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Estates

HIGH MORTAL ESTATES An estate is a permanent home owned and built by one level-20 high mortal. You begin with a plot of land and develop it with ordinary crafting mate…

Hm 10 KB Updated 8 Aug 2026
HIGH MORTAL ESTATES
===================

An estate is a permanent home owned and built by one level-20 high mortal.
You begin with a plot of land and develop it with ordinary crafting materials
into a described, multi-room house with magical doors and shareable keys.

An estate cannot currently be sold, transferred or abandoned, and each high
mortal may own only one. Choose the location carefully.

BUYING AN ESTATE
----------------

Estate plots are advertised from existing exterior rooms. A sign identifies
land offered in a particular direction. Stand beside the sign and use:

  estate value <direction>
  estate buy <direction>

Valuation shows the base price and your current price. Bargaining can reduce
the price by up to 50 percent. You must be level 20, carry the money on your
person, and not already own an estate.

After purchase, the plot becomes a permanent room linked to the sale location.
The construction and descriptions that follow belong to the estate owner.
Estate rooms are indoors by default: their walls and roof protect them from
outside weather and day/night light. Exterior estate spaces may be introduced
later through a separate estate command.

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
---------------------

Stand inside your estate and type:

  estate build

This is the main construction guide. It shows the completed shell, number of
rooms, highest floor, basement state, exact available costs, and any active
project with its remaining materials.

Start one project, then contribute carried crafting materials to it:

  estate build <project>
  estate build contribute
  estate build contribute <material>
  estate build contribute <material> <amount>

The first contribution form adds every currently needed material you carry.
The others restrict the contribution to one material and optionally an amount.
Contributions and progress persist through logout and daemon reloads.

Only one project may be active at a time. An entirely unfunded project can be
cancelled with `estate build cancel`; once any material has been contributed,
the project must be finished.

THE HOUSE SHELL
---------------

The first four stages must be completed in order:

  estate build foundations
    stone block x20, steel ingot x4

  estate build walls
    stone block x28, seasoned wood x12, cord x8

  estate build roof
    seasoned wood x18, cord x10, copper fittings x4

  estate build front door
    seasoned wood x8, copper fittings x4, steel ingot x2

The complete shell therefore uses stone block x48, seasoned wood x38,
cord x18, copper fittings x8 and steel ingot x6.

Completing the front door finishes a secure, single-room house. The owner has
keyless master access to this magical door and may lock or unlock it without a
key. The new door begins closed and unlocked.

DESCRIBING ROOMS
-----------------

After the shell is complete, the owner can give every completed estate room
its own title and description:

  estate describe short <text>
  estate describe long <text>
  estate describe long

The short description is the room title and is limited to 80 characters. The
long description is limited to 2,000 characters. Using `estate describe long`
without text opens a multiline editor: enter a full stop (`.`) alone to save,
or `~q` to cancel.

ADDING HORIZONTAL ROOMS
-----------------------

From any completed room, build into a free planar direction:

  estate build room <direction>

Directions may be north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west
or northwest. The first added room costs:

  stone block x8, seasoned wood x8, cord x4

Each later horizontal room costs 1.6 times the previous expansion tier,
rounded up by material. There is no simple room-count limit, but the rising
cost makes very large estates increasingly ambitious.

The new room and reciprocal exit are created together. Construction is refused
before materials are taken if the direction already has an exit or the target
estate coordinate is occupied.

UPWARD FLOORS
-------------

Build upward from a room on the estate's current highest floor:

  estate build stairs up

The first upper landing costs:

  stone block x12, seasoned wood x14, steel ingot x4, cord x4

Floors must be added sequentially. Each new upward level doubles the preceding
level's cost, so floor two costs twice the first landing, floor three costs
four times the first, and so on. Stairs always create reciprocal up/down exits.
There is no ordinary design ceiling; eventually the exponential material cost
or safe numeric limit becomes prohibitive.

THE BASEMENT
------------

Every estate may have exactly one basement. It is built downward from the
original entrance room only:

  estate build basement
  estate build staircase down

Cost:

  stone block x24, seasoned wood x10, steel ingot x6

The basement is one room and receives a reciprocal staircase back up. Further
downward levels are not available.

MAGICAL DOORS
-------------

The front door protects the entrance. A completed horizontal link between two
estate rooms can also be fitted with an interior privacy door:

  estate build interior door <direction>

Cost:

  seasoned wood x6, copper fittings x2, steel ingot x1

An interior door governs both directions of that link. Estate doors are
magical, cannot be picked, and do not require the owner to carry a key.

They use the normal door commands from either side:

  open <door>
  close <door>
  lock <door>
  unlock <door>

A door must be closed before it can be locked, and must be unlocked before it
can be opened. Its open and locked state is shared by both rooms and survives
room and estate-daemon reloads.

From either side of a door, the owner can use:

  estate lock <front|door|direction>
  estate unlock <front|door|direction>

If the room has only one door, bare `estate lock` and `estate unlock` select
it. These estate commands are owner conveniences; the normal door commands
work for owners and keyholders from either side.

KEYS AND FRIEND ACCESS
----------------------

Create an additional key for a specific completed door from a room adjoining
that door:

  estate build key <front|door|direction>

Cost:

  copper fittings x1

Estate keys are persistent magical objects. They may be given to friends, who
can use a valid key to unlock and lock its matching door. A front-door key does
not operate an interior door, and different interior doors have different keys.
This allows an owner to share the house while keeping one room private.

If a key is lost, copied too widely or should no longer grant access, rekey the
specific door:

  estate build rekey <front|door|direction>

Cost:

  copper fittings x1, steel ingot x1

Rekeying invalidates every older key for that door immediately. New keys must
then be built for the people who should retain access. It does not affect keys
belonging to other estate doors.

ROOM LIGHTS
-----------

After the house shell is complete, the owner may install one permanent light
fixture in the current estate room:

  estate install
  estate install candle
  estate install lantern
  estate install magic light

The bare command shows the available lights, their costs and the current
fixture. Recipes are:

  candle
    full soulstone x1, cord x2
    contributes +1 room light

  lantern
    full soulstone x2, steel ingot x3
    contributes +2 room light

  magic light
    full soulstone x5, copper fittings x2
    adjusts its contribution to hold the room at light level 3

Only full ordinary Lucidity soulstones count; empty stones and unique quest
stones are not consumed. Installation is immediate and requires every listed
resource in direct inventory.

Each room has one light slot. A stronger fixture may replace a weaker one by
paying the full cost of the new fixture. Equal or weaker replacements are
refused. Installed lights are fixed parts of the room: they cannot be taken,
put away or extinguished, and return automatically after room reloads or
resets.

MATERIALS AND CRAFTING
----------------------

Estate construction consumes the same processed materials used by ordinary
crafting:

  stone block
  steel ingot
  seasoned wood
  cord
  copper fittings

In `estate build contribute` commands, write multiword material identifiers
with underscores, such as `stone_block`, `seasoned_wood` and
`copper_fittings`.

Use `materials` to see what you carry. Gather and process raw resources through
the normal crafting system before contributing them. Estate projects consume
only the amount still required and do not accept irrelevant materials.

Use `help crafting`, `help gather`, `help process` and `help materials` for the
general resource loop.

QUICK EXAMPLE
-------------

  estate build foundations
  estate build contribute stone_block 10
  estate build contribute
  estate build

The first command starts the project. The second contributes up to ten carried
stone blocks. The third contributes any other needed materials you carry. The
last command reports whether the foundations are complete and what comes next.

IMPORTANT RULES
---------------

  * One permanent estate per high mortal.
  * Estate ownership cannot currently be transferred or sold.
  * Only the owner may build or describe the estate.
  * Only one construction project may be active.
  * Funded progress is permanent and cannot be cancelled for a refund.
  * One basement only; upward floors must be sequential.
  * Owners always have keyless access; friends need a valid key when locked.
  * Rekeying one door invalidates all older keys for that door.
  * Estate rooms are indoors by default.
  * Each room may hold one permanent light installation.

SEE ALSO
--------

  help high_mortal
  help multiclass
  help crafting
  help materials