Freeholds

Kaelar and Empyrean freeholds (Pre-alpha).

Pre-alpha freeholds.

Freeholds are sizable player housing plots that can be situated within the Zone of influence (ZOI) of a Village (stage 3 node) or higher.

• Freeholds are limited to one per account.
• Freeholds are approximately half an acre in size. Expansions and upgrades are available as node progression allows.

The freehold system interacts with multiple other systems in-game.

• Node progression.
• Artisan classes.
• Spawn actors.
• Quests.
• Taxation.

Freehold placement

Freeholds may be placed anywhere within the ZOI of a stage 3 node (or higher) so long as they are not in close proximity to any of the following:

• Pathing routes (Roadways).
• Dungeons and other points of interest.
• Spawn areas.
• Other freehold plots.
• Hard terrain features, such as mountainsides or cliffs.

Freehold plots will require a certificate from the parent node in order to place the plot.

The more advanced a node is, the more freeholds can be built within its ZOI.

Collections of freeholds placed together are considered part of their parent node and do not become a separate node, other than via roleplay.

Freehold buildings

Velkor's Eye pre-order pack cosmetic Vek freehold skin.

Freehold buildings can be placed on a freehold plot.

• Forges
• Homesteads
• Inns
• Lumber yards
• Mills
• Shrines
• Smelters
• Stables
• Taverns
• Warehouses

Buildings will require blueprints and materials.

Players are not locked into any particular race for freehold blueprints.

Players need to manage how items and buildings are arranged on their freehold to maximize adjacency bonuses.

Depending on where your place you're freehold, you're gonna have different environmental tiles available to you and those will kind of enable or buff existing structures that you place in your Freehold... I don't know that we would put like fish farming just for a freehold that's on a river. What we would probably do is give you a buff to fishing in that area. That kind of a thing. So there'll be more buffs for existing things rather than necessarily a special buildings just for that area. But again we're not fully baked in on that system yet, so it's very possible though we end up going down that direction. – Jeffrey Bard

Naming buildings

Ships and Buildings will be able to be named. The custom name will appear as floating text when it is targeted.

Freehold professions

• Animal husbandry.
• Crafting stations can be located on freeholds or within nodes.
• Farming.
• Player-owned Taverns on freehold plots.

Freehold progression

Freehold buildings are able to be levelled up based on the length of time and productivity of the freehold.

• Freehold progression unlocks new bonuses, abilities and capabilities.

We want there to be progression in many systems and part of the freehold progression is that when you establish these base buildings the longer and more productive you are and exist with that freehold, the more opportunity those buildings will have to both level up: offering new bonuses, new abilities, new capabilities; and just surviving in this world is a feat in and of itself, so it's rewarded by allowing progression with those things. – Steven Sharif

Business chains

There's no reason why you couldn't license your name to somebody else who also has a freehold and who also has an Inn and work together. – Jeffrey Bard

Taverns

Taverns provide tiered services.

• Quests that might only be gathered from the player-owned taverns.
• Meals that grant buffs for a period of time after a player leaves.
• Recipes that could potentially be sold to cooking professions, that may only be obtained from a player-owned business in a certain area.

The longer the tavern is in business and the more patrons served, the faster the tavern will level up.

Freehold farms

Pre-alpha farm on a freehold plot.

Freehold expansions and upgrades are available as node progression allows. Some of these improvements affects the size of plots available for crop planting.

Artisan freehold features are also affected by adjacent terrain features. For example: building next to a river provides a nearby source of clean freshwater, and will have a positive effect on crops.

Underrealm freeholds

Resources will be different in the Underrealm.

• This will affect Farming and Animal husbandry professions.
• Since players may only have one Freehold, they must choose their Artisan specializations accordingly if they wish to place it in the Underrealm.

Freehold skins

Themed freehold skins were offered as Kickstarter and Summer crowdfunding rewards and are sold through the cosmetic store.

• 

  Confectioner’s Delight

• 

  Death's Bastion

• 

  Dünthol’s Forge

• 

  Freehold appearance (Kickstarter - tier 1)

• 

  Freehold appearance (Kickstarter - tier 2)

• 

  Freehold appearance (Kickstarter - tier 3)

• 

  Freehold appearance (Summer - tier 1)

• 

  Freehold appearance (Summer - tier 2)

• 

  Freehold appearance (Summer - tier 3)

• 

  Hunter's Dwelling

• 

  Plague lab

• 

  Prism of the Frozen Glade

• 

  Protector's Sanctuary

• 

  Py'len's Greenery

• 

  Stables of the Oasis

• 

  Velkor's Eye

Freehold benefits

Freehold benefits include:

• Because freeholds are built within a Node’s ZOI, they grant citizenship.
• Freeholds allow the owner to sell consumables that are only purchasable for specific buildings.
• A player may store items in their freehold.

Freehold security

Players will be able to lock a freehold.

• Freeholds will have access lists.
• Co-ownership is planned but may not initially be in the game.
  • Access lists can be used to mimic co-ownership.
  • Payment of taxes may be via a "gentleman's agreement".

Players cannot steal from a Freehold under normal circumstances.

• Items stored in a Freehold may become lootable after a successful siege against their parent Node.

Players cannot be killed by other players while inside (the footprint of) their freehold.

• NPC guards that permanently exist on a freehold are not a planned feature.
• Guards may be available for hire to defend freeholds after a successful node siege.

Q: We were discussing in chat earlier about freeholds and whether or not a person would be safe in their home or within the entirety of their freehold from getting player killed?

A: I think our initial testing is going to revolve around the footprint of their freehold and then we'll take into consideration the metrics gleaned from that testing. – Steven Sharif

Shared access

Players may grant shared access to certain freehold services to a limited number of other players, such as access to their processing centers.

Freehold destructibility

Freeholds may be attacked for a period of time (one or two hours) following a successful siege against its parent node.

• Players and their allies may defend their freehold for this period of time.
• Structures and guards may be obtained to defend freeholds during this period.

After a period of open combat following a successful node siege, if a freehold does not reside within the ZOI of a stage three (Village) node or above, it will be destroyed.

Player housing designs and decorations are retained and can be placed again later if the housing is destroyed during a node siege.

• Certificates will track major milestones (such as Furnaces and Homesteads, for example).

Housing types

Player housing	Type.	Availability.	Limit.
Apartments	Instanced.	Town stage and higher.	One per server.
Freeholds	Open world.	Village stage and higher.	One per account.
Static housing	In-node.	Village stage and higher.	One per server.

Real estate

Players buy the deeds for housing from the node itself. Players can also buy and sell properties from other players.

• In-node housing will be at a premium, and is expected to be hotly contested.

• The more apartments that have been purchased in a node, the higher the price scales.

See also

• Artisan classes
• Nodes
• Underrealm