Development

Developments are the infrastructure of your civilization. As your camp advances to a town, and then a city, you'll see your developments blossom to reflect the prosperity of your people.

Each development has a rating, and an increase of 1 in the rating quintuples the amount of infrastructure you have for a development. They begin at 0, meaning you have negligible infrastructure there, and go up to 7, meaning your city has mastered that area.

There are 5 developments:

Military

This parallels combat and measures your city's ability to launch invasions and also to defend itself. The higher it is the more troops you have, the more effective those troops are, and the better they are equipped and led.

Fortifications: Your town's walls, defenses, towers and so on  are determined by your military rating.

Military 1: You can arrange a basic militia with a couple dozen members, but not professional soldiers. Your town has a single watchtower.

Military 3: Your military contains a core of a hundred or so professional soldiers and additional militia as needed. Your town's wooden wall is sporting a few watchtowers.

Military 5: Avanced technology allows thousands of your fighters to take on tens of thousands of enemies and win.

Military 7: You have a massive professional military with multiple legions having the finest equipment. Your impregnable walls withstand any siege.

Underworld

This parallels stealth and measures your town's crime and espionage ability. The higher your town's underworld rating, the more is available on the black market, the more spies and informants are reporting information, the better skilled the thieves and assassins are in your city, and the better your police force is at catching the sloppy ones and the ones who go too far. Also, the more explorers you have searching the area.

Keep You on Your Toes: Each champion gains bonus skill points equal to half the underworld rating rounded down each session.

Underworld 1: Your town has a bit of crime. Scouts don't travel more than a day's journey from the town.

Underworld 3: Black markets and assassinations emerge. Scouts range far and wide.

Underworld 5: Criminals arrange themselves into guilds and mafia organizations to organize themselves and eliminate the riff-raff before the authorities eliminate them. Scouts have covered the continent.

Underworld 7: Your city has come to terms with its criminals, keeping them from harming innocents and recruiting the best as spies and assassins. The other criminals are part of a single mafia structure that keeps its people from crossing the line. Scouts are travelling beyond the known world.

Culture

This parallels charisma and measures your town's art, architecture, society, and general influence on the world around it. The higher it is the more other towns respect you and your values, and the more tourists and diplomats come to your city to learn and be amazed.

and Circuses: If culture is your highest or second development, all followers begin the session with a positive mood. If culture is lowest all your followers begin the session in a negative mood. Otherwise, your followers have a neutral mood to begin with.

Culture 1: Your town mostly imitates other cultures, and does so poorly.

Culture 3: Your town has its own culture and has some unique folk art that people see value in.

Culture 5; Your town has begun to blossom, having public sculptures and performances. It is a beautiful place to live, at least some parts are.

Culture 7: Your city has multiple wonders that draw people from around the world. Everyone longs to visit and imitating your city is a mark of high civilization.

Economy

This parallels labor and measures your town's production, natural resources, and trade. The higher it is the more wealth you have available and the better things you can buy.

Tribute: Each archon gains resources of its choice equal to the town's economy rating. Resources are things like wood, iron, gold, spices, food, or whatever else you want. Each unit of resources is equal in value to a handful of gold coins, and can grant +1 to a roll when used, usually in crafting rolls. For example, you can use a large amount of timber to gain a bonus to building a house, a branch of sapient pearwood to craft a magical staff, or a pile of timber to get a bonus to a flame spell against the enemy standing on it.

Economy 1: Your town is mostly subsistence farmers.

Economy 3: Farmers are producing enough that people are specializing, you have good craftsmen and merchants.

Economy 5: Your town is known for quality goods, if not exceptional ones, and it has many trade partners.

Economy 7: Your city controls markets and trade, and other cities' wealth rises and falls with your own. The best of everything is found within its walls.

Education

This parallels lore and measures your town's schooling system, but also its knowledge of the sciences, history, geography, magic, and much more. Education deals with how much people know about the archons in the city and how religious people are.

Devotion: Each archon gains connecton eqal to the education rating of the town.

Education 1: There are a few wise old men who will impart knowledge if they are sought out. There are a few shrines in the village, but no temples.

Education 3: Your city is starting to make some new discoveries instead of just learning from what others have found. Temples start popping up.

Education 5: Your city is now contributing as much knowledge to the world at large as it takes in. Shrines dot the town and it is a place of great connection to the archons.

Education 7: Your city is a home to study and learning, and people come from all over to drink in the wisdom and knowledge therein. Beautiful temples inspire people to devotion and greatness.

Microdevelopments
You can roll the develop skill to improve the infrastructure within a development. For example, let's say you want to improve your city's culture. You could add a microdevelopment for painting, a printing press, statues, traveling bards, public baths, or any of a hundred other things. You do this instead of adding your +1 to a development. It adds its bonuses to city rolls involving it. For example, if you want to have the city print pamphlets spreading a message, then you'd roll an archon's charisma plus the city's culture plus the rating of that printing press development you made earlier. Microdevelopment Ideas:

Military

Military upgrades can advance a particular unit.

Underworld

Black market, detection, scouts, thieves' guild, strip clubs, brothels,

Culture

Printing press, sculpture, wonder, propaganda, street musicians,

Economy

Harbor, bank, trading guild, warehouses,

Education

Children's schools, college, shrine, hospital, temple to a specific archon,

Magistrate
Everyone contributes to building the same town. So it may be helpful to appoint one of the players, probably one who is good with rules, as the magistrate. She will keep track of how the players contribute to the town's formation and then determine what resources are created. For this bit of responsibility she's also got a bit more influence on how the city develops, and may vest this authority in one of her followers. The GM may function as the magistrate but it is usually better to pass this responsibility to a player. At the beginning of the session, the magistrate determines what rewards everyone gets from the city's current developments, and then asks all the archons how they're developing the city, usually through their champions. Each archon can put a tick on one development. When that development gets more ticks than its current rating, increase its rating by one. The magistrate next asks about champion and other follower work actions, and updates the city as needed.

During game time, whenever the players want to test what the city can do, they roll the driving archon's relevant aspect plus the city's development rating plus the relevant microdevelopment. Successes are on the same level as for followers. For example, roll an archon's labor plus the city's economy to see if you can find the one item you need in the marketplace. Roll an archon's charisma plus the city's culture to see how well another city respects it.