THE CODEX

How the world of Amberlands works - and what a keeper controls

The world right now

SettingEastern Europe, June 1410 - the eve of Žalgiris (Grunwald)

Provinces45 historical lands across 9 realms, built from real survey geography

RealmsGrand Duchy of Lithuania (17) · Kingdom of Poland (9) · Grand Duchy of Moscow (6) · Novgorod Republic (2) · Pskov Republic (1) · Grand Duchy of Tver (1) · Grand Duchy of Ryazan (1) · State of the Teutonic Order (3) · Livonian Order & Bishoprics (5)

Settlements49 period towns and castles, stored in Postgres, shown when you hover a province

Sacred sites8 real pagan sites - Romuva, Šventaragis, Rambynas and more

Open campaignsnone gathering at this moment

Accounts — how a keeper exists

You are a keeper: an email address and a clan name, nothing more. Registering writes a keeper record; your browser remembers you locally. There are no passwords yet — a magic-link email login is the next planned step, so the same keeper can return on any device. One keeper has one living clan at a time; when a campaign closes (or a line dies out), the clan is archived and you may found a new one.

Campaigns & the clock — the world cannot stop

Singleplayer sagaA private world against five AI-minded rival clans - the wolf, the amber-trader, the oak-priest, the schemer, the elder. They answer your offers, scheme each spring, raid, trade and demand tribute. Pick a round: Blitz (20 min, 20 years, a season every 15s), Standard (1 h, 30 years), or Epic (4 h, 60 years).

The spring councilEvery game-year the council convenes and the singleplayer world PAUSES - for at most 60 seconds. Answer in time or fate picks an option at random and the seasons flow on. Which council you face depends on your situation: famine if the pits are low, war council during a feud, unrest council when the clan grumbles, prosperity council in good years. Your past choices shape the questions.

Campaign worldMultiplayer: created in the lobby, runs 4 real hours, never pauses for anyone, then the chronicle closes forever.

Province stateEvery province in your campaign carries living stats in Postgres - prosperity, unrest, devastation. Council choices, raids and trade pacts write them; harvests, loot and future councils read them. Raided lands burn and yield scraps; cleared fields fatten the autumn.

Eternal worldPlaying alone outside a campaign: one season every 10 minutes, forever, with personal fast-forward controls.

What happens every season (automatic)

Aging on every spring tick. Mortality by age band — children and elders walk closest to Giltinė. Births to wedded pairs. Weddings beneath the oak (recorded in the marriage rolls). Harvests in autumn, amber gathered on the coasts in summer, iron in spring. Omens (~12% a season). Mustered warbands resolve their raids. Unanswered questions expire after two years and fate decides for you.

What YOU control

FoundChoose a cradle-land in the amber-lit Baltic heartland (Žemaitija, Aukštaitija, Trakai, Vilnius, Black Ruthenia, Podlasie).

DecisionsWhen the scroll badge pulses in the top bar, the clan awaits your word: omens, wanderers, caravans, war councils, and other keepers' offers. Your choice changes resources, people and standing - the simulation acts on it.

WarSelect any foreign province → Send the warband — it rides at once, one raid per season. Strength = warriors + iron + fortune. Victory brings loot and šlovė; defeat brings graves. Raiding another keeper's hearth makes a feud. You may also demand tribute - pay or feud.

DiplomacySelect a rival keeper's province → offer alliance, truce, a marriage match, a standing trade pact (+2 amber +3 grain each autumn for both), or send a gift of amber to soften a feud. Offers land as decisions on their side. Oaths are enforced: you cannot raid kin. Allies share smiths (+1 iron each spring).

MarriagesWithin the clan they happen under Laima's eye; between clans they are diplomacy - a bride crosses to the other hearth and the clans become kin.

Towns & buildingsEvery settlement in your home province earns production points each season (capital 3 / major 2 / town 1, scaled by prosperity, choked by devastation). Spend a town's points in the province panel: granary (+2 grain/autumn), smithy (+1 iron/spring), market (+1 amber/summer), shrine (+1 dovana/winter), palisade (+2 defense). AI rivals build too.

Family & fateThe bloodline panel (tree icon) shows every generation with real parent links. Set each soul 12+ on a calling - warrior, trader, priest, farmer, smith - and it earns its season (+iron in spring for smiths, +grain in autumn for farmers...). The kunigas's calling counts threefold and becomes the clan's path.

World state cardThe globe icon opens every clan's live resources, headcount and standings, with diplomacy buttons per rival, plus the prosperity league of all touched lands.

Main menuClick the AMBERLANDS sun-cross any time to return to the main screen - continue your game, or begin a new singleplayer or multiplayer saga (closing a living chronicle is forever).

Fast-forwardEternal world only. Campaign time belongs to no one.

Resources

Gintaras · amberThe gold of the North. Gathered on coasts in summer, taken in raids, spent in trade.

Grūdai · grainAutumn harvest, winter survival. The hungry clan buries its children.

Geležis · ironBog iron for spears. Feeds the warband's strength.

Vėlės · soulsThe ancestors, gathered as the clan buries its dead. A currency of prophecy (coming).

Dovana · offeringsEarned by honouring omens. Will buy interventions from the gods (coming).

Šlovė · gloryWon in raids and deeds. Will raise heroes to legend (coming).

The old gods

Dievas · Perkūnas · Velnias · Laima · Žemyna · Gabija · Medeina · Aušrinė — the pantheon is real scholarship (Gimbutas, Greimas, Vėlius), not invention. Today they speak through omens and decisions; the planned next step gives each god a persistent AI persona you can consult at the sacred groves marked ✶ on the map.

Coming next (in build order)

Magic-link email accounts · clan inheritance and succession crises · realm wars on the historical timeline (Žalgiris fires July 1410) · god conversations at sacred groves · trade routes down the amber road · Solana chronicle commitments (the saga becomes provable history). The full data design lives in docs/GAME_SCHEMA.md.

amberlands.quest · the chronicle remembers