[2023] Dev Diary #133 - Wet Nurses

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

Hello everyone! This is my first time writing a dev diary and I want to share with you almost everything I worked on for Wards and Wardens. Let’s set the stage first: you are a ruler and your seed is stronger than ever, flourishing with your many offspring. Children play and run around all over your court, but you have more pressing matters to attend to! Perhaps the mother of your children has become incapable, unable to provide milk for your infants. Who are you gonna call? Wet nurses, of course!

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Wet Nurse​ Historically, a Wet Nurse was a woman of the court charged with the care of infants in need of breastfeeding, for whatever reason there might be. However, the position evolved over time and, in some circles, the wet nurse became an integral part of the family. She might care for older children and become an influential advisor, or even a second mother. Strong bonds were created not only between wet nurse and child, but also between children that were nurtured by the same nurse. Such children were called suckling siblings and were treated on the same level as blood siblings.

[Decision to search for a suitable candidate for Wet Nurse Court Position]

In the game, the Wet Nurse is represented as a Court Position. A child ruler, a ruler with children or one holding children hostage can hire a suitable woman as a Wet Nurse. In return, she provides illness resistance to children of the court and will inform her employer about significant milestones in childhood development, like a wee one’s first spoken words or first fallen teeth.

[Example of childhood development event: first fallen teeth]

Who can become a Wet Nurse, you may ask? Any able woman that has no particular noble roots. In history, these were commoners from the court: widowed mothers or just those in need of another source of income.

[Wet Nurse Court Position tooltip]

[Wet Nurse aptitude tooltip]

Rites of Passage​ As part of our focus on children in this Event Pack, we pay some attention to the moment they become adults. Changing your societal status in such a way is a big deal even today, as seen in school graduations, specific birthdays and religious thresholds. Usually, this transition is signified by a ceremony or a ritual. I decided to look into tribal rites of passage and ended up with a decision, an amalgamation of different rituals from all over the world, with the most common or interesting rituals selected to represent the practice.

[Rites of Passage decision window]

Possible rites:

• Duel: using the existing duel combat system, the child has to fight against an adult from the same culture
  
• Scarification: a facial ravaging that may result in the Scarred trait
  
• Seclusion: using the travel system, the child ventures into the wild on their own and comes back wiser and more worldly
  
• Hair-shaving: similar to the halq in Islam, the child sacrifices their fair hair for adulthood
  
• Elemental Cleansing: a baptism by either water or fire

[Rites of Passage: fire cleansing ritual]

This decision is available for any landed tribal teenager or any landed tribal parent/warden of a teenager. So it is possible to welcome your feudal hostages into your tribe and make them go through the rites. Three of the rite types will be available, the selection determined by the ruler’s cultural ethos. Each has a different effect on a child's personality, their skills, and more.

[Rites of Passage setup event: choosing a ritual]

A Guardian’s Influence on their Ward’s Personality​ Have you ever felt that being a guardian offers little impact on the personality traits of your ward? Well, not anymore! The guardian now has access to an interaction which allows them to choose one of their own personality traits and try to push it onto the ward. The interaction is available for the player as well as an AI guardian, so choose them wisely! Otherwise, your sadistic, shy or paranoid guardian might just pass on their vile traits to your precious genius heir. This interaction is even available for wardens, letting them influence their child-age hostages.

[Example of a successful Influence Ward’s Personality interaction for the shy trait]

[Example of a failed Influence Ward’s Personality interaction for the callous trait]

The outcome is decided by the child, so the bulk of it is left to whatever RNG gods you believe in. However, the more alike the ward is to the guardian, the more likely the brainwashing is to succeed.

[Influence Ward’s Personality interaction window and acceptance tooltip]

All features mentioned above are part of the Event Pack “Wards & Wardens”. Next week will be the last DD before the release! In it, we will cover our new, beautiful art and animations.

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