# Keeps

Near the beginning of **Echoes of Valor’s** story mode, the player has the opportunity to acquire an abandoned plot of land. The land can be obtained by purchase or through completing a difficult and lengthy questline.

Upon acquisition, players can spend $GEV to repair and upgrade their **Keep**. By improving their Keep, players accumulate **STATUS**, open up new questlines, and receive unique perks depending on which upgrades they build. To build an upgrade, players must stake a specified amount of $GEV; when unstaked, the upgrades and their benefits are lost.

In addition to the benefits tied to specific upgrades, Keeps earn $GEV passively, which scales relative to the Keep's STATUS level.

Allied characters not in the player’s active party will stay at their Keep.

## Upgrades

**Kitchen**: Players who build a kitchen gain access to various cooking-related tools, ingredients, and recipes. Players can also hire a chef to work in their kitchen to passively earn food consumables.

**Treasury**: A treasury will act as a “bank” to store excess inventory items, as well as display some of the larger spoils that the player has acquired during the story mode.

**Hall of Justice**: In conjunction with a Judge’s License, players who build a Justice Hall in their keep are given the right to adjudicate disputes between Newacre residents. This provides additional narrative content, as well as new opportunities for the player to exert their influence on the game world.

**Library**: Upon hiring a librarian, a library will passively generate skillbooks, quest-initiating books, talent books, and magic scrolls.

**Merchant stall**: A merchant stall provides Keep owners with convenient access to a merchant who trades in general goods.

**Garden**: Players who purchase a garden will passively earn vegetable consumables and ingredients. In addition, players can plant seeds in their garden that they acquire in the open world.

**Piano**: Adding a piano to your Keep will allow you to select the theme that plays in the Keep.

**Stables**: Once they have built stables on their land, players with stables can acquire livestock which passively earn various crafting and cooking ingredients.

**Alchemy lab**: An alchemy lab gives the player access to an alchemist, who will passively generate alchemy ingredients, potions, and recipes.

**Blacksmith’s table**: By building a blacksmith table in their Keep, players are afforded convenient access to blacksmithing tools and can hire a blacksmith.

**Barracks**: Barracks provide the player with the ability to hire characters to help defend their Keep.

**Walls**: Different levels of outside walls provide Keeps with increased levels of defenses against attacks.

**Dungeon**: Building a subterranean dungeon below your Keep allows you to imprison certain characters that you meet throughout the story mode and open world. Imprisoning a character rather than killing them can initiate new questlines, provide additional leverage to the player in their interactions with certain NPCs, or invite substantial ransom payments.

**Shrine**: Once built, players can interact with shrines to gain various buffs, which will depend on the type of shrine they choose to build.

**Training grounds**: Training grounds cause inactive party members staying at a player’s keep to gain XP passively so as to not fall behind active party members in level.

**Status upgrades**: A number of upgrades do not provide any utility beyond STATUS accumulation, such as decorations, furniture, paintings, chandeliers, beds, statues, and floor tiles.

## STATUS System

STATUS represents the overall strength of a player’s Keep.

In-game events are triggered at set intervals as a Keep’s STATUS increases, including:

* Tributes offered by nearby lords, merchants, and religious figures.
* Invitations to business endeavours.
* Attacks from rival lords.
* Offers for marriage and alliance.
* Large scale battles with opposing houses, depending on decisions made by the player.

The player's success or failure in these events can further decrease or increase their Keep's STATUS level.

SC (off-chain currency) and $GEV is earned passively at a rate determined by the Keep's STATUS level.
