The Empire has fallen, leaving in its place multiple successor kingdoms. The lords and ladies of these petty kingdoms squabble for control and influence – whether with cloak and dagger or sword and shield, families feud amongst themselves and against each other as greater threats cast a shadow across the land. Famines wreak havoc on the lives of the peasantry, warfare and disunity threaten the social order, noble families fall to decadence and hedonism, and beyond the borders of the old Empire, great armies of pillage and destruction form under the banners of invader-kings.
In these uncertain times, you must lead your small kingdom to greatness – and the members of your noble family to survival – in this medieval colony sim focussed on generating stories of great valor and vile treachery.
Your family rules from on high, working together – or against one another – to take charge of your city, your kingdom, and your political ploys. Each family member has their own strengths, weaknesses, and ambitions that drive them as they build complex relationships amongst themselves and with foreign rulers. Witness blooming friendships, drunken escapades, and brutal assassinations as your nobles dole out orders to your peasants, lead armies into battle, and study ancient texts brimming with knowledge.
A plethora of skills determine which of your family members are best served performing various tasks – who among them are the greatest warriors, the greatest taskmasters, the greatest scribes, and the greatest negotiators? Seek opportunities to further train their strengths, educating children to secure the future of your line while unlocking additional talent in future generations.
Beyond their skills, each family member has traits that determine their personality and capabilities, varied cultural backgrounds that influence how people perceive and treat them, and a wide range of needs and desires to keep an eye on. Dissatisfaction breeds resentment, envy, and disloyalty, and that’s when the daggers come out. Will you seek to calm tensions through gifts and camaraderie, or will you draw first blood to eliminate any threat to your preferred nobles?
Sometimes the blood you draw belongs to your own kin – driven by ambition, greed, and opportunistic thinking, the members of your family will draw blades against each other given the right circumstances. From scorned lovers and power-hungry siblings to family members influenced by foreign kings and queens, trust is in short supply.
Your kingdom’s capabilities are determined by what your nobles know – they will individually study ancient texts to learn new technologies, and should they perish, that knowledge will be lost with them (unless recorded or passed along to their students). Acquire books in different languages and read them to unlock new buildings, tools, and opportunities for your kingdom. Ensure more of your family members can learn their secrets, translating the texts into a language they speak as needed, preventing a sudden loss of knowledge resulting from a stray arrow. But will you hoard such knowledge in your libraries? Or will you transcribe these writings to trade to others in exchange for immense wealth and resources? After all, knowledge is power…
The common folk of Norland are the backbone of any kingdom, serving their noble lords on the battlefield and around the city with deference and loyalty… until their bellies become empty or the beer runs dry. With different backgrounds, needs, and thoughts of their own, the peasants are difficult to please and easily manipulated into rebellion, crime, and controversy – will you address their complaints as a benevolent lord or answer them with the executioner’s ax?
Acting through your nobles, tell your peasants where to work, what to prioritize, and when to fight – though you lack direct control over the lower class of your society, they still have hopes, dreams, and relationships of their own. Managing them carefully is critical for success as they are the ones who maintain the complex production chains of your city and are responsible for building structures, harvesting resources, and producing the very goods that keep them satisfied.
Your average peasant will rely on their accrued wealth to lead a fulfilling life. Manage the wages handed out at the end of each day as well as the cost to purchase basic needs like food and beer at the local market to ensure the people stay motivated. High wages and low costs are also an excellent way to encourage migration, but be careful of who you might welcome to your lands.
Peasants hail from different cultures, often at odds with one another, and having them coexist in your small city can be challenging. You can use this friction to your advantage at times, but if the populace has an issue with your noble family’s heritage, you might find hiring additional guards the key to a long life.
Some peasants are devout adherents to the Church of Saint Sophia, and will care most for a noble’s piety, while loyalist peasants simply need enough money to buy food and beer to remain happy. Other factions and sub-factions have different priorities – as you expand and grow stronger, expect these groups to form shifting alliances where they find common ground. Even when they’re formally on your side, though, their actions and methods might not be to your advantage, and you will never escape the consequences of their separate agendas.
When tensions flair, don’t hesitate to establish a nightly patrol, or to give a few unruly members the literal ax. Sending a clear message will often bring the peasants back in line – but do not imagine yourself invincible, as even a great lord is one angry mob away from becoming a head on a pike.
When all else fails, blades are drawn and bloodshed settles disputes. Raise your citizen militia, motivate prisoners to fight for their freedom, and put your nobles in command to inspire the troops – but whose life will you put on the line when the banners are raised?
Dissent and rebellion will see your peasants raise arms against you, and while a poorly armed riot can be crushed by a well-trained and loyal militia, some groups plotting against you will not be so lightly armed, and a succession crisis or power-mad relative may become your greatest threat. Keep public order in check and stay on guard against enemies hiding in your midst.
Your warriors are the very people that tend to your fields, brew your ale, and cheer on your executioners – war is not to be taken lightly as valuable lives are risked with each battle. Will you avoid bloodshed at all costs, or are the lives of your people a sacrifice you’re willing to make?
The equipment in your warrior’s hands and on their backs must be either imported or manufactured locally, limiting the makeup of your armies based on your economy – plan ahead before declaring war, and before war is declared on you.
Defend your home against foreign invaders or march across the world map and dive into all-out battle commanding the forces you’ve raised and armed – morale, combat skills, and tactical prowess can determine the victor, but no one is safe in the chaos of clashing steel.
Through a multitude of scenarios to choose from and a plethora of options that define your nobles and the world around you, Norland allows you to build a society and tell a unique story of any kind – warmongers with penal legions fighting for their freedom, highly educated religious zealots trying to spread the faith, wealthy multicultural idealists hoarding tomes of knowledge, treacherous spymasters plotting assassination and intrigue… what tale will you tell?
The review of Norland is coming to an end, but before you go play, you should take a look at the minimum and recommended system requirements of Norland.
