Patronage and retainers

Give through the Homestead Ledger

In ordinary Adventure, open the Homestead Ledger and choose Patronage. Endow the cellars costs 1,000 gold and adds 1 point of Patronage standing. Each use buys one point. A donation succeeds only after the acting player can pay. Hiring retainers is a separate expense and does not raise or spend this standing.

Twelve named standings

The named titles begin at 1 point with Cellarhand and reach Grand Patron of the Reserve at 512 points. Each title page lists its exact threshold and donation cost. Reaching a threshold adds that title to your character’s titles. Earlier titles stay recorded. These standings give names without combat or worker-stat bonuses.

The ladder keeps going

After 512 points, each further 256 points adds the next numbered Grand Patron of the Reserve title. Grand Patron of the Reserve II starts at 768 points and III at 1,024. Each later step needs another 256,000 gold in donations. The highest current Patronage standing takes priority when a Herald chooses what to call you.

Three retainers

A Herald costs 3,000 gold to hire and 8 gold every 500 turns. A Cellarer costs 6,000 and 12 per interval. A Standard-Bearer costs 12,000 and 19. All three together owe 39 gold per interval. Each grants its listed hire title and provides the presentation described below. They have no combat or worker-stat bonus. The hire control requires no level or Patronage standing.

Spend a Reserve token on the fee

A Nine Day Reserve gives 1 Reserve token. If you have a token, hiring any eligible retainer uses it automatically and charges no hiring gold. The recurring wage still applies. You can only employ each retainer once at a time. If one leaves after unpaid wages, you can hire them again.

Keep gold for the next wage round

The first hire starts a 500-turn wage cycle. Later hires join the existing cycle, so their first bill can arrive sooner than 500 turns after they join. Ordinary checks run every 25 world turns and take cellar dues first. Counting House and Cooper’s Art do not discount retinue wages. If the full round is unaffordable, the cheapest hired retainers leave first until the remaining bill fits. Their earned hire titles are not removed by that wage tick.

Wages after a clock jump

A delayed wage check can charge several whole 500-turn rounds, but one check charges at most four rounds. Extra elapsed rounds beyond that cap are forgiven rather than kept as debt for the next check. A shortage can dismiss retainers during these rounds. Their wages do not take other possessions or make the purse negative.

The Herald announces an arrival

When a settlement arrival popup is shown for the locally viewed player, the Herald can announce you once per settlement per 2,000-turn day during that session. A reload can allow another announcement. The nearest awake settlement NPC from 1 to 40 horizontal and vertical steps away in total can reply, including a guard. Sleeping, hiding and dead people are excluded. The reply reflects existing familiarity and affinity. The greeting does not add affinity.

The Cellarer keeps the wheel summary

The Cellarer adds a note in the Reserve Cellar and Patronage tabs, outside the wheel picker. It summarises Reserve Cellar niches, homestead cheese caves and deposited ageing contracts, grouping them by place and counting those ready. It names the unfinished timed entry with the least listed work left. Stalled reserves still enter that comparison, so the note is not a promise that unpaid work will finish. If only moon racks remain unfinished, it reports the one furthest along. The Cellarer does not age or collect wheels for you.

The Standard-Bearer raises your colours

On a displayed settlement arrival, the Standard-Bearer tries to place one banner near the arrival tile or a nearby gate. It needs suitable ground, avoids the player and living creatures, and refuses a gap between walls. The colour comes from the character’s name. The banner reads Your Standard and leaves the underlying ground walkable. It comes down when the locally viewed player changes zone. An existing banner can remain until then even if its bearer leaves over unpaid wages. Conversations can mention the standing colours when no earlier opening takes priority.