Cities are populated by classes, not by anonymous count. Each class produces, consumes, and votes (politically) differently. Class composition shifts with culture, governance, and tech — and drives unrest, growth, and faction power.
| Class |
Role |
Notes |
| Citizen |
Base labor |
Farms, fishery, lumber, mine. Always present. |
| Artisan |
Production multiplier |
Workshops, refineries, equipment crafting. |
| Noble |
Administration, military |
Officer cap, recruitment cap. Drives diplomatic capacity. |
| Priest |
Faith generation |
Temple multiplier, missionary training, Fanatic counter. |
| Slave |
Restricted labor |
Higher output per head, moral & diplomatic cost. Some cultures forbid. |
Some cultures add specialized classes (Cairnveil druids, Sun Dune caravan masters, Red Earth age-grade warriors) — see cultures for per-culture additions.
Each class biases production:
- Citizen — base output on Tier 1 resources (food, timber, stone, fish).
- Artisan — boost on Tier 2-3 (cloth, weapons, tools, refined goods).
- Noble — boost on civic / military buildings, +recruitment cap.
- Priest — multiplier on temple faith, missionary effectiveness.
- Slave — flat extra-labor bonus on extractor tiles, fixed cost.
Composition matters: a city with 80% Citizens and 5% Artisans cannot run a high-end forge. Composition shifts via tech, governance policies, and time.
Culture flags bias which classes flourish:
- Fjordborn — Citizen-heavy, low Noble cap (clan structure).
- Sun Dune — Merchant-Artisan heavy, high diplomatic Noble.
- River Crown — balanced; high Citizen + Priest density (scribal class).
- Jade Lotus — Artisan + Noble heavy (bureaucratic), Priest-mid.
- Ironpeak — Artisan-dominant (smiths, miners), low Noble.
- Azure Isles — Merchant-heavy, low Slave (or none, by treaty).
- Cairnveil — Citizen + Priest heavy (druid class), low Noble.
- Condor Crown — Citizen + specialized Road-Master class.
- Red Earth — Age-grade regiments replace standing Noble class.
- Thunder Lodge — Citizen + adopted-class slot (unique to Adoption Network).
Population moves between cities and across borders:
- Within-empire — workers migrate toward cities with better needs / higher wages. Auto-managed.
- Cross-border — cultural acceptance gates how welcoming a foreign city is. Refugees / settlers trickle from war zones.
- Forced relocation (governance-gated) — Imperial Bureaucracy or War Footing policies.
Migration drives the medium-term economy. A city with high Health and Knowledge attracts artisans; a city with low Security loses citizens.
When a city is conquered or annexed:
- The local population retains its original culture.
- Cultural acceptance starts low and grows with time, festivals, and shared infrastructure.
- During low acceptance, the city outputs less, generates unrest, and is at higher risk of revolt.
- Two paths: assimilation (slow, full acceptance over generations) or integration (treat as semi-autonomous, faster but with autonomy cost).
Unrest spikes from:
- Need-grid failure (water / health / security).
- Class imbalance (too many Slaves, too few Priests, etc.).
- Religious polarization → Fanatic emergence (see faith).
- Faction power crossing 60% (see politics).
- Cultural acceptance failure post-conquest.
- War devastation in city radius.
- Famine, plague, or weather disaster.
Persistent unrest leads to riot → revolt → civil war (see politics).
Tech and policy enable transitions:
- Citizen → Artisan — workshop tech + apprenticeship policy.
- Citizen → Priest — temple tier-3 + religion tech.
- Citizen → Noble — governance + administrative tech.
- Slave → Citizen — emancipation policy (heavy faction cost).
Transitions are slow and gated. Don't expect a Fjordborn Citizen to become a Jade Lotus Bureaucrat overnight.
Faction power (in politics) is driven by class composition. A city with 40% Nobles in your empire will tilt your governance toward Aristocratic policies whether you want them or not. Thus class composition is a long-term political lever, not just an economic one.
- Don't enslave casually. Slaves boost output but lock you out of certain cultures' contracts and inflate Fanatic risk.
- Build temples in cities with growing Citizen counts. Citizen → Priest pipeline is your faith engine.
- Watch for Class Imbalance warnings. A city full of Artisans without Citizens starves; a city full of Nobles can't produce anything.
- Cultural acceptance is a long game. Conquering a city is easy; making it productive takes seasons.
Sources: society_system.md, political_system.md, faith_system.md, cultures.md.