This game has been devouring my soul lately and I haven’t posted a game guide in a while, so here we are. This is a fairly shallow and simple guide to The Shrouded Isle‘s vices and virtues to help my fellow cult leaders manage their villages better.

GUIDE CONTENT:

• What is the Shrouded Isle?
• What are Virtues and Vices?
• The Virtues and Vices List
• Villager Descriptions Guide

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GUIDE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
Last updated: 10/26/17

What is The Shrouded Isle?

I’m not sure what you’d be doing here if you don’t have an idea what the game is, but for the sake of the uninformed, here’s the blurb from developer Kitfox Games’ official site:

The Shrouded Isle is a cult village manager.
Your people look to you for leadership. Five families vie for power as the storms roll in and the world ends.
You have only three years before your God awakens, but purging sinners may be difficult without confessions…

As cult leader, you must ensure that your village upholds the virtues of your God for the next three years. Each year is divided into four seasons. Each season, you must assign five advisors (one from each family) to oversee the village and make sure none of your virtues drop below what your God requires.
For every month of a season, you choose three of the five advisors to act on your behalf. Their effect on your villages’ virtue levels depends on their own traits (aka their virtues and vices).

Every season, you must choose one of your advisors to sacrifice. Your choice will affect the village’s virtues, as well as your relationship with the five families.
To successfully appease your God and prevent your village’s destruction, you must sacrifice one advisor per season, balance your cult’s virtues carefully. You must also keep the heads of the five families happy, otherwise they will rebel and overthrow you.

What are Virtues and Vices?

Each villager has two traits: a virtue and a vice. When assigned as an active advisor, a villager’s traits affect the village’s virtue levels. For example: An advisor who is Penitent but Disobedient will raise your village’s Penitence, but lowers its Obedience.
Not all your villagers’ traits are revealed at the start of the game. To reveal hidden traits, you can use Inquiries (you can earn these by maintaining good relationships with the five families) or simply assign villagers as active advisors to reveal their traits.

When you hover over villager portraits, short descriptions of them will appear. These can also give you a hint as to what a specific villager’s traits are (go to the Villager Descriptions part of this guide for more information).
There are five virtues and five vices in total. The five families are responsible for upholding one virtue each.

The Virtues and Vices List

Ignorance

“Destroy forbidden records to erase the sinful past.”
House Kegnni is in charge of upholding Ignorance by burning books.
Ignorance is improved by “Ignorant” virtues:

• Childlike, +5
• Practical, +5
• Uneducated, +10
• Dull, +10
• Superstitious, +15
• Haunted, +15

And impeded by “Knows too much” vices:

• Curious, -10
• Imaginative, -20
• Linguist, -20
• Artist, -30
• Scholar, -30

Fervor

“Show our devotion through tireless labor.”
House Iosefka is in charge of upholding Fervor by building monuments.
Fervor is improved by “Full of Fervor” virtues:

• Charismatic, +5
• Violent, +10
• Singer, +10
• Pyromaniac, +15
• Sadist, ??

And impeded by “Lacking Fervor” vices:

• Complacent, -10
• Lazy, -20
• Gentle, -20
• Shy, -20
• Cowardly, -30

Discipline

“Resist all wordly temptations.”
House Cadwell is in charge of upholding Discipline by confiscating forbidden goods.
Fervor is improved by “Disciplined” virtues:

• Stoic, +5
• Chaste, +10
• Ascetic, +15
• Athletic, +10
• Masochist, ??

And impeded by “Undisciplined” vices:

• Gluttonous, -10
• Flirt, -20
• Slovenly, -20
• Embezzler, -30
• Pervert, -30

Penitence

“Make the sinful repent their crimes.”
House Efferson is in charge of upholding Penitence by punishing the sinful.
Fervor is improved by “Penitent” virtues:

• Honest, +5
• Self-Loathing, +10
• Convict, +10
• Accusatory, +15
• Just, +15

And impeded by “Unrepentant” vices:

• Stubborn, -10
• Narcissist, -20
• Weasel, -20
• Liar, -30
• Swindler, ??

 

Obedience

“Discover heretics hiding in our midst.”
House Blackborn is in charge of upholding Penitence by overseeing law enforcement.
Fervor is improved by “Obedient” virtues:

• Timid,+5
• Elegant, +5
• Lawful, +10
• Crony, +15
• Unquestioning, +15

And impeded by “Disobedient” vices:

• Scarred, -10
• Teen, -10
• Cynical, -20
• Impulsive, -20
• Rebellious, -30
• Kleptomaniac, -30

Villager Descriptions Guide

Each villager has a one-liner description that can help you figure out what their virtue or vice is. Here’s a list of the descriptions categorized under the traits they imply.

• Ignorant
  • I suspect … might be illiterate.
  • … fell from the cliffs as a child and suffered some brain damage.
• Full of Fervor
  • … sometimes obsesses about certain passages of the scripture.
• Disciplined
  • As a child, … lost his/her tongue, and communicates with signs.
  • … is fit as a fiddle!
  • …is a hemophiliac and must receive fewer lashes as a result.
• Penitent
  • … as many small cuts and scars on her arms and legs.
  • … often hangs around the confessional, brooding.
• Obedient
  • … has a well-trained pet labrador retriever.
• Knows too much
  • … was a very bright child, and learned to read at an early age.
  • … often takes notes at meetings
  • … can’t seem to keep her/his voice down.
• Lacking Fervor
  • … has a soft and soothing voice, like a dove.
• Undisciplined
  • … has a spoiled brat of a son/daughter who always begs for sweets
  • … answers most questions with strange sounds and animal noises.
  • … often wakes up long after everyone has finished their breakfast.
• Unrepentant
  • … has a distinct, horse-like laugh, and finds most things funny.
  • … has one of the village’s only silvered glass mirrors, saved from the old world.
•  Disobedient
  • … enjoys a good debate.
  • … always looks suspicious and guilty to me, but I’m not sure why.
  • … once disagreed with me in public! The nerve!
  • … was called the “Advocate” as a child for constant arguing with her parents and siblings.
• Not sure yet
  • … is almost never silent. She/He is always mumbling a prayer or litany of some kind.
  • … once challenged Lord Caldwell to a gruel-eating competition — and won!
  • … has a very well-behaved little boy/girl.
  • … interrupts other people when they’re talking.
  • … blushes easily, much to everyone’s amusement.
  • … hates the taste of butter and swore it off as a child.
  • … has the worst memory. Sometimes I think he/she could forget his/her own name.
  • … has tried to commit suicide in the past, but it’s been some years since the last incident.
  • … is a gifted healer and maker of medicines.
  • … practices martial arts on the clifftops, some mornings.
  • … is very forgiving, even of those who deeply wronged her/him.
  • I rarely get complaints about …
  • As a child, … once tricked his/her sister into taking his/her lashes for him/her.
  • I enjoy talking with … . She/He makes me feel at ease.
  • … is a very neat and organized person, with never a hair out of place.
  • … always blushes beet-red when talking of sin.
  • … often uses his free-time to re-read the scripture, again and again.
  • … as a talented doodler as a child.
  • … asks very good questions.
  • … was a talkative child, as I recall. Excitable and restless.
  • … is a good mediator when arguments become too heated.
  • … is famous in the village for inventing a new form of meditation.
  • … doesn’t seem to have much of an appetite.
  • … is a fairly good chef and swears by her/his father’s cookbook.
  • … speaks only in simple sentences and short words.