Guild City

[- JO -]

I'm thrilled and I can't wait to start !
The layout is very inspiring, as the districts.
For the main roads and walls proposition, I have 2 comments : there would be probably more than 1 road of access to the ancient city. And the southern outer wall would have probably take advantage of the lake (otherwise, it's a long stretch in the flat land).
But I really like the way that the road is entering the first district right now !
Anyway, regarding the question of walls, I think we can draw an inner and an outer wall, but if the city had grown organically, there would certainly be more walls between the first and the last. Usually, when a citiy grows, it means that they build a wall around the suburbs that are already there, and it often happen that a city has multiple defenses between the center and the most recent expansion. So I think we can draw more than two walls, for those of us who likes to draw "slotted walls" (is that the right word ? ... according to google, it is... but... you know...)

[Greg]

Ooh, this is all very exciting, just like the Guildworld was last year!

Loving the layout John and that road layout seems like a cool starting point to work from, Azelor. Number 1 does seem like a great spot for the central castle, and I wonder who'll end up getting that if it's all randomised like last year. Very exciting stuff, and like Jo, I can't wait to get started!

Also, Mouse, what were you still on here at 3? That's your shopping time!

[Straf]

1 does seem the logical point to put the original settlement. It's a prime position and probably the most defendable around the lake. However I do feel that the main road is more likely to approach from the south rather than the east - why build a bridge if you don't need to? Although wooden bridges were often burned to prevent the enemy from getting too close.

Cities don't tend to spread out from a river on both sides. If they do they will be separate cities at first. So I'm thinking that the original, ancient 'old town' area in 1 would be followed by district 14, and the hills to the east of this would be fortified, perhaps with a watchtower atop. It's also highly likely that if the area was settled during a period that we'd call neolithic to bronze age, that the hills would also be used as burial grounds. They would be placed higher up for important people so that wherever people were they'd see their ancestors.

At the same time as 1 being settled, I'd imagine that other settlements would grow up around the other water sources. The surrounding areas would probably have been used for agriculture. There is a theory that modern humans stopped being hunter gatherers and started farming not to make grain for flour for bread, which is the established theory, but to make malt for brewing beer. This drive for beer and a recognition that humans can produce more than they consume, led to certain enterprising individuals to take control of the resources so that they could profit and become more powerful. In any case, beer and bread both require water, so the areas around the water would be fiercely contested, and just as fiercely defended. Alliances and agreements would establish, larger numbers of people would settle the area, meaning more land required for food (and beer), meaning encroaching on each other's land. Eventually one leader would win out and decide to keep everything safe a wall is required. Then places would spring up outside of the wall, with perhaps trading posts at points along the major roads. There would have to be sufficient threat from outside that would require a guard, and thus a method to extract taxes from the population, which was just a shorter way of saying 'protection money' back then.


That's just how I imagine it would evolve anyway.

[Abu Lafia]

Gotta say, i'm pretty much hyped by now too! I love the way John marked the districts and Azelor's take on the (main) walls looks really good and makes sense to me. It's always a pleasure to read the thoughts about the evolution of settlements in a specific landscape and i agree with most of the things said. I imagine some of the districts to be something like "gated" communities nowadays with there own walls, especially if Orcs and Halflings or even Giant Ant-Humanoids live next to each other in that city

[Mouse]

Apologies if I cut your quote to make this more readable in one go...

So I did some test on the map for the general layout including only the walls and the mains roads. These are just suggestions.
Walls are built to take advantage of the landscape and centered on the sunken lake. Several faubourg expand outside of the walls as well.
Number 1 could be where the castle and the inner walls are located.

Attachment 90847

Excellent work, Azelor. Thank you very much!

I do have one query going on in the back of my mind about the really major roads of the system. We need to have critical roads linking the city to its neighbours t the East and north east, otherwise getting reinforcements to Guild City in the event of an Orc attack from the west would be nearly impossible before the city fell under siege. (I sense a drawing opportunity for Jo there )



Otherwise - brilliant!

...there would be probably more than 1 road of access to the ancient city. And the southern outer wall would have probably take advantage of the lake (otherwise, it's a long stretch in the flat land).
But I really like the way that the road is entering the first district right now !
Anyway, regarding the question of walls, I think we can draw an inner and an outer wall, but if the city had grown organically, there would certainly be more walls between the first and the last. Usually, when a citiy grows, it means that they build a wall around the suburbs that are already there, and it often happen that a city has multiple defenses between the center and the most recent expansion. So I think we can draw more than two walls, for those of us who likes to draw "slotted walls" (is that the right word ? ... according to google, it is... but... you know...)

I think there may be several ancient and possibly ruined walls on the west side, as I expect the Orcs would have attacked several times through the millennia to try and gain land, and the water in this karst region is scarce, making Guild City the gem that any invading horde would attempt to take in the early stages of a war. Take Guild City, and you've more or less taken the entire western swathe of the country.

...Azelor. Number 1 does seem like a great spot for the central castle, and I wonder who'll end up getting that if it's all randomised like last year. Very exciting stuff, and like Jo, I can't wait to get started!

Also, Mouse, what were you still on here at 3? That's your shopping time!

I totally agree about the position of the castle. Its almost got its own natural moat!

(I got too excited to bother with shopping!)


@ Straf - I didn't quote you because it was such a long comment to read all over again so soon after you made it, but it was absolutely riddled with important points to consider.

Gotta say, i'm pretty much hyped by now too! I love the way John marked the districts and Azelor's take on the (main) walls looks really good and makes sense to me. It's always a pleasure to read the thoughts about the evolution of settlements in a specific landscape and i agree with most of the things said. I imagine some of the districts to be something like "gated" communities nowadays with there own walls, especially if Orcs and Halflings or even Giant Ant-Humanoids live next to each other in that city

Fair point about gated compounds, but I think we need to be careful we don't over-divide the great cosmopolitan community in this wonderful city

...

Oh yes! And... my bad over the shadow thing! LOL! You can stop pecking at me now

[Ilanthar]

Wow, this is going to fast for me... But it's thrilling in the same time. I have to say that I really love the layout (but no surprise here, knowing the artist who did it ).
From a non-british european : 5' is about 1.5 meters, right?

[Straf]

Wow, this is going to fast for me... But it's thrilling in the same time. I have to say that I really love the layout (but no surprise here, knowing the artist who did it ).
From a non-british european : 5' is about 1.5 meters, right?

Give or take an inch, yeah

[Mouse]

Wow, this is going to fast for me... But it's thrilling in the same time. I have to say that I really love the layout (but no surprise here, knowing the artist who did it ).
From a non-british european : 5' is about 1.5 meters, right?

LOL!

I'm looking forward to your Sketchup/PS/Krita take on this landscape

5 feet is 1.524 metres to be exact, but yes 1.5 will do for first reckoning. A more handy mental comparison that's all in whole figures:

2 grid squares is 10 feet, or 3 metres

[Voolf]

This is going too fast for me, is it possible that when you decide all things, one person will summerize the what, the who, the when and the how?
Like for example Mouse? Since she don't even sleep to update everyone at every possible time zone?

[Mouse]

You mean a sort of 'live summary report' - a separate thread that has only one comment, which summarises the current status quo?

I could probably do that if you want, and it would also be useful as a quick reference guide for any late comers to the project.

It wouldn't be 'chatty', though - just the bare bone facts listed like an index.