Player Housing

TYPES OF PROPERTY

There are three types of properties that can be owned.

The first of these are residences. These structures are domiciles, huts, houses, or anything similar. Areas of civilized settlements are 'zoned' as residential. Structures that are built here are used for housing and residential purposes -- where people live, in short. Residences cannot be used to form organizations.

The second sort are commercial structures. These cannot be built in residential zones, but must be built in commercial zones of settlements. These include crafting halls, hunting guilds, or mercenary companies. As long as a product or service is offered, a structure is commercial. These structures can be used for organizations.

The final sort of property is a homestead. Homesteads are built outside of civilization and can be used for any purpose -- residential, criminal, commercial, religious. They can be used for organizations. Homesteads, however, are not under the protection of society, and are much more exposed to potential disaster than other properties.

LOCATION

In order to build a property, you must first select a location. This is dependent on the sort of property you're interested in owning.

For residences, you should approach the civil authority of your settlement (for most players this will be the Office of the Magistrate). The clerk here has access to viable residential streets with open plots for residences and will be able to help you select a location (list clerk). When you have selected your location, you will pay your first property tax installment on your plot in advance (buy <number> from clerk, see Maintenance) and receive a deed for your plot. Proceed to the street location your plot is attached to, and proceed to the next section: Construction.

For commercial ventures, the proper authority to speak to is the Merchant Barons, who have a representative located within the auction house offices in the commercial quarter. Like the magistrate, the clerk here will be able to sell you plots located in the commercial quarter. The price of a commercial plot is significantly higher than the first installment of a residential property tax, but is a one time fee -- the Merchant Barons do not collect recurrent taxes (See: Maintenance). Once you have your deed, proceed to the location your plot attaches to the map and proceed to the next section: Construction

For homesteads: simply walk into the wilderness and pick a spot. You owe no-one taxes. There are no deeds. Proceed to construction.

CONSTRUCTION

In order to produce a building on your newly owned plot, you must have the construction skill, or have conscripted the assistance of someone with the construction skill. See the construction helpfile for how rooms and doors are built. When constructing a room, the game checks the following things: first, it determines if you are A) standing on a street or B) within a player owned structure. If you are standing on a street, it first checks your inventory for an appropriate deed for the direction you are attempting to build. If it does not find this, it checks the inventory of the person you are currently following. The construction fails if neither of these are true, but the materials are not used. In the case of B, these checks do not occur to allow the building to be expanded in any direction.

In the case of homesteaders, you cannot construct additional exits into the main overland map. Instead, the command is found homestead <sdesc>. This will place an enterable object with the sdesc described. Entering this will place you in an undescribed room that represents the area of wilderness directly in front of your building. Note that anyone can enter this object without passing through a door, so do not describe this as the interior of your structure -- it is the exterior right in front. From here, you or anyone else may begin constructing rooms in any direction as in part B) of a traditional residence above. Keep in mind that until an actual crafted room is placed within the homestead, the 'exterior' room is ephemeral – it will despawn within 10 minutes, so you cannot simply found homesteads everywhere and expect them to sit.

ODDS AND ENDS

One of the first things a property owner must decide is if and who they wish to inherit their estate in case of a long absence or death. In order to do this, your inheritor must be present on the property with you, and you may set <keyword> inheritor. This will set them as your inheritor for the property you are currently standing in. In the event of your absence or your death, should your property fall into a state of arrears, your inheritor will be provided a first opportunity to take ownership in order to prevent the structure from being reclaimed and destroyed by the appropriate authority. Performing this procedure a second time will replace your current inheritor with a new individual in the event of your inheritor's death or a simple changing of opinions regarding the inheritance of the property.

Managing access of your property is important. Locks of increasing quality are harder to pick, and doors of increasing quality are harder to batter open. In the case of residences, additional keys can be crafted by the owner of the property in order to grant access to rooms. In the case of commercial ventures and noble estates, however, a great number of employees/retainers may make keys unfeasible. NPC doorguards who will open doors to members of your organization of the appropriate rank may be hired, but require a stipend (see Hirelings).