The world of Nested Lands is dead, and so is anyone foolish enough to attempt surviving the horrors of the Death Plague without the aid of others. Last time, we explained how important villagers are to the success of any would-be settlement, and today, we further this explanation by highlighting how traits and skills can shape both a villager and the place they occupy in your village.
As a quick reminder, in the last diary entry we mentioned that skills and traits give authenticity to each villager, showcasing what they do well and who they are. For skills, we mentioned Farming, Forester, Defender, Crafting, Apparel, Cooking, and Medicine, while for traits, we showcased the seven categories to which they might belong: Habit related, Needs related, Plague related, Event related, Religion related, Stats related, and Work related.
Now, let’s dive deeper into these categories.
Work Related
As we said, Work related perks may be among the simplest, but they are also some of the most impactful traits for the day-to-day life of your village. If you are deciding who to assign as your new blacksmith, a character with the “Handy” trait, which improves Crafting speed by 15%, is an obvious choice, while someone with the trait “Clumsy”, which slows down Crafting by 15%, probably won’t be your first choice.
Needs Related
The same can be said for Needs related traits. While the “Neat” trait, which makes a Villager’s Hygiene decrease 20% slower, might not seem that useful, that person would be uniquely qualified for the role of Cremator, which involves burning the bodies of the dead. Since that job comes with a high chance of infection, someone whose Hygiene status is usually high makes for a perfect candidate. Likewise, filling the Cremator role with someone with the “Slob” trait, which makes a Villager’s Hygiene decrease 20% faster, would only be a good idea if you were trying to start a pandemic.
Not sure why you would want that, but hey, it’s your village.
Religion Related
Religion related traits are still in development, but here are two which are already finalized: the “Very Religious” trait and the “Proud Atheist” trait, which, to put it in simple terms, make any character with one of these traits hate someone with the other. Meaning that if they work together, or, even worse, live together, you might have to deal with their issues a lot.
Plague Related
As the name implies, Plague related traits revolve around a Villager’s reaction to, or otherwise opinion on, the Death Plague itself. It is difficult to describe them, as most of these traits are completely unique in their own right, such as the “Greater Good” trait, which might cause a character to kill any other infected villagers (without your consent or knowledge), or the “Plagued Smile” trait, which grants any villagers with this trait a happiness bonus for each contaminated person in your village. What can we say? Some people just want to watch the world rot.
Stats Related
Stats related traits are most similar to Work related traits, but revolve around stats instead of skills. For example, there are the “Hale” and “Fragile” traits, which either increase or decrease a Villager’s health by 15% each, making them particularly effective (or ineffective) guards.
Event Related
Event related traits represent a Villager’s reaction to something that has recently happened. For example, a “Scared Villager” will not help fight invaders during raids, preferring instead to find a place to hide. While that is obviously not great, it is in no way as bad as the “Turncoat” trait, which adds a chance at every raid for that Villager to change sides and join the invaders, not only costing you one villager, but also adding an additional enemy you must defeat.
Habit Related
Finally, Habit related traits are among the team’s favorites, as well as some of the most unique ones in the game. For this reason, we will only reveal one such trait for now, as we really want players to experience these for themselves when the game comes out. That said, we believe this one trait is not only self-explanatory, but will also provide a good idea of what to expect from this category, and that is the “Cannibal” trait.
Quests and Dialogue
Obviously, some of these traits are not going to be revealed to you as soon as you meet a character. Some must be discovered by earning that person’s trust and learning about their past, while others will only be revealed after their effect takes place. A “Turncoat” won’t tell you they might betray you, no matter how much they trust you, and neither will a “Cannibal” say that they crave human flesh, at least not until you have already learned about that side of them.
Still, there are signs to look out for. While some are more secretive than others, we have crafted dozens of Villager quests and requests, as well as hundreds of dialogue lines for the residents of your village. Among those, some are unique to villagers that possess certain traits. That means that a quest’s description, an ambient line, or even a character’s answer to a simple “How are you doing”, might very well be a clue to a hidden trait, which you can use to preventively banish a character (though other villagers won’t approve of you doing that without a cause) or to stop a crime from happening in the first place.
The topic of Villagers is just too big for a single diary, and we hope you’re excited to recruit (or kill) as many of them as you can. And, of course, there is still more for us to discuss, such as crimes, quests, buildings, security, ordinances, and much more. If you don’t want to miss any of these, be sure to subscribe to the upcoming closed alpha, to join our discord server, and to wishlist the game on STEAM!