The Inn
The Inn is how your settlement grows beyond its founding population. It provides housing for travellers and, when staffed with an innkeeper, attracts periodic immigrant groups from beyond the map.
The Inn must have a worker assigned before immigrants will arrive. An unstaffed Inn is just another boarding house — no innkeeper means no word of mouth, no arriving groups.
How Immigration Works
When the Inn is staffed, an immigrant group arrives approximately once per year (every four seasons). When they appear:
- The group walks from a random point at the map edge toward the Inn
- An announcement fires: "Travelers at the Inn!"
- The Inn's building panel shows the waiting group and your options
Only one group can be waiting at a time. A new group won't depart until the current one is accepted or declined.
Group Sizes
The size of each immigrant group scales with your current population:
| Population | Group size |
|---|---|
| 0–9 | 1–2 |
| 10–24 | 1–3 |
| 25–49 | 2–4 |
| 50–99 | 2–6 |
| 100 and above | 3–8 |
Immigration edicts from the Book of Laws can increase group sizes and make groups arrive more frequently. If your population is growing slowly, these edicts are among the most powerful investments in the mid-game.
Accept or Decline
When a group arrives, you choose:
- Welcome Them: The citizens spawn immediately and join your settlement. They arrive as uneducated adults aged 18–34, carrying nothing — no tools, no clothing, no food. They need everything.
- Send Away: The group turns around and walks back to the map edge. They're gone.
New Arrivals Need Time
Immigrants arrive with nothing. The first few days after a large group is accepted can put strain on food and clothing supplies. Plan ahead:
- Have food in stock — new arrivals are immediately hungry after their journey
- Have beds available — they need somewhere to sleep that night
- Have work for them — the job assignment system will place them automatically, but if there aren't enough open positions they'll be idle
Unlike children born in the settlement, immigrants don't inherit skills and haven't attended school. They start at Apprentice level in whatever job they're assigned. Consider this when timing large waves — accepting 6 new farmers just before spring planting is a better moment than mid-winter when there's nothing for Apprentice labourers to do.