Seasons and Leagues
A Season is one full round of the game, and how it's judged isn't quite as simple as "whoever ends up biggest."
Exact numbers below (weights, thresholds) are still being tuned, so this page describes the shape of the system rather than promising exact figures.
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How a Season runs
A Season lasts 28 days, about four weeks, and every world starts on a fixed date. Joining stays open for the first part of the Season, so you're not shut out just for arriving a few days late. Late joiners get a starting bundle scaled up to fit in, and go through the same Fosterage as everyone else.
Hostile actions lock in the last couple of days of the Season, a quiet stretch for final trades before the Moot. When the Season ends, the whole world resets: your jarldom, your gold, your ships, and your Renown all go back to the start. What carries over is your profile, your Season history, and a short record of your best moments.
Leagues
Not everyone plays in the same pool. Jarls are grouped into Leagues, so a brand-new jarl isn't thrown in against people who've played for seasons.
| League | Who plays there |
|---|---|
| Shallows | New players, for their first couple of seasons. A gentler Fosterage and slower Outlaw Crews. |
| Reef | The standard League, and where most jarls play. |
| Open Sea | Stronger players and Felag teams, playing the full rules with nothing softened. |
| Deep Water | Top players, by invitation, sometimes with experimental rules. |
Your League isn't fixed forever. You move up or down between seasons based on how you finished, so a strong season really does mean tougher competition next time.
How the winner is really decided
It's easy to assume the biggest jarldom at the end just wins, but that's only part of it. Your final standing is actually a mix of a few different things.
| What counts | Roughly how much it matters |
|---|---|
| How big your jarldom is at the end | The largest single share, but not the whole score |
| Daily awards for being the best at something | A real chunk, won a little at a time throughout the Season |
| Winning fights against jarls your own size | A smaller share, capped so it can't be farmed |
| Successfully defending yourself or helping an ally | A smaller share, also capped |
Two things worth knowing here. Getting attacked never scores you down by itself, only the categories above move your score. And breaking an Oath costs you Renown, not Season Score, so a jarl who's burned their reputation can still be sitting at the top of the standings. They'll just be known for it.
You won't know exactly where you stand for most of the Season. Real numbers only show near the very end, so nobody can pile onto whoever looks like they're winning too early.
The Moot and the High Seat
A Season ends with a gathering called the Moot, where the Harbor Authority totals every jarl's Season and names a winner. The winner sits in the High Seat, the king's empty chair, until the next Moot.
It's an honor, not a power. No extra gold, no extra soldiers, no edge in a fight. That's the whole point of it: a title everyone can see, and nothing more. The chair itself is exactly what it's always been, a piece of empty, carved wood, waiting for someone to earn the right to sit in it again.