Settlements management usually happens between Gothic: The Lion Age events.  Settlements are composed of Landmarks which often, but don’t always, require Population to staff them.  Settlements in the same Province or neighboring Provinces connected by Paths are considered part of the same Reich, allowing Population to travel between those settlements.  In some cases, Population may arrive at new settlements due to current events or the actions of characters, even outside of an established Reich.

Landmarks can be either Public Landmarks or Organization Landmarks.  Landmarks of either type can be Key Landmarks. Key Landmarks start a new Settlement, are the only Landmarks that can be built on a Site without a Landmark, and only one Key Landmark can be built at each Site. Landmarks are constructed using Supply, which come in the form of Canvas, Hide Bundles, Iron Beams, Blocks, Lumber, and Fuel.  Supply is an item type that that is created through downtime actions at various Landmarks. Supply remains in the settlement that it is gathered until it is Transported to another settlement with a Stockpile. Some Landmarks also have certain thresholds that must be met in order to build them.  Advanced Landmarks of each type require at least 10 tags of Commerce, Tradition or Law to exist in the Reich before they can be built. Superior Landmarks of each type require at least 25 tags of Commerce, Tradition or Law to exist in the Reich before they can be built.

Public Landmarks are those that are not controlled by an Organization. Public Landmarks are automatically staffed by available, appropriate types of Population within the same Reich. There are no limitations to the number of characters that may take a Downtime Action at a Public Landmark, no required permissions, and the results of your Action either go to you directly or are left at the Landmark.

Organization Landmarks are controlled by an Organization. Organization Landmarks are not automatically staffed.  Instead, moving an appropriate unemployed Population to staff an Organization Landmark requires the appropriate Virtue or Vice and costs one (or more) Influence. Removing a Population from a staffed Landmark also costs one or more Influence. Moving a Population that is already staffing a Landmark to your Organization Landmark costs additional Influence, and that cost may be increased further if you are drawing from Landmarks belonging to another Organization.  Releasing a Population that is staffing one of your Landmarks is free, however they may not be freely moved between Organization buildings- they must released and then Influence spent to employ them in the new location.

Organizations are founded using a special Function, during which at least one Influence is generated and spent to name the Organization’s Officer(s).  Organizations are not initially typed, but instead purchase Virtues and Vices with Influence.  Organizations have one or more Officers who can spend the Influence of the Organization to employ Populations or achieve other effects.

Influence can be generated in three primary ways.  First a character with Mercantile 5 may spend 5 Gold as a Task in order to generate one Influence for any Organization. Second, a character with Etiquette 2 may host a special Function and any attendee may perform a toast, dedication or other public recognition of the Organization being honored to donate one or more Achievements of any type to the Organization.  This removes the Achievements from the donating characters’ sheets and therefore these Achievements no longer count against their ceiling. The host of this Function should collect the information of each donating character and submit it as a Task. Finally, a character with Streetwise 3 may target a Landmark they know of with a Streetwise Action and generate a Trial for the next Chapter.  During this Trial, there will be an opportunity to gain Intel critical to the function of the Landmark. This Intel may be kept, or anonymously fenced as a Task to generate one Influence.

Organizations may spend their Influence in a number of ways.  The most basic way to spend Influence is to buy into a Virtue or Vice, each of which allow additional ways to spend.  The first level of a Virtue or Vice an Organization buys into costs 5 Influence. Buying the Advanced level of that Virtue or Vice costs 10 Influence. Buying the Superior level of a Virtue or Vice costs 20 Influence. You may not buy a higher level of a Virtue or Vice until you have the level below it. Having more than one Virtue or Vice (including higher levels of the same one) also multiplies the Influence cost of an Organization’s possible actions by the number of Virtues and Vices associated with the Organization. For example, an Advanced Law (2) Organization attempting to staff one of their buildings, would need to spend 2 Influence rather than 1. This is called Investing and every time something calls for you to Invest you must spend Influence equal to the number of Virtues and Vices associated with your Organization.

Law
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Law Opportunity occurs
May Invest to staff a Law Organization building, gaining control of it. Advanced or Superior Law may be required to staff some Landmarks 
May Invest to de-staff another Organization’s Law building, rendering the staffing Population unemployed
May employ Gentry population in any type of Landmark your Organization Invests to staff

Tradition
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Tradition Opportunity occurs
May Invest to staff a Tradition Organization building, gaining control of it. Advanced or Superior Tradition may be required to staff some Landmarks
May Invest to de-staff another Organization’s Tradition building, rendering the staffing Population unemployed
May employ Peasant population in any type of Landmark your Organization Invests to staff

Commerce
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Commerce Opportunity occurs
May Invest to staff a Commerce Organization building, gaining control of it.  Advanced or Superior Commerce may be required to staff some Landmarks
May Invest to de-staff another Organization’s Commerce building, rendering the staffing Population unemployed
May employ Merchant population in any type of Landmark your Organization Invests to staff

Abuse
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Abuse Crisis occurs
May Invest to take control of a single uncontrolled Scum Population
-Scum Populations can be directed to disrupt a single Landmark in the Reich, rendering it non-operational for one Chapter. This generates significant Abuse for this Chapter.
-Scum Populations can be Levied with the permission of the controlling Organization.  The resulting unit begins with Despair.  This generates significant Abuse for this Chapter.
-Scum Populations can generate 1 Influence.  This generates significant Abuse for this Chapter.
May Invest to remove another Organization’s control of a Scum Population
May employ Scum population in any type of Landmark your Organization invests to staff.  This adds an additional Abuse tag to that Landmark.

Darkness
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Darkness Crisis occurs
Darkness Organizations may Invest to obtain access to a grimoire, contact a local agent of darkness, or locate a site of darkness.
Advanced and Superior Darkness has additional options for corrupting Landmarks, staffing their own dark Landmarks, and employing non-standard Populations (Coming Soon!)

Decadence
Gain one, two or three Influence each time a Minor, Moderate or Major Decadence Crisis occurs
May Invest to grant +1 Luxury to Gentry characters for one Chapter
May Invest to upgrade the Feast function in one of the following ways (each option may affect the same Feast only once)
-add five seats to the Feast
-grant a single additional Toughness, Nerve AND Discipline to anyone who partakes of the Feast that last until the end of the Chapter
May Invest to make a single Venial sin not give Depravity to anyone who commits it for the next Chapter.  This can be generally or under specific circumstances and a (non-changeable) Rumor is generated with the change explained at Opening Announcements
Advanced and Superior Decadence may generate more Luxury or for different Social Classes, may further upgrade Feasts, and may change the local beliefs on Sin even further (Coming Soon!)

In general, Abuse Organizations are illegal and frowned on, Decadence Organizations are frowned on, but vary on how tolerated they are depending on local ideologies, and Darkness Organizations are hated and feared by all but the most vile and depraved individuals.

Virtues and Vices are also tags on various Landmarks.  For Organization Landmarks, this indicates what Virtue or Vice is required by an Organization to staff them. All Virtues and Vices also have three clocks associated with them- Minor, Moderate and Major.  The number of tags of each Virtue and Vice indicate the base number of ticks all three clocks advance each Chapter.  When a clock fills, an Opportunity or Crisis will appear.  Sometimes this will be an effect such as a Disease outbreak or Trade opportunity, and other times it will be a more nuanced plotline.  Interacting with these effects and plotlines personally can add or remove ticks, as well as having narrative effects. Organizations can also Invest and call upon one or more of the Landmarks they control to affect such events when they are appropriate. The clocks are primarily a storytelling tool and will not be player facing, but the tags on Landmarks and other effects should help players see where their Reich is strong and weak and what problems and opportunities their community is likely to see more and less often.