Orphanages¶

The Codex War ended long ago, but Britannia never truly recovered from a quarter century of it. The towns rebuilt stone by stone are still short of work, coin and bread, and too many families can't feed every mouth at their table. Children are left on orphanage doorsteps with a note and a name, and the matrons who take them in make do on gruel, patched cloaks and borrowed firewood.

Orphanages stand in Britain, Moonglow, New Minoc, Ocllo and Paws. Their children wander the streets nearby, and they will tell you exactly how they're doing.

How the children are doing¶

Every orphanage runs on what people give it. The money is spent a little at a time on food, firewood, mending and schooling, and when it runs out the children go without.

Single-click a town's Matron or its ledger to see how many days of care are left.

Mood	Days of care	What you'll see
Desperate	under 1	A crowd of thin, cold children with a lot to say about it
Struggling	1 to 3	Fewer children, a slice of bread each, the furniture going on the fire
Content	3 to 7	Stew with real meat bits in, matching socks
Thriving	7 or more	Only a few children left, and those are having pie for no reason

As an orphanage does better, children are apprenticed out to the town's tradesmen, so its crowd shrinks
When the money runs low, foundlings turn up on the doorstep again
When money runs low, the children go out begging where the coin is, near the town's bank
A thriving orphanage's children go out to play around town

Giving¶

Find the Matron at the orphanage.

Drop gold or a bank check on her
Or double-click her to give straight from your bank box
An orphanage can only hold about two weeks of care at a time. Anything given past that is spent on a treat for the children, such as pony rides or honey cakes, and still counts as your gift

Give generously and the children will remember you: for a week after a good gift, they'll cheer you by name when you pass.

Tip

Gifts are counted for the person, not the character, so whichever of your characters gives, it all adds up together.

The ledger¶

The orphanage ledger shows where the gold went:

the children's mood, the days of care left and how many children are in the house
today's spending on food, firewood, clothing, schooling and luxuries, with the latest purchases
today's supper menu
the most recent gifts
who was apprenticed, which foundlings arrived, and what the children found

The patrons' board¶

Each orphanage keeps a board of its patrons for the season. It never shows amounts, only names.

Greatest Patrons of the Season: the top three givers
Friends of the Orphanage: everyone who gave 250,000 gold or more this season
The Kitchen: the season's best cook
Last season: the three who topped the board before, and how well the town did

Supper¶

Each orphanage posts a supper menu every day: three dishes, sized to how many children there are. Find it in the ledger.

Hand the Matron home-cooked food that's on the menu. She can tell shop-bought food
You can help with one dish per orphanage per day, so the rest is left for other cooks
Supper adds days of care, and the children will tell everyone who cooked it
If the menu is full, the Matron will point you to an orphanage that needs it more

Finds¶

Well-fed children have the energy to go poking around town, and now and then one of them turns up something for their favorite patron. While an orphanage is Content or better, your gifts have a small chance of a child running up to you with a find:

buttons, river stones, a robin's nest
toys, a bottle with a note inside
something rarer

Each find is marked with the child who found it, their town and the date. There are a dozen kinds to collect.

The children talk among themselves, so they'll try to bring you something you don't have yet. And a patron who keeps giving will never be forgotten for long.

Town standings¶

Type [orphans to see how every orphanage is doing this month, ranked by how much of the month its children spent Content or better.

Every orphanage that keeps its children well cared for 75% of the month earns a Best-Kept banner for the next month
The town that did best is proclaimed across the land
Standings are measured all month long, so a big gift on the last day won't buy the top spot

Achievements¶

Orphanages have their own achievement category:

Achievement	Goal	Title
Alms for the Orphans	Give 50,000 up to 15,000,000 gold	Orphans' Patron
Supper's Ready	Deliver 25 up to 2,000 supper dishes you cooked yourself	Supper Saint
Every Doorstep	Give 100,000 gold in a season to 2, 3 and then all 5 orphanages	Foundlings' Friend
Treasured	Receive 1, 3 and then 10 finds from the children	Keeper of Keepsakes
The Rescue	Lift a Desperate orphanage to Content or better with one gift
Engraved	Finish a season among an orphanage's three greatest patrons
Full Pockets	Receive every kind of find

A few more are hidden. The children will let you know when you've earned one.