Fealty and Importance

Advancement in the Lordship section of Brunelleschi: Age of Architects is heavily reliant on the concepts of Fealty and Importance, which while similar to the mechanics of other games are uniquely implemented in Brune.

Fealty

Fealty is several things in Brunelleschi, all of which are basically inter-related. A Lord has a Fealty Cost, which is how much Fealty they 'use up' when pledging to another Lord. All Heroes (regardless of rank) have a Fealty cost of 1. This is one of the things that makes a Hero useful to have around. Since Heroes can't have pledges themselves, they can only add as much IMP to your total as they have personally obtained. That said, a high Level hero might have built up several hundred thousand Importance, which is certainly a bargain at 1 fealty. 

This mechanic forces an up-and-coming Lord to make some hard choices. Ideally, your Pledges would have their own Pledges, meaning that there's *theoretically* no limit to the amount of Importance you can get from other players at any time. In practical terms, Lords will want to be Ministers and Sovereigns, and that limits Lord to Lord pledging to about 2 'deep'. In an 'optimal' settlement, the Heroes will Pledge to Ministers who serve as their direct supervisors. Obviously this will happen only in the most organized settlements. 

A Lord will need to possess profound Organizational skill to make the best use of all their Fealty, and it is our hope that the most creative and intelligent players will enjoy the challenge and distinction offered to the uppermost Ranks. 

Importance

Power is ultimately a matter of Objective Strength tempered by the Collective Will, and Importance has been designed with that dichotomy in mind. High Level characters have access to Actions which provide much more Importance, but a brand new character can theoretically gain multiple ranks in a single day by posting a popular enough forum post. That same Importance can be lost if enough people 'Downvote' an Action, Scenario, Building choice, or forum post. This makes staying powerful an interesting balancing act for Populist Lords, and some will choose to live Despotic lives in Settlements ruled only by force and threat (Upvote the King or be Exiled!).

Will you tolerate Downvotes from your citizens knowing that it could limit Rank/Settlement advancement and ultimately lead to Military Defeat? Players will be asked to make the decisions that face all Human leaders, including the basic Continua of 'Security vs. Freedom' , 'Honesty vs. Support', and 'Truth vs. Morale'. We sincerely hope some players will be up to the challenge.

Brunelleschi: Age of Architects is available free at http://BruneGame.com

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