A stronghold is your personal land holdings - the land you own, manage and (in some cases) rule over. It could be a wilderness domain patrolled by rangers, a traditional Barony, a city state or even a massive kingdom. It might be independent, semi-independent or part of a larger kingdom. The basic rules are still the same.
Your stronghold is defined by four key properties:
If you keep Economy, Loyalty and Stability in balance as you build your stronghold things will probably go smoothly. If they get out of balance – The DM gets to roll on the ‘Bad Things happen to this Stronghold’ table.
Defence does not need to be in balance with the other three. However, a high defence score makes your stronghold easier to defend from marauding beasts, bandits, tribesmen – or opposing armies. It is also related to the titles and honours you can claim.
Some sorts of terrain are easier, and therefore cheaper, to develop than others. However, sometimes location - close to a major river, at a cross roads, on top of a seam of gold - might be more important than the absolute cost to develop the land.
Having seen the lay of the land, you should consider how you are going to communicate with the outside world - what Transport Links will you need?
Once you have decided where you want to build, you need to Claim the Land.
There are three different phases of Stronghold development.
Most land start out as Wilderness and there a number of ways that you can develop wilderness land without changing it too much. Natural Wilderness has no developments at all and doesn't really count as part of your stronghold. Managed Wilderness has next to no developments but is patrolled by your troops, to control monsters, barbarians or humanoid tribes, and can count as part of your stronghold. Semi-wilderness has a few nature friendly developments, and might form the centrepiece of a Druid/Ranger stronghold or the starting place for further development.
Rural land can be developed from wilderness, and provides the natural resources that your stronghold needs to survive and grow. It could have a combination of village, farms, ranches, mines, fisheries or Logging operations. A village is a good starting point for building a town or city.
Urban developments are the most developed areas – it includes towns, cities and the hinterland that surround them.
Trade is good for any settlement - it brings in extra goods, new people, new ideas and boosts your economy generally. Because the benefits are reciprocal (both ends benefit) it means the people might be less aggressive towards you.
You benefit if your Stronghold, Town or City is connected to a external trade route you benefit. Benefit = Consumption -1.
Every Town or City Base brings benefits to Economy, Stability and Loyalty as well - although they are recorded against the merchant rather than the town. However, the town benefits from extra taxes, while the Loyalty and Stability benefits cancel out the effects of the economic gains without taking up space in the district.