Frequently Asked Questions

MINALIA is a blockchain-based territory strategy game built on the Mina Protocol. Players own land units across the world of Luminaea, earn resources, develop their territories, collaborate with other players on special buildings, and challenge each other in Pulse Duels.

The game is persistent — your land, buildings, and earnings exist on-chain and in our database whether you're logged in or not.

Connect your Auro Wallet to sign in. Your wallet address is your identity in MINALIA — no email or password needed. Once connected you'll see your owned units, resource balances, and any active collaborations.

Every player starts with 5,000,000 ARKIS — the primary in-game currency. OG players (early supporters) receive a larger starting allocation. Your ARKIS balance is used to purchase developments, contribute to collaborative buildings, and upgrade nexus structures.

Land units are tied to Minalien NFTs. Each Minalien NFT corresponds to a territory, and owning the NFT grants you control over units in that territory. Units can also change hands through future trading and marketplace mechanics.

A unit is a single hexagonal land tile in Luminaea. Each unit has a position within a territory, a value tier (Common → Legendary), and various attributes like whether it's coastal, isolated, or on a border. You can build one development on each unit you own.

There are 320 units total across 20 territories, with 16 units per territory.

Units are scored and tiered by several factors:

A territory is a cluster of 16 hexagonal units, identified by a code like LUM-01 through LUM-20. Each territory has a colour, a Minalien minister, and its own treasury. Territories that share borders with other territories can participate in Nexus Point collaborations.

There are five resource types:

ARKIS is your primary spending currency. Current uses:

• Building territory developments (typically 150–2,250 ARKIS depending on tier)
• Upgrading buildings from Standard up to Ultimate (Level 5) — costs scale to 50%, 80%, 120%, 200% of the original build cost
• Contributing to nexus collaborations (around 5,800–8,800 ARKIS per player for rare junctions, 13,300–20,000 for legendary)
• Buying units from other players (fixed price or accepted offer)
• Funding other players' upgrades through the architect stakes system in exchange for a yield share
• Paying weekly holding tax on units beyond your free first four
• Receiving wages from ministers who employ you (see Jobs & Employment)

Each completed development on a unit you own generates a daily yield, paid out automatically once a day at 00:00 UTC. The catalog records a 30-day yield figure for each building, and the daily payout is that number divided by 30, then multiplied by the building's level:

Of each daily payout, 5% is automatically routed to the territory treasury as a development levy. The rest is credited to your Money page balance.

If a development has an active architect stake, your share is split with the investor by the agreed yield-share percentage. The 5% treasury levy applies to the gross payout before that split.

Payouts also queue an on-chain ARKIS mint for any amount of 1 ARKIS or more — so over time your earnings appear in your real Mina wallet too.

A Pulse Duel is a head-to-head skill challenge where two players stake ARKIS on the same generated circuit. Both players play the same seed, the higher score wins the pot. Available from the Duels page.

The challenger creates a duel at a chosen stake tier; the acceptor joins, plays, and the result is settled immediately. No unit ownership required — anyone with ARKIS can duel.

Three stake tiers are available:

Both players pay their stake into the DUEL-POT treasury on entry. When the duel completes, the winner receives 98% of the pot. The remaining 2% stays in DUEL-POT as a community pool — earmarked for future tournaments and special leaderboard payouts.

Both players are scored 0–3000 based on accuracy and combos. The higher raw score wins. On a tie, the player with more combos wins. On a complete tie, the challenger wins (since they committed first).

Both players play the same procedurally generated circuit (same seed), so there's no luck advantage — only skill and reaction.

Yes — to keep the system healthy:

• Each player can create up to 5 duels per day
• Each player can accept up to 5 duels per day

The counter resets at 00:00 UTC each day. You'll see your remaining slots on the duels page and on your profile's Take a Challenge button.

Yes. If no one accepts your challenge within 24 hours, the duel expires and your stake is returned in full to your wallet — no fee, no penalty.

You can also cancel an unaccepted challenge at any time from the duels page.

Stewardship is MINALIA's way of ensuring that land in Luminaea stays active and in the hands of engaged players. If a player goes inactive for 40 days, their units are transferred to the Territory Minister — a guardian figure who holds and eventually relists the unit for another player to claim.

This is not a punishment — it's designed to keep the world alive. Abandoned territory should eventually return to circulation.

All developments on a suspended unit are paused — they stop generating income for the duration of the suspension. The buildings themselves are not demolished. If the unit is eventually resold to a new owner, the developments transfer with it.

All sale proceeds go directly to the territory treasury — not to the original owner. The Minister acts as a neutral steward, not a beneficiary. The territory's economy benefits instead.

Yes — the warning system fires urgent alerts at days 33, 37, 38 and 39, with a countdown showing exactly how many days you have left. Each alert is pinned at the top of your alerts page.

Warnings are throttled (the same threshold won't fire more than once every 48 hours), so you won't be spammed. But if you ignore them and don't log back in, you will lose the unit at day 40.

Territory buildings are developments you build on individual units you own. Each unit can hold up to 15 player-built developments. Buildings are purchased with ARKIS (and sometimes alt-currencies) and provide monthly yields, attribute bonuses, and territory-wide effects.

Every unit in Luminaea also has pre-existing infrastructure — Lightwell Cottages — already built at Level 1 from day one. These represent the existing housing stock of the unit's population and do not consume any of your 15 building slots.

Buildings span several categories and four tiers:

Most buildings can go anywhere, but some have restrictions:

• Core territory buildings — certain legendary buildings are exclusive to specific territories based on their lore and geography
• Coastal buildings — some structures require a coastal unit
• Max per territory — some powerful buildings have a cap on how many can exist in one territory
• Max per unit — each unit has 15 player-built development slots. Pre-seeded infrastructure (Lightwell Cottages) does not count toward this limit.

Restrictions are shown on each building card in the development panel.

Nexus Points are special hexagonal tiles on the map that sit at the junction between two or three territories. They cannot be owned individually — instead, players from the connected territories collaborate to build structures on the nexus point together.

There are 23 Nexus Points in Luminaea. They are permanently fixed on the map and named — places like The Convergence, The Meridian, and Veilgate.

To register interest at a nexus, you must own at least one unit in one of the touching territories. For a nexus that connects LUM-01 and LUM-04, you need a unit in either LUM-01 or LUM-04 — not both.

A 2-way nexus sits between exactly two territories. It requires exactly 2 contributors — one from each territory. Both players pay an equal share of the total cost.

Example: Trade Conduit at a 2-way nexus costs 3,500,000 ARKIS total → 1,750,000 ARKIS per player.

Once both slots are filled the building activates and both contributors receive monthly yields and territory effects.

A 3-way nexus sits at the junction of three territories. It only requires 2 players from 2 different territories to start — the 3rd player from the remaining territory can join later.

The 3rd player pays the same per-head cost as the original builders. Once they join, the building upgrades to triple strength and all three territories receive the full enhanced benefits.

Rare buildings (3,500,000 ARKIS total · 1,750,000 each):

Legendary buildings (8,000,000 ARKIS total · 4,000,000 each):

Yes. Nexus buildings can be upgraded from Level 1 to Level 10. Each level costs 500,000 × level number in ARKIS and adds +1% to all yields from that building.

Any contributor (original builder or 3rd-slot player) can pay for an upgrade. The upgrade history is recorded on-chain.

Some nexus buildings apply a percentage bonus across all connected territories, not just your own. For example, a +15% ARKIS yield from a Trade Conduit applies to yield-generating buildings in both territories connected at that nexus.

This is why collaborative builds are strategically valuable — the effect is shared, but so is the cost.

Minaliens are the NFT characters of MINALIA. Each Minalien is a unique portrait-card character with stats across 9 attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Creativity, Kindness, Humour, Spirituality, Speed, Fame, and Eco-Friendliness.

There are 20 Minaliens, one per territory. Each one serves as the minister of their territory — their stats and superpowers provide passive buffs to all players in that territory.

Each Minalien minister has a superpower that generates a territory buff — a passive bonus that applies to all unit owners in that territory. Buffs can affect ARKIS yield rates, build times, population growth, or other territory-wide metrics.

Buffs are visible on the district page for each territory.

Each Minalien minister holds a 45,000,000 ARKIS balance representing the collective wealth of their territory. This balance will be used in future governance and treasury mechanics — ministers will be able to fund territory projects, sponsor collaborations, and reward loyal unit owners.

Each unit has a population count representing the number of inhabitants in that land tile. In Luminaea, unit populations range from around 2,000 to 9,800 residents — every unit is already a living community, not an empty plot.

The pre-existing Lightwell Cottages on every unit reflect this — there is roughly one cottage for every four residents. These can be upgraded by the unit owner to improve the quality of life across the entire housing stock.

Population mechanics including growth rates and the effects of infrastructure investment are being expanded progressively as the game economy develops.

Several factors accelerate population growth:

• Border Granary nexus building: +20% population growth across connected territories
• Ley Anchor nexus building: +25% population growth
• The Confluence legendary nexus: +10% population growth
• The Artery legendary nexus: +5% population growth
• Certain territory buildings also contribute bonuses

Population growth mechanics are being activated progressively alongside the broader economy rollout.

Yes. Every territory building can be upgraded from Level 1 (Standard) up to Level 5 (Ultimate). Each level increases the daily yield and makes the unit worth more on the market.

Each upgrade isn't just a stat bump — it represents a real physical addition to the building. For example, Lightwell Cottages upgrade through:

Yes — directly. The suggested price shown when you list a unit is automatically recalculated using the building's current level. A unit with an Ultimate building is worth significantly more than the same unit at Standard, because a buyer is acquiring both the land and a fully upgraded income-generating asset.

No additional fee — the upgrade cost shown is what you pay. You spend the upgrade cost (50% / 80% / 120% / 200% of original build cost depending on target level) and the upgrade begins immediately.

Example: a 150 ARKIS Lightwell Cottage upgraded Standard → Enhanced costs 75 ARKIS, takes 4 hours, and bumps yield to 1.5× the base.

Yes. From your Profile, each unit card lets you list the unit at a fixed price. Any player can buy it instantly, or you can wait and accept private offers from interested buyers.

The suggested price factors in everything that makes a unit valuable:

The minimum offer floor is 40% of the suggested price.

The Make Offer button is available on any unit that is listed for sale. You set your own price and optionally include a message to the owner.

The owner receives an alert and can Accept or Decline from their unit page or from the Real Estate page. If they accept, the ARKIS transfers instantly and ownership changes hands — the same as a completed sale.

Key rules:

• You can only have one pending offer per unit at a time
• You can cancel your offer at any time before the owner responds
• If the owner accepts another offer first, yours is automatically declined and you receive an alert
• A 2% sale fee applies to accepted offers, same as direct sales

Yes — from your profile, click Cancel Sale on the listed unit. If there are pending offers when you delist, those offers are automatically cancelled and the would-be buyers are notified.

An architect stake lets you invest in another player's land. You pay for some or all of a build or upgrade on their unit, and in return you receive a permanent yield share — a percentage of the development's monthly income for as long as the stake remains active.

It's how a wealthy player can put their ARKIS to work without owning more land, and how a land-rich player can fund development without spending their own ARKIS.

On any unit you don't own, every existing development shows a 🤝 Fund Upgrade button below it. Click it to open the offer modal:

• You pay — the full upgrade cost is shown
• Your yield share — choose between 25% and 75% (default 50%)
• Send Offer → — the unit owner receives an alert and can accept or decline

You'll see your pending offer immediately on the unit page, replacing the Fund Upgrade button with a "⏳ Your offer pending" pill. When the owner responds, you'll receive an alert.

Your ARKIS is deducted, the upgrade starts immediately, and your yield share becomes active. From then on, every daily yield payout from the development is split — you receive your percentage, the owner receives the rest, and a small portion goes to the territory treasury.

The stake is permanent until either party proposes a buyout. There's no expiry — passive income for as long as the building stands.

Either party in a stake can propose a buyout — a one-time payment to end the income-share arrangement. The owner can buy the investor out (regaining 100% of the yield), or the investor can ask the owner to buy them out (cashing out their stake).

Both parties have to agree on the price. Once paid, the stake is closed and the unit returns to single-yield status.

If a building has an active stake on it and the owner wants to upgrade, they have to either:

• Propose a joint upgrade — split the cost in proportion to the yield share, and both parties contribute
• Wait for investor decline — if the investor rejects the joint upgrade, the owner can then upgrade solo at full cost (the investor keeps their existing yield share regardless)

This stops an owner from quietly upgrading away from an investor or freezing them out of higher-tier income.

Each territory minister manages a number of minister-held units — land they hold directly rather than allocating to a player. To keep these units active, ministers hire workers from the player base. As an employed worker, you log in regularly to maintain the unit and receive a guaranteed weekly wage paid out from the minister's territory treasury.

Jobs are a useful way to earn ARKIS for players who don't (yet) own much land — or who want a steady income alongside their property holdings.

Visit the Jobs page to see all open positions. Each minister-held unit shows the wage on offer and the type of work involved. Click Apply to start an interview — a short conversation with the minister where they'll ask 5 questions to gauge your fit. Pass the threshold and you're hired immediately.

If you don't pass, there's a 7-day cooldown before you can re-interview with the same minister. Other ministers remain available.

The core duty is showing up — logging in during the pay week (Monday → Sunday) and engaging with the unit. This counts toward your attendance, which directly drives your wage.

Some ministers may add additional duties (visit the unit's developments, post a check-in, run a duel from the unit's territory). Each duty has a configured weight that contributes to your overall attendance score.

Each Monday at 00:05 UTC the system calculates wages for the previous pay week:

So actual_pay = max_wage × attendance × outcome. The breakdown appears on your Money page and as an alert from the minister.

Wages come from the territory treasury — directly debited from the minister's balance in their territory. Each weekly payout writes a transaction row visible to the minister on their treasury ledger.

Wages are not taxed — workers receive 100% of what they earn. The existing weekly holding tax only applies to land ownership above your free first four units.

Yes, from the Money page — open the job tab and click Resign. A confirmation modal shows the wage you would have earned for the partial week (which is forfeited on resignation), then closes the position immediately.

After resigning you cannot re-interview with the same minister for 7 days. Other ministers stay available.

Not for low performance — even a 0-wage week leaves you in post. Ministers may dismiss workers for severe misconduct in future updates, but the everyday consequence of poor work is just no pay that week, with the door open to recover.

Yes — Luminaea has a small tax and fee system. Think of it like a real city: roads, services, and shared infrastructure need funding. All taxes and fees flow into the territory treasury, controlled by that territory's minister.

The rates are kept low enough that they never get in your way, but meaningful enough that active territories genuinely accumulate wealth over time.

Owning units carries a small weekly holding tax — similar to property tax. The cost scales with how many units you own:

Looking at your tax history

The full breakdown is on your treasury page — every weekly assessment, gross/net amounts, and your running balance. The territory minister sees the same data on their treasury ledger.

A small fee is taken on certain economic actions and routed to the territory treasury where the unit lives:

The treasury accumulates ARKIS from holding taxes, sale fees, and build permits. The minister can see a full itemised ledger on their Minalien page — broken down by source.

Treasury funds are now actively spent on weekly worker wages — when a minister hires a player to look after one of their units, the wage paid each Monday is debited from the territory's treasury. See the Jobs & Employment section for details.

In future updates, ministers will be able to use treasury funds to fund territory-wide special buildings, sponsor collaborations, reward loyal unit owners, and respond to world events that affect their territory.

Tax is charged on the number of units you hold, with the first four units free and higher tiers costing more per unit. The simplest ways to lower your bill are:

• Hold fewer units — sell or auction units you aren't actively developing
• Develop the ones you keep — completed buildings generate yields that offset the holding cost
• Cluster your holdings — units in the same territory benefit from minister-sponsored projects and easier coordination

You can see your full tax breakdown — gross, net, and balance after — on your treasury page.

Luminaea is a living world. Things happen — some wonderful, some catastrophic. World events are dynamic occurrences that affect units, territories, or all of Luminaea at once, without warning.

Events can be negative (disasters, invasions, plagues) or positive (rare discoveries, festivals, cosmic gifts). They affect population, building income, and territory conditions — sometimes dramatically.

Negative events include things like famine, plague, forest fires, tidal waves, alien invasions, tree blight, and mass migration away from struggling territories.

Positive events include alien tech transfers that upgrade a building for free, galactic investment funds, travelling stageshows that boost happiness and culture income, miracle harvests, scientific breakthroughs, population booms, and rare cosmic phenomena that enhance entire territories.

Some events strike a single unit. Others sweep across multiple territories. A few affect all of Luminaea at once.

Yes — certain buildings provide protection against specific threats:

• Flood Defence Wall — dramatically reduces tidal wave damage
• Underground Drainage System — reduces flood and storm damage
• Arborist Research Station — protects nature buildings from tree blight
• Interplanetary Defence Tower — reduces alien invasion impact
• Nectar-Infusion Clinic / Meditation Sanctuary — reduce plague impact and speed recovery

The broader principle: diversify your developments. A territory built entirely on one type of building is exposed to events that target that type. A balanced mix provides natural resilience.

Yes. Population and income recover naturally once an event resolves. The speed of recovery depends on what's built in the territory — health buildings like clinics and sanctuaries accelerate recovery significantly. The more of these you have, the faster and more completely the territory bounces back.

Sometimes. Your minister may send a prophecy alert — a cryptic warning that something unusual has been sensed in the territory. Whether you act on it is up to you.

Not every event comes with a warning. Luminaea keeps its secrets.

A Teleportation Gate is a legendary nexus building that connects permanently to The Convergence — Luminaea's central teleportation hub. Once a second Gate is built anywhere in the world, direct routes form between all active Gates, enabling instant travel across Luminaea.

Gates are the most powerful structures in the game — they cost 8,000,000 ARKIS to build (split between 2–3 co-builders), complete in just 24 real hours, and generate 3,000,000 ARKIS per month in total yield split between the owners.

Building a Gate requires players from the territories touching that nexus point:

• Player A registers interest — 4M ARKIS held in escrow
• Player B joins — another 4M ARKIS in escrow. Construction starts automatically in 24 hours
• Bonus: Player C joins within that 24-hour window — pays 3M ARKIS. A & B are each refunded 1M ARKIS. Build starts immediately
• If no 3rd player joins, the 2-player build starts after 24 hours

Build completes after 24 real hours and daily yield begins immediately.

No single player can own more than 50% of any Teleportation Gate — enforced at the database level. This applies both at build time and when buying shares on the secondary market.

Ownership is tracked in basis points (10,000 = 100%). A 2-player build gives 5,000bp each. A 3-player build gives 3,333bp each. Shares can be sold in lots — quarter-holdings for 2-player builds, third-holdings for 3-player builds.

Yes. Player-to-player sales have no commission and you set your own price.

Yes — any completed regular development can be demolished from your unit page. You will receive a 25% refund of the original build cost, paid from the territory treasury.

For example, demolishing a building that cost 60,000 ARKIS returns 15,000 ARKIS to your wallet. The refund comes from the territory's treasury balance — if the treasury has insufficient funds, you receive whatever is available (minimum 0).

Special collaborative buildings (the unique per-territory buildings built with co-contributors) cannot be demolished. These are permanent structures once built. Regular buildings from the development catalog can always be demolished as long as they are fully completed.

The 25% refund is paid from the territory treasury of the territory your unit is in. It appears as a demolish_refund outflow in the territory's treasury transactions — visible to the minister on their Minalien page, and in your own Treasury page under the combined transaction history.

The Trade widget on your Profile page (Capital panel) lets you exchange any of the five tokens — ARKIS, PLASM, WIRE, LICHEN, and SPORE — with each other at live market rates. You can type an amount into either side of the trade to calculate the other direction automatically.

The full Exchange page shows live rate pills, your complete token balances, recent network-wide trades, and deeper token lore.

Rates are stored in the token_exchange_rates table and updated periodically. ARKIS is the base currency (rate = 1). Current approximate rates:

• $PLASM — 0.9 ARKIS each
• $WIRE — 2.2 ARKIS each
• $LICHEN — 2.7 ARKIS each
• $SPORE — 3.5 ARKIS each

These rates reflect the relative scarcity and yield of each token across Luminaea. Rarer tokens produced by fewer buildings tend to have higher rates.

No fees are charged on token-to-token exchanges through the Trade widget or Exchange page. You receive the full calculated amount based on the current rate. Fees only apply to unit sales (2%) and development permit fees (5% to the territory treasury).

When registering interest in a Teleportation Gate or joining a gate build, you can choose to submit as an Anonymous Investor. Your identity is hidden from public-facing alerts, broadcasts, and the nexus page — other players see "An anonymous investor" instead of your username.

Once the build starts, your identity is revealed to your co-builders only. You remain anonymous to all other players permanently unless you change the setting.

Yes. In Settings → Privacy, toggle Show Gate Network Ownership off to hide your Gate holdings from other players viewing your profile. You always see your own holdings regardless of this setting.

Individual holdings can also be set to private — if you submitted as an Anonymous Investor at build time, your holding on the nexus page and profile will show as "Anonymous Investor" to outsiders.

From Settings → Privacy you can control:

• Public Profile — allow others to view your profile at all
• Show Unit Count — display how many units you own
• Show Badges — display earned badges publicly
• Show Wallet Address — show truncated wallet on public profile
• Show Trade History — allow others to see completed trades
• Show Duel History — display your duel record and rank
• Show Treasury Activity — show ARKIS balance and treasury transactions (also controls the Treasury page when viewed by others)
• Show Tax History — show holding tax records
• Show Collaboration Projects — show architect stakes and building collabs
• Show Gate Network Ownership — show Gate holdings

These settings are enforced on your profile page, the Players page, and the Treasury page. When a field is hidden, other players see a 🔒 notice rather than the data.

Yes — visit another player's profile and click the Message button. You'll be shown a set of pre-defined message templates to choose from: trade enquiries, collaboration proposals, alliance invitations, and more. Free-text messaging is not currently available — all messages use structured templates to keep communication focused and spam-free.

A rate limit of 3 messages to the same player per 24 hours applies.

zK verification is a one-time cryptographic proof that you control your wallet and own at least one MINALIA unit at the moment of signing. The proof is generated in your browser using o1js ZkProgram circuits, then recorded on the Mina Protocol blockchain.

The result is a public, permanent attestation that your wallet was a Luminaea landholder on the day you verified — without revealing your full holdings or sensitive details.

Verification earns you the ✓ ZK badge that appears next to your name on the Players page, your profile, and anywhere your username is shown. It's an on-chain proof of standing — useful for collaborations, future governance, and as a publicly verifiable claim of legitimate landholding history.

The proof is also archived to IPFS via Pinata, so the attestation lives independently of MINALIA's servers.

Visit the verification page. You'll need at least one unit owned to be eligible. The page guides you through:

• A signature request from your Auro Wallet to prove control
• Browser-side zK proof generation (takes ~30 seconds)
• Submission to the MinaliaVerifier zkApp on the Mina blockchain
• IPFS pinning of the public attestation

Once submitted, the page polls every 15 seconds until your transaction is confirmed. You can leave the page — the badge appears on your profile when the chain confirms (typically a few minutes).

No — verification is free for landholders. MINALIA covers the gas costs for recording your attestation on Mina.

Each verification is a snapshot of the moment it was made. If you later sell all your units, your past verification still stands — it's a proof of being a landholder at that time, not of currently holding land. You don't need to re-verify when you buy or sell more units.