I dove into the world of the Guild 3 a month or so ago — you can read my first impressions of the game behind this link — and I enjoyed it enough to actually start up a proper game and get my dynasty sorted.
For those who may not be familiar with The Guild series: it's basically a medieval economy simulator where you begin a character, marry them off, produce heirs, and have your entire family contributing towards your family business to become the richest, wealthiest people of the land and perhaps even become King!
There are other dynasties too, who will become friend or foe. You can bribe, blackmail, kidnap, murder your enemies and hope that you don't get your just desserts, or you can be honourable and follow a righteous path. Either way, the end goal is the same — eliminate your competitors and become top dog.
In the Guild 2, I liked starting in the city of Cologne and trading with nearby townships... so when I saw Cologne available here, obviously I leapt at the chance to return to my favourite area.
I set the difficulty to Normal, made it so three years passed per round, made it a Free Game which basically means I can play however I want with no main objective to "win", and I started at the lowest rung of society — a peasant who wasn't even a proper citizen yet. I'm working my way up from the very, very bottom!
Meet Alexander Kael. He's a fine young man with grand ambitions of owning his own land, farming at first for coin and then for his own produce as he endeavours to create a great Baked Goods empire!
He's going to have to produce his own wheat, build a windmill to grind it all into flour, gather fruits and honeys from orchards, look after animals to utilise their delicious fats, and create the best damned baked delicacies in all the land.
Eager to get started, he built his farm as close to the local markets as he could. It would only be a short distance for buying and selling, and for retrieving water from the well.
His house wasn't as close as he would like it to be, being that he would like to keep an eye on his farm at all times, but alas, he was a beggar and could not be a chooser.
He hired a couple of towns-people to help with the farm, a plump couple whom he hoped wouldn't eat the crops raw in his absence, and then hurried home to prepare himself...
...he needed to find a woman. Hopefully a good woman, but honestly, any woman would do as long as she was of child-bearing age. He had absolutely no interest in marrying for love, but for the future of his family.
After stalking all of the women in Cologne, he determined who was single and who was not. Unfortunately most single women were in their 30s and 40s and would be unlikely to bear him a child.
There were only two women of a reasonable age and one was a squire's daughter. He had no chance. He would have to settle for Fat Gunda. She accepted his advances likely because no one else had made any, then accepted his gift of flowers and some sweet, meaningless words.
He followed her around town and courted her whenever he was able, until finally she accepted his offer of marriage.
When he asked for her hand in marriage, there just so happened to be a church located behind them so they didn't have to go far to cement their engagement and their marriage.
With that done and dusted, he dragged her to his ramshackle cottage on the city outskirts and they got to work in the bedroom, consummating the marriage and creating new life.
When they were finished in the bedroom, Gunda rifled through her pockets and found some daggers created from her previous life. Now firmly committed to the Kael name, she hurried off to market to sell those daggers.
And with the proceeds of the sale they had enough coin to convince the city officials to allow them to become Commoners of the city.
With that title they were allowed to own another business and begin the slow act of sucking up to other notable families and hopefully forming friendships with them and not rivalries.
While they waited for their firstborn child to arrive, Alexander and Gunda got to work drawing water from the well so that the farm-hands he had hired didn't have to do anything else. The hires could focus on growing crops and never leaving the farmstead. Ever.
Gunda worked on drawing water and delivering it to the farm with the utmost gusto, bore Alexander a daughter named Helga, then they ran back to the bedroom to create another child, jussstttt in case little Helga didn't make it.
You could never be too careful during these dark ages. What, with the plague and illnesses all 'round, not to mention the constant threat of war and brigands. They would definitely need more than one child to secure the Kael name.
The next morning, possibly offended by the thought of more Kael children running around, the head of the Hullinger family denounced Gunda.
Alexander, offended by the besmirching of the Kael name, returned the denouncement. The Hullingers had made an enemy this day.
Not one to dwell on the actions of his neighbours, Alexander instructed Gunda to have a mill built close to the farm so they could mill the grain they grew into a fine flour.
They couldn't afford new employees just yet so they would have to work the mill themselves, but it was worth it. It would all be worth it. The Bakeries of Kael would soon encompass all of Cologne! Maybe not in his lifetime, but surely his daughter's. He would see to it.
One day, while working the mill, out popped another baby. And so they welcomed Isolde into the world. Judging by the day of her birth and the time she emerged from the womb, she would be quite the Dealmaker when she grew up...
Alexander contemplated making Isolde the heir to the Kael dynasty, since it was likely she would have a great knack in the future, but was concerned that she may not be agile enough to deter possible future attackers. He didn't want a weakling to be his heir.
It was a difficult choice, and he would make it later. For now, he and Gunda had more flour to grind.
Until next time! 😊🌾🌿