gold and the guild needs at least 3 members.
- One city each. A guild or alliance can hold only one city at a time.
- Allies. The holder's alliance partners count as allies of the city.
Running a city
The leader and officers (guild ranks 0 and 1) set:
- Who may build: members only, members and allies, or anyone.
- The tax on plot upkeep, from 0 to 25%.
- Bans on rival guilds or alliances. A banned faction cannot claim plots or use the city's Emberspring. Its plots get a grace period and are then freed.
Only the leader can withdraw from the treasury or give up the charter.
The treasury takes in the taxes and pays the city's own upkeep of 10 gold a day. Members and allies can deposit. Every movement is recorded in a ledger. If the treasury cannot pay its upkeep, the city falls into arrears, and after 3 days of arrears the charter lapses.
Plots cost 2 gold a day plus the city's tax, and you can pay up to 30 days ahead. A plot left unpaid for 3 days past its paid-up date is freed, along with everything on it.
Embersprings
Every city has its own Emberspring.
- The holder and its allies can attune to it. Anyone can attune while the city is uncontrolled.
- Nobody can attune while a siege is running: the spring is contested.
- If you stop being entitled to a spring (you were expelled, banned, or your guild left the alliance), you lose your binding to it at once.
- Spring-to-spring travel: from a city spring or the Steward you can travel to any other city spring you are attuned to. It costs 50 silver, takes a 10-second channel and has a 10-minute cooldown. You can never travel into a contested spring.
Going home: the Homeward Ember
Every character the region lets in receives the Homeward Ember, a reusable hotbar item.
- It takes you home to your own freehold after a 10-second channel.
- Moving, fighting, taking damage or dying interrupts the channel.
- It has a 30-minute cooldown that carries over when you log out.
- It never takes you into a city that is under siege. Leaving a besieged city is always allowed.
Sieges: expelling a city's holders
A rival guild or alliance can challenge the charter and take a city by force.
- The declaration. The leader of a guild or alliance that is not the holder, not allied with it and not banned declares a siege at the City Steward. It costs 100 gold. Each city can be challenged at most once every 3 days.
- The schedule. The siege opens at the first start hour (18:00 to 22:00 UTC) at least 24 hours after the declaration. Everyone is told on screen, with reminders 60, 15, 5 and 1 minute before it starts.
- The walls. Gates (60,000 health) and wall sections (120,000 health) fall only to siege engines.
- The breach. When the first gate or wall section falls, the City Heart (200,000 health) opens to attack, and the forge plaza can be taken.
- Defenders repair gates, walls and the Heart by hand, and respawn at the city spring until the breach.
Siege engines
Attackers build engines from the Siege Engineer at the war camp. Defenders build ballistae from the City Steward inside the walls. Each side can field up to 6 engines at once.
| Engine | Side | Cost | Health | Range | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battering ram | Attackers | 15 gold | 25,000 | 12 m | Gates, 6,000 per strike |
| Trebuchet | Attackers | 30 gold | 15,000 | 40–360 m | Gates 2,500, walls 4,000, the Heart 2,500 |
| Ballista | Both sides | 10 gold | 10,000 | 120 m | Engines 4,000, gates 600, walls 300 |
You can also sabotage an enemy engine by hand.
Winning and losing
- The attackers win if they destroy the City Heart, or if 3 attackers hold the plaza for 5 minutes with no defender on it.
- The defenders win if they hold out for the whole 1-hour window.
When the attackers win, the holders are expelled:
- The charter passes to the attackers.
- The old holder is banned from the city for 7 days.
- Its members' plots get a 3-day grace period and are then freed.
- Its Emberspring bindings there are lost.
- The treasury stays with the city.
The region is lawless, so nobody gains corruption either way, and Aurora's strict tier watches everyone inside.
Related: Forgelands overview · Mounts, housing & social · Lawless & full loot