A City’s Beating Heart

Greetings, O Ironlords!

“Stick to thy last”, says a proverb. Since the dawn of mankind, our society has marched in lockstep with the order that governed it. That rings true for every era and age, even if history would lead one to think otherwise. Once a leader takes their throne, the rest of the flock falls in line.

A civilization teetering on the precipice of survival needs a leader who is ironclad, to keep it from going over the edge. In IRONHIVE, you are this leader, and must lead your people to overcome the trials of this world, or die trying.

A Clockwork Empire

Your city employs four main classes, or castes. There are thus four population card types, each representing a caste. Each caste has its own resources and buildings associated with them. By populating your buildings with certain caste members, you will generate specific resources and upgrade your city, among other things. Each caste will also play its own role during expeditions, key events, and confrontations with external threats. So what are these castes and what do they represent?

The Hive

One ant is easily squashed, but a thousand ants can create marvels of engineering and teamwork. Also known as the Multitude, these are people who survived the harshest winds and braved the dryest wastelands for eons to get where they are. The Hive is not just “the hoi polloi”, but a thousand strong, a backbone upon which rests everything else. This deep-rooted connection to the city’s legacy gives the Hive a sense of ever-burning pride.

Their color — green — represents growth, for they are the force that keeps the city running and expanding.

When someone goes missing outside of an Ironhive, members of the Hive caste gather at dusk and strike resonant pieces of scrap metal, often held as good luck charms. This creates a wave of somber, mechanical noises meant to guide the lost back to the Ironhive, be them survivors or their souls. It is believed that the sound gives strength and courage to those in danger or helps restless spirits return to the White Flame and find peace.

Of the four main city resources, the one associated with the Hive caste is Workforce. Workforce represents the ability of your citizens to perform their tasks, the city’s spirit and energy, and the will to survive. As they are assigned to their posts, they perform all kinds of physical labor and intellectual work, ensuring that the city keeps running no matter what.

Production

If The Hive is the oil of the whole operation, then the Production caste are the gears whose motion brings society forward. The Production are composed of builders and producers, often descendants of carpenters and metalworkers. Strong in arm and mind, they had to adapt to the ever-changing times: the hammer gave way to wrench while the gloves gave way to gauntlets. Ready for the coming age, The Production caste rose from builders to logistical powerhouses, ensuring work never, ever stops.

Their color — orange — represents the fires of invention, for they are the forge that births progress.

The Production caste has periodic gatherings, held at the largest workshops within the Ironhive, that they view as a time for growth, competition, and camaraderie, where ideas spark new creations, and innovations are shared to strengthen the Ironhive. There, inventors and engineers d isplay, evaluate and discuss their latest designs, prototypes, or mechanical concepts. Participants may bring an offering in the