Grand Cities (Patreon)

Let’s talk about GRAND CITIES.

What is a Grand City? Well basically, we missed the Great Works from CK2 so much that we turned an entire city into one.

Some locations in the World of Darkness are very important to both the mortal and the supernatural world. Yet we don’t have a good way to portray this unique flavor, since in CK3, all holdings are the same. All castles are the same and all cities are the same. And we can’t really get around that, unless we were to create an entirely new holding type from scratch.

So we did just that.

Rome is our first Grand City, and we hope to add more in future updates. Being the ruler of such a prestigious location should feel exciting and unique, and so each Grand City will have hand-tailored mechanics attached to it. They take a lot investment, yet offer a big pay-off.

There are 3 different versions of Rome, depending on the type of character who holds the city. Well… technically Werewolves have a fourth version, but it’s basically “ignore the city and go frolicking in the woods instead”. Everyone else can occupy the Grand City, and get unique mechanics in return:

Roma Aeterna (Rome for Vampires)

A Vampire who holds Rome will be able to build up its 13 historical districts, each of which is assigned to a specific Clan.

If you want to upgrade the buildings beyond tier 1, you will need to employ a Primogen of the respective Clan. Higher upgrades require higher-skilled Primogen. This could be more or less difficult, depending on the Clan. At tier 3, the districts will unlock new abilities for their owner.

This is a common theme with Grand Cities. Upgrading them is more difficult, but there’s always something exciting in store for those who do.

Note that you can only build a district if your Clan has access to the Primogen position in the first place. So only Setites can build the Setite district, for instance. We made sure that those “minority” Clans get some especially strong abilities in return, considering they’d have to wrest control of Rome from Camilla first. (I’m quite a fan of the Ravnos and the Banu Haqim districts, myself.)

St. Peter’s City (Rome for the Shadow Inquisition)

Inquisitors will notice that they have a new objective pointing them in the direction of Rome.

Beating Camilla as a Hunter is a tall order, but if you manage to do it and take Rome for yourself, you can create a new headquarters for the Inquisition in the monastery of San Michele.

Upgrading its buildings to the maximum tier will require you to help the other Inquisition Orders. These are late-game objectives, and the buildings will appropriately unlock powerful abilities.

Eternal Rome (Rome for everyone else)

Other supernaturals might not have such an intimate history with Rome, but they can still make use of its historical landmarks.

What would you do if you could restore the Colosseum to its former glory?

I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest.