This time the messenger ran the other way. Ratatoskr, who carries word between the eagle at the crown and the serpent at the roots, went down the trunk, to where the oldest part of the tree holds everything above it up.
Beneath one of those roots lies Mímir's well, the well of wisdom, which the old poems say even Odin paid to drink from. The roots are where the chain keeps its own counsel: the masternodes, full nodes that keep watch over every block, sign the chain's tip so it cannot be undone, and are paid in turn for the work.
What follows is how to run one, in the order you meet it. The steps are plain.
Two tiers #
- Masternode. Backed by 7,500 RATR. One vote.
- EvoNode. Backed by 30,000 RATR. Four votes: four times the voting weight of a masternode.
A node is a registration on the chain. It points at two things: a collateral output its owner holds, of exactly 7,500 or exactly 30,000 RATR, and a server that does the node's work. The collateral never moves to anyone. The node exists for as long as that output is unspent. Spend it and the node leaves the list, and the coin is ordinary RATR again. There is no separate step to unregister.
The keys and what each can do #
A node is registered with separate keys and addresses, one for each role. Each can do its own job and nothing more.
- Collateral key. Holds the 7,500 or 30,000 RATR. It never leaves the owner's wallet. It is the only key that can move the collateral, and moving the collateral ends the node.
- Owner key. Controls the registration. It can appoint a new operator, change the voting key and change the payout address. It cannot move the collateral.
- Operator key. Lives on the server that runs the node. It signs the node's work on the network and can update the node's network address. It can also resign, which leaves the node waiting for the owner to appoint a new operator. It cannot move the collateral and cannot change where payments go.
- Voting key. Casts the node's votes. It cannot move anything.
- Payout address. Receives the node's payments. It signs nothing. The chain refuses a payout address that is the owner key's own address.
No one needs your recovery phrase
Your 12-word recovery phrase is the only backup of your wallet. Running a node never needs it, and never needs the key that holds the collateral. Never paste either into any page, form or message.
Payment #
From block 25,000, every block pays one masternode, and the nodes are paid in turn. The masternode share of each block is set by the network within bounds, as Chapter III sets out. Payments arrive at the node's payout address as RATR.
Two doors: hosted or your own machine #
Both register the same kind of node on the same chain, under the same rules. Each has its own costs.
- Hosted by Nodes24. Nodes24 is the only official RATR masternode hosting provider. You do not run a server. You pay a recurring hosting charge from a separate balance, and Nodes24 holds the node's operator key.
- Your own machine. There is no hosting charge, and every key stays with you. You keep a server online and maintained.
Setting up through Draupnir #
Draupnir is the RATR web wallet that carries the masternode toolkit. Its masternode setup, Draupnir one-click, is not a single click. It is a guided flow that removes the command line, the config file and the long form: the wallet performs the steps, and you approve two transactions.
The collateral never moves from your own address. Your recovery phrase and your owner key, voting key and payout address never leave your browser; the wallet signs in the browser. On the hosted door, the operator key is the single key held elsewhere, generated by Nodes24, not by EnchantedForestDeFi. On your own machine, you hold the operator key too.
draupnir.ratatoskr.enchantedforestdefi.com →
Before you start #
- 7,500 RATR for a masternode, or 30,000 for an EvoNode, in the wallet, plus a little more for network fees.
- Your 12-word recovery phrase, written down.
- A choice of door: hosted by Nodes24, or your own machine.
The steps #
- Choose the tier, then the door.
- The wallet derives the collateral, owner, voting and payout addresses from your own recovery phrase. One phrase can run several nodes.
- Hosted: Nodes24 stands up the node, and the wallet receives the node's network address and its operator public key. Your own machine: you supply your node's network address and its operator public key, and no request goes to the host.
- The wallet sends exactly 7,500 or 30,000 RATR to the collateral address derived from your own phrase. The collateral goes to you, not to the host and not to anyone else. You approve this transaction.
- The collateral transaction confirms on the chain.
- The wallet builds the registration, you sign it in your browser, and it is broadcast. You approve this transaction too.
- The node is live once it is registered and running. The RATR explorer is the network's own record of it.
Those two approvals, the collateral and the registration, are the only transactions that leave your wallet.
The wallet is unlocked on each device with a local passcode set on that device. The passcode protects the wallet there; the recovery phrase is what restores it anywhere.
Paying for hosting #
Hosting is charged from a hosting balance that is separate from your RATR. It is never taken from your coins or your payouts. Top it up in any coin from the list the wallet shows; the wallet shows the current list and the current price. A top-up is credited after the network's confirmations, not instantly. Top-ups are non-refundable and can only be spent on hosting.
Collateral never goes to a top-up address
A top-up address is for the hosting balance only. Your collateral goes to your own address, and nowhere else.
Ending a node #
Spend the collateral and the node leaves the chain's list. If the node was hosted, release it with the host as well, so the hosting charge stops. Hosting charges are separate from the chain: a hosted node that is not released keeps being charged after its collateral is spent.
Draupnir and the RATR web and desktop wallets are covered in Chapter V, Wallets.
Mímir's Well #
Mímir's Well is the ecosystem's masternode report. The live state of the network's nodes is there, read from the chain. The RATR explorer reads the chain directly.
Carried down 2026-10-03. Node rules read from the public Ratatoskr repository, branch main at 78d617a: collateral and voting weight in src/evo/dmn_types.h; the registration and its keys in src/evo/providertx.h; which key signs each change, and removal on a spent collateral, in src/evo/specialtxman.cpp; the payment start in src/chainparams.cpp and the payee turn in src/evo/deterministicmns.cpp. The setup flow is described as the Draupnir wallet runs it on that date. This chapter states rules, not snapshots: live figures are in Mímir's Well and on the explorer, and prices and coin lists are in the wallet.