Banner

The first important choice for your township. This choice will affect parts of your township, that are integral to survival. Each faction will have different banner pictures and colors, but they will basically function the same, and will give the same bonus for each faction. The picked banner, is as all choices are, permanent. A choice in the banner will give you acces to tier 1 building templates.

Effects
There are three types of banners.

Vitality


The first one is named the banner of Vitality, banner of [Rayya's name] or banner of [name], depending on your faction. This banner provides a boost to your plantlife, and encourages you to plant far and wide. When playing for the first time, it is highly advisable to pick this banner, to help you to get all the food and building materials you need to sustain your township.

Strength


The second banner is the Banner of Strength, Banner of [Rayya's children name] or Banner of [name]. This banner is useful for those who like to live deep, and carve huge caves out in mountains. It removes the cramped space penalty, which, when building a village look with small, cramped houses and narrow walkways, can be a huge annoyance to keep your halflings happy. It also provides more resources from the ground, thus having to mine less for more ore.

Cunning


The third and final banner is named the Banner of Cunning, [Rayya's name] or [Name]. This banner is great for those who plan ahead, and want to invest in trade to gain what they need. The first buff is a great upgrade to your roads, but the trade is where it's at. If you build your township on the intent of trade, this is a must have banner, as traders can buy double the amount of resources and you can sell them your finished products at 1.5x the price of normal, giving a healty and defenitly not exploitable flow of cash.

Finishing up
Now that you have your banner, you're ready for the first part of game play. Build up a nice town, and get stuff rolling before the next township upgrade comes knocking about around 10 heartlings.

Trivia
The choices seem to indicate difficulty or game state levels, with the first choice being aimed at earlier game stages than the last one. This is a continuing trend in all tier upgrades.