Players with a sufficient amount of loyalty to a city are able to nominate themselves for the post of ‘Governor’. Citizens of that town can endorse candidates, then vote in a general election to select a Governor. The Governor will have the ability to negotiate trade deals with NPC Guilds, grant titles to the citizens of the City, and attend council meetings with His Royal Highness King Blackthorn.
- Initially City Elections began on the first day of March, June, September, and December. From June 2014 this has been changed to a 6 monthly cycle.
- The Nomination period beings on the first day of the listed months and lasts for 1 real world week.
- Players wishing to nominate themselves can visit the City Stone located near the banks of each of the Loyalty Cities.
- In order to nominate oneself for the ballot a character must:
- Not be on an Endless Journey
- Not be a young player
- Hold citizenship to the City they wish to nominate themselves
- Be at least adored
- Only 1 character can be nominated per city per account
- At the time of nomination the stone will track how much love and hate a character has from the City.
- A nominated character must be endorsed within 24 hours of their nomination by another citizen of the city.
- Failing to receive an endorsement will require a character to re-nominate themselves.
- There is no limit to the number of times a player can nominate themselves.
- In order to offer an endorsement a character must:
- Not have already offered an endorsement with the same account in the same City
- Not currently be on an account that is nominated for the ballot
- Not be on a trial account
- Not be a young player
- Hold citizenship to the city they wish to offer an endorsement
- Players that have been successfully endorsed will be placed on the ballot for a 1 week voting period at the conclusion of the nomination period
- In order to vote in an election a character must:
- Not have already voted in that City’s election with the same account
- Not be on a trial account
- Not be a young player
- Have citizenship to the city they wish to vote
- At the conclusion of the 1 week voting period a winner will be chosen based on the character who has received the most votes
- In the event of a tie:
- The character with the most love recorded at the time of nomination will win the election
- If a further tie exists between those characters’ love values the character with the least amount of hate recorded at the time of nomination will win the election
- If a tie exists still at this point the King will choose a winner
- After winning the election a Governor-Elect must visit the City Stone to accept office. If a significant period of time passes before the Governor-Elect accepts office the King may opt to choose another Governor.
- Upon accepting the office a Governor may:
- Grant a title to a citizen by accessing the context menu on the City Stone
- Governors can only grant titles to the Citizen of their City
- Characters may remove their city title by accessing the City Stone and selecting ‘Remove City Title’
- Governors may remove City titles by leaving the title input form blank
- Titles do not persist through character transfer and will be removed if a character denounces citizenship
- Titles will expire at the conclusion of the Governor’s term in office
- Open a Trade Deal with an NPC guild
- Grant a title to a citizen by accessing the context menu on the City Stone
- Trade deals cost 2,000,000gp from funds obtained from the City Treasury.
- The City Treasury can be donated to using the context menu of the Herald near each City Stone
- The City Treasury is subject to a daily 5% reduction above 10,000gp to pay for general City Services.
- Trade deals can be changed once per real world week and persist indefinitely.
- Citizens may utilize the trade deal for 24 hours by visiting the City Stone and selecting ‘Utilize Trade Deal’ from the context menu.
A City Trade Deal Buff Icon appears when it is active: 
- Trade Deals Include:
- Guild of Arcane Arts: +5% Spell Damage Increase
- Society of Clothiers: +1% Resist bump to all resists
- Bardic Collegium: +1 Faster Casting
- Order of Engineers: +3 Dexterity Bonus
- Guild of Healers: 5% Bandage Healing Bonus
- Maritime Guild: +2 Hit Point Regeneration
- Merchant’s Association: +2 Mana Regeneration
- Mining Cooperative: +3 Strength Bonus
- League of Rangers: +3 Intelligence Bonus
- Guild of Assassins: +5% Swing Speed Increase
- Warrior’s Guild: +5% Hit Chance Increase
- Buffs will not go over cap
- Sit in the Governor designated seating at public Council Meetings at Castle Blackthorn
- See specific Shard Event Moderators for a schedule of when council meetings occur.
- Renouncing Citizenship, Character Transferring, or falling into a negative loyalty rating will cause an automatic removal of Governorship.
Pictures by Frarc of Drachenfels