Unconquered Realm: The Anatomy of a City

[Nomadic]

A side note here and a bit of an update to tide you all over.

I have calculated the rough area needed for a Karrosian city state to fit the required mould I have for them. A 100,000 person city would be a couple square miles in size. It's controlled territory however would likely be over 150 square miles in size. This includes farmland, pasture, open grassland, forests, and secondary settlements. All of this walled by a massive Hadrian's wall of sorts. The outer settlements would likely support a population in excess of 300,000 (reaching as high as 1 million plus in some states). This has an interesting side effect, one I was hoping for.

The city state becomes an area in which you can run an entire campaign. This means that if you just want to focus on a more classic medieval style you can. It also means that if you want to ramp the nature outside to even higher levels it is doable without making adventuring impossible.

Putting this all in perspective. The city of Kaman is the largest settlement in Karros. It contains a population of over 350,000 people. The city itself only lays claim to about ten square miles of land. However the city state lords over a vast tract of land over four hundred square miles in size (new york city is only 300 square miles). It's total population is about two and a half million people.

In the end this is a look at how massive and yet how isolated these places are. Like mini-nations unto themselves. However considering that there are only about 40-50 of them and Karros is the size of South America it says another thing about how empty the continent really is.

[Acrimone]

Nice.

I think the pictures actually detract from it, though... the descriptions are better than any non-custom picture could ever hope to be.

Dumb question... because I probably missed it in my readings of your material: who or what is in charge in the city?  The guard clearly works for someone... someone who issues official mandates and intermittently oppresses the rural folk.  Is this on some other page that I haven't read yet?

[Nomadic]

That depends on the city. I am purposefully leaving things open here for any potential DM. However, in the more refined version there will actually be notes on specific city government and leadership. Palaoyr for example is ruled by a senatorial type government while Kaman is ruled by a monarch.

[Snargash Moonclaw]

Built to keep the Picts away from the Roman settlements, the legions tended to rotate small units for a month or so to small fortifications along Hadrian's wall - they didn't have a whole lot of troops there except during major military campaigns. The function of the units was to note approaching enemy forces and send word while engaging in a holding action - generally a "DIP (Die In Place) mission." Magical signaling of some sort can make such a "pocket defense" network more effective without adding too many more troops than you're describing - such places constituting your primary outlying garrisons. The "integrated battlefield" which most fantasy settings would produce when explored thoroughly can obviate many traditional tactics and practices - both offensively and defensively, e.g., if a squad/platoon in a lookout post is capable of producing even a single fireball their effectiveness compared to the Roman units described is multiplied significantly, exponentially compared to purely passive structural defenses. (Some of my comments here are interwoven with those in your . . .Mood thread - which I'm actually in the middle of responding in as I check this thread in reference and write this segue.)

[Nomadic]

I like it. Fits the style well and with magic here being a fairly well known and used thing (though not a highly powerful thing) it would likely find a place in guard duties.

[Nomadic]

The city of Palaoyr (Warning: large image)

The above is an overview map of the city proper. I am putting this out as an example of sorts to help show the layout of a UR city. Note that this is just the city, the actual city state is much larger. The land shown on this map makes up only about 1/9th of the entire city state and the city itself takes up less than 1/20th (the image would be over 3000 pixels wide if I were to show the entire state).

As you can see a key is included to help show what things are. The top key translates what the colors mean while the lower one labels prominent landmarks. Note that it only labels the most prominent landmarks in the city. Indeed there are many more trade squares and guild halls than shown (not to mention all the myriad shops and houses).

For the most part things should be self-explanatory but I will explain the more abstract locations if anybody asks.

[Ninja D!]

I was struggling trying to make a good city map because I was doing it a more normal way.  I think I may steal your way of doing it.

[Nomadic]

Yea I used to do it like that (trying to draw in every single building) but it is just too much to realistically do. What I do is create an overview like this. Then when I need a particular area drawn out I will draw out a smaller scale version listing lesser shops and prominent houses and buildings (and showing individual streets). The filler in between these is then listed as random houses. If the PCs go to one it then gets listed on the map.

[Nomadic]

Well the short blurb on farming has been finished. I have a few ideas on what to go into detail next but if anyone wants to learn about a certain thing just post and I will do my best to put it up (provided of course that it relates to the design of a Karrosian city-state).

[LordVreeg]

I am curious about a few things.

1) What is the relationship of different city-states to each other?  How far apart are they?  DO they consider themselves like islands in a sea of uncertainty, or are they scheming for resources?  

2) What level of development, technolgically and socially, are these city states?  Do they differ?

[Nomadic]

That is something I can get into depth with and I will in a little while. For now though a short answer on the matter.

Firstly the relations are varied depending on the state in question. Some form loose alliances and trade pacts with each other while others are off on their own and largely neutral. Beyond these two states of relation can also be found states of active war and hate in which city states will attempt to raid each other or slip spies into the others political structure. The hope as always being to disrupt their foes.

In terms of distance it is quite massive. Even the closest cities are some 200 miles apart (roughly a 6-7 day journey for a caravan). The longer distances (say Kaman to Palaoyr) are in excess of 3,000 miles in a straight line (and the actual length is even longer since most trade routes must curve around impassable areas). The longest land route is between Treist and Jonsrend and stretches some 6,500 miles (taking over 200 days on foot) passing through many cities on its way. Of course routes that long are rarely used unless there is no other way to get a needed good.

So then they could certainly be looked at as islands of a sort. They are self-sufficient sovereign states many hundreds of miles from each other on average. Resources fortunately aren't much an issue. The city states are far away from each other and have plenty of land to exploit. The reason they are so far apart is that because of the defenses required in a city and in the camps while it is being built only very certain locations are good for founding a new settlement. This has made for very massive and rare super cities instead of a broad scattering of smaller settlements.

As for technology it is different in different areas. It is both more advanced and less advanced than earth equivalents for such an area. In many of the iron capitols (Glensdale, Tituspeak, etc) you can easily get your hands on high quality armor and weapons (including advanced work such as plate mail) however you won't find printing presses in any city. It depends on a mix of local culture as well as the limits of magic. For example, the reason you will not find a printing press is because magic has taken over that job. You won't find a magic equivalent to plate mail though because nobody knows how to make magic as nearly effective a shield to blows as standard armor.

[Ninja D!]

I just read the bit on farming.  Short but very well done, as usual.