Okay, so apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the governors ever done for us?

Actually, even if you couldn’t care less about the whole election process and exactly whose posterior is filling the seats in the King’s Council, there are three important services that governors can provide to the citizens of Britannia:

Titles – All governors are able to bestow a title upon loyal citizens in the form “title of city”, just like the fixed “Governor of city” that the governors themselves have. The customizable part can be up to twenty characters long. This title is in addition to the normal subtitle you may have on display and appears directly under your name. Of course, it is up to individual governors to decide what titles they are prepared to hand out and to whom, but generally they seem prepared to give people whatever they want, within reason.

To grant a title, the governor will have to meet you at the town stone. Should you no longer wish to display a title granted by a governor, you can go back to the town stone and remove it, and all titles will be automatically removed at the end of each term of office.

Trade Deals – Each city governor is able to set a trade deal in place which gives a buff to all citizens of respected rank or higher. There are a number of trade deals a governor can choose from, but the three most popular seem to be Bardic Collegium (+1 faster casting), Guild of Assassins (+5 SSI) and Guild of Arcane Arts (+5 SDI). To actually benefit from any deal in place, you will have to visit the town stone and activate it. The effect lasts for twenty-fours at which time you will have to return to the stone to re-enable it, assuming the city still has that deal running. The trade deal effect will not go over the normal cap for the given modifier.

Please keep in mind that trade deals cost a city two million gold per week to maintain, a not insubstantial amount of money and something which the governor would have to find out of his own pocket if there is any shortfall in town funds. Therefore, if you are making regular use of a trade deal and wish to see it continue, you should seriously think of making a donation to the town treasury by dropping gold or checks onto the herald at the bank. The punitive taxes on town coffers that were in effect last term have been abolished, so you can be sure that all your hard-earned lucre is now going towards financing deals rather than Lord Blackthorn’s private art collection.

If your town is not running the deal that you want (or one at all), then you might want to consider contacting the governor to request a change. You can either look for him in-game, send him a pigeon, or leave a message on the town noticeboard at the bank. Another possibility, particularly if you have no great affinity with any particular town, is to switch your loyalty to a town that is running the deal that suits you. To do this, you need to resign your citizenship from the loyalty rating menus and then wait one week before declaring in a different town.

If you do not have the required status to be able to utilize a trade deal, the fastest way to get there is donating items to the trade minister at the docks by dropping them into the chest next to him. Four thousand boards and/or ingots will take you from zero loyalty to respected.

Town Improvements – Governors are able to petition the King for changes within the town area. Such alterations vary from simply adding new services, such as bankers or stable masters, to cosmetic ones such as naming roads and buildings. The nature of the governmental bureaucracy means that these proposals have so far taken a long time to be brought to fruition, possibly depending upon how elaborate the requested modifications are. But the sooner you get the ball rolling, the better. So if there are any changes you would like to see in your home town, then contact your governor without delay.

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