Having a Home
You wake up one day in the wilderness with no stuff, no carrying capacity, and a limited ability to defend yourself. Around you are wild animals, possibly bandits, and odd little town-like clusters that haven't quite decided to be anywhere important. You could walk to the mountains or the sea. You can hunt for wildlife or search for faeries, but eventually you'll get tired. You'll look for a place to sleep and you can choose between the ground, a tree, or finding someone who owns a room with a bed in it.
AP Penalty
If you do choose to rough it, you won't sleep well. Your energy will be diminished the next day and your Action Points will regenerate more slowly. For as long as your character isn't living anyplace in particular, you will suffer from this AP regen penalty. Hanging out in the Wilderness, or even the streets of a settlement, can work for a little while but is not a great plan for gaining levels and ranks in the long run.
Living In a City
Other than the AP penalty, why not just live in the Wilderness forever? For one, the options are pretty limited. The actions you can do while in the wilderness, you can still do while living in a town. The home gives you a place to return to when the wilderness actions are through. Your Settlement provides you with a number of bonuses, based on what District your rented room is in, who's ruling and what local effects are active. Civic systems inherent to settlements all provide bonuses to their citizens. Certain Actions and Scenarios provide bonuses to all the residents of a settlement, as do bonuses provided by serving Ministers. The last reason to eventually leave the Wilderness is that it has little to offer higher level players. As your AP capacity and Importance demand grows, the tiny actions available in the Wilderness will begin to mean nothing, and eventually become unavailable. Players can always spend transition time in the Wilderness but overall gain little from refusing to choose a settled home.
Being Homeless
Once you have moved into a Settlement, it's pretty important that you find a room to rent. As an Exemplar (player character) the NPC populations pay attention to you. They consider all players to be their natural leaders and are disturbed to see one of these great figures living on the streets. Homeless players cost their Settlement a lot more Happiness, causing local unrest until they rent a room. There are several options for Player Housing, often in the Main building of a district owned by a Sovereign or Minister. However, it is possible for private citizens to buy land and build an Inn, Tavern or similar building to house Players. Owners of these buildings can charge Rent, but don't always.
Granary Player Room
Home Bonus
Every building that provides rooms for players also provides a small bonus to those that live within. For instance, the Colonnade increases resident Importance by a small % while the Tavern provides a Magic regen boost. Residents of the Lodge regenerate Action Points more quickly. Until a player takes up residents in a player room, they aren't receiving the full benefit of city living. NPC housing buildings that have been converted into Player housing don't offer any bonuses.
Character Bonuses
On top of the bonuses granted from choosing a home, Characters provide bonuses in return to their place of residence. Certain choices players made in character creation and abilities they will get while leveling up improve the districts and settlements they choose to take residence in. Every class gains a passive ability, raising a Happiness type of the NPCs around them and many of the Actions that benefit players also provide a local Happiness bonus and Scenarios triggered by players provide all sorts of rewards for their settlement and neighbors.
Pub Player Room
