Gnomads
Gnomads arrive on the edge of the map during the morning of the first day of each season, usually a few hours after sunrise. The number of gnomads that arrive is based on your kingdom's Total Worth, although the worth of your Great Hall is doubled for these purposes. You can increase your Great Hall's worth by replacing walls and floors with more expensive materials, filling the room with birch tables and chairs, and placing decorative items like statues.
For details on the Kingdom Total Worth needed to attract new gnomads, refer to Population. The default profession of newly arrived gnomads is set to "Gnomad". This is a custom profession, meaning that each gnomad is assigned different tasks depending on what skills they possess.
Robobob has indicated that the ability to set population limits (preventing the arrival of gnomads) may be implemented at some time through leadership positions. This change would be part of a kingdom's "second stage" and will not be worked upon until the current experience is more mature.[1]
Ambassadors
Ambassadors are representatives sent by nearby gnomish kingdoms that have been discovered by yours. One kingdom (a Merchant City-State) is already discovered at the beginning and additional kingdoms are discovered as your kingdom's Total Worth reaches certain milestones. The type of these additional kingdoms is decided randomly.
To host an ambassador go to your Diplomacy tab under Kingdom at the top of your screen. Choose any of the kingdoms available and you will be presented with a screen allowing you to host their ambassador. Invited ambassadors will travel to your kingdom and arrive based on the distance between your kingdoms. They will wait to appear if conditions in your kingdom are unsafe when they are supposed to arrive and return if they cannot find a way into your kingdom.
Ambassadors require their own personal quarters and will consume available food and drink. They also have a specific room value that must be met to retain them. At the beginning this is 450 and increases to 600, 750, and 1000 as your Total Worth reaches certain milestones. The game will inform you if any requirements are unmet and you will have a few days to rectify the issue before they leave. Retaining a kingdom's ambassador is vital if you intend to receive regular merchants from them every season, but they otherwise provide no other benefit.
Merchants
Merchants begin trading with your kingdom once you have hosted an Ambassador from any kingdom. They will take time based on the distance of your kingdom from theirs to arrive, and can come in any season. They will wait to arrive if there are enemies present and will return if they cannot find a way into your kingdom. In order to actually conduct trade with them you will need a Market Stall.
Merchants will consume food and drink as well as sleep in any available beds while they remain in your colony. They usually remain for around three days before leaving your kingdom. The goods offered and their prices depends on the origin of the merchant:
- Merchant City-State: Their merchants offer standard prices and the widest variety of all the kingdom types, but usually in smaller amounts.
- Agricultural Settlement: Their merchants sell only cotton, wool, fruit, grain, wine and farm animals.
- Mining Colony: Their merchants sell only stone, dirt, clay, coal and metal ores. They will pay more for drinks, fruit, bandages and pickaxes.
- Lumber Camp: Their merchants sell only logs as well as saplings for each of the trees. They pay more for nearly the same items as Mining Colony merchants.
Discovering specialized communities can thus be profitable by buying their goods at a discount (and in larger quantities, which can be useful) and accumulating additional trade value when offering goods they desire. They will however pay less for anything you offer that is similar to what they trade in.
The sale of different metal ores by City-States and Mining Colonies is dependent on your kingdom's Total Worth; as you increase in Worth you will eventually be able to purchase Iron, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Higher Total Worth also affects the the cost of purchasing a merchant's goods; the first time your Worth is high enough the prices demanded doubles.
You can send your own merchants to other kingdoms as well; this is done through the Diplomacy tab. Choose a kingdom that has an Ambassador hosted by yours and click the "Send Merchant" button. This brings up the trade screen where you can specify the goods to be traded and the gnome to be sent to conduct the trade. The selected gnome's travel time is similar to the time taken by arriving merchants from that kingdom.
Invaders
Invaders are attracted to your kingdom based on Total Worth. They spawn at the edges of the map on the surface.
Goblins
Goblins first appear sometime in the summer of Year 1, and are initially unarmed and unarmored. As your kingdom's Total Worth increases, they gradually sport weapons and armor with increasing quality; with regards the latter they will slowly cover more of their bodies with armor pieces, making them less vulnerable.
If they can't find a way into your base (because you are walled in, for example), they will eventually leave the map. If the Goblin Raiders that accompany them leave empty-handed as well, they will bring Goblin Tunnelers during the next raid in order to create a tunnel into your base.
Ogres
Mants
Mants are invaders like Goblins. However, they are attracted by food instead of net worth. They initially send a scout. If you don't kill the scout, you'll be invaded by a number of Mants representing your food stocks. Their skin is armoured.
Monsters
Golems
Golems can spawn anywhere it is dark in level -7 and below. It is therefore good strategy to put torches wherever you can, to prevent golems from spawning, and to wall off older mines. Note that the number of golems attracted will be the same, no matter how many dark tiles there are. The first Golems will be spawned at the beginning of the first summer, meaning you have all of spring to prepare for their arrival.
Skeletons
Classic Skeletons. They can wear armour. They do not bleed and their equipment will be based on the level of depth encountered. Expect copper-clad skeletons with two-handed weapons from level -8 to around -25; below that they will typically wear bronze and start to dual-wield weapons.
Beetles
On their own, beetles are fairly easy. If left alone they will breed, by making cocoons in a cave. They can be very dangerous in groups.
Zombies
Classic Zombies. They bleed, and may bite, spreading an infection that turns your gnomes into Zombies when they die.
Spiders
Seasons
The seasons in the game are spring, summer, fall and winter. Each of the 4 seasons is 12 days long.