TOWNS
A town is a claim on the world. It has citizens, a leader, borders that grow on a map, and protections inside its land. Towns can stand alone as Independent Towns, or belong to a nation.
What is a Town?
A town is a claim on the world. It has citizens, a leader, borders that grow on a map, and protections against griefing inside its land. Towns can stand alone as Independent Towns, or belong to a nation.
There are two paths to founding a town. Pick the one that fits how you want to play.
For solo players, small groups, or anyone who wants land without political commitments. Founded by nationless players.
Independent Towns can expand, accept members, rename, pay tax, and be integrated into a nation. They cannot engage in diplomacy or be vassalised.
Founded by players who already belong to a nation, under that nation's banner. Nation towns inherit their nation's map colour and gain access to nation-level mechanics through their nation leader.
Nation towns can expand further than Independent Towns, and become the building blocks of empire.
The Town Lectern
Every town is anchored by a Town Lectern. It's the seat of the town: founding, joining, tax, expansion, and member management all flow through it.
Craft one in any crafting table using the recipe shown. Place it where you want your town centred, then put a chest beside it to hold emeralds for actions that cost them.
- Recipe: 4 wooden slabs (any type), 4 emeralds, and 1 enchanted book (any enchantment) in the pattern shown.
- Place a chest directly adjacent to the lectern. Books that cost emeralds (founding, expansion, tax) draw from this chest.
- Both Independent Towns and nation towns use the same Town Lectern. Only the founding requirements differ.
Found an Independent Town
The path for nationless players. No crown, no quest, no nation required. Just a lectern, a chest, and 10 emeralds.
- 1Be nationless.
- 2Place a Town Lectern with a chest adjacent to it.
- 3Put 10 emeralds in the chest.
- 4Sign a book titled
form townwith the town's name on the first line. - 5Insert the book into the lectern. The town is created and a small disk of land is claimed around the lectern.
CAN: expand borders, accept new members (nationless players only), rename, pay tax, and accept integration offers from nations.
CANNOT: engage in diplomacy, be vassalised, or found additional towns. Expansion range is much smaller than a nation town.
Found a Nation Town
The path for players already in a nation, founding a new town under that nation's banner.
- 1Be a citizen of an existing nation.
- 2You must not already lead a town.
- 3Place the Town Lectern far enough from existing towns and within your nation's admin range.
- 4Place a chest adjacent to the lectern with emeralds inside.
- 5Sign a book titled
form townand insert it into the lectern.
Towns start with a 16-block-radius founding disk around the town lectern.
Join a Town
- 1You must be a citizen of the town's nation, or be nationless. Nationless players can only join Independent Towns.
- 2Sign a book titled
join. - 3Place it into a town lectern within the town's borders.
- 4The town leader reviews the request via the
requestsbook in any town lectern, then accepts or denies.
Town Tax
- Every town has its own tax deadline, independent of any nation.
- View the deadline in the
infobook at any town lectern. - Pay tax with a
pay taxbook. Each payment costs 5 emeralds from the adjacent chest and extends the deadline by 7 days. - Tax can be paid in advance to secure weeks or months ahead. There is no upper limit.
- If the deadline passes, the town goes dormant and loses its protections.
- After 4 continuous weeks of dormancy, the town disbands.
Town Claims
- Each town starts as a 16-block-radius founding disk around its town lectern.
- Use an
expandbook in a town lectern (with emeralds in an adjacent chest) to start a 5 minute expansion session. Borders creep outward block-by-block. - Speed depends on terrain. Fast over plains, slow over rivers, very slow over mountains and oceans.
- Expansion cost scales with town size.
- Independent Towns have a much smaller maximum expansion range than nation towns.
- Town claims appear on in-game maps with the town's name. Capital towns use a mansion icon, regular towns a village icon.
- Independent Towns appear in a neutral colour; nation towns inherit their nation's colour.
- Maps update live wherever they have already been explored. New claims and disbandments appear on any chart that already covers the area.
Common Town Books
The books you'll write most often as a town leader or member. All of them go in the Town Lectern.
| Book | Effect |
|---|---|
form town | Found a new town. |
join | Request town membership. |
expand | Begin a 5-minute expansion session. |
pay tax | Pay 5 emeralds, extend the deadline by 7 days. |
info | Show town stats: nation, tax deadline, members. |
requests | View pending join and integration requests. |
rename | Rename the town. |
kick | Remove a member. |
help | Get the canonical town guide. |
Looking for the full plugin reference, including diplomacy and nation books? Visit the book reference on the Nations page.
More Information
The canonical guide for towns lives in the in-game help books. Sign a book titled help and place it in any custom lectern.
Insert a who am i book into any lectern to see your nation and town memberships.
Want to turn your Independent Town into the seat of a new nation? See the Form a Nation guide.