Traits
Each villager is born with two traits drawn from the trait pool. Traits are permanent and create real mechanical differences — a Diligent worker produces measurably more than a Lazy one.
Children born in the settlement get an additional trait when they reach adulthood, shaped by how happy their childhood was. A child raised in comfort tends to develop a positive trait; one raised in hardship may develop something harder-edged. Newborns can also inherit traits from their parents (40% chance per parent trait).
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Diligent | +15% work output |
| Lazy | −15% work output |
| Sociable | +25% social need regain from proximity and visits |
| Solitary | Social need decays 25% slower, but also regains 25% slower — they need less people, but get less from them |
| Cheerful | +5 happiness each day, passively |
| Melancholy | −5 happiness each day, passively |
| Hardy | Warmth need decays 25% slower |
| Frail | Warmth and Sleep needs decay 20% faster |
| Big Appetite | +10% work output; hunger decays 30% faster — eats heartily and works hard for it |
| Pious | +50% faith gained per chapel candle visit |
Some traits conflict — a villager can't be both Diligent and Lazy, or both Cheerful and Melancholy. Conflicting traits are filtered out during the roll.
Childhood Traits
Children who grow up in the settlement gain one extra trait when they come of age, drawn from the childhood pool. Which end of the pool they land on depends on how happy their childhood was — the game tracks average happiness across the whole childhood and uses it to weight the roll. A child whose average stays above 65 has a 70% chance of a positive trait; below 40 and that flips to 70% negative. Somewhere in the middle produces a roughly even spread across all three tones.
Childhood traits can be inherited by their own children later, the same as any other trait.
| Trait | Effect | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Trusting | Social need decays 20% slower — grew up expecting kindness from the world | Positive |
| Curious | +10% work output — always asking questions, always learning | Positive |
| Bookish | +2 baseline happiness when educated | Positive |
| Resilient | Health decays 20% slower — hardened by early difficulty | Mixed |
| Restless | +10% work output; hunger decays 15% faster | Mixed |
| Withdrawn | −25% social gain from gatherings — learned early to expect little | Negative |
| Anxious | Sleep decays 25% faster — restless even when calm | Negative |
| Bitter | −3 baseline happiness — carries old hurts that never quite healed | Negative |
Personality Traits
A second pool of personality traits captures the quieter, more distinctive sides of character — the kind of person someone simply is, in ways that don't map neatly onto a single virtue or flaw. These enter the roll alongside the standard trait pool.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Steady-Hearted | Deeply content in the daily round. +3 happiness passively; social need decays 15% slower |
| Quiet-Hearted | Loves small company, not crowds. Social need decays and regains 40% slower — they need less stimulation, but large gatherings give them little. Conflicts with Sociable. |
| Earnest | Says what they mean, hears what's said. +1 happiness; gains slightly less from social gatherings (sometimes misses the joke) |
| Focused | Once they take to a craft, the world quiets around them. +15% work output; social need decays 15% slower. Conflicts with Restless. |
| Observant | Spots small things others miss. +1 happiness; +10% work output |
| Gentle-Souled | Feels the village's joys and sorrows deeply. +20% social gain; sleep decays 10% faster — the first to lie awake worrying |
| Methodical | Never hurries, never wastes a motion. +10% work output; sleep decays 10% slower |
Personality Values
In addition to traits, each villager holds two values — core beliefs about what makes life meaningful. Values provide a small daily happiness bonus when their condition is met. Like traits, values are partially inheritable.
| Value | Gives +1 happiness/day when… |
|---|---|
| Family | Their spouse, father, or mother is still alive |
| Craft | They have a workplace assigned |
| Knowledge | They received an education as a child |
| Tradition | The settlement has passed at least 3 edicts |
| Community | The settlement has at least 6 adult citizens |
| Nature | They're standing near at least 4 trees |
| Leisure | They visit the tavern and drink (+2 per drink, not per day) |
| Piety | They attend chapel (+2 per candle visit, not per day) |
Favorites
Every villager has a favorite food and a favorite drink. When they eat or drink their favorite, they get a small bonus happiness boost on top of the normal meal moodlet. Favorites can be any resource in the game — including rare or exotic ones the villager may never actually encounter.
You can see a villager's favorites in their citizen panel under Skills. If you can provide their favorite, it's worth doing — the bonus is modest but accumulates over time.
Relationships
Every pair of citizens has a relationship score ranging from −100 to +100. This score is asymmetric — how Tilda feels about Tolman is tracked separately from how Tolman feels about Tilda.
| Band | Score range | Effect on social interactions |
|---|---|---|
| Hostile | Below −25 | Proximity to this person gives reduced social gain |
| Neutral | −25 to +25 | Normal social interactions |
| Friendly | +25 to +75 | Slightly more social gain from proximity |
| Close | Above +75 | Meaningful additional social gain; preferred marriage candidates |
How relationships develop
- Family: Spouses start at +50, parents and children at +50, siblings at +30.
- Housemates: Citizens sharing a home drift closer at +0.3 per day. Sociable villagers drift faster; Solitary ones slower. After a few months of living together, housemates are usually Friendly.
- Coworkers: Citizens working at the same building drift closer at +0.2 per day — slower than housemates, but steady.
Relationship scores are visible in the citizen panel. When matchmaking for marriage, villagers favour whichever eligible partner they have the highest score with.