<aside> ⏳ "Before, There & Then : Legacy matters" [Ombrelune]
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Sure the city grows with precise land incorporation and management, yet parcels donation/incorporation is not the unique way for a family or group to establish a legacy within the domain. Be it a revolutionary process, new renewable source, specialty recipe, best-seller blueprint or ground-breaking technique, there are many ways to be recognized by the council and immortalized in stone on the city monuments.
Glory has its perks and a famous citizen or alumni could also become a legacy (by herself), but more importantly one of the city's principles is retribution (both positive and negative), and it means that because of such forementioned deed(s), current family and future heirs will enjoy the benefits for at least a full cycle (52 elyrian years), up to three (lifetime-equivalents) for world-changing achievements, unless they mess up badly in the meantime. So don't rest on your laurels and stay innovative, we have you covered.
Close to the to'reshian philosophy of family-owned trade secrets, with a small twist. When provided to the Auroran Cooperative, the in-game organisation managing the city domain, such valuable informations, structures or techniques are valued (EP-equivalent) and recorded so the donator's dynasty will still get a small share further down the line : "we reap what we sow".
<aside> 💡 In short, when thinking about legacies, I'm no economist or jurist but royalties is probably the closest term, except the down payments are more versatile in nature, since creds are involved.
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As founding mayor I'd like to lead by example when I can and bring forth the full potential of a player-engineered city before my retirement. All those stored EP (5.5k+, not too shabby), uncommon perks (cardinal bees...) and village tokens (9 so far, plus 3 unclaimed guild tokens) will finally be put to good use. Again I'm optimistic the efforts and ideas put in the map layout and those webpages will leave you a good impression of what is proposed and why you can invest yourself in with more assurance.
Easy should be the addition of the town hall, with its much-needed land management table in order to feature the town charter and urban planning : two steps closer to our goals.
But the main problem will be about population, villager tokens won't cut it (their purposes even more obscure by now), KoE focus may have helped but CoE always made it difficult to add population to a settlement while retaining control of who and what for. Piling titles up during DS&S brought in my opinion more ill than good : though I would have added 45 residents not so reluctantly if I could have forego the automatic nine parcels mayhem they came with. Anyway a bug cut the dilemna short anyway, so I'm all ears about tactics and ideas to safely reach the 75 population threshold of city-level as soon as feasible.
<aside> 🏡 Should you want to, there are many municipal buildings and activities to kick-start and begin one of your legacies with (see next section).
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Latest tally of settlement-impacting tokens.
For now, I suppose the smart move is to reserve some EP for interesting choice of recipes, blueprints, books and tools which would feel too difficult to obtain without on a tight schedule. Also, baby steps towards the emporium district (caravanserail, coach station, port) sounds alluring, though originally part of the second phase, at this point it will depend in how many players find themselves drawn to the project and what they want to focus on.
Other landmarks could also rise from the ground around that pre-launch time : the granary and grocery shop; the warehouse and auction house; farm fields plus the seeds and saplings selection for as many polycultures as planned (the mayor kit should help); the inn and its kitchens; the five remaining workshops; a kiln, a press and a mill of some power (water, wind, animal).
<aside> 📌 Storefront Kits (125 EP, single) provide the fixed location assets necessary to set up a shop, storefront, or other establishment on leased land. They'll typically include blueprints and resources for a small building, crafting stations or other furniture, and additional decor to help give the location a welcoming feel (ex. forges & anvil, bar & tables, loom & spinning wheel, display cases and racks). Individual items value at 25-50 EP.
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Yet lets not be hasty, there are still many "big" unknowns making more foreshadowing thinking incertain, so just to name a few : the land management (incorporation of parcels adjacent but in the nearby unclaimed county of Gartmount), the onsen (will it provide sanitary and relaxing bonuses), the relief and its caves (littoral, cliff-side or underground), the waterways (shallow stream somehow, maybe more length than shown, fresh or brackish water, irrigation and riparian barrier potential), soil (type and ph, surface of arable land, thankfully richness as we have all the synergic means to deal with), water table (for additionnal wells and "flooding"/drought impacts), seasons (how many, how intense, average and extreme temperatures), depths of the shore (for stilts) and the bay (for sea travel expeditions)...