A metropolis exists in the heartlands of Xearic, in the middle of a place of great plains, feilds, and a neverending blanket of grass. It is called: Slyvestia.
Slyvestia
Slyvestia is a massive city, larger then the largest Metropolis. From far away its most obvious features are its trees. It is a city created out of the enviroment. The city is full of huge, towering, dense trees. In the canopies of these trees houses and buildings were created, along with walkways and massive platforms. Winding steps and bridges connect these trees together. Huge winding staircases and elavators using wood and rope allow travel from the top of the city to the bottom easy. This is where the elves make their home, shared by the treants, a plant based race.
At the bases of these towering trees is the next section. Many bustling streets, and a seemingly endless array of houses, buildings, markets, barbers, petstores, taverns, etc. make up this portion of the city. This is the center of the metropolis, where all the races come together. All of the races can be found here, the largest array ever found in one city at once.
Beneath the bustling streets there is the Undercity, a vast realm as large as the one above. The Undercity is home to the dwarves, mainly, but also to any other oeaceful races that prefer to live underground.
In many different places throughout the city there are lakes. Halflings have connected rafts and boats together to make floating neighborhoods on these lakes.
Small groves of bamboo and jungle are full of bamboo neighborhoods where the catlike Vandril live.
Goal
Slyvestias goal is to create one place where all races {those with good intent} can exist in peace. It was created with the idea in mind to unite all in one place, but instead of getting rid of the things that make the races different, emphasizing them, in hope that it will let everyone except and understand everyone. This is why the city was contructed as
Ok, this is obviously a work in progress, but it is supposed to be one metropilis base city where all my PCs live. Any suggestions or critisism {constructive or mean} are wanted and appreciated.
[blockquote=DRZ] A new metropolis has been constructed in the heartlands of Xearic, in the middle of a place of great plains, feilds, and a neverending blanket of grass. It has been created by the Wood Elves and Eladrin. It is called: Slyvestia.[/blockquote]
Dude, this sounds like 3 weeks ago,. a bunch of elves got hammered and decided to build the biggest city in the world.
And first you say this about the plains, and then mention that it has a ton of trees.
Metropolis' don't just spring up, normally. Have you ever heard the quote, 'Rome wasn't built in a day'? That's because the biggest cities are not planned. New Amsterdam, ever heard of it? Becasme this place called New York. Tokyo was a small fishing village in the 1500's called Edo. Etc. Giant cities take time.
So more on the origin, and how it came to be this massive place, would be (literally) the place to start.
Since your town is based in the forest it seems like you're trying to use the root word sylva-- I wouldn't normally point out to someone that they misspelled the name of their own setting (for obvious reasons) but in this case I have reason to believe you meant Sylvestia not Slyvestia.
Sorry about the spelling, first of all. As for the backround, I wasn't even planning on keeping it anyway, I just need a giantmulti-racial metropolis for my Pcs to be based in and have Urban adventures in.
So the plot {which I agree is stupid} doesn't really matter, i'll be changing that, and this whole thing is really in the very, very beginning of creation.
Sorry I didn't clarify. What I need help with is any ideas on how to create an enviromental city that incorparates alot of races. Probably should have put this on the Campaign elements and Design thread...
Pick a good location in a place that's easily reachable by most races. For example, if you have dwarves living in the mountains and elves living in the forests, you should position the city so that it's reasonably close to both a mountain range and some woodlands. Have it sit at a junction of high-traffic roads so that people (especially merchants) traveling those roads will stop by at the city. This will invite immigrants, boost trade in the markets, provide increased access to goods, lead to a more cosmopolitan culture etc. all of which can help explain how the city grew so big in the first place. Access to sea is also very helpful. You don't necessarily have to place the city on the coast though; it could just as well be some distance to the inland and have a smaller port-town on the coast with a road (or river) connecting the two.
Since you want the city to be very large, the most important thing you need to decide is food and water supply. Lots of people consume lots of food, which has to come from somewhere. Maybe the city is surrounded by a massive area of farmland? Or maybe it uses powerful military to dominate other countries to ensure they will keep it supplied? Or maybe it possesses a food-pouring cornucopia or some other magical solution?