Realm

Realms are a type of claimed land, similar to a Village, which collect Authority, provide blessings, and enable the use of special authority skills. However, a Realm does not protect things beneath it in any way, and crimes committed in a Realm leave no scent.

To establish a Realm, one must be wearing a Royal Crown and construct a Coronation Stone. Realms are expanded by challenging and capturing unique named provinces, each of them represented by own Thingwall serving as banners for said province.

Realm authority is collected when inhabitants of the Realm gain experience points. Note that these experience points are not 'taxed' from the player, but rather added to the Realm additionally, as a bonus. Living in a realm does not reduce the amount of experience points earned by your character.

Authority is collected whenever characters inside the realm collect experience points and whenever a character collects experience points whose hearth fire is inside the realm. This means characters contribute double authority when both their character and hearth fire are in a realm.

A Custom Image Sketch can be placed on the Coronation Stone to assign Realm banner, which will be then shown on any contested Thingwall.

Challenging Realms

Realms expand by conquering province's Thingwall.
Thingwalls are conquered by planting a War Flag in the vicinity of the Thingwall, and have the War Flag survive for 3 RL hours. Planting a War Flag constitutes a "challenge" to that Thingwall.
Thingwalls may only be challenged every so often. Inspecting a Thingwall will reveal its next challenge window.
Thingwalls are possible to challenge during an 8 RL hour window, during which War Flags can be built in its vicinity. The Thingwall need not still be possible to challenge when it actually falls to a challenge, meaning that you may plant a War Flag in the 7th hour of a challenge window, and successfully conquer the province 2 hours after the challenge window expires.
Globally, all Thingwalls are on a collective rolling challenge schedule, meaning that some subset of Thingwalls will be possible to challenge at the same time. A challenge window never affects only one Thingwall, but, rather, is a global event affecting several Thingwalls: A recurring time of global conflict.
A challenge window occurs on every ingame full and new moon, i.e. there should be approximately one or two challenge windows every RL week, during which, again, some subset of the Thingwalls globally can be challenged.
A Realm may only have one War Flag active at any given time, and can, thus, expand by a maximum of three provinces per challenge window. Realms may only challenge Thingwalls bordering a province it already controls, or the Thingwall in its coronation stone province.
While Realms may only expand contigously by neighboring provinces, there is no requirement that the Realm remain contigous. A Realm may be cut off from some branch of controlled provinces, without losing them, or otherwise being negatively affected. Realms may challenge any provinces neighboring such exclaves as per normal.
Should a Realm control a Thingwall, the banner of the Realm will be displayed on the Thingwall.
Realms may change their banner by placing a new banner on their coronation stone.
Controlling a province implies control over the Irminsuls and Monoliths present in that province.
Realms with the Guarded Marches Realm Bonus extend the need to stand in challenges against the Realm's Thingwalls, by up to a maximum of 1 RL hour. Challenging a Thingwall controlled by a Realm with the Guarded Marches blessing maxed out will, thus, require a War Flag to stand for 4 hours, rather than the usual 3.

Realm Objects

Realm Object		Authority Cost (per real-life day)	Purpose
	Coronation Stone	500	Establishes and maintains the Realm.
	Grotesque Idol	1000	Used to enact realm blessings.
	Irminsul	0	Used to enact realm blessings.
	Menhir	1000	Used to enact realm blessings.
	Monolith	0	Used to enact realm blessings.

Realm Blessings

Realm Blessing		Bonus (Per lvl)	Cost (lvl 5/5)	Lore Text
Backwater		Growth speed of onion, turnips and lettuce: +10% Quality of squirrels, moles and badgers: +10%	Grotesque 2.5 Menhir 0	The Realm is a bit of a Backwater, but your people take pride in that, and the wilderness breeds a hardy folk. Lettuce and onions grow faster; badgers, moles, and squirrels occur at higher qualities; and you also receive bonuses to your Strength and Survival values.
Center of Learning		Learning bonus: +3% (Learning Ability +30)	Grotesque 3 Menhir 4.5	This Realm has become a center of learning, increasing the amount of Learning Points earned for studied curiosities within it, and also providing bonuses to Lore and Intelligence.
Fecund Earth		Growth speed of wheat, flax, grapevine and pumpkins : +10%	Grotesque 0 Menhir 5	Your Menhirs have been bloodied by many sacrifices to the Old Gods, and rich are in turn your rewards each harvest season. Wheat, Grapes, Flax, and Pumpkins all grow faster, and the populace also receives a bonus to their Farming Abilities.
Founding Mythos		Hearth magic bonus: +6%	Grotesque 3 Menhir 4.5	Over the ages your people have woven an intricate fabric of lore and myth, placing your Realm and its destinies front and center of the ordered universe. The continued and firm belief in this Founding Mythos ensures that your people always enjoy ready access to the Deep Magics of the Hearth. Hearth Magics are cheaper in your Realm, and the populace receives bonuses to Lore, Intelligence, and Psyche.
Game Keeping		Quality of boars, deer and moose: +9%	Grotesque 2 Menhir 3	With the institution of Gamekeeping, herd management and yearly culls, your Realm significantly improves the quality of its hunted game. Boars, Deer, and Moose all occur at higher qualities, and the populace also receives a small bonus to their Survival abilities.
Guarded Marches		War Flag has to stand 1 hour longer.	Grotesque 5 Menhir 3	The edges and hinterlands of your Realm are always under careful observation by an organized levy of rangers and outriders. Challenges against your Border Cairns are more expensive.
Heraldic Swan		Quality of swans: +75%	Grotesque 1 Menhir 3	The icon of the Swan Majestic features often and prominently within the heraldic tradition of your Realm, and the spirit of the bird has taken well to it. Wherever one wanders in your Realm, the most beautiful, noumenous, Swans, can be seen flocking.
Land of Milk & Honey		Quality of beehive products: +5% Quality of produced milk: +5% Quest rewards +5%	Grotesque 2.5 Menhir 2.5	Yours is a land of Milk & Honey. Honey, Beeswax, and Milk are harvested at higher qualities, and the rewars for questing in your Realm are higher.
Local Cuisine		Food event bonus: +3%	Grotesque 4.5 Menhir 3	Your Realm has acheived some renown for its Local Cuisine, and the quality of its chefs. Food eaten within your realm gives additional Food Event Points, and the populace receive bonuses to their Cooking and Perception values.
Marriage of the Sea		Quality of caught fish: +9% Effective quality on ships: +12%	Grotesque 0 Menhir 5	Your people's Marriage of the Sea is an ancient bond between your Realm and the elements. You have braved the blue beyonds, and plowed deep furrows along the lakes and rivers of the Hearthlands, ever chasing the next horizon. Fish are caught at higher qualities within your Realm, Ships are constructed at higher qualities, and your people receive bonuses to their Exploration, Will, and Swimming values.
Mountain Tradition		Quality of mined minerals: +3%	Grotesque 5 Menhir 0	Your people have lived near the roots of the mountains since the first settling, and heard the whispers of the Deep Things. Stone and Ore mined within your Realm is of increased qualities, and the populace also receive bonuses to their Smithing and Masonry abilities. Remember that the Realm must be extended to the cave levels to apply there.
Mushroom Kingdom		Increases quality and quantity of mushrooms in Realms with the buff active	Grotesque 1 Menhir 3	Everywhere one looks in your Realm, an army of soft-capped toadies march to drums of summers fading. By thrashing brooks, under cool canopies, and in every damp corner of the Realm, mushrooms sprout as if eternally after rain. Mushrooms grow abundantly, and to higher qualities.
Myth of the Bull		Birth rate of livestock: +6%	Grotesque 5 Menhir 0	Your people's conception of the origin of all things includes tales of the Starry Bull, thundering the Wild Hunt across the firmament of the Hearth, and livestock rearing has always been an important staple of your industries. Pigs, Sheep, Horses and Cows all have shorter gestation periods within your Realm.
Woodland Realm		Growth speed of trees: +6% Quality of items foraged on woodlands: +3% Quality of woodland animals: 1.5%	Grotesque 7.5 Menhir 0	Your realm, under the careful guidance and attention of a people attuned to its needs and seasons, has become one of mighty oaks and deep forests. Trees and bushes grow faster in your realm, and plants and wildlife in your forests occur at higher qualities.
Total			Grotesque 41 Menhir 34

Realm Authority Skills

Skill	Authority Cost	Effect
From the Public Coffer	2000 (increases with use)	Gives you 1000 experience points.
State Funeral	50000	Grants a fallen Hearthling a state funeral, which grants full 45% of LP and FEP back to the character without burying the body
Last-minute Diplomacy	5000 (per challenged Border Cairn)	Stalls all active challenges on Border Cairns by 1 real-life hour. [Verify: last minute diplomacy effect.]

Game Development

• Realm of Toads (2023-05-28)◎ >"Fixed a bug by which it was possible to maintain perpetual challenges against realms by walling off War flags. War Flags are now gradually lowered over time whenever they fail to trace a path to their challenged Thingwall, disappearing if their flag is lowered entirely. Flags now graphically begin midway up the pole to compensate, but this implies no change to the actual timers involved."

• Realm of Toads (2023-05-28)◎ >"Realms which lose their final province will have their coronation stone destroyed some time, approximately eight RL hours, or one ingame day, thereafter."

• Realm of Toads (2023-05-28)◎ >"Realms founded in the capital province of another realm now abide by the normal rules of Realm challenge windows, and may no longer challenge for control of the province during every challenge window."

• World 14 (2022-08-12)◎ >"Significantly reduced the effect of most realm buffs by factors varying from ~6 to ~2.5, aiming to reduce the necessity of a well managed realm."

• Ranger's Honey (2018-06-13)◎ >"Added "Land of Milk & Honey", realm blessing. "Yours is a land of Milk & Honey. Honey, Beeswax, and Milk are harvested at higher qualities, and the rewards for questing in your Realm are higher.""

Claims, Villages, and Realms
Personal Claims: Personal Claim - Yeomanry - A Bond of Blood & Soil Village Claims: Village Claim - Lawspeaking - Lawspeaker - Authority - Field Cairn - Statue of the Chieftain - Village Banner - Charter Stone Kingdoms and Realms: Realm - Coronation Stone - Thingwall - Province - Menhir - Grotesque Idol - Realm Bonuses - Realm Skills - King