The Campaign Builder's Guild

Ecumenopolis is taken from ekistics, the academic discipline of city planning (thanks wikipedia), and essentially means world city. This is an attempt at this, a pet project to clear my head while i try to sort out the details of my main setting. While city-settings have been done, most focus on a big city in a functional world. This city is all the world there is, and the cityscape replaces the landscape.
The introduction might be a bit dull (although i hope not) but hang on, there are some good ideas in the mix as well. Or funny/interesting ones at least.  
And although this is a side-project i would love ideas and comments.

Ecumenopolis '" the endless city

Introduction
What existed before the City is not only an unaswered question but also a completely nonsensical one. The City was the beginning and its destruction will be the end; the world wasn't the world before the advent of the City and humans weren't worthy of their name. The only question that really matters is what the city was before. Why are there so few people left?
Truth is, no one knows, but the city is clearly but a shadow of what it probably once was. Much of it has been neglected for too long, turning into the untraversable ghostmazes which hold nothing but blood and dust. Some parts have given up and collapsed in upon themselves. And beyond the Great Walls the Shanty Wastes extend lifelessly out into the horizon.
But not the entire City has been left to vermin and decay. The Wards, the cities within the City, still teem with human life. Here, humans live as they have always lived; trading, loving, working and fighting.
The City might be neglected but it hasn't been forgotten yet, and within its vast expanses humans continue to seek the purpose of not only themselves, but the walls that surround them. And in time, they will find this purpose, for the City is all there is and all there ever will be and within its mighty walls everything can be found.

The Blueprints
The City is incredibly vast; how vast is hard to say, though, when every journey seems to be a confusing mess of turns and cul-de-sacs. Sometimes distance even seems to lose its meaning; distances that took you a day the last time suddenly take you two. Some speculate that the City itself moves, thus making the journey different, but the mappers disagree. Their maps work they say. And in most cases they really do. But this doesn't change the fact that the City is a somewhat loosely defined identity that no one truly understands or knows in its full extent.
The City itself is roughly ellipsoid in shape, surrounded by a 30 meter tall and smooth wall aptly named the Great Wall. Only the west is unprotected by this feature as it is instead bordered by the salty depths of the Great Lake, a lake of such singular size that the distant coast and its city cannot be seen. Beyond the Great Wall lies nothing but the despicable Shanty Wastes; a slum that reaches out into the horizon but is devoid of life. Some claim that the Wastes end somewhere, but most find the claim preposterous. If there is no city anymore, you've reached the literal end of the world. Either way, the City proper is the only place where life can exist; any ventures beyond the limits of the Great Wall are subject to the ravages of the Homesickness.
Inside the Great Walls the City is divided into different districts. Most of these districts are ghostmazes; uninhabited and decrepit labyrinths of twisting alleys and sudden cul-de-sacs. These places are shunned and are the province of monsters and other uncivilized things. The Collapses are even worse than this. Collapses are areas where the city has fallen apart and aggressive and unnatural plant life is taking over. Although possessing of a sort of unnatural beauty, Collapses are almost universally lethal to the careless adventurer. These areas are often left to the whims of the fanatic Order of Preservation.
But all is not ruin and solitude. Within the walls there are also the great Wards, cities within the City where humans live and thrive, as well as the lush park districts and the roof-farms of the Wards where plants are planted by human hands in an orderly fashion.
And then there are of course the extensive network that makes up the Undercity; the sewers, basements and Path Tunnels that weave around each other deep underneath the streets.
Two of the most prominent features other than the Wall, are the Waterworks and the Great Concourse. The Waterworks consists of one major artificial river running from the north-east to the south-west with thousands of small channels sending the life-giving water out into the city. The Great Concourse is an enormous road that runs from the north-west to the south, forming a crescent of sorts. The Waterworks and the Concourse cross at the exact center of the city.        

Races

Muckmen
Living rotten garbage essentially, muckmen are disgusting to the extreme, and usually as foul-mouthed and rude as their appearance would suggest, but they are not necessarily evil or malicious (although they can be). They are very human in their behavior in many ways, making them look like crude imitations at times. Muckmen are despised in most wards and most live segregated lives in the sewer or in ghettoes. Some muckmen who make their lives in wards often use perfumes (lots of it preferably) to cover their awful smell.    

Livian
Livians are essentially human rock pigeons. If we start from the feet, they are distinctly bird-like, but as one continues up the legs they become distinctly more human until they end in a dark-gray skinned human torso. The bird features start reappearing again around the arms and the head which are both completely bird-like. Males are often somewhat fat, and their necks are obscured by both fat and fluffy mildly iridescent plumage. Females have more prominent necks, and slim, distinct necks are seen as a sign of beauty. A rare few livians are born with white plumage and they traditionally become ambassadors for their eyries.  

Areas

The Great Concourse
An enormously long road, this street spans almost the entire length of the City, from north to south. It has six lanes with a small pavement in the middle planted with trees and frequently occupied by street vendors. It begins in the Ward called Traveller's End, lying near the northern part of the Great Wall and continues through Centrum and ends suddenly in one of the Southern districts where it has turned into a Collapse. But no one goes that far. The city is the main road for transportation and trade although not all Wards are in its vicinity. It is one of the best tended roads in the City, meticulously cared for by the roaming Freemasons who repair the stonework whenever they see a crack or a hole.    

Centrum
The literal center of the City, and thus the world, Centrum is the richest, nicest, most powerful ward of them all. Protected by its own copy of the Great Wall and with both the Concourse and the Waterwork River passing through, and actually crossing each at the magnificent Adamant Bridge, the city remains safe while seeing plenty of trade. The city-state is ruled by the Magister, a notoriously secretive leader. But he is a fair, if sometimes strange, ruler allowing most Centrumians to live their life as they want to. Beneath his great palace lies the Gearhouse, a place of massive and frankly perplexing machinery. People profess to sometimes hearing a soft rhythmic thumping when in that mysterious chamber.

The Shanty Wastes
These eternal slums that lie beyond the Great Walls are despised and feared. Few dare venture out amongst the decrepit shacks of which many are strangely still standing even though no one has lived there as far as anyone can remember. The Wastes are dead-quiet and unusually lifeless although there are stories of expeditions being lost to something that wasn't the Homesickness or a collapsed shed. No one has ever reached the end of the Wastes, if there indeed is one. The Homesickness quickly grows strong enough to kill if anyone tries to walk too far. What can be found on the far side is only suspected. Some think they will find another city. Others believe that you'll suddenly find yourself on the edge of an unfathomable drop. A few others even believe that the mythical snow-topped houses of the Gods can be found out there.

Sinkhole Commune
Situated on the edge of a great sinkhole, thus the name, Sinkhole is the most prominent source of iron and precious metals. Miners lower themselves into the hole, past the hundreds of tunnel openings uncovered by the hole, and mine the ore that can be found in tunnels and the sinkhole wall. Sinkhole is ruled by the small Iron Cartel, an unscrupulous group of greedy metal merchants. They are enormously wealthy, and wear iron masks and are said to have replaced their rights hands with golden effigies.  

The Great Wall
The Great Wall surrounds the city except for the shore and is 30 meters tall with towers every few kilometers. The walls are smooth, bearing no sign of being composed of many bricks. It seems to be constructed out of a gray granite-like rock, only much harder. The wall is almost 8 meters thick. It can't be climbed, but staircases in the towers lead to the top where they lend a great view over the City and the Wastes. Multiple levels are found within the walls, dark and dank chambers, only lighted by the occasional arrowslit, and now home to who knows what. Few  seek out the wall, although a few Wards exist close to it.  

Organisations, groups and styles of life

Order of Preservation
Somewhere between a historical society, pyromaniacs, a group of conspiracy theorists, and a religious cult, the Order believes that the City and the man-made is what keeps the world in perfect equilibrium and that it must be kept that way. Evil forces (rarely specified although they have numerous blacklisted servants) seek to unravel the city, which is why much of the city is abandoned and the buildings collapse. The main mission of the Order is to clear the Collapses of corrupting influences, which most often means plants. Plants are not man-made and must therefore be evil, which is the reason that the Order, also derogatorily known as the weedburners, set fire to large Collapses (and sometimes out-of-control parks). They do also occasionally do some reconstruction work, but most of them seem busy with clearing the plants away. The Order is known to employ massive flame-shooting weapons which they also use against random marauders.

Freemasons
The Freemasons are the custodians of the Great Concourse, travelling its length while repairing the road and the bridges it crosses. They are free spirits, living off the hospitality of those who live by the Concourse, and otherwise enjoying being their own boss. They have a loose fraternity, occasionally meeting to discuss big repair jobs. Although they don't really need money as they can get most things for free, they are supposedly paid a small sum of money by the Magister of Centrum.

Cityspeakers
Considered crazy hermits, cityspeakers seek out the places of the City only the City knows about and where the walls have ears and, on occasion, mouths. They know many strange secret and know the streets and alleys of the city better than most Mappers. But some of their abilities are far stranger and defy logic.

The Vigilantes
Coming out at night, the Vigilantes patrol the rooftops and streets of the City. The only force of justice beyond the Wards, the Vigilantes are well-liked although their identities are shrouded in both mystery, pseudonyms and masks. Some Vigilantes are veritable heroes, like the mysterious Muckman known as Balderdash who has foiled many a criminal plot.

Roofleapers
Nomads by nature, roofleapers are expert climbers and leapers, living their lives far above the dangers of the streets below. Roofleapers are almost by nature claustrophobic, and strive to remain on the roofs as much as possible. Although they do not know the streets well, they can find easy paths to most big landmarks in their vicinity.

Lowwaymen
Lowwaymen are essentially highwaymen, only they prowl on the often used Path Tunnels that run beneath the streets. They camp in alcoves and wait for a sufficiently badly protected caravan to approach and then they attack.  

Characters

The Dark Piper
In the dark depths of the sewer lives the Dark Piper, king of the vermin. Whether he is human or retains any sense of sanity is unknown and the Piper is shrouded in an impenetrable layer of mystery. Only his haunting music as well as the chilling messages scrawled in rat blood in the sewers hint of his presence.

Phenomena

The Homesickness
Beyond the obvious reasons for not venturing out into the lifeless wastes or out on the open waters of a possibly endless lake, there is another and more enigmatic reason that nobody leaves the city. The phenomenon of the Homesickness strikes at the heart of any living being that tries to move too far away from the city perimeter. At first, people experience a tugging sensation and a longing to return home, then comes voices, hallucinations and nightmares, while the body starts to shrivel and dessicate ever so slightly. After a few days, unless the diseased returns home, the sickness will claim the mind of the explorer turning him into a catatonic husk. The body will continue to shrivel while it stares blankly out into the air, and only after a week will the life finally leave the soulless body. Whether this is because of a lack of the City's protection from the world itself, or because the wastes and the outer lake exert some deadly influence is unknown. Returning to City before the catatonic state will slowly cure the inflicted character.      

Holy :censored: !  When I started reading I was thinking you'd managed to come up with and idea I'd has years ago, but now that I've read it you've gone in a very different direction but done a better job.

You turned one city into the world.  My version was a planet that was one giant building/dungeon, with towers for mountains, giant forges for volcanoes, and immense underground seas covered by vaulted ceilings.  Still, I only managed to put together a semi-fantasy world with that bit tacked on, whereas you've actually managed to make a cityscape into a fantasy setting.

At least it sounds like you were surprised in the good way :D
I didn't want to go with the city-world as i felt i wanted a city with its own personal identity. My friend and I discussed making the city continent-sized, but my mind really can't handle that size so i decided to go with something that, although easier to manage is huge beyond conprehension, basically sidestepping the size issue while giving me plenty of room to play in. I think it worked out quite nicely.  

Can the homesick become zombies?

Hmm, i like the catatonic state better. We can't all have zombie diseases now can we :p
Or does a world-city require zombies per definition?

[blockquote=CC]Livians are essentially human rock pigeons.[/blockquote] OK, this was engaging.  Do they live in the uper reaches, former old businesses and such?  DO they hatch?

Also, by the notes of the Cdentrum, the tech level has slipped from future, higher levels.  Tech levels past and present would solidify a lot.  (and what level can the masons repair?)

And the architecture.   How old and how many cycles can be seen?  I get the feeling of immense age, but also of cycles, birth and renewal.  Can one see generations from a high perch?


[blockquote=CC]Somewhere between a historical society, pyromaniacs, a group of conspiracy theorists, and a religious cult,[/blockquote] OK,  this was also one of those nuggets that made the whole seem more real, as in 'wow, something this whacked has to be real'.  

hehe, the livians and the order are also some of my favorite parts together with the freemasons, the shanty wastes, and the homesickness (okay, i have more than that now that i look at it).
And seriously, what kind of city is a city without rock pigeons? Mine are just bigger. :p
And yes, they live in the upper reaches. Sometimes merely on the roofs, but if possible they'll nest in churchtowers or skyscrapers and anything like that. And let's say they hatch just because it's more fun ^^
I'll post something more extensive on tech level some other time, but for now i'll adress the tech issue with a short comment here:
The world isn't meant to be Coruscant or I am Legend-NY or some other modern/future world. This is a fantasy world first-and-foremost, but as this is a pretty advanced culture after all I'm going to be somewhat liberal with what types of technology i add in; i might have revolvers and skyscrapers or some other anachronistic elements. The Path Tunnels i have mentioned are for example the more primitive substitute of subways; simple, uncluttered, underground roads for easy travel.
hmm, as to the architecture part, you can probably see distinct differences in some places yes. The skyscrapers for example are probably only found in specific districts.

By skyscrapers do you mean modern glass & steel framed towers or something more like the Empire State Building? I think the latter style of architecture would make for a nice athmosphere, perhaps with a little touch of gothic cathedrals thrown in and of corse the signs of age and decay.

I was definitely not thinking modern glass & steel. I haven't actually seen the Empire State Building, but from what i gather from the pictures it could be something close to that possibly with some more archaic towers as well.

Hmm, a small request on behalf of this setting: can people come up with stuff that is particularly tied to the concept of cities?
Currently i'm thinking of adding elements of bureaucratic and ineffective government, surveillance and... some other idea i had just before but which i've forgotten. I hate when that happens. Maybe it was garbage? But that's already covered in muckmen. I'm considering on focussing a bit more on the caricature aspect (seen in the pigeon-men and the weedburners) while still keeping the theme.
Anyway, please do brainstorm anything related to "City" on my behalf.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowThis city is all the world there is, and the cityscape replaces the landscape.

Organisations, groups and styles of life[/size]

I like the order of Preservation- it makes sense.  The city wants to be preserved, and I can see how it would have a religious power over many.
The Freemasons also make a great deal of sense, being preservers and restorers of the city, I can see their lives being made very convenient by virtue of the city itself.


The Cityspeakers are very interesting.  I could see them being in tune with the city beyond the ignorant order of preservation- who only have a vague idea of what the city really is or wants- and the Freemasons, who don't know what the city wants but who find their job inexplicably makes their lives easier.

I could see the Cityspeakers as able to cross great distances in mere minutes, the city shifting for them, opening doors and ways even.  They could walk through doors that aren't there, and come out at the other end of the city.  They might know everything, but be incapable of telling anybody else- probably being entirely mad.

I don't like the Vigilantes... they don't seem to fit, and without any strictly ordered social structure, and with that number, they don't seem to have any good motivation.  They strike me as something corny that was just appended for the hell of it, and they break with the feel of this world from what I've gathered.

The Roofleapers and Lowwaymen are normal and would seem to be logical conclusions given the city.  Neither particularly interesting nor out of place- they're good additions.


The Dark Piper needs work.

Crocodiles also swallow stones- this piper could be a crocodile that has taken to eating enough of the other crocodile gizzard stones (these crocodiles not having enough to become as the Livians) that it became something else.  The piping would probably sound much different, though... more of a deep and somber rumble.


Emergent details are what it's all about- they generate unique ideas from others that we'd be hard pressed to come up on our own- the children of creativity and logic.



You have some serious world building talent.  I'd love to invite you to crosspost this at conworlds (see sig).

For some reason, my post isn't showing up.

Quote from: 15pxOrganisations, groups and styles of life[/size]

I like the order of Preservation- it makes sense.  The city wants to be preserved, and I can see how it would have a religious power over many.
The Freemasons also make a great deal of sense, being preservers and restorers of the city, I can see their lives being made very convenient by virtue of the city itself.


The Cityspeakers are very interesting.  I could see them being in tune with the city beyond the ignorant order of preservation- who only have a vague idea of what the city really is or wants- and the Freemasons, who don't know what the city wants but who find their job inexplicably makes their lives easier.

I could see the Cityspeakers as able to cross great distances in mere minutes, the city shifting for them, opening doors and ways even.  They could walk through doors that aren't there, and come out at the other end of the city.  They might know everything, but be incapable of telling anybody else- probably being entirely mad.

I don't like the Vigilantes... they don't seem to fit, and without any strictly ordered social structure, and with that number, they don't seem to have any good motivation.  They strike me as something corny that was just appended for the hell of it, and they break with the feel of this world from what I've gathered.

The Roofleapers and Lowwaymen are normal and would seem to be logical conclusions given the city.  Neither particularly interesting nor out of place- they're good additions.


The Dark Piper needs work.

Crocodiles also swallow stones- this piper could be a crocodile that has taken to eating enough of the other crocodile gizzard stones (these crocodiles not having enough to become as the Livians) that it became something else.  The piping would probably sound much different, though... more of a deep and somber rumble.


Emergent details are what it's all about- they generate unique ideas from others that we'd be hard pressed to come up on our own- the children of creativity and logic.



You have some serious world building talent.  I'd love to invite you to crosspost this at conworlds (see sig).

Hmm, the problem with actually presenting the history of the city is that then everybody who reads it will consider the city as something that wasn't always there. And in that sense it loses some of the tone of being an endless city. But i really like some of your history ideas. They fit rather brilliantly. Although I'm a bit apprehensive as to make the city too sentient if you know what i mean. But the soul-stealing=homesickness is pretty slick. So is the idea about the city moving where the mappers haven't "locked" it. The gizzard stone idea is quite imaginative, but i think it might be a bit too much frankly.  
The races and characters aren't done yet, so it's obvious that they'll seem a little uncompleted.  
Hmm, i can see vigilantes not fitting exactly with the tone, but i would like to fit them in somehow. A city isn't a proper city without heroes :p
And the Gearhouse is meant to make you think of a heart (the first name i gave centrum was Heart, it just sounded a little cheesy). I just didn't want to spell it out ^^  
My creative style is mostly to attempt to fit as many interesting ideas in as possible (sometimes with real world "counterparts" such as the Piper) so that's why some of it gets a bit jumbled style-wise.

And thanks for the praise :)

Reading your initial posts (and barely skimming the rest), I got the feeling almost of a post-apocolyptic city set on an uninhabitable plane (land...not cosmology).  Homesickness almost seemed like some leftover vestige of the apocolypse, and the only reason everyone thinks The City is all there is is because no one can stray far enough away from it without dying first.

As for characatures not yet explored, you've hinted at, I think, a Big Brother of sorts.  That would necessitate a Secret Police.  You also haven't touched on the everypresent Marketing and Advertising of the merchants.  If you're pursuing more traditional fantasy tropes, guilds may be appropriate, if you want more modern ones, unions.  Let's not forget the overweight beat cop sitting at the local doughnut shop.  What about organized crime syndicates?  If you want a more ubiquitous symbol of modern cities, what about taxis and traffic jams?  Or smog/fog/pollution?

You need a source of food, by the way.  I didn't see mention of any farming or hydroponics facilities.  How do people eat?

[EDIT]
Another symbol fo the city you mentioned before - skyscrapers.  If you want some ideas for more middle-ages style city with lots of towers, look up Prague.  It's beautiful and dark, almost like it was torn from teh pages of some forgotten fairy tale.  If you are going with more modern skyscrapers, I personally pictured far more gothic structures reminiscent of the Catherdral de Notre Dame.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowHmm, a small request on behalf of this setting: can people come up with stuff that is particularly tied to the concept of cities?
.......
Anyway, please do brainstorm anything related to "City" on my behalf.

I'll give it a shot, but I'm not good at "grounding" my ideas.

Check out the Eberron book "Sharn, City of Towers" if you haven't already.  That's a pretty good example of non-modern skyscrapers and other stuff that goes into a highly-urban fantasy city.

Have intelligent, 3-ft tall rats as a race.  I don't mean rat-humanoids, as those have been done, but large rodents that can walk on both two legs and four and use their paws as hands.  It seems more logical that way, I think.

Have some common city animal turn out to be the highly-wise secretive race every setting has.  It's just a great twist when you think of a giant spider being the equivalent of that wizened wizard you need to borrow a tome off of.

Are there going to be any planes?  Even if there aren't, you can still use this idea: Color all the mythological realms and their creatures with cityness.  "Devil are lawyers" might be cliched, but it's a good example.