Kingdoms: Citizens, Contribution & Governance
Status: Planned. The Kingdom era is the next major chapter of Roblade. This page describes its design; details will evolve as development progresses.
A kingdom is made of people, not parcels. This page describes how players of every ownership level participate in a kingdom, how member Land joins without ever changing hands, how real work is recorded and rewarded, and how power inside a kingdom is divided and constrained.
Visitors, citizens, landholders
A kingdom must be open to players with different levels of ownership. The system defines three tiers of participation.
Visitors can explore public territory, view profiles and access permitted market or event information without becoming members.
Citizens are official members who may not own Land. They can complete quests, contribute to construction, trade, earn Contribution and qualify for roles. Allowing non-landowners to become meaningful citizens prevents kingdoms from becoming closed groups of large asset holders — citizenship is earned through participation, not purchased through property.
Landholders are citizens who pledge eligible Land to the kingdom. Their Land adds territorial strength while ownership remains with them.
A player should normally belong to only one official kingdom at a time. They may still visit, trade with and participate in permitted public activities across the world.
Pledging land
The Kingdom System must strengthen community without weakening individual ownership. That is the purpose of the Pledge Land model, and its first rule is absolute:
Pledge is not transfer. The NFT never leaves your wallet.
Pledging Land means associating it with a kingdom under transparent rules. Joining a kingdom never requires a player to transfer Land into the founder’s wallet; the owner retains control of the NFT and the ability to use, sell or transfer it subject to transparent system rules. A pledged parcel may:
- display kingdom identity;
- count toward the kingdom’s Territory;
- receive eligible regional benefits;
- support kingdom upgrade conditions.
The kingdom cannot confiscate Land. A king, officer or treasury should never gain unilateral power to seize pledged Land. Administrative roles can manage kingdom systems, but not take member assets.
Exits need predictable rules. To discourage constant movement between kingdoms, pledged Land may have a minimum pledge period, an exit cooldown, and loss of future kingdom benefits during exit. When Land is sold or transferred, it should automatically enter an unpledging process unless the new owner explicitly chooses to remain. All of these rules should be visible before a player pledges.
The underlying principle: asset rights come before convenience. Kingdom features should never silently convert community participation into custody. When trade-offs are necessary, Roblade favors transparent, non-custodial ownership structures wherever practical. This guarantee also holds through every kingdom lifecycle event — see Decline, succession and dissolution.
Contribution
Kingdom Contribution is a non-transferable record of what a player has done for a specific kingdom. It is not a tradable currency and cannot be purchased directly. It exists to answer a simple question:
Who actually helped create this kingdom?
Contribution may be earned through:
- completing kingdom quests;
- donating requested resources;
- participating in public construction;
- producing goods needed by the kingdom;
- generating valid market activity;
- assisting new citizens;
- joining kingdom events;
- participating in governance;
- remaining consistently active.
The design deliberately avoids pay-to-rule. Contribution from simple resource donations should have daily limits or diminishing returns. Cooperative tasks, sustained participation and diverse activity should matter more than one large deposit — a treasury cannot be converted directly into standing.
Contribution can influence:
- citizen rank;
- eligibility for officer roles;
- weekly or seasonal rewards;
- access to kingdom cosmetics;
- recognition on public profiles;
- voting weight within limits;
- future Kingdom Credit or Token graduation allocations (see The Kingdom Launchpad).
Contribution is also a historical record. If a player leaves, their Contribution should not move into a new kingdom. It can remain visible as part of their personal history, showing where they previously helped build.
Public construction
Public construction turns kingdom growth into a shared activity visible in the world. Every major project moves through five stages.
1. Proposal. The founder or an authorized officer proposes a building or infrastructure project. The project page shows its purpose, costs, requirements and expected benefits.
2. Resource collection. Citizens contribute Wood, Stone, Gold, Ore, processed goods or other required materials. Contributions are recorded publicly.
3. Work requirements. Large buildings should require more than materials. Citizens may need to complete construction quests, assign workers, transport or process materials, complete NPC orders, or reach a minimum number of unique contributors. This is why wealth alone cannot complete a public building: one wealthy player cannot buy every stage instantly, because the stages demand distinct people doing distinct work.
4. Visible construction. The building appears in stages — foundation, materials, scaffolding, worker activity and completion. The territory visibly changes while the project is underway.
5. Completion and history. When the project is completed, contributors receive Contribution, the kingdom unlocks the building’s utility, and the completion becomes a historical event. Major contributors may be recorded on a plaque or project page, and a shareable community update can be generated.
A public building is not only a menu entry. It is proof that the kingdom coordinated real players around a common objective — shared memory, built in stone.
Roles and governance
Kingdom roles divide responsibilities while limiting unilateral control.
- Founder / King defines early strategy, appoints initial officers and proposes major projects.
- Steward manages applications, citizen support and routine administration.
- Treasurer prepares budgets and treasury proposals but should not control unrestricted withdrawals alone.
- Builder manages approved public construction and worker allocation.
- Trade Officer supports market rules, orders and inter-kingdom trade relationships.
- Citizen completes quests, contributes, trades, votes where eligible and uses public infrastructure.
Governance distinguishes between what can happen immediately and what needs protection.
Low-risk actions may be immediate: editing the kingdom description, accepting applicants, creating ordinary quests, appointing minor roles, and proposing a public project.
High-impact actions should use limits, delays or approval: large treasury spending, significant fee increases, removal of high-contribution members, demolition of public buildings, relocation of the capital, tokenization decisions, and kingdom dissolution. The treasury-side protections behind these rules are detailed in Kingdom Economy.
Finally, governance is not pure token voting. A mature system can combine founder authority, officer responsibility, citizen participation and Contribution. Financial ownership alone should not determine every decision — in a kingdom built by many kinds of players, decision-making must reflect many kinds of standing.