Albion Online royal cities and refining bonuses

The cities and their resources

Albion has five royal cities (Bridgewatch, Fort Sterling, Lymhurst, Martlock and Thetford), plus Caerleon and Brecilien. Each royal city is surrounded by a biome with its own resource distribution, and each gives a refining bonus to one resource type.

These bonuses came with the Merlyn update in 2018, and the rule has held in community guides ever since.

Which city refines what

• Thetford: ore into metal bars.
• Fort Sterling: wood into planks.
• Martlock: hide into leather.
• Lymhurst: fiber into cloth.
• Bridgewatch: stone into stone blocks.

The sources I consulted agree on this split, although one guide swaps two cities. Always confirm in game, in the refining menu, before refining in bulk, and check the patch notes to see whether anything has changed.

Material return and focus

Refining in the city with the bonus returns a much larger share of materials than refining in a city without it. Focus, which Premium boosts, raises that return even more.

That is why many players carry raw resources to the right city instead of refining in the nearest one.

Caerleon: Black Market and logistics

Caerleon has no refining specialty, but it is the great meeting point. It is home to the Black Market, which creates demand for equipment, and it is a logistics city with red zones around it. The guide **The Black Market: how it works and when it pays off** explains the risks.

Getting there with cargo means passing through zones where you can be attacked, so factor that into your maths.

Brecilien

Brecilien has its own economic environment, tied to trade and logistics around the Mists and the Roads of Avalon, rather than to a refining bonus.

Starter town and matching royal city

Each starter town links to a royal city:

• Forest Cross links to Lymhurst.
• Highland Cross links to Martlock.
• Mountain Cross links to Fort Sterling.
• Steppe Cross links to Bridgewatch.
• Swamp Cross links to Thetford.

If you are just starting, choosing your starter town gives you quick access to one resource type nearby.

How to choose where to buy, refine and sell

• Buy raw resources where they are cheapest.
• Refine in the city with the right bonus.
• Sell where the price is highest.

Compare each city's prices in the Builds Forge **Market**, by server, tier and enchantment, and remember that travelling between cities carries risk and costs time.

What to always check

• Whether each city's bonus still holds after a patch.
• The current sales tax and order fee.
• The age of the prices you are looking at.
• The risk on the road between cities.