City Image *

1. City Image *

   #1

   Every city (or town or village) expressess its personality (or the cultural personality of its people) and its identity through its buildings, roads, and other pieces of engineering.
   
   You can tell a lot about the city by looking around and seeing what is there. A GM can use these bits of description to help set the mood of the place you are adventuring in.  This thread lists the various ways the city/ towns looks and perhaps why it looks that way.
   
   Note: If the given city does not have buildins, roads, and other pieces of engineering, like an Elven Tree City or a Mycorn underground city, they have things similar to them that serve similar functions.  Post those.

2. Antioch

   #2

   The buildings in Antioch are of what we would call a Neo-Tudor style. The exteriors are usually a white stucco, with some half-timbering (wooden beams embeded in the stucco, some for support others for looks. Other characteristics include high-pitched roofs (covered in slate), asymmetrical configurations, enclosed entryways, fireplaces with ornamented chimneys and chimney pots, and casement windows. This design is fairly fire resistant, easy to replicate, and used local materials.
   
   Most buildings in Antioch are two story, semi-detached town home affairs. They are longer than they are wide (usually a 3 to 1 ratio). This long and narrow town home design allows the largest number of houses to fill in along a street. There is seldom an alley way between the buildings big enough to use. The second story usually extends beyond the first, allowing for enclosed or covered entries in front and back. There is normally a tiny yard associated with the back of the house. The back of a house faces the back of another house. If there is a business in the building (which is usually the case), the business is downstairs, while the family and workers live upstairs.
   
   Many of the town homes have been broken into two apartments, lower and upper. There are places that just sell rooms of said houses, but they are only in docks area.
   
   A common variation for ventures that need more space is to create a court yard home. These are created by buying three townhomes in a row, knocking down the central one, and connecting the outer two. This is common for guild buildings.
   
   Almost every building will have a place for people to stay in it. Given the presence of star stone in the ground, elementals occasionally appear in Antioch at night. Most people do not like to travel the streets at night for any distance for this reason. Thus it is only polite to have a place for people to stay, even if it is just on the floor in back.
   
   The roads are a smoothed cobblestone, similiar in appearance to the Imperial roads. There are normally sidewalks made of a weak local concrete, giving a one and a half person wide space on the side of the road to walk on. The size of sidewalks may be the reason for the popularity of taxi carts in the city. They are faster and allow you to avoid being jostled by pedestrians.
   
   The roads here are also slanted to flow water to the center of the road. There are under channels in the center of the roads, covered by square masonry pieces with short gaps between them. Water flows into the center, down the gaps and into the under channel. Smaller streets flow into the under channels of larger streets, and so on. Houses are connected to this system by their own underchannels. This system works fairly well on Earth, and works better in Arth were there are no germs, only mold.
   
   The sameness of the buildings in Antioch over the centuries has two causes. The first is that the city was rebuilt from its last sacking by the Goblins 276 years ago. It was rebuilt using plans incorporating the most advanced elemental associations and building technologies. Since everything was built on a central plan, everything had the same look. Things that survived the sacking have frequently been torn down and appropriate buildings put in their place. The second cause is the preceived "way" of the city. Once people thought the neo-tudor look was the "way" the city should be, the people of Antioch made sure that every new building fit that way/ pattern.

3. Amar

   #3

   Often called a jewel in the Imperial crown, Amar is one of the most beautiful cities in the Imperium.
   
   StoneCrafting and BuildingSmithing are arts here. All buildings from the most humble to the most spectacular are things of asthetic functionality.
   
   All buildings here are stone, a native white marble, that is quarried not far from the city. The curved circular city wall of Amar takes best advantage of the stones appearance. The stone has a luster and partial opalescence that makes viewing the city at sunrises and sets (and to a lesser extend moon rises and sets) a spectacular view. Said stone is slick and resistant to things sticking to it (so dirt and dust slides off it), hence the "A" groove in building stones, allowing them to lock tight with no mortice.
   
   Most buildings here use the stone for their thick walls. Their roofs are normally flat, as the warm nights and beautiful make spending time on the roof a comfortable option. The buildings of the lower class, use reeds (and reed mats) over cross beams as roofs. These roofs are accessed by ladders. Buildings of the second and third tier of citizens have one to two story buildings with solid wood roofs. Those with pretenses, use the local blue clay to make deep blue tiles for the top roofs to mimic their betters. The fourth and fifth tier citizens have buildings made entirely of stone, with balconies, domes, and flat roofs made of stone, adorned with blue clay tiles. Local law prevents people from having homes taller than those of a superior tier, so the more noble the citizen, the taller their home... even if it is only with a spire.
   
   All but the poorest homes and buildings have attached walls which create a patio or atrium. The lush plant growth from the hot, but not too hot, temperatures here, allows a family to create a beautiful retreat as well as grow decorative fruiting plants. Some families have ponds with fish in these areas. Those fish are both decorative and edible, allowing for the freshest food possible.
   
   The blue tiles are made from the local clay. It is a brownish grey before firing, but after firing it turns a deep blue. Though used for roofs, the tiles normally find their way into houses on the floor. The floors of all public buildings and most home are made of blue tiles and small tile sized bits of the white stone. Most are arranged in a beautiful geometric pattern, but others use various colors to express pictures through the floor. While rugs are used, many people can not bare to cover up the works of art on their floor.
   
   Given the Amarian ideal of beauty has to deal with symetry and simplicity, the furnishings are fairly minimal. While the furniture can be artistically pleasing, there is normally less of it that one would expect given the wealth of Amar.
   
   There are no glass windows here. Walls are thick and high ceilings help keep homes cool. The occasional storm is normally brief and usually warm anyways. The humidity of Amar allows for lush plant growth. This combined with the Amarian love of beauty and sensory treats means plants are tucked in any number of places... high window boxes, wall sconces, open nooks in walls.
   
   The wide roads here are made from hexagonal blue tiles. The slight gaps in the tile allow water to drain slowly though them. They are often lined with lush plants and flowers. There are no sidewalks here, so pedestrians share the roadways with the occasional cart or rider. Given the generous size of the roads here, there is little conflict.
   
   Since much of the city is two stories tall, some of the public areas have sidewalks of sorts at that second level. These wooden sidewalks (board walks in the local parlance) provide some shade to those on the road below. Beautiful arched bridges connect these walkways over the roadways below.
   
   The city is beautiful by night as well. Hundreds of lamps are lit in the city, every night by young boys trained to the task, lighting every intersection and notable building. Add to this the light spilling from window, and the city glows well into the night. This night time beauty has only been possible in the last few centuries by the importing of Antioch Ball Lamps (circular globes with a nested smaller air pocket. The oil in the globe magnifies and distributes the light. DiVinci has a similar design).

4. Avon

   #4

   Avon is the southmost city state in Thirdland, built in a natural protected harbor. The climate there is colder and wetter than most parts of Thirdland, so the buildings are sturdier and more utilitarian than in Amar or Antioch even.
   
   Avon is a city more by Imperial decree than actual size or purpose. It looks like many of the sea side villages that dot the southern coastal region, just larger and with a city wall (two imperial strides tall) which it has yet to grow into. The walls do not enclose the water side of the harbor area. The piers jett out over the rocky shore lines into the water. Since Avon makes most of its living from the sea, there are nearly as many boats as adult males.
   
   The streets are packed earth with additional stones packed in. They get bog like in the spring and fall, but when the weather changes drastically, they become functional.
   
   Most of the buildings are tudor styled cottages (one to four room affairs), with slate roofs rather than thatch. This means they have half-timbering (some of which is decorative), steeply pitched roof, prominent cross gables, small narrow windows, and large brick chimneys. They are covered in an offwhite local plaster, with the half timbering showing.
   
   The larger buildings are tudor and neo-tudor in style, all with high pitched slate roofs. They may have overlapping gables, enclosed entry ways, parapets, and beautifully patterned brick or stonework. Newer buildings are taking their cue from Antioch, with asymnetrical configuarations (one side ligher/ lower than the other) and a longer, narrower floorplan.
   
   These designs are fairly fire resistant, easy to replicate, and use local materials.
   
   The only building of notes are the Imperial Hall and the Temple.
   
   The Imperial Hall is where the local clan/ guild council meets. It also holds the Imperial Gate as wel.
   
   The Temple is a huge affair, the size of a French Catholic Grand Cathedral. It has a sleep hall and a community hall as well. The clergy here supports the needs of all the Dieties of all tiers in one building. The beliefs here are more monotheistic, focused on Ge-Em than panthestic as in most of Second and ThirdLand.
   
   Note: If you had visited a fishing town in England in the 1900s, you might think Avon a city there. Until you saw the odd appearing MaskLanders and the furry folks. Avon is closer to Mask and ForthLand. Though the currents take one up the coast, many ships stop at Avon. Being so close to the plains and lost biomes, there are a proportionally larger population of them. The people here treat the non-peoples more fairly than others.

5. Norhold

   #5

   A Dwarven Holding contains a single clan lodge, holding 50 to 300 people of the same clan. Norhold qualifies as a Dwarven city, as it contains five clan lodges, and clan holdings (smaller places to stay) for the the nine other clans in the region.
   
   Norhold is of a moderate altitude in the second mountain of the GreyStone Range.
   
   There is an actual road that leads to the OutDoors of Norhold. It is packed earth with inlaid flag stones. It is frequently traveled by traders who truck in Dwarven Goods.
   
   The Doors to the AboveLands are of moderate size as these things go, twice a dwarf height (two Imperial Strides/ 8 feet). Each door opens to the side and out from the smoothed stone rock face. The doors are Bronze (thick coating) over Dwarven Iron. The Doors have a gargoyle motiff. The Doors have centered "growling grotesque" faces and the hinges are protected by coverings shaped like gargoyles laying over them.
   
   The main corridor is small and narrow, barely a dwarf height and a half wide. The stone is smooth and polished. There is no light to allow non-Dwarves to see. It opens into a much larger corridor (which you must pass down a set of stairs to reach... a defensive hold over). After ninety paces or so, one reaches the Main Hall.
   
   The Central Hall is the hub of the city. Dwarven Glowlights suspended from the ceiling bath it in a dull red glow. The walls and ceiling are decorated in the gargoyle motiff carried over fromt he doors. The floor is etched and inlayed, having a massive N (for Norhold) encircled by gargoyles in deep relief.
   
   The rest of the Halls, Lodges, and WorkHalls are under the Central Hall level. All the hallways off the Central Hall are either downward slanted or stairwells.
   
   Dwarven home life centers around main halls. Meals and social times are taken here. As things calm down, people sleep near the central fires. The very old, the newly wed, or very young (and those who have them) have accomidations off the main hall. The rest of the rooms off the hall are used for storage of goods and food.
   
   Most of the living areas are face side (the side towards the mountain side). While the floor is even and smooth, the walls are rough - in the old style. The hallways leading to the Lodges and the Holdings have gargoyle styled archways every twenty pace or so. They are of a darker harder stone than the native grey granite. There are always two gargoyles near the top, holding dwarven glowballs in their mouths. These places can be used to bracket a barrier, should fighting occur.
   
   There are five forge areas in NorHold. They are heart side (towards the center of the mountain). One of the forges is more of a workshop, taking softer metals for intricate work (since their own supply of soft metals has dried up, the metals are imported.) The rest are good sized, supplied by the mines below them. There is a butchering area near the forges. As creatures are brought up from the mines, they are processed there. In addition farms are in the off tunnels of played out mine spurs.
   
   There are two waterflows through Norhold. One is used for drinking water, the other is for air. (Dwarven technology moves all the air from a forge or Lodge through a stream of lighted water to remove impurities and oxygenate it).
   
   
   This is one of the few Dwarven Holdings in these mountains not protected by a flock of Gargoyles. Their gargoyles died protecting the city door from invaders. The Gargoyle motiff was installed after that night in their honor.
   
   Normally, I hate Tolkeinesk dwarves. But that is why I choose them as a challange to myself.

6. Anorrus

   #6

   Anorrus, capitol of Marcosia, lies along both sides of the mighty and wide Rhenus River. It's wall is octagonal in shape, with eight guard towers on each side of the river. There are a pair of gates in each side of the wall. The western gates are the Castus Gate and the Aelestus Gate. The eastern gates are the Crow Gate and the Theophilion Gate.
   
   Anorrus' buildings are mostly of stone, local gray granite and plastered riverstones, or sandstone. Distinctive black-and-white lightning marble brought in from the Thunderclap Mountains is also seen in the wealthy homes. The Mithraic style, an architectural movement begun by the temples of Mitras, favors squared-off, single structures with small large windows to allow the sunlight to flow in. Anorrus does not get as much snow as many other Marcosian cities, so its roofs are not steeply-pitched. Many older structures are roofed in the famous red tiles, imported from Arcturus, though the expense of those is such that newer structures are often roofed in wooden shingles. This style is very popular in Anorrus, and most structures are built in this style. In the poorer structures of town, there are tenements constructed of timbers and plaster, which are prone to burn down.
   
   Anorrus has much-wider streets than any other city in the Armorican Kingdoms, and is famous for this. Streets are wide enough for two ox-carts to roll abreast. The main streets are paved in thin blocks of granite, while the less-important fares are riverstone, or simple dirt. Market streets are packed-earth, scattered with straw. Streets are slightly bowed, higher in the middle than at the sides. That way, garbage, sewage, and water flow down into the gutters, which generally don't go anywhere, and the sewage and garbage decay together into a rotting soup of hideous character.
   
   Most of the Anorrian city is two stories. Some of the poorer folk dwell in wood-and-plaster tenements that may be three stories. But the tallest structure in the city is the High Hallow of Mitras, which is constructed atop a high artificial hill.
   
   At night, the streets remain unlit, except where the owners of houses or private businesses have hung lanterns. These are infrequent, since wicks and oil are expensive, and the lights are often stolen.

7. Gaslight

   #7

   Gaslight is a city-state of the Byzant Empire. Nestled among the hills, it was once a simple trading post between the horse breeders on the vast plains, and several small Dwarven Kingdoms-in-exile (moved to escape Hobgoblin persecution in what is now the Kingdom of Formour). Gaslight is now well known for the feature that earned its name: the multitide of gas-fed street lanterns. While surveying the area for mineral resources, the Dwarves had discovered a pocket of dangerous and highly flamable gas directly underneath what is now a growing city. Knowing that the pocket would be safe for millions of years, barring an unfortunate and severe seismic incident, the Dwarves were unconcerned. That is, until the growing population meant that the Humans needed to drill deeper for water...
   
   The tapping of this pocket could have been potentially disastrous. Not only is the gas highly flamable, but it forces breathable air aside. Fortunately for the inhabitants, the one who breeched this bubble of hazzard, was one Akaviah Surtsblood, a Dwarven technomancer. Surtsblood's idea was simply to create a controlled burn, possibly connected to a new forge for himself. It was a Human alchemist of Surtsblood's acquaintance, Malchia of Al Biqa', who suggested using the gas for a lantern (Al Biqa''s original idea was only for Surtsblood's home & workshop, with a very large lamp above). Al Biqa' proved invaluable in helping Surtsblood in gaging the exact fuel-air mixtures needed for maximum light & safety, with minimum smoke & soot. Akaviah Surtsblood's workshop still stands; its thick iron domed walls containing the redundant pressure regulators that prevent disaster, and pipe the gas to the various lampposts throughout the city.
   
   Disasters of the past have occurred. Some of the older buildings still bear black marks from the last incident involving rampaging flaming destruction. The citizens of Gaslight are now quite content with the series of safety measures in place currently. While it is illegal to tamper with the lanterns, some citizens emplaced coloured lenses over the clear glass to give streets or neighbourhoods a distinct tint in the light. In some lesser areas of the city, those homeless or otherwise very poor huddle around the green-painted poles, trying to cook from the heat rising from the shielded tops.
   
   The lamps are lit day and night, and are tended to by the lamp guild, on exclusive contract to the city-state's government. Their job is to ensure that no leaks, blowouts, or pressure irregularities occur. Since the multiple redundancies and guild have been emplaced, there has not been any incidents. However, the inhabitants still do not build wooden structures. Even street vendors are likely to be seen in a stone or tile hut, or none at all. The citizens of Gaslight are a pragmatic folk, while they feel safe--and love the lights--they feel that having wooden roofs & walls are only inviting disaster.

8. BlueFord

   #8

   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?board=26.0
   If you want the background behind this.
   
   This Kerrenese town is of classic design. It's strong walls surrond the Cluster on three side, a large rocky cliff side closes the square. It is not too far from the river, in fact on the occasions when it floods the walls act as a dyke protecting the city. The walls are not as high as some cluster's, but nothing too large lives in this region.
   
   The buildings are of the classic square adobe and plaster style (echoing the Cliff Dwellers of the SouthWest). They are of one to two stories in height, asymetrical in roofheight (one side is one story, the other is two or one and a half). There are ladders on the roofways, to facilitate travel up and down the roofs. The buildings are washed white, but the light tan of the local clay and plaster mix makes everything a beige. The logs that are used as roof support jet out from the plaster as a decorative touch. On some of the older buildings, the logs have been carved with a dragon motiff and painted with the local Warren colors (HighBlue's Skyblue and River BlueGreen). Certain homes have put a light blue wash over their white, just to be different.
   
   The Streets and Pathways are narrow here, even by the Kerrenese standards. The streets are paved with river rocks and shale, with pathways being packed earth. Most people take to the rooftop paths, lightly leaping the very short gaps that present themselves.
   
   The cliffward buildings are higher in altitude (and number of stories 2.5 to 3, instead of the normal 1.5 to 2) than their riverward counterparts. From the roofs of these buildings, one can just make out BlueFord's counterpart cluster on the other side of the river valley (BlueHill).
   
   BlueFord has two sets of stairs that lead up from it to the Warren. The HighBlue warren is of a good size, with three full wings of Ryders for the entire Blue Valley Ward.
   
   On a flat plateu that forms the roof of the Warren, is the tourney grounds. It is too cold and windy to be inhabited most of the time, but when the BlueValley tournament occurs, visitors can see the entire course from its vantage point.

9. Assalus

   #9

   The city of Assalus is surrounded by a sea of deep green life. It surrounded by jungle. It requires magic and/ or constant attention to keep the roads clear to and from the city.
   
   There are no city walls here, just a large arch at edge of cities on the incoming roads. The jungle and GeoMancers here are all the protection they need.
   
   Buildings come in two types, square and sturdy or tall and round. All the buildings are made of the same dark gray stone. These stones look slightly mottled, but it is just spots of mold or litchen that are growing on them. Most of the roofs are made of, or trimmed in, a red stone. This red is the only trim color one sees on the buildings.
   
   The square buildings just look massive, with their thick walls and heavy details. Flat walls are often given bas relief murals upon them (some of which take advantage of the moss that will grow into the deep parts). The doors are heavy, round, and made of stone. They are rolled into and out of the doorway inside the building. (keeping small children and most women inside if a man does not assist them). The roof is often trimmed in red, and there may be a rooftop garden or patio upon them. Some of the larger square buildings have small towers upon their roofs.
   
   The towers are round and have the same doors. Their roofs are almost always "Domed" with either a full round dome or a flattened dome. Many of these towers will have either windmills, ether catchers, or cisterns on their roofs as well. Wind, water, muscle, and magic are the only power sources here, and if you are not a GeoMancer, wind is prefered.
   
   All the buildings are large, at least as tall as the jungle trees around them. Any windows here are high up in the buildings, as they have no glass here. Smaller buildings are assumed to be easily swallowed up by the undergrowth and are not built.
   
   One can believe that they may be swallowed, because every area not paved or built upon has ferns, bushes, flowers, and other wild plants growing up in them. So there is a lush green garden between almost every building. If there are only a few plants, it is because someone trimmed them back recently. And the paving has to be maintained constantly, as anywhere there are cracks, green appears.
   
   The city has no planning and the builders here do not believe in straight streets or a four way intersection (only three way ones, Ts or Ys). One has to meander to get from one place to another, often times using the tall buildings and towers to navigate from one place in the city to another. No one seems to mind this, at the comfortable pace of living the locals have.
   
   It is near impossible to determine what is a used for from the outside or even by general area. This technique is used to confuse any strangers or any wayward spirits that might haunt or curse a place. So a house is next to a shop, next to a water tower, next to the High Temple.

10. Keepr

    #10

    Keepr is a unique city, built upon a tall standing rock spire. This keeps it up above the floods, the worms, and the other "issues" that occur at ground level. People came here to acquire the resources this region has to offer, despite the dangers. Years since the first came, this base camp has become not a village or town, but an actual city.
    
    The city, when seen from a distance, has the appearance of shelf mushrooms growing on a tall rock outcropping. The stone is a light golden color of most of the large rocks in the region. At sunset (and at a distance) the spire is said to be quite beautiful.
    
    As one gets closer, one sees the various round extensions made of the dark greyish hardwoods of the area. The outside of most sections have patio and verandas. There is no glass in the windows, only blinds drawn as needed. Nothing dangerous flies in these parts, and the cooling breezes high up help fight the stiffling temperatures of the region.
    
    As one approaches the base of the spire, the first thing noticed is the keep walls made all the way around the base. These are tall walls of large wooden logs supported and reinforced. There are gates dispersed around the keep walls. Water levels permitting, they are guards out on the walls to let people in and keep the local issues out.
    
    Two thick round stone doors can bar the entrance to the city. As one enters the large cool stone hallway, relief from the heat can be felt. The floor is smooth from all the use it has gotten. The entrances to all the various hallways off the main corridor echo the round pattern of the entrance stones which are rolled into place.
    
    The hallways here lead to either storage hall areas or hallways that lead to stairs to higher levels. No one lives at these levels. There are no businesses at the base beyond the buying of collected things and the storage of said thing for later shipping.
    
    There are lifts here, but only those with money to spare can afford to use them for personal use.
    
    As one rises in the spire, one reaches the Old Camp area. This is an area of outfitters, bars, foodmakers, and crafters. The walls that face the hallways here echo the building fronts of other more civilized areas. There is light here from occasionally posted lamps (with ventilation coming from a number of water driven fans). It is dark, smoky, and musty here, despite the plants brought here.
    
    Above Old Camp, the shelves begin. Shelves are generally accessed from hallways carved from the rock. Some have stairways along the outside of the spire, a few have ropes, which allow you to get around withouth entering the spire.
    
    Each shelf is circular in general shape, either a half circle or three quarter circle shape, with main supports fanning out from the spire benith it. Inside a shelf, the corridors are either straight spokes, or round rims. The rooms inside them have a round half arch shape, (like a piece of pizza slided in half widthwise), and a general area of 400 to 600 square feet on average. Rooms on outside blocks are bigger than ones on inside arcs. Some of the larger rooms have been subdivided over time, as families, groups, or businesses have taken them over. Interior rooms get light from either lamps or skylights. (Usually each shelf has two or three rim hallways, thus two or three blocks of interior rooms, with one larger block of exterior rooms).
    
    All the exotic woods here are stained and polished to a metal smooth degree. The older the shelf, the more likely it has some intricate carved details, as older shelfs have had more time to be worked on. The floors and ceilings are the local common wood, strong, easy to dry, and becomes a nice dark gray with a little work. The walls here are thick resin hardened woven mats strung tight between supporting wood beams, occasionally reinforced with timbers. The reason for the mats is to save weight. Some people use similar mats on their floors to protect them. Doorways are normally sliding wood panels.
    
    Plants are a decoration here. There is a huge variety of plant life around the city and not all of it has "complications". A few domesticated fronds and flowers adorn the area. Not only do they make the area more beautiful, but they keep the air nicer.
    
    The looks of the rooms is generally Balinese or Indonesian. Dark beautiful woods, woven mats (but ours are hard as a piece of thick plywood), and open feels. The woodwork is exceptional here, as their business is exotic woods and similar materials.
    Need help visualizing? www.indo.com/ services/garisbali/ or
    www.bali-hotels-special.com/ hotels/tanjungsari/ or
    www.bali-hotels.co.uk/ Villa_Canggu_Indonesia.html
    
    Most shelves are a mix of sleeping areas and business spots. (Any business or craft that requires fire must be performed inside the spire.)
    It is all ramshackle in approach, making finding things difficult even for natives.
    
    A few major business people even own entire shelves as their private domains. They serve as housing and office space for their goods. If only one owner has a shelf, they are the law there.

11. Thierry

    #11

    The City of Thierry is colored (literally) by two key beliefs of the city people (who are literally one step away from their tribal ways). The first belief is that the color red is the color of strength, prowess, and courage. The second belief is that the Darbeast (an aggressive, omnivorous, herd orriented, mastedon like creature with a huge tusks) is the creature of great spiritual power (and the totem animal of their successful WarLord).
    
    Cosmetic additions aside, Thierry would be an unremarkable place.. a wall city of stone, plaster, and wood, poorly constructed. The walls are thick and made of rough quarried stone. The local stone is dark grey. Since the stone is roughly hune, there are many places that are unplasterable. The wood is softer than most woods, but still usable as a reinforcing support. It is used to make flimsy doors and shutters as well. The plaster is one step away from a mud adobe. It is unskillfully splattered in many places. The roofs here are mostly thatch and plaster combined to make a multiple adobe like roof. It is strong and fire resistants. It is a left over from the tribal construction. The shape of the buildings here, which are roughly round, is also a left over from the buildings of their tribal days. While many buildings (normally important ones) are square, the others are round or ovalish. The streets here are unpaved, but since there is little rain, it is not a big problem. The city folk here are only two generations from their tribal state, so the city is simply a copy of what they had conquered in other areas. So, in some ways, what they have created is quite remarkable.
    
    A red tint is added to most of the plasters here, as well as some of the paints. This color creates a muddy red, the entire range of the color of blood. Many walls, roofs, and most trim on the houses here the reddish color. Some enterprising folks have crushed the plaster pieces up as a gravel, creating some brownish red pathways.
    
    The presence of tusks, and wood carved to be tusks, can be a bit "scary" for people new to the city, until they are used to it. Tusks and horns adorn everything here. They are used along the city walls as decoration and defense. They are used as rails along walkways. They are used as "crowns" (clusters of round upward pointing tusks) on the top of important buildings. Horns adorn lentles and doors. The few towers have two horns sticking out of the sides at the top to emulate the beast.
    
    The Darbeast's face is frequently carved into doors used as a pattern for doorframes. Buildings have them cleverly worked into their design, so windows are eyes, butresses are tusks, and mouths are doors.
    
    In no place is this more expertly done than in the five story tall royal palace/ main temple step pyramid the dominates the center of the town. If seen from a distance, each of the four sides present a Darbeast face, with the mouth being a massive doorway/gate. As one gets closer, the large faces become harder to make out, and smaller repetative versions of Darbeast faces make up the walls. Inside the plaster has Darbeasts carved in relief. It is all in an attempt to appease the beastspirits and to harness their power.
    
    All in all, it is an odd place to be.

12. PlaceBetweenSunsetandFalls or Anshenestardaywadaden

    #12

    Nestled between a plateu and a river that soon leads to the sea, is the Elventi city of Anshenestardaywadaden or more literally Place Between Sunset and Falls. The land is somewhat warmer than most Elventi places, a nearly tropical setting. Cascading down off the plateu is the magnificent "sunset falls" (the falls face directly west and the end of the minor valley frames sunsets beautifully), a 200 foot fall. It leads to a small pool which spills out into the river. There is a slight valley here, with hills on either side of the small river, which soon flows to a snow white sand beach and the ocean.
    
    All along this "river" is an Elventi city. Like all Elventi cities, it is protected by an invisible dome of magical force, which mutes most of the inclement weather and averages out the temperature inside. The large trees on either side of the river are HomeTrees. HomeTrees are a cross between an Oak Tree and a Redwood. While it is not an evergreen and the leaves will change color in the winter, it will not loose every leaf. These large strong trees are magically scuplted. Rooms and stairwells are created inside burls inside trees. They look totally organic and grown. In actuallity, they are. Every now and again, branches hold "tree huts", small huts camoflauged by branches. The huts are used by the young who have not yet earned a more respectable place inside a tree. Trees and places are connected to each other by bridges made out of woven branches. You would never notice them, if you did not see an occasional Elventi cross them. The city is quite new as Elventi places go. It only has four levels of city, including the ground.
    
    This city has no purpose other than being beautiful. Anshenestardaywadaden is a riot of color, between Elventi magics and the near tropical climate, there are hundreds of beautiful flowers here. Some have been grown to give off a soft glow in the dark. This makes the city beautiful day and night. There are no specific crafts or resources here. There are fish being raised in little marshes that disguise the pens and argiculture embedded in the natural valley plants, but only enough to feed the population here and a few guests. The city is a place of waiting. Almost every sunset, a number of Elventi make their ways to the falls to see the sun set. The founder of the city, the most elder Elventi here, once saw a perfect sunset while standing on the falls. He invited others to wait here with him, waiting for the next one to occur. Thus the city was born. There have been seven nearly perfect sunsets since that first day. Each has been celibrated in poetry. Once another pefect sunset is witnesses, this city is mostly likely to be abandoned... as waiting for a perfect sunset is just a diversion for a century or so.

13. Chedru

    #13

    The city of Chedru is one of the strangest Elventi cities in existence. It echos the traditional giant HomeTrees and catwalks between them of “normal” Elventi city. Yet there is no forest here. The Elventi were deposited here, far from the green trees and mountains of their traditional homelands. The mechanism of this travel is not discussed by the Elders.
    
    The area around Chedru is warm, dry, and rocky. Grasses and Mushrooms were the only plant life here, and the mushrooms were only along the riverbank. Using their knowledge of Elventi Enchantment, they adapted to this new land.
    
    Chedru is a city of giant Mushrooms and bamboo catwalks over a wide and slow flowing river. The Mushrooms take the place of HomeTrees, mystically shaped trees that serve as Elventi homes. These mushrooms are the size of redwoods and three times their diameter. The Elventi line in and along the stalks of these giant Mushrooms. There are rooms carved into stalks and under the caps of these mushrooms. Along the stalks they have made “shelfs” of bamboo. These shelfs stick out like a shelf fungus on a tree. Some of these shelfs are open air patios, others have “grass huts” built into them. While there are HearthStones here, they are rare and only used for cooking. It simply is warm enough here to not need home heating. Each extended family has one HomeShroom, and others are used exclusively for storage, craft work, and future considerations. There are 80 HomeShrooms in Chedru.
    
    These HomeShrooms are connected by a maze of bamboo catwalks. (The “Bamboo” was merely a marsh grass when the Elventi first got here). They are stretch incredible distances across the watery expanses, supported by delicate rope strands intricately woven together. The patterns of the weave are visible only from a distance. Each walkway is railed, unlike most Elventi walk ways. There seems to be no good reason for it, just that is how the first one was, and all the rest followed that example. Along each railing, there are blue glow ball lamps.
    
    The presence of Glow ball lamps along the walkways, and in the underside of the Homeshrooms (creating a overlight effect), make Chedru a City of Lights. The Elventi adapted the local glowbugs, trapping their essence in orbs, for illumination. Each one puts out a gentle white blue glow. (These are very different from the highly magical and difficult to make greenish MageGlobes that illuminate most Elventi cities). Since they are able to easily and quickly make glow balls, they are everywhere here.
    
    A side note: In the Evenings, many blue glowbugs flit around the city, attracted by the blue glows of the GlowLights. Some of the bridgeway designers have taken advantage of this fact. They have placed glow balls and scent pots in their woven bridge supports. The glowbugs are attracted to certain strands and illuminate hidden patterns at night.
    
    Floating at the water level of most HomeShrooms are ring walkways. Fish pens and river fronds are walkways. They are only reachable by rope ladders that are easily pulled up. There are certain animals that would climb up on these rings and up any stairs for a meal. Thus they are only accessible by their rope ladders.
    
    The Elventi do not have any water craft of their own. They do not know how to make them, but they are aware of their existence. If there was no bridge, someone would have to swim to shore (a difficult task given the distance).
    
    There are only three bridges from Chedru to the riverbanks. This is how the Elventi hunting and gathering parties, and the rare traders, reach the lands about them. While they are guarded, they can be made to break and fall apart by the guard on the city side pulling a single cord.

14. Ageos

    #14

    Ageos is a good sized coastal city. There is much traffic in and out of it's long and narrow bay. The long arm of Ageos (which forms the bay) is rough and rocky, formed by large rocks rolled down Ageos's main feature. The only building on the arm is a tall light tower.
    
    Ageos is build around a small estuary that feeds into the bay. The Givan river is not broad or deep, but it is fairly swift most times of the year.
    
    The buildings here follow the same general design. They are all rectangular, paralell along the streets or paths. Most are two stories. They are all washed with a yellowish white plaster (proof against the erroding power of salt) and topped with red tiles. The windows are square and glass.
    
    The streets are narrow and roughly paved. The weather is mostly dry, except for the morning fog, so it is seldom a problem. The streets are parallell to the coast, as most of the streets are squeeze in between the great rock and the lesser ones.
    
    Ageos's most striking features, and the basis for its name, is the huge rock that serves as the backdrop for the city. It is a giant rock, a significant part of a mountain that rolled down the Givan valley before the time of Elventi. It is roughly shaped like an egg. It is some 80 imperial strides tall and 50 strides wide. It is not a cliff, it is obviously a rock. The estuary runs a dozen or so strides to its left.
    
    There is a large tumble of rock, which for a loose cliff to the other side of the estuary. The tumble runs along the coast as well. These two sets of rocks and the bay sandwich the houses of the city.

15. City Image

    #15

    Medhar, the City that hides.
    
    Settled two hundred years before, the people were fleeing war and tyranny. Establishing a comfortable existence in the fertile, but empty valleys, they soon learned who the lands belong to. A mighty dragon called only Death, came and burned the city to the ground, and later again, and again, sending with fire also his (hers?) evil laughter and shouts of pleasure at the destruction. The survivors did not wish to leave, and decided for a new strategy.
    
    Architecture:
    The whole city is built low, and from high up practically invisible. Many trees, particularly fruit trees, cover the walkways, creating a permanent shadow. Most houses are wide, with thick walls and cellars sized for the whole family, if necessary; grass is grown on the roof. Most walkways are covered with cobbled stone, tree roots deform them in many places.
    
    General mood:
    With all the wonderful nature around, the danger is a part of living here. The locals are no-nonsense types, serious and careful. It is remarkably quiet here, unlike in most towns of similar population (on the other hand, it is more spread out). Even the street vendors do not offer their wares with shouting, they address potential customers with a calm voice, and cut back on the praises. Some dwarwes seem to favour this way of selling. No light is allowed outside after dark.
    
    Economy:
    Intense crop farming is limited in size, so fruit trees, and herding are the main sources of food. The sheep have excellent wool, it is processed into fine clothing, in high demand far and wide. Because of the irregular streets, goods are transported in two-wheeled carts, ponies or their owners pulling them. Caravans stay on the towns' border only.
    
    
    Outside features:
    There are still several ruins of former cities, mostly broken down, but left to remind of the lesson. Soon after Death's visit, a new Potemkin village is built, with fake houses of wood, to make them burn better. The young and curageous run amidst the burning houses in panic, to appease the dragon's lust for destruction. Some fools occassionaly still try to kill him, and die in the process. The large herds of sheep also stay visible, to attract the dragon, let him feast and leave soon. So far, the dragon prefers to come back every 6-8 years.

16. Payan - City of the Priest Kings

    #16

    Payan is an ancient city that covers a huge area (40 some square miles), with over 4000 Temple and Religious buildings.
    
    All the permanent buildings here follow the Payan pattern:
    For Temples, they are square step pyramids for the first few levels, with a flatten dome topping it. Upon the done is a spire which can add a good 15 to 25 cubits (2 feet) to the height of the building.
    
    For Religious buildings, they are square for the first few levels, then are topped with the flat dome and a spire which is 10 to 20 cubits (2 feet) tall.
    
    All buildings here are made of the local redish brown stone. There is no paint or gilding on any of these buildings. All of the various statues and carved relief murals that decorate the temples and religious buildings are made of the same stone. The statues and murals are painstakingly carved representations of the many (many, many more) gods, avatars, saints, and holy animals found in the payan beliefs. These statues cover almost every free square cubit on every wall and spire.
    
    The inside of the buildings are simple in design and function. They reflect the simplistic and asthetic views of the Priest Kings. The furnishings are simple and of wood. There is no painting on the walls. Few lamps deflect the gloom. The only exception to this is the main quowan (main temple chaple). In the Quowan there will be a huge statue of the temple's diety, and will be surrounded by statues of supporting avatars, saints, and holy animals. The carved relief murals will tell the story of the diety. The inside of the Quowans are the only area as "busy" in visual appearance as the outside of the temples.
    
    Any other structure on the holy ground will be a tent. Here monks, visiting priests, travelling pilgrims, magistrates and nobles, and a few traders, will live for their time in Payan. Since the weather is quite nice, though occasionally wet, the tents suffice. After all, Payan culture says one needs to transcend the material world.
    
    See http://www.worldisround.com/articles/5471/photo9.html for a view of the city

17. BroadMound

    #17

    http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?board=26.0
    If you want the background behind this.
    
    The underlying terrain of the city defines it. It is a large, broad mound. It is 30 meters tall, and 120 meters in radius. It was carved out by iceflows millenia ago. The rest of the area is fairly flat and somewhat marshy.
    
    The cluster is not perfectly Kerrenese, not being against a cliff or rocky outcropping. It does hold the highest ground for a good kilometer or two. The city wall extends beyond and around the base of the mound. It is fairly thick, five meters tall, and curved as it rises to prevent certain climbing saurians.
    
    The buildings are plastered adobe, with the traditional square shape and extending beams. They are all built out from the mound. They are of one to two stories in height, asymetrical in roofheight (one side is one story, the other is two or one and a half). There are ladders on the roofways, to facilitate travel up and down the roofs. The buildings are washed a briliant blue white. The logs that are used as roof support jet out from the plaster as a decorative touch. Mounders tend to hang colorful streamers from these posts. There is a complicated code of colors and lengths that communicate the achievements of the occupants of the house.
    
    Many of the buildings above the top of the wall have large ballista like crossbows on their roofs. Just to deter the very persistant jumper or saurian.
    
    Broadmound actually builds into the hill as well. There is a warren like area inside the hill for clusterfolk. It is where most of the economics of the city are held.
    
    The path up the mound is a spiral. Enterprising people who don't mind being rude, can go straight up by climbing up and over people's homes. The spiral road is narrow by western standards, but there is very little space on this mound.
    
    The Warren occupies the top three spirals of the mound (and all the hill inside there). It is a small warren but BroadMound is not a big place. It only supports 1 full wing and two broken wings. The broken wings are made up of people who have no place of their own, being between assignments from wings that have desolved for one reason or another.

18. Silver Gate

    #18

    Silver Gate is built behind a natural harbor upon six and a half steep hills. Behind the city, and a few miles away across a grassy and occaionally marshy plain are the foothills and mountains of the Platan Ridges and their silver mines.
    
    The buildings here are built long and narrow, stacked upon each other, creating a tiered effect up the steep hills here. Most of the buildings are two to three story affairs, with a three to one length to width ratio. The upper stories extend just a bit beyond the first story, creating a sheltered porched/ entry area. Residential buildings ften fill these areas with potted flowers.
    
    Most of the buildings are Para-Tudor in style. The exteriors are usually a white stucco, with some half-timbering (wooden beams embeded in the stucco, some for support others for looks. The roofs are high-pitched roofs covered in dark clay tiles with an asymmetrical configurations. There is no "one style" for Silver Gate. So many of the houses have colored stucco or lose the half timbering and take on a Spanish Revival look. No mater what the facade, all the buildings on the hills are stacked next to each other.
    
    To the south a small town of affluent mannor homes is being created. Eventually these areas will all merge into one bigger city.
    
    The most distinctive feature of the city is The Clamps or People Cars. Inspired by the rail system used by the mines, people and things are moved in big semi-enclosed cars up and down the hills via rails set in the streets. Under each rail is a cable system. Each People's car or "Clamp" has a clamp that hooks the car on to the cable and pulls it along (up and down the steep hills). At the top of each hill is a Car Stable with a windmill and a set of horses (for when the wind is not blowing). Here cars are stabled and power provided for the system. The Clamps are free to natives, and a penny to non natives.
    
    There is talk about creating a Clamp system between the mines and Silver Gate. If nothing else, there will be a Clamp track between the fine homes to the South to Silver Gate

19. I have one... I really do...

    #19

    But it is not working out. I have actually deleted the partial posting twice.
    
    So why don't any of you post one. This is not a "history of the city"/ everything you need to know kind of post. This thread is for descriptions of the city's buildings and key features. You would be suprised on how much about a city you can learn by just hearing the buildings and key features described.
    
    Most of you have thought up one city for your world. So Do it.
    
    So close your eyes take a deep breath
    
    Visualize the front gate...
    
    Visualize what it looks like when you go through....
    
    What is next? ... describe the city's appearance... sounds... smells... textures..
    
    What do the people look like and what are they doing?
    
    Move through the city and keep describing what you see.
    
    After you have been a tourist in your own city... This what you should be telling your players as they walk through the city.
    
    Once you are finished... come back here and write your own City Image or discuss all the neighborhoods in your own city in the Neighborhoods thread.
    
    It is so darn easy.
    
    If you need help with the vocabulary... how to describe what you see... do some google searches for architectural terms or historical architecture or some combinations of the above. Or you can find a writen description of a real city like your city (or one done by an author of a fictional city) and use that as the basis for your post.

20. Bayaallatalstonescha

    #20

    This is not the idea that has been giving me trouble above. This is a new one, as the other one just does not want to be done.
    
    Bayaallatalstonescha is a beautiful city. That by itself is not saying much, as all Elventi cities are beautiful. Bayaallatalstonescha is called beautiful by Elventi, one of the few places they actually apply that term to. It is on level peak on a tall mountain not too far from the shore. In fact, on a clear day, one can see the ocean from appropriate places in the city.
    
    The hometrees of the city are enhanced Redwoods and Sequoias. To say they are tall and large does not do them justice. No hometrees are larger and thicker in all the Elventi world. While they do not spread out like other home trees, they are quite tall... ten to fifteen levels are quite common, rather than the standard three to six. (That is to say they have ten to fifteen "floors" where buildings are nestled in their large branches, huts are snugged to the outside bark, and rooms are nestled into the trunk itself, and other tree shaping spaces, including branches that serve as paths, rope pathways, and the occasional stairs).
    
    The HomesTrees are built to emulate a redwood cathedral, where a nearly perfectly round meadow exists where the now gone central tree has spawned eight to twelve offspring around it. From the internal central ring, there are five other rings outword. Each ring has younger and shorter HomeTrees (who's growth is slighly arrested to make sure you can still see beyond the city from every ring).
    
    Most of the Key Paths are circular, two for each ring, with occasional branch paths linking the rings. Of course you could walk along the ground to reach the center of the city, but then you would find the hidden traps that are both well crafted and cunningly effective.
    
    There is one stone arch at the edge of the city. The stairs that rise up from it are guarded. It is the only way in or out of the city with known safety.
    
    It inner ring of the city is lit by many directed Glowspheres, the light dimming slightly as the night goes on. There is an occasional Elflight spread through out the city at night as well.
    
    The city is nice, such that it is. The very center of the city... the center of the cathedral is what makes it special. It is a tower like no other in the world.
    
    The Base is a grey black stone, two maybe three levels tall. It is circular and wider than the widest redwood based HomeTree, some twelve Elventi across. It has a few runes, reminicent of HearthStone inscriptions. Extending from the base, some seven levels up, is a column of blue water. Inside this water are living fish, otters, seaweed, and an entire ocean ecology. So skillfully was it created that it takes no magic other than to slightly warm the water (and lighting it slightly during the night) and keep it in place, to maintain this aquatic forest. It was created to pay homage to the great living bay just off the coast that can be seen on a clear day. Those of the first few inner rings vye for locations that a glimpse or view of the livngskyshea or beautiful blue tower.
    
    (In modern terms, the center tower is an aquarium some sixty feet in diameter and one hundred feet tall).

21. Pier Point

    #21

    The city of Pier Point thrives even more then most cities on trade. The entire eastern side is devoted to the docks and to housing the poorer dockworkers, and at all hours of the day and night one or more ships are normally being unloaded. The houses are almost all of wood as it's cheaper then stone.The richer people tend to have houses of rare mahogany, walnut and pico-tree, whilst the poorer make do with the local elms. The chimneys are nowdays built of stone after the Great Fire of Pier Point that burnt down almost the entire city over four centuries ago. The markets are also located here. Most of what the city needs is brought in by ship and traded for.Without trade, Pier Point would begin to starve within weeks.
    
    After the Great Fire pipes were laid that channeled fresh water from the nearby River Nine down channels set in the streets, and by law everyone is supposed to have a bucket in their house to use to help put out fires, and most people keep to this law, as otherwise it might one day be their house which burns down. The water also serves as their water supply so everybody has a personal intreast in keeping it clean.The gurgleing sound of the water runs through the whole city. Torches are frowned upon and instead people use globes of softly glowing mori rock to light their houses and districts, both on the tips of hand held staves for personal use and in large fixed wooden lamp poles.
    
    There are many colours of this rock and each has a different meaning. Red is used to mark the "red light" district of the city where prostitution is allowed. Amber is only used in a few lighthouses out at sea and serves as a danger signal.Yellow is used in most residental districts.Blue lights up the markets and the docks, whilst purple indicates the richest areas of the city.
    
    The whole city is built on a grid system. The further west one goes, the quieter and more peaceful it is as the markets and docks are in the west, and the more expensive it is to buy a house there.
    
    The main building of the city is the Admiralty, a fine stone building with the symbol of an anchor chiseled above it's oaken gates. Here, the Mayor has the title of Admiral, and each ward of the city has it's elected captain who is supposed to keep down crime, keep trade going, the water supply clean, and to put out any fire that endangers life and/or property.Outside is a gallows to punish any convicted murderers, pirates, or arsonists. Officaly order is kept by the blue-coated Admiral's Guards, unoffically by the secret society of the Anchors. But in fact most people are perfectly friendly with each other and serious crime is rare.
    
    Whilst it is part of Vandersil, because it brings in a lot of money in trade, Queen Yocasta is kind to her subjects and people can normally grumble without being executed for it.

22. Bronzalia

    #22

    Bonzalia is a city on a site that has been inhabited for many, many centuries. Since earliest times, it has been known for its metal work (copper and bronze specifically) and this shows in its architecture. Its love of tradition also shows.
    
    The city wall is circular with nine gates oddly spaced around it, each road that exits it leads either to the mines in the nearby hills or to another city site (which are either a trading partner, ex-trade partner, or a port).
    
    Though all the buildings are square or rectangular, the plastering rounds every corner. Stairs leading to buildings are all low and rounded, puddling around the raised doors (done so to avoid oh so pleasant large rodentia that inhabit this region). The building corners, both on top and bottom, have such stacked molding puddling around it (so it is stacked rounds of increasing size). The rounded edges are both decorative and give the rodentia less purchase to climb up on.
    
    Towers, or two or three story stacks of smaller floors, are a common sight in the city. Bells are often installed in uppermost parts of these towers (both to beautify them, signify wealth of the house (as only the wealthy could commission a bronze bell), and to be rung to scare away evil spirits). The roofs in the city are normally thinly beaten copper (though some bronze is used) mounted to the actual roofing material. Given a variety of mixes and the frequency of roof polisher visits, the angular peaked ribbed roofs vary from shiny reddish copper/bronze to a full green copper patina. The roofline is a symphony of harmoneous metalic colors mixed with similarly colored smokes.
    
    Outside Doors (and many older inside ones) here are always rounded upon the top, creating an arch effect. This is a hold over from an earlier peoples who lived on this site.
    
    Windows in the city always come in sets of three. They are narrow and rounded upon the top. They always rise slightly from left to right. This inspiration comes from the ancient arrow slits, the size of the old horn windows, and the lack of skill of the early local glass makers who could only make smaller pieces of window glass.
    
    Any iron worked accessories of the city have a copper paint covering them.
    
    All the woodwork in the city is of a local wood that becomes dark when stain/ sealant is applied. Copper or Bronze flakes are often added to the wood treatment to give it all an enhanced sheen and echo the metallic look which is so prevolent of the city

23. City Image

    #23

    The City of Walkabout Creek is based within the only pass in the Mountians of Quartz. All around it is a sixty foot wall of solid but perfectly clear quartz. Looking through it is like looking up through the most pure water you can think of. The houses are made of Milkey Quartz, as nobody in their right minds wishes to live in a see-through house.The windows are of clear quartz and are very hard to break.Inside the houses there are tapestries, curtains and carpets made of the skins of buffalos, giant trapdoor spiders and wrappers.The rest of the furniture is traded for with the many traders from other cities.The worst that a fire can do(apart from causing death & injury) is to burn all the furniture in a house.
    
    About half the population works in the mines, quarrying not only different types of quartz but also diamonds, which are traded for food, furniture, and all that the city needs. The diamonds have to be given to the Mayor and City Council, but the miners are paid well for them in silver coins.
    
    To the West is the Bushland National Park, a region teeming with game.Limited hunting is allowed but only with expensive permits, or if an animal kills a human or makes a real nusance of itself.Game hunters pay large sums to be allowed to hunt in the region, which helps to pay the mine workers.
    
    The Ruddy River runs through the city and water is piped using windmill power to people's houses.The sewage is dealt with using other pipes and other windmills to maintain suction and is dumped into a volcano which is a mile away.
    
    To police the mines and the National Park there is a large force of Ranger Police. One in every ten people is a policeman, to keep the smugglers and poachers in check.This has it's good side however as crime within it city itself is low.Despite a high Ranger presence and hard labour without pay in the mines as the punishment for poaching, poaching still happens.
    
    The Council Chamber is the only building made of wood-black ebony, wih real glass in the windows.

24. City Image

    #24

    The Imperial city of Malcaresh
    
    At the heart of the Dhargenaas continent lays Malcaresh the northernmost city of the Southern Empire of the Careshi. Originally it was an independent trade nexus; it became the first focus of Imperial military aggression.
    
    The result is a huge city compromised of two vastly different building styles. The original buildings from seven centuries ago have not been torn down, for the Careshi value art, architecture and history above anything else. While symbols of national pride and importance are not allowed in the conquered nations, local ingenuity and cleverness is encouraged and praised among the Caliph Governors.
    
    When approaching the city by the river one would notice its huge brownish red city walls and the numerous minarets soaring above the roofs. One would also notice the impossibly tall Clock Tower of white marble and a huge bridge with statues of majestic men along the rim.
    
    Originally the city had fortifications of brownish red stone and interior buildings of white plaster covered bricks. These buildings are most carefully maintained, although the plaster is coming off some of the buildings located in the Old Quarters. These buildings are square shaped, as are the fortifications. Some of the Old Quarter buildings have an undeniably romantic feel with red tiles, white plaster and small forested gardens surrounded by 6 feet tall brick and plaster walls. In this section of the city, the cobblestones cover the streets and the brownish red city walls divide the area into small enclaves. Connecting these are small arching city gates whose portcullises are lowered between dusk and dawn. Only those with night passes can travel during these hours, so the Old Quarters see little festivities and night life.
    
    In the Old Quarters live the descendants of the original population and they still retain their unique clothing and way of life. Their original language is forbidden and its use is punishable by death, yet still it is being taught in damp cellars and dusty warehouses. Gauthians they call themselves and they walk with a strong sense of personal dignity and an air of superiority. Their clothing consists of sandals, togas and cloaks and they prefer to wield the broadsword if it comes to battle. A favourite pastime of the Old Quarter citizens is the gathering in the plentiful local cafeterias and eating vegetable dishes with feta cheese and olives. In addition they love board games and Badish is a game akin to chess that is often played outside the cafeterias.
    
    Close to the River Firien is the Dock District. Here the local ferrymen wait to bring passengers up or downstream and here the is the Bridge of the Fourteen Caliphs, an architectural masterpiece displaying statues of the Fourteen Caliphs that have ruled the city since its capture seven centuries ago. Local fishermen make their base in the Dock District and thus the beaches are crowded with hundreds of small dinghies that have been pulled ashore. And every day at six in the morning, the fish market opens in the dock quarters, and servants from all over the city hurry to buy the very best for their lords.
    
    The buildings in this area are more ramshackle than elsewhere and the Dock District is indeed the city slum. There is no cobbling on the streets and often the poor erect their tents and crude shacks on the smaller streets. The city guard cleanses the area once a week but still the shacks return just hours after the guards are gone. The nightlife is notorious and no sane man parties here without a few strong friends and a sharpened sword at his side.
    
    Of particular note in the Dock District is the old Temple of Aahr, the god of time and death. It is a clock tower whose bells strike only at midday and midnight or when a funeral is held within. The tower walls are of a white rose coloured marble, and all corners of the hexagonal building has a statue protruding from each of the twenty floors. These statues depict humans in the varying stages of ageing. The poor are not granted burial within the catacombs of the tower, but once a week the priesthood sends forth their acolytes to perform the ritual mass burial in the slums.
    
    The Imperial Quarters are dominated by huge avenues and streets which are often the scene of military parades and religious festivity. This is the primary area of Imperial architecture and the use of red bricks is predominant. As with all Imperial architecture, details are important and every arched window is decorated with delicate mosaic edges. The use of cobblestone is predominant except for the main avenues, where mosaic tiles cover everything and surround the base of the majestic birches that has been planted with regular intervals all the way from the South Gate to the Palace of the Caliph Governor. The mosaic patterns are not detailed, like those you find on the windows and indoors, but they combine to create a beautiful wholeness along with the architecture and trees.
    
    The Imperials themselves favour Bedouin robes with deep hoods. Every male Imperial will be armed with at least a curved dagger and the sons of the rich will carry scimitars and round shields. Soldiers wear chainmail while the officers have the added protection of breastplates and steel gauntlets and helmets. The Imperials do not mix with the original Gauthian population, but there is no longer any hostility either. The Imperials favour horse races and there is a tremendous pride involved with the ownership of horses. The Malcareshian horses has a reputation to be incredibly fast and exceedingly beautiful.
    
    At the heart of the city, on the Twin Hills of the Lord, one can find the Palace of the Caliph Governor. Here the minarets soar above the domed palace sections and the locals tell of the hundred gardens of pleasure, where the Governor plays with his harem all night long. In this palace rests the academy of the curved sword, whose swordsmen are among the finest of the land. And here one can find the Imperial Theatre where bards and musicians, actors and artists gather to outperform each other.
    
    The city of Malcaresh is filled with charming locations and is more known for its open and friendly population than for splendid military parades. But as the frontier city in the ongoing war against the enemy from the north, they do have a large standing army. Trade has suffered ever since the declaration of war two years ago, and thus the city has seen some decline from its former position as the nexus of Caravan activity.

25. Canvas City

    #25

    During most of the year the nomads of the Bushlands wander in small groups, seeking pasture for their animals and food for themselves, over a vast area. But during the coldest three months of the year they come together for warmth and to trade with each other and pool supplies if things get really cold.
    
    Outside Canvas City is a wooden wall of stakes that is seven feet tall.Horses will not charge such a wall,and nor will any dangerous animals on the plains, and it also keeps out the troublesome who break the rules and the downright dangerous. Half a mile away downwind are the latrines where people must go to releave themselves.
    
    Within the city the tents are spaced in blocks with streets running between them like a military camp.At the centre are stalls where the trading is done and a central firepit sunk into a whole in the ground.Whilst normally the nomads have no need for police, in the city it is different with so many strangers all crammed together, so the Tent Police, who wear blue armbands and headbands and carry clubs,keep order, and make sure that all but the guards who take turns to man the walls hand their weapons in to a central point.
    
    Criminals are beaten and expelled from the city, and murderers are burnt alive in the firepit, but in practise there is very little crime, and only about one murder every decade.Partly this is because there is very little difference between rich and poor amongst the nomads.
    
    Near the centre of the city is a great gong of brass that takes three people to ring it-this is for use in the most dire emergency should they come under attack, and summons a great Brass Dragon from his hills to the west.
    Since they have been feeding this dragon with a tenth of their flocks for decades, he has a personal intrest in keeping his "tenants" alive.So far they have never had to use the gong.

26. City Image

    #26

    Kaldarien
    
    History
    The city of Kaldarien is a major port on the Isle of Wildenmeer, often called the isle of the twin duchies, and is the capital of the southernmost duchy; Wildengreeve. It is from this city that the aging duke Valefinazzio rules. His benevolent government is a boon, a blessing even considering the grim years under the Dark Prince’s rule. Fortunately those days were ended by the tip of Valefinazzio’s sword some 35 years ago.
    
    Today Kaldarien is a bustling port, ships around the world often display the dark green and orange banner of Wildengreeve and its sailors can be found in most dockside taverns anywhere on the globe.
    
    Originally the city was a pirate’s shanty town built upon the five small isles that lie close to the southern coastline of Wildenmeer. Due to the fact that it is an ideal natural port, besides lying at the mouth of important waterway river Laro, it boomed into a prospering town and a nexus of several important trade routes. Eventually the pirates were driven away, its importance could no longer be denied, and Prince Leothon the Torch declared it the capital of the Principality of Wildenmeer. Eventually the town grew into a city, and houses were built upon the shallow water as there was no more room on the islands.
    
    Description
    When approaching the port city by sea, one would find the northern horizon dominated by thousands of dots of light at night. At daytime most first time visitors marvel at the fact that almost all of the houses are built upon brick or wooden pillars in the water.
    
    Most of the important buildings are located on the five small islands. The largest island, Citadel Isle, is where the highest ground can be found, mere 100 feet above the waterline. Here the Citadel is located. Formerly it was renowned for the Prince’s dark dungeons, but nowadays the orange and green banner of Valefinazzio is proudly displayed all the way from the barbican and up to the very gates, a comforting reminder for the elderly that the days of darkness are long gone.
    
    The citadel houses the city watch and the Duke’s own guard, the Orange Pikemen. During the days of the Dark Prince, the Orange Pikemen was the band of renegades that fought alongside Duke Valefinazzio against the oppressor and their deeds are legendary. Most often they are confined to citadel duty, but when they enter the streets on the winter and summer solstice masquerades, the population cheers and howls. Old men and women begin crying, remembering lost ones and honouring the deeds of the Orange Pikemen, and young women run up the handsome guardsmen offering roses as a token of romantic interest. Indeed it is a mark of accomplishment for a family to get their young sons into the Duke’s Guard and
    retired Guardsmen are awarded an honourable treatment and discounts in the city.
    
    On Temple Isle, the main temples of worship circle the Temple Plaza. Here the pious gather to worship on the quarterly mass when all the Arch-Bishops and Patriarchs gather in the entryway of their respective temples. The religious leaders of every deity then collectively sing the Hymn of Divinity, a solemn praise to the Gods and their creation. At the end of the song the crowd joins in on the praise and the song can be heard all the way up to the Citadel where the Duke can be seen listening on his balcony.
    Noble Isle is the place where old money and established nobility has built impressing mansions of marble and brick. Angelic statues and fabulous fountains is commonplace while the nobility here actually have small gardens surrounded by walls and fences. In a city where space is extremely limited, such luxury is rare.
    
    The city surrounding Noble Isle has in later years become a fashionable place to live. The nouveau riche and younger members of nobility make their homes here and the hottest location is Adel Canal, where exquisite mansions front the waterway. Here several outstanding establishments have appeared, catering to the rich and noble. It has become custom for the Gondolas filled with masked nobility to end their summer and winter solstice procession through Adel Canal at the fashionable festhall “Lady Caroussa’s Winehouse”, a huge mansion partially surrounding a small square. On the western side, the square fronts the canal and here the Gondolas are emptied of the partying young nobles wearing masques.
    
    Another landmark is the Sunken Quarter. This is a Quarter commissioned by the Facchini brothers and built with extravagance hitherto unparalleled. Unfortunately the décor and huge buildings proved to heavy for the supporting pillars and the entire Quarter crumbled and collapsed into the sea, taking a couple of bordering buildings along. Today this is called the Sunken Quarters and rumours tell of the Sea Hags curse. Beneath the Sunken Quarters dwell a hag it is said and she will not tolerate men nesting above her submerged lair. While the rumour was ridiculed at first, a number of strange incidents have happened and willing investors can no longer be found, leaving the Sunken Quarter to remain as it is. This is most fortunate for a local band of smugglers who has taken to using the uppermost levels of the ruins as their base of operations.
    
    The black crematory is an edifice soaring above the northernmost exit of Merchant Canal. Resting upon massive pillars, this building is administrated by the clergy of Aahr. Here the black robed acolytes and priests labour all day long, cremating the deceased citizens of Kaldarien. Two specially designed narrow canals, called the Canals of the Dead, run straight beneath the building and Black Burial Gondolas are pushed and prodded down the Canal and subsequently hoisted into the Black Crematory. While the rich gets beautiful ornamental Burial Gondolas filled with flowers, the poor are gathered and sent into the Crematory in plain black Gondolas 20 corpses at a time.
    
    The Great Nunnery is a landmark that gets a lot of visitors. Erected near the docks, this convent is surrounded by a huge garden filled with bushes, trees and flowers of every imaginable kind. The Nuns of Ghaunar, the God of Earth and Fertility, carefully attend the Garden and the brown robed women can always be found tending the plants, even at night. It is a favoured spot for the first dates and young couples can be found on the benches, staring at the canals, the moon and the lantern carrying nuns of Ghaunar.
    
    There are several more landmarks of note. The teeming Merchant Canal is the centre of local trade. The docks are where the huge merchant fleet has its base of operations and the Glassblowers Isle is where the important Glass Industry is centred. The Duke’s Armoury produces some of the best swords to be found and the River Quarter is where the River Guild has its headquarters.
    
    
    Inspirational picure for the poorer parts of Kaldarien:

27. Silver City

    #27

    The first thing you notice when you step through the gates of Silver City, is the stench that grows worse the closer you get to the Silver River that runs through the city.It is the stench of urine and excrement and decaying matter, the stench of many thousands of people crammed together. Normally a city of this size would have some kind of sewer system to get rid of the waste, but it has none.
    
    There are no broad streets that run through the city, instead there are only twisty alleys only just big enough for two people to pass,and a newcomer to the city will find it hard to get anywhere.The streets are hugely crowded and minor brawls are common.People occasionly die in these brawls,despite the fact that anyone caught carrying a weapon in the street and convicted gets five years in prison by the stinking river, where the stench is at it's worst.
    
    There are no districts. The mansions are surrounded by the huts and hovels of the poor.Tall twisty towers reach high above the city.The Silver City Police wear the green clothes of Rangers and carry batons and swords.
    The city is full of dryad beggars, once proud, regal and well fed, now half-starved, sick and poor. For a golden coin any dryad will tell you the story at great length, of how the city was founded and how the whole area used to be a National Park of outstanding beauty,patroled by Rangers who got on well with the dryads.
    
    Then the hated witch Regina cast a spell of anti-fire which got out of control and burned for three days.Fire burns, cold-fire freezes, but anti-fire builds,
    killing those caught in it by turning them into statues.At last the Rangers and the King's soldiers managed to put the fire out, but the damage was allready built.Unable to go elsewhere the dryads were reduced to beggars.
    Looking at the city even from far away, it is easy to see how it got the nickname of Whathephuck.

28. Carnous

    #28

    Carnous is the famous Boardwalk city, built upon the toxic lands of the wastes. Here the land is slowly corrosive to the touch, causing illness with prolonged contact. The bubbling sulfur and ectomass pools are especially lovely, if you have the right asthetic. The soil is soft and any heavy object slowly sinks. if it was not for the special resources here (dyes, alchemical elements, resins, grimrock, vinner glands, etc), it would be a place that no one would come.
    
    Carnous is a wooden city that is never stationary. All the buildings are wooden, built upon wooden platforms. They are usually one story, but there are a few two story buildings. There are boardwalks and bridges (wood and pitched ropes) that connect the various platforms. The longer the platform is in contact, the more likely it is to fall apart. Thus the older parts of the city are not that old, as the truly old part have collapsed into the soft soil, first being rubble, then a green globby mass. The City Pilot, the head councilman, keeps plotting a new course... where new buildings/ platforms are built in that direction.
    
    The local woods are blond in color, quite flexible and light. (Local is an approximate, it is wood from the edges of the toxic lands). In the end, all buildings here are temporary. Though you would never know that given the craftsmenship invested in them. Door frames, Frame beams, and Roof Trims are intricately carved. Various clans in the city have their own distinctive patterns, so you can tell ownership of the building (or at least who built it) by carefully looking at the patterns carved in. Interior walls and some exterior ones (for less secure buildings) are made of thick laquer paper to save upon weight. The presence of these translucent walls helps "light up" the city at night. One would think fire would be a constant danger here, but the resins used to preserve the wood from the corrosion help to make it fairly fire resistant.
    
    There are airship docks and Verner/ Giant Wormish pens spread along the edges of the city. These are the only safe entrance and exit ports for the city. Walking or riding a normal beast is not an option here. In fact, the cry "Soul Overboard" will galvanize every native to action, gathering ropes and vaulting on poles out to the person in an attempt to save them before the soil claims them.

29. Punampu

    #29

    Punampu, who's inhabitants call it the Anciently Dignified and Resplendently Aged City of the Punampu, was originally a very large and splendid city, the capitol of a forgotten kingdom, which, in age, has declined to a somewhat less grand state.
    Punampu lies in the midst of a vast, foetid swamp, the home of strange alien vegetation, foul airs, and a most unpleasant group of semi-human raiders who call themselves the Frog Lords. Trade in and out of the city is facilitated by a raised causeway that leads to the edges of the swamp, where it joins more conventional routes. This causeway, like much of Punampu is now fallen into disrepair- after all, if nobody comes down the way, what is the point in fixing it?
    Punampu's character is now grown squat, grey, and decayed, much like that of its inbred population. The city looms upon a low mound (called the Mound of KhrQu after a long-forgotten hero), built of ancient, hexagonal blocks of stone. The walls are crumbling and were long ago stripped of the splendid painted murals of its elder years; the ancient domes and spires, collapsing and filthy with bird-dung and fungus, are barely visible above these cyclopean edifices. The main gates of Punampu are missing, but as any Punampuni will tell you, they were made of solid gold and studded with jewels the size of a fist. Punampuni maintain the rather insane belief that Punampu will someday be restored to glory.
    The streets of Punampu are winding and narrow; the grey and mossy ancient structures of the town overhang them like leaning corpses, gutted of all innards. The Punampuni dwell in the remnants of these great halls, huge vaults, towers, domes, and ruined palaces, gleaning a living from scraped moss, fish from the marshy pools in the foundation of the city, and bits of ancient baubles found in the dust, which they trade to each other in attempt to get more than the common share; invariably, this fails.
    In the center of the city is the monumental megalithic Fortress of Qhesh. This impossibly ancient, cube-shaped structure was fashioned from some gleaming black stone, so smooth that the fingers skid from it, and no mark can be made. There is a deep pit that encloses the Fortress, and none have entered it in the memory of the Punampuni.
    Punampu's mound is slowly sinking into the marsh below it, and every day, the foundations of the city gain more and more water. In some of the lower regions, one can find marshy ponds in the smashed pavement and dirt thoroughfares, and strange marsh beasts sometimes roam the alleys, among darker things which climb from the endless catacombs beneath the city.

30. Bridgedale AKA The River Wall

    #30

    Bridgedale is the most magnificent walled city in the Marches. It is a sprawl on both sides of the Nargwal. The city continues to grow outside the city walls. The inner cities on both sides have three walls with the river closing the square. The walls are tall structures of masoned riverstones. The same multicolored round stones are used in almost every building in the city.
    
    There are four wide bridges here, tall enough that river boats can pass under them. The first and last bridges are defensive in nature (though some traffic does pass over them); the center two are wide and thick with traffic. The center two actually have small shops built along the sides, some hanging over the edge of the bridge (seemingly precariously balanced)
    
    The two outer bridges give the city its common name. These bridges are massive and tall. The side of the bridge facing the outside world is much like a castle wall. Between the various pilings (pillars from the base of the river bottom supporting the bridge) are porticulli (gates). The Portculli are large enough to reach the deep bottom when lowered, explaining away the tall bridge housings where the winches and portcoli go during the day. There are still weapons of war on the RiverWall bridges, though neither pirate nor invading army has dared risk an a river assault on the city in nearly a hundred and fifty years.
    
    The buildings in this town are one to three stories tall. Most have a halfwall of stones (all dredged from the river), with paster and timber walls built on top of them. Even the few stone buildings have riverstones used as a decorative finish on a low wall or are used as trim pieces.
    
    Roofs here are all stacked red tiles. There is no easy to access shale here, so the style found in other areas nearby were adapted to local materials.
    
    All the wall are tumbled stones as well. There seems to be walls everywhere in Bridgedale. The old city is a maze of buildings and walls. The new city continues that traditions. It is easy to get lost here.
    
    The roads are also riverstone, though not as smooth and as clean a stone as those used for walls and houses. The roadstones are generally flatter and less round than the ones used in walls and buildings. There are no sidewalks here, except by the docks were boardwalks are present. It is only the presence of morter that shows you where the road ends and the wall/ building begins.
    
    One word of caution is stay off the streets in the rain. There are few places for water to drain away to here. The city is mostly paved. Thus all rain in the streets drain down to lower streets and into the rivers. In a quick hard rain, one can find oneself washed into the rising river. (The city both inner and outer has a drain system used for waste water and toliet water). The river rises and threatens, but has never flooded the town in its long history.

31. Barrowtown

    #31

    Barrowtown grew up in the area that was a Royal Necropolis. At first it was a ramshacle place built with anything that came to hand, apart from the stones and earth of the royal barrows. Those that tried were slain by the wights within them.It was noticed that the wights would slay any criminals in their area, not just those that disturbed their barrows, and so traders and merchants came there and slowly the city improved. The houses were built of wood from the nearby forest. Pico-wood for the richest citizens, and oak for the middle class.The poor who cannot find a menial job as servants are moved on by the Barrowtown Constabulary.
    
    By day the city is as busy as any other, by night nearly all people stay indoors. Mori rock is used to light houses as torches are considered a fire risk.
    
    In the centre of the city is the Barrowtown Market, famous throughout the continent for it's size and splendour.Anything legal and certain illegal things can be brought here for the right price.Some of the magical books are of black magic, amongst some of the spices are forbidden drugs, and assassins mingle with the crowds looking for someone to hire them, although they rarely kill anyone within the city or the Barrow-Downs, because if the city guards do not kill them, the wights almost certenly will when they try and leave the city.The wights know a lot of what goes on.
    
    Everyone more or less knows what they can and can't do in the area.Traveling along the roads is fine, going near the barrows is not.Once Queen Yocasta sent an army to try and take the city but they looted a barrow on the way and the wights came out en masse and slaughtered nearly the whole army.

32. Chelokhan

    #32

    Most people assume The Marches are a broad flat plain, maybe with a few low hills. In the Northern parts, there are a few mountain spurs (very small chains) that creep into the plains). It is fairly hot here, like in most of the Marches, but the winters are dry and cold.
    
    Chelokhan is nestled between two close mountains (north and south, with plains to the east and west). These two small mountains have a number of valuable mines honeycombing them. Like all of The Marches, the signs of multiple ownership show through, as there is no one over themed style but a mismash of Eastern, Western, and Souther building styles. The houses are mostly white, but there are a variety of earth tones added to their paints and plasters. Most of the buildings have a red clay roofs just because of the clay deposits in the nearby river. The tiles are in a variety of styles, some even emulating shake and shale roofs.
    
    Chelokhan has three distinctive features besides being between two mountains. The first is The Skycart. At the foot of either mountain there is a well travelled large mine entrance. In fact there are many stalls and carts selling things in that long entrance shaft. At the end of the shaft, there is an elevator which brings one up to the platform. Strung between the platforms on both mountains, a good twenty feet above any building in town, is a strong metal twine. The wooden skycart which will carry about 15 to 20 people based upon weight. It is pulled to and fro between the platforms by a Grantz that turns a gear. The Skycar has a canvas roof to allow its use in slightly inclement weather. It can afford someone a great view of the city and really is the fastest way across town. It is practically free, being only two pins (small coppers).
    
    The second is the Cinemal, a large open air theater (or very small colosseum depending on who you talk to). Built here by the Scallians to help ensure their claim here before their civil war, it has become the center of civic life. It can hold a good 2/3s the current population of the city. Here plays are performed, public debates are held, exhibits are presented, and the occasional duel (private or sponsored) is held. (Remember dueling is allowed here, just not sponateneous duels).
    
    The third is the small Underground community here. There is a strange polyglot of deep dwellers here, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Goblins all united in their desire to live underside. They have put aside cultural and political differences here, realizing that they have more in common with each other than with the topsiders. The Underground is a fairly new area, so it has little in the way of artistic and craftsmen flairs one would expect of an Dwarventi tunnel or vault. The entrance to their community is off the entrance to the Northern Skycart. It is a small community, but a strong presence here in the city.

33. Cheza (city) Betaze (17)

    #33

    To really appreciate this city image, please check out the Necron first
    http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1798.0
    
    Cheza Betaze is the 17th Nekron urban area found in the Northern Cascades. The reasons why it is the best known of all Nekron cavern cities is that is has an easily accessible surface entrance/ exit which is just off the main Cascade trade trails. Being of recent construction in a time of prosperity, it is a city the Nekron feel proud off.
    
    The entrance to the city that Lightsiders come from provides a spectacular view of the city, being it enters the cavern some ninety strides up from the floor. There is a steep and winding trail that leads down to the city floor. The trail from the cave entrance was excavated out, but is used for mushroom farming and as bat warrens. It is currently being widened, as it was not created to handle the amount of traffic it does.
    
    The buildings are tall and square. They are large edifices of large block quarried stone. They can be up an unheard of ten stories tall. Each building has a uniformed one window every three strides or so. The upper corners of almost all the buildings and all visible lentels are all decorated by master craftsmen. The main theme here is bats (being a several large bat warrens in this area of the cavern system). There are bat heads in fierce repose, bats rampant, bats seemingly flying, and the occasional bat like garoyle lurking on the rooftop looking to swoop down at any reason.
    
    Many of these squarish buildings are linked by bridges, walk ways really. Used to living in a three dimensional environment, and with seemingly no fear of heights, the Nekron can traverse the city quite quickly despite its size on any number of levels. Some of the decoration on the underside of the bridges is both frightening and highly artistic. Spiders are their dominant motif. The scenes are admusing to the Nekron despite their sometime horrific and graphic depiction of being being eaten. (It is some kind of social commentary that you have to know the history of the place to get).
    
    There are also a few mobile disks that float through the air, carrying Nekron up and down between levels and along certain paths. These marvels of magic are somehow tied to the three dominant towers in the city.
    
    The buildings and their decorations are dramatically under lit by the odd harsh purple light that the Nekron seem to favor. While normal light occasionally peers out of a curtained window, most of the light here has that purple cast. This choice in lighting adds to the macabe feel of the city. It is also what makes it hauntingly beautiful.
    
    The four most striking buildings in the city are the City Center and the three magic towers. The Civic/ city center building is a series of blocks, smaller blocks built upon larger blocks below them. Each tier houses a different aspect of their local government and has its own entrance. All the doors here are flanked by two statues of fierce Nekron warriors, much suits of platemail flank doors in castles. The Civic center is lit over every square inch, the reflected light illuminates the ceiling of the cavern.
    
    The tall three magic towers are beautiful. Different from the square blocky buildings, they are round and tapered. They are made of a mix of stone and glass, allowing one to see what one supposes is the "flow of magic" inside the tower. (There is also some kind of spinning mechanism insides the towers, which empowers an artistic chandalier in the rotunda at the bottom of the tower). They are topped with silvery sphere. On those spheres perch large bat like gargoyles artwork, once facing each of the cardinal directions. Those gargoyle's eyes glow with a bright purple glow.
    
    A horrific, but beautiful place to visit.

34. Sodius

    #34

    Sodius is The White City, known for its White Gold - Salt. Its tall white walls and buildings jut up from the small rocky cliff which serves as the city's foundation and out on the small peninsula on the coast. All around the city are shallows which are blocked from the sea. There the water evaporates leaving the salts. (The city and the flats are protected from the force of the Ocean Proper by a raised rocky bar). It is the largest city on the coast without a good port.
    
    Given its (minor) altitude above the water and the fact there is nothing else around it, Sodius stands like a glistening white beacon in the sunlight and an oddly glowing spot in the sparse seaside fog when viewed from the sea or a good distance. Sodius is enclosed in a triangle shaped wall, point of the longer end of the triangle faces the sea. The buildings are plaster and adobe so common to the region. Many reach three stories. Given the odd shape of the city proper, many are trangular or trapazoidal in shape. The original walls enclosed an area vastly larger than needed, and the city has slowly grown to mostly fill it. Despite the trade and the wealth, there is only so much population this city can support with its lack of immediate farming/ fishing. So while the city is filled with white gold, it is not filled with people.
    
    The White City grew up from a small camp where locals would come, scrape salt, and go home. With the influx of people along the coast, a few wise men (now rich men) built a fort that would become a city here. Knowing their wealth was based on salt, they made the walls and buildings here reflect that. All the plaster on the outside of the buildings is white, usually with small bits of salt added to make everything sparkle. The fairly flat roof lines of the adobe buildings are tiled in brown clay indiginous to the region. The only things breaking up the square and flat skyline of the city is the windmills.
    
    There are several salt mills in the town proper, as salt scraping are brought up to the town from the fields by workers with carts. The Mills are powered by the winds, which thanks to the sea is ever present.
    
    There is always a number of caravans and the occasional small merchant ship in town. The inns and taverns are very full and very lively. The flow of salt out of the city and wealth/ goods into the city is constant. Everyone needs salt, so even the lowly salt bearers are well paid in comparison to other bearers. The salt trade flows along the coastal roads to both the people and the better harbours there. It also flows to the large coastal valley to the north, where the Beef produced there is dried with it.

35. Calanderas

    #35

    Calanderas is a beautiful city of hills, a tight cluster of hills. It has a long and complicated history, all which can be seen in the city streets. Yet it is not for the buildings that it is beautiful.
    
    The tallest hill, called "The High Point", has an Old Imperial Fort. Being the highest point for a days travel, it has a commanding view of the outlying terrain (the scatered trees and the vast farm and fields) and the two great roads. The stones were quarried from quite a ways away and brough here by Imperial soldiers, over their 90 year rule. The stone temple like structure and its courtyards are surrounded by stout low walls. While much of it is in disrepair, it is still magnificent in its size and column design. The parts that are not in disrepair are being used by the current territorial govenor and the fifth which is assigned there.
    
    The Old City is boundried by the Old Trench Wall and the second ring hills. The old trench wall, nor the original trench with sharp sticks is there. The only betraying clue is the dip and off colored ground that runs the rough circumferance of the old city. The Old Imperial Laws prevented the village from being close to the fort, so it grew up on the low hills. The village developed into a town over the time of occupation. The buildings here are traditional Low Imperial with a small scattering of High Imperial. So most of the buildings are one to two stories, squarish, wedged tightly together, with one to three families living in the various apartments. The streets were designed to be so narrow that only a single man, not a horse warrior, would be able to pass. That way the village served as a defensive wall in its own right. The few High Imperial buildings are the traditional bath homes, as well as a small circle theater and a tiny race track.
    
    In the times of transition, the grip of Imperial law was weakened while the Orcen tribes and rebel Imperials ran rampant. The new city needed to be inside the actual walls constructed at the trench. The outlying colonists pulled in towards the fort and built homes and businesses here on the hills between the Old City and the Fort. The roads are a bit wider, but they are steep and constantly switching back and forth along the hillsides. The alleys are frequently stairs, shortcuts between the streets. The houses are much the same as the old city, but taller, narrower and with more windows (since a glass smith must have arrived around that time).
    
    As times have changed and the barbaric has become the civilized, the outer city, the colonist city, has sprung forth. In actuallity, the Outer City has officially expanded several times, each time in an approximate ring. As the property inside the city wall increased in value, those who were poor or new to the city found themselves living/ working outside the walls. (The stock and tallow yards have always been outside the walls). As these new "colonists" developed outside, new walls were built to protect them. The streets were wider than in another part of the city and the occasional home with a garden atrium was built. The roads and alleys travel at odd angles and do not always link up with other streets outside the its ring. There are a few odd segements of wall standing, as the old wall is mostly canibalized to make the new wall, and a few parts are left behind for various reasons. The current breed of colonists (as opposed to OldCityfolk) are currently building a new wall to surround the growth from the last fifty years.
    
    It might be noted that people seldom paint their outside walls. They use a white rough plaster. The city should be tired and boring, but it is not. Calanderas is one of the most beautiful cities in the world not for its architecture, but for its wild life. The city is a wild riot of color for most of the year, as greens and colorful wildflowers cascade down the roofs, gutters, and walls. The local vines harbor other plants that are seldom seen on the marches. Most walls are half shaded by vine walls of flowers, growing from the top down, rather than ground up like in other places. Many roofs have become gardens due to the vines and the flowers. The scent of the city is similar to a high garden or tropical jungle. While it causes many newcomers to have watery eyes and sneeze, it is a source of pride for the Colonists and the Cityfolk.
    
    
    To learn more about Treller Vines:
    http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30832#30832

36. Sand City

    #36

    It is strange to have a city between two towns, especially when the two towns were there first, but such is the way of Sand City.
    
    Sand City is nestled between the two principal towns in the Blue Bay: Carlita and Mozana. Carlita is a mixed Elventi - Imperial settlement. Here graceful hacienda styled homes (with rich families), flowing hometrees, and an old (is there any other kind) Imperial fort coexist in harmony. Mozana is a fishing village just becoming a town on its own. It is a working town that took its cues from the adobe haciendas and their garden boxes of Carlita on a more realistic scale. Here, among the sea marsh, the Sea Clans claimed the land. No one who was not a sea clanner could live here.
    
    Carlita and Mozana, though smaller, are the only settlements on any map of the area.
    
    Inbetween the two was Sand Town. Here the poor that worked the nearby farms (owned by hacienda families), at the haciendas as servants/ workers, and did scut work for the sea clans at the cannery, lived. The massive sand dunes stand between Sand Town and the Sea. The wind was constantly blowing sand inland and into the buildings here. The buildings of Sand Town started as shacks, but the weather destroyed everything that was not adobe (clay brick) and plaster construction. The style of buildings here could be called more huts or cottages rather than hacienda style. This has not changed over the near century of habitation here.
    
    Over the years, more and more people moved to Sand Town. For the last seventy years, there has been more people living here than in Carlita and Mozana (and Mozana is not that small) combined. More businesses were centered in Sand Town (each one marked with a garish sign). With more businesses came all the structures of a town and city (Guild Councils, neighborhood rings, etc). Sand Town soon became Sand City just because of its size and complexity.
    
    The ground here is a mix of sandy soil and slightly dry marshland. The streets here are boards imbedded in the ground, with raised wooden sidewalks lining the streets and linking houses to streets. The wood has a worn driftwood look because of the wind and sea. All the buildings here still have that "slapped up hovel look". Artistic concerns are for Carlita and Mozana; real People live in Sand City. Given the constant abrasion of the sand and sea, everything has a worn and rounded look. Any artistic touches would soon be lost, so nobody does them. All the doorways have bristles on their bottoms and on their transoms. This sweeps the sand out and gives someone walking in the ability to clean their feat. The windows are all covered in waxed paper and the occasional piece of glass. Even with the constant activity of sweeping, which is the main pastime of the local women and girls, sand gets everywhere here. You can tell a female from sand city, as she always has a broom of some size.

37. Cambria

    #37

    Cambria is built along both sides of the Kalander river as it empties into the Greater Bay.
    
    The buildings in Cambria are of a Neo-Tudor style. The exteriors are usually a white stucco, with some half-timbering (wooden beams embeded in the stucco, some for support others for looks. Other characteristics include high-pitched roofs (covered in slate), asymmetrical configurations, enclosed entryways, fireplaces with ornamented chimneys and chimney pots, and casement windows.
    
    Most of the buildings are two to three stories tall. They are longer than wide (more like a 2 to 1 ratio), with their main entrance facing the street. The second story usually extends beyond the first, allowing for enclosed or covered entries in front and back. The back of a house faces the back of another house on the next block. If there is a business in the building (which is usually the case), the business is downstairs, while the family and workers live upstairs. Manor homes are larger, squarer, and only two stories in height. They share most of the same features as more common homes. They are also surrounded by large fences normally. There are alleys between the various buildings here, mostly for fire control. Some of these alleys have been converted into small shadey gardens.
    
    Many of town homes from long ago have been broken up into apartments. So there will be five to ten people living in the same "house".
    
    The roads are a smoothed cobblestone. There are normally wide sidewalks made of the local concrete. The roads are slanted to drain off the side of the roads into the gutters. There is a deep undercity here where the sewage drains.
    
    There is a horsedrawn trolly system in much of the town. The Green Cars and clanging bell add both noise and an odd charm to the city.
    
    The river is spanned by three bridges, all quite large and thick. The bridges are practical affairs, not artistic by any stretch. However, they are large enough and tall enough to allows full rigged sailing ships (river schooners) under them.
    
    The "Great Buildings" (those that break the mold) are all in the city center (portside bank going up river, the center of the city of that side). Here the buildings are four, five, even ten stories tall. The buildings here are stone, granite block, affairs. Great Businesses (exchanges, banks, regional governmental offices, grand guilds, various societies) are side by side with the supporting businesses (scribers, messengers, appraisers, enchanters, and restaraunts/ clubs). Even the great temples for the region are here. Very few people live down town. They travel to manor homes or apartments in other parts of the city. Given the trolly, it takes no more than an hour to reach any part of the city.
    
    The Great Buildings have become roosts to various Gargoyle troops. These creatures watch over their towers and buildings, asking nothing more than to be left alone. (My favorite Gargoyle type http://www.strolen.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=32393#32393 )

38. De Maddenville

    #38

    De Maddenville sprawls across a sixth of the island of Banhoesea, and was built when the De Madden Company was young, around a bay that provided a handy deepwater port for traders. The harbour is packed with seagoing craft, from the fishing smacks to the ten masters with a great variety in between. All around the city is a great wall to withstand the worst that the sea can throw at it.
    
    Space is limited so most of the houses only have three or four rooms, and they are tall flats.Unable to expand outward any further, the city has expanded upwards.There are strict building regulations as the buildings have to be strong enough to withstand a direct tusnami strike or an attack by the giant G'Thrann.
    
    There is a great warren of tunnels, sealed off from the heat of the dry season and the rain of the wet season with slabs of stone supported by mutiple pillars,with gaps to let a few rays of daylight in.By night people often carry torches to light their way.At most times of the day and night the tunnels are packed with people, going to and from their jobs, their ships, their schools and the shops.
    
    Interesting parts of the city include the marble Company House, where the city is run from, with it's ornatly carved gargoyles in the shapes of Sea Spiders and Sirens,and the tall Tower of the Dead, where smoke billows out day and night from the cremation pyres, and the sounds of weeping and wailing is heard from the relatives of the dead.
    
    At the tallest part of the city is one of the few quiet places, the fenced off Noble's Graveyard,where the bodies of the richest nobles and one or two commoners who preformed a truely splendid deed in life lie in tombs of green jade, with golden coins upon their eyes.In a place where sea burial is greatly feared and land burial is almost impossible, a grave for one's dead body is the greatest honour that can be given after death...it means that even in death you are seen as very important.

39. TearDrop City

    #39

    To call TearDrop City a city is to be generous. It is one of the largest collections of SkyFolk on the north part of the east coast of ThirdLand. It gains its name from the TearDrop shaped rock on the natural set of the stone pillars not far off shore.
    
    The city is a large collection of halls and apartments dug into the huge white cliff that dominates all the Eastern Coast of ThirdLand. Since the weather is reasonably calm and warm here, most of people's social life is on their porch/ patio. The porchs are the initial open and exposed areas of their apartment, usually with a table, a number of chairs, hammocks, some pillows, a few standing torches (like tiki torches), a brazier for cooking fish bits, and maybe an overhanging awning or shade net. (They are also have open areas suitable for safe landings). Many things are made from woven sea fibers and seaweed, though grass mats and some wood are present. Woven/ macrame items are the norm. From the porch one can enter the apartment which consists of three to four carved out rooms, many of which are lit by "light tunnels" - mirrored shafts that bring light and some ventilation into the backs of the apartments. Since there is a large glass factory here (on the top of the cliff coast), openable windows are prevolent as well.
    
    Common places (such as stores/ shop/ workshops) are usually large halls dug into cliffsides. They tend to have very small patios that are more of a landing zone than an entertainment place. The doors are usually solid and secure, very different from the glass framed French styled doors that most apartments have.
    
    While there are the occasional stairwells (on the outside and dug into the cliffs) and walk ways (again along the outside of the cliffs or tunnels made), one really needs to be able to fly to get around.
    
    The dominant color here is the white cliffs of soft stone. But there is color everywhere. There are flags and pennants hanging off every patio and in some places inbetween. They are bright and mutlicolored in most parts. This is how the skyfolk mark neighborhoods, addresses, storefronts, and personal moods of the inhabitants, via a complex system of heraldry. (The system is not difficult to understand, just a huge body of work to absorb).
    
    At the lowest level, there are docks for the raft like boats the Skyfolk favor. They do not sail them (though they can), they usually drag them out into the sea and use them as a staging area and work shop for the fishers and gatherers. There are often SeaClan boats off the shore, but there is no safe harbour here.

40. Malarith

    #40

    Malarith is one of the Wonders of the Manmade world, for its made by Human Hands a long time ago.
    
    Malarith is a city on the tall mountain like, nearly unscalable plateau call Portunethra (Rocky point to the sun in the old tongue). Through erosion or some catastrophe long ago, a huge gouge of rock under the city has "gone away". It appears that an island was plopped off center upon the top of the mountain, giving it an odd "C" stuck in mud appearance.
    
    (There is some legend about the city that says it was transported whole cloth to the top of the mountain, but nobody believes that).
    
    The city is built in the style seldom seen. Scholars call it Pre-Imperial, one of the Great Cultures of Yore that the Imperial built their civilization upon (The Imperium having fallen over seven centuries ago). The city is a beautious mix of buildings lined with alabaster white columns, frequently roofed by domes, and archs leading to and from them, with lush green areas (some parks, some spilling forth from gardens on the buildings) and blue fountains in between. These buildings run from one to two stories tall. There are a number of large, fountain and statue filled, plazas, several ampetheaters (one of the larger ones is covered by a huge done supported by pillars), and many public buildings (baths, libraries, and gaming rooms). There are seven tall spires, that seem to flow upward made of the same gleaming white stone. Most of the buildings are trimmed (some of the domes are covered in it) in a gold like material called Olochrium which glimmers in the high mountain sun.
    
    Travel in the city is done by foot along alabaster paths lined by green planters or by small barge like canal boats that move along without a driver. None can detect the magic behind these magical boats. There are other touches of "magic" that the people of Malarith, who call themselves 'Talantians, simply take for granted. They are not forthcoming with the secrets of these magics unless one undergoes years of training in one of their colleges under the philosopher-princes.
    
    The City Gates is one of the Great Wonders in a city of Wonders. It is in a large plaza at the very edge of the city. It is a large metal ring, decorated by other metal rings in and about it, about 13.5 cubits (27 feet) across and about one cubit thick at its thickest. The Upper Gate is guarded by two of the Gryphon riding Ordermen (Militia/ Police/ Civil Servants) wielding two lighting staffs. It is a testament to the peaceful and philosophical nature of the 'Talantians that this is the only "show of force" in the city. By going up the small ramp through the gate, one finds oneself at the counterpart, the lower gate. The Lower Gate is in a small walled in plaza at the foot of Portunethra. Here two Ordermen check your travel chits and log people in and out. They will also arrange from translator crystals if needed. Only when one of the Ordermen is touching a large red globe on a low pillar will going up the ramp and through the Lower Gate will one be transported to the Upper Gate Plaza.
    
    The "road" to the Lower Gate is long and difficult to traverse. In fact, they will admit, the road was made to be long and difficult. There is little to no trade with this city, so only those who truly want to experience the city or learn its philosophical knowledge would bother with it.

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