# Roster

The minions you hire are persistent named characters, not fungible workers. This is one of the most important design choices — it's where the game gets its heart.

## Identity

- Named characters with portraits, traits, backstory blurbs.
- Roster cap of ~10–30 (raises with Guild Rank).
- Killable / loseable in the worst case (see expeditions).
- You grow attached. That's the point.

## Classes (working set)

- **Gatherer** — herbalist, miner, hunter, fisher subspecialties; biome-specific yield.
- **Soldier** — escorts gatherers into hostile zones; defends the guild hall in raid events.
- **Engineer** — operates workshops; subspecialties: smith, alchemist, weaver, jeweler, etc. Each unlocks/upgrades a station type.
- **Merchant** — boosts sale prices, unlocks distant markets, runs caravans.
- **Scholar / Cartographer** — generates recipe hints, scouts new zones, deciphers relics.
- **Beastmaster** — tames creatures from expeditions for unique materials and companion bonuses.

Subspecialties unlock at level milestones. Classes are fixed at hire; subspecs branch later.

## Traits

Rolled at hire. Modify outcomes across systems. Examples:
- Greedy (better loot rolls, occasional pocketing)
- Brave (resists fear/morale events, lower retreat chance)
- Lucky (chance to upgrade craft quality band when assisting)
- Devout (better at enchanting, immune to corruption)
- Ill-tempered (rivalry chance, refuses to team with certain trait combos)
- Drunk (random; may sleep through an event, may roll a critical, narratively rich)

Trait pool gets richer as you go. Some traits are gained or lost via expedition events.

## Paper-doll portraits

Layered sprite composition (no runtime AI):
- Base character art in a fixed pose/perspective.
- Gear pieces (helmets, chestpieces, weapons, cloaks, accessories) are transparent overlay sprites in the same pose.
- Engine composes them at runtime: `base + helmet + chest + weapon + ...`.
- Hire-time variety from layered face/hair/skin/costume sprites combined combinatorically — small library, lots of unique-looking applicants.

Trade-off: characters live in a fixed pose. Standard 2D RPG constraint, fine.

## Relationships (Nemesis-style texture)

Emerge from shared expeditions:
- **Bonds** — combat/teamwork bonuses for paired minions.
- **Rivalries** — extra negative event chance when forced together.
- **Mentorships** — XP transfer; senior minions train juniors.
- **Grudges** — refuse to team after a betrayal event.

Open question: how mechanically deep should this go? Could be flavor only, or could become a real meta-game.

## Hiring

- Daily refreshed applicant pool at the Guild Hall.
- Pool quality scales with Guild Rank reputation.
- Each applicant: portrait + name + class + traits + one-line backstory (all from authored pools, combinatorial).
- Hiring costs gold; firing costs a bit of reputation; resignations happen if morale tanks.