Community Worldbuilding Project [Ishka: Urban and Urbane]

[Renrik]

I can imagine a number of different creatures that could work as nuisances. I don't have my monster manual in front of me, so I'll write some down later.

[Renrik]

Let's see...

Chokers are always a great nuisance. They can lurk around the entire city- really, anywhere they can get to through the caves and tunnels, which is most of the place. Getting strengled isn't fun to anyone.

Ankhegs are another obvious choice, both in the Groves and anywhere else they can get a nest. The outlying farmlands would have an ankheg problem without the occasional nest eradication.

Gelatinous cubes could roam about the city, especially the water and sewage infrastructure.

Carrion crawlers probably prey on the mindless zombies in the necropolis and threaten the other corporeal undead. The OBS will have to hack them up.

Rogue constructs around the steamworks, maybe?

Have we got an organization devoted to killing nuisance monsters in the city yet?

[puppyavenger]

I would imagine that bulettes would be a very real problem that the Streetbuilders and Cave Knockers would often have to deal with. Rust monsters too. What other monsters do you think would be similar plagues of the city?

well with a gate to the Underdark and a large under-water district, Aboleths Beholders or mind flayers starting up cults and luring food from the city might be a problem. along with the fact that with all the negative energy in the Necropilous, there's probably a noticeable chance that anyone who dies down there is going to rise on their own and have to be controlled or destroyed.


just tossing random idea's

[Strawman]

I cooked up an artifact, and an item description for it that has alot of the city's history in it. Let me know if it's good enough to use, if it needs changes, etc.

Spoiler

Show

Artifact: Founder’s Fishing Rod

This fishing rod functions as a +5 quarterstaff.

It grants the bearer the extraordinary abilities to breathe underwater and walk on top of water.

The bearer can also cast Control Water at will as a 20th level caster, and Summon Monster IX (Elder Water Elemental) twice a day as a 20th level caster.

The bearer is immune to all spells and damage from water based spells.

Story - A fisher owned the Founder’s Fishing Rod before it was an artifact. That fisher was extremely talented and gained fame in a small fishing town at the bottom of a canyon. When she died, the town kept her fishing rod on a pedestal. Eventually the town grew into a mining community. An enterprising mage came to the town to gain riches.

That mage was named Ishkar Bolt. He was a lonely man, and like most people who came to the town to mine, the fishing community disliked him. In order to get their approval, he decided to honor the famed fishing rod by giving it a powerful enchantment. The plan failed. However, when a couple of dragons nearly destroyed the town with their underground duel, Ishkar was able drive the dragons further underground with the fishing rod and his spells. Ishkar became a hero.

The townspeople renamed their town “Ishkar,” and for many years Ishkar performed the role of the town’s guardian. Ishkar saved many miners. One of those miners was so grateful that he became a financial partner with Ishkar. They used a combination of fourth generation miner know-how and magic to find the best ores around.

Their biggest find was a massive vein of mithril. They were rich overnight. The miner took his share and left for richer pastures, and his name has since been forgotten. Ishkar used the mithril to reinforce the city that was starting to grow around the town. He remained an important figure in the city for many years and was known for always carrying around the fishing rod that he used to save the town.

As he grew old, he decided to do one final act for the city. He used all of his remaining mithril to build a gigantic tower. After Ishkar died, he was put in a grand tomb near the top of the tower. Inside the tomb his perfectly preserved corpse holds on to the fishing rod.

[Renrik]

I like it, but it almost seems a bit silly. I like that it isn't a cliche sword or some stupid thing like that, but at the same time a fishing rod seems a bit strange. I think that the peculiar occurence of so many portals should also play a massive role in the city. I've thought the city to be at the junction of some kind of interplanar ley line hub. That said, I do like the idea. Maybe if it were a net instead...

[50cr4t3s]

I cooked up an artifact, and an item description for it that has alot of the city's history in it. Let me know if it's good enough to use, if it needs changes, etc.

I gotta say, I'm not crazy about the city history in the story. I kinda imagine most details from the period when the city was beginning are lost and forgotten. I think it should stay this way, because it allows for DMs to adjust things for there campaigns. I like the idea of a mysterious past shrouded in myth, but if that's too cliche, I'll concede to the community consensus.

[Strawman]

How about a spear (used for fishing) instead of a fishing rod. The parts about the city's history will be mostly removed. Instead, it is only known that the spear belonged to someone in the town before there was a city, and that the mage who built the big tower chose to enchant the spear and carry it around with him.

[50cr4t3s]

New Location
Name: Galdren
Other Names: Farmland, The Fields, The Big Farm
Government Type: Communal Representative Council
Police Force: Walkers

At first glance, Galdren appears to be the largest district in the city. This is not actually the case. While Galdren has the largest single footprint of any district, it is a district on a flat expanse of land on the cliff overlooking the canyon. One of the only districts placed on only one layer, Galdren is proud to be one of the very few farmlands in the city to be planted in natural soil, and cultivated by real farmers (most farmers in this district are very vocal in there opposition to undead labor). These farms stretch from the edge of the canyon out to as far as any mortal eye can see.The residents of this district organize themselves into smaller communes within the district so that farming families can pool resources and cultivate more land. Once a month, these communes send a representative to a meeting of all the commune representatives, where they discuss the status of the crops, share new techniques, and yearly choose a representative to send to the City Council. Galdren is covered by a vast network of pipes, built by the Streetbuilders, that irrigate the entire district with clean water directly from the elemental plane of water. The farmers here have serious objections to the concept of undead labor, seeing it as a threat to their livelihood and way of life. The policing force of this district, the Walkers, is more of a neighborhood watch program than an actual guard. Those with the title of Walkers, are those who are considered qualified to handle dangerous criminals when the community has identified them.

more details to follow later (possibly)

[Strawman]

A district and an organization.

Name: Annark
Other Names: Town in Flames, Chaos, Land of the Lost
Government: None (Anarchy).
Law Enforcement: None (Many residents hire Perfect Warriors).

In any city there are people who hate the structure and restrictions. For those people, the favored district is Annark. It is a district without rules or government, and there are many incarnations of Annark throughout the city. They do not have a representative for the City Council. There is an unspoken agreement that the Council will not enforce citywide laws inside Annark, and residents of Annark will abide by the laws if they are outside their own district. The unstable nature of Annark means that a branch of it may close at any time, and another may rise if a part of another district becomes overly chaotic.

Organization: Perfect Warriors

This organization is a mercenary group available for hire by anyone. They are as good as the next mercenary group, but use the name Perfect Warriors as a marketing ploy. Any member of Perfect Warriors may refuse a job for personal reasons, as they work by commission. The only enemies that the Perfect Warriors refuse to go up against are the Law Enforcements agencies of various districts. Residents of Annark often hire the Perfect Warriors as bodyguards or as a localized police force.

[Renrik]

I like the farming communes. The fact that their government type is just short of libertarian communism (they're representative in wider district meetings, as opposed to direct or consensual, but these district meetings seem to lack the power to set policy and seem more of a skillshare/open forum that elects a necessary represntative) is fun, too. It's as if the district itself is an example of agricultural anarcho-syndicalism or collectivism. I suggest most individual communes use the participatory economics model for decision making.

[Renrik]

I don't like Anarrk. I mean, it's not, strictly speaking, anarchistic. There's a prevalence of violence, domination, and submission. It's not so much anarchism as, well, authoritarianism. Authoritarianism that is fractured and not dominated by a single authority, but not anarchism. The important thing to remember is that civil wars and similar strife aren't caused by a lack of government, but by too many governments in one place trying to force their will on people by violence.

But I raise an objection to the idea that a district is in need of a government to function. Indeed, a community made entirely of people who don;t want to live by laws would probably be a remarkably peaceful and open place, where people realize that the right to decide one's life is inalienable, and so refuse to press their will on others or to have others press their will on them, but where the rule of mutually voluntary agreements and consensus rule the day. It's not like laws are the only thing stopping us from killing each other. We don't kill each other because we don't want to.

I like the idea of the district, but not as an anarchist district. It's more of a district of extreme struggle and turmoil, which is the opposite of anarchy.

But I guess I don;t really want to get into an argument on the merits of anarchism and the nature of violence, authority, and freedom. So if ya'll want to have the district, I shall raise no further objection.

[Strawman]

Oh, I was just trying to make a district that didn't have a form of government or law enforcement. I used the term anarchy, but I only meant it in one of its most basic ways, a lack of authority or government, and I wasn't aware of alot of the ideas about what an anarchistic state entails. I didn't really mean to imply that it would have excessive violence, rule by force, or whatever.

The alternate names that make the place sound bad are not used by the residents (except ironically). They are used by people like paladins and monks who feel that without an authority a place must by terrible.

I figure each incarnation of Annark (or whatever the name should be) would be different. If one was populated by mainly chaotic evil residents, it would be terrible. If it was populated by chaotic good or neutral, it would be a great place to live, but where people would get really annoyed if someone tried to develope authority or (on a very small scale) a class system. If the residents were mostly neutral (not chaotic or lawful) they would just prefer to handle their lives on a person-to-person basis, without a government. The last group would most likely have found the other district's governments to be impersonal and unable to handle the needs of individuals.

Also, the Perfect Warriors would have a rule for themselves that they will never act as a law enforcement force in Annark. They would only act as bodyguards, and only for people that hired them. If all the residents on a street hired them jointly to serve as a "police force", the Perfect Warriors would only serve as bodyguards, defending employers from harm, and not enforce laws made by their employers on other people. Of course, not every incarnation of Annark would have a need for the Perfect Warriors at all.

Sorry if the original post gave a misleading impression about what I figured the district would be like.

[Renrik]

I know, I'm just an ideologue whose pet peeve is the use of anarchy to mean disorder. Your usage is the most properly accepted term, but I'm just annoyed that it is. The problem is that there's two definitons of anarchy: The one used by anarchists and the one used by everyone else.

I like the new idea. Lawless zones. Certainly, an Anarrk inhabited by mostly chaotic evil beings would be less than fun. I approve.

[BRC]

I imagine each incarnation of Annark would be fairly small, and probably surrounded by a police cordon of some kind, so as to discourage criminals from escaping justice by Fleeing into Annark.

[Owrtho]

Would that mean that Ravenshome which lacks a government would technically be an Annark?

Owrtho

[Renrik]

Not to mention the barricades of citizen's militias inside Anarrk applying self-defensive threatened violence on the city guards (i.e., making sure they don;t invade and press law, in case the city decides not to go for Anarrk anymore). Though invading Anarrk would be an awful idea. Probably ridden with people who know how to fight, know the area well enough to launch guerilla wars, and, in the absence of government, have formed the kinds of networks, voluntary groups, and cells that would be unpleasant for an invading force.

Now, I imagine the Collective and the Wild would still manage to take refuge in there when they could, maybe some other revolutionary types. Humans First, perhaps?

Now, we need to name the remaining two subdistricts in Ether. We've got Poe's Hollow, Claud's Hamlet, and Phantom Reach, but we need two more. We have to flesh out Commodore Vleigenhoek the ghostly skyship captain.

[Renrik]

Would that mean that Ravenshome which lacks a government would technically be an Annark?

Owrtho

I don't think it would be considered as such.

Does Anarrk get representatives in the city council? I don't think it would.

[jagadaishio]

I like Galdren, but I dislike Anarrk. I think that the concept of Anarrk is silly. If you want lawless zones, then those are just the deepest slums and darkest tunnels where the law-enforcers hate to tread. Communes could form down there, but I don't think that any block or region could fall into anarchy or chaos without the city sending in a ton of cops to stabilize the region again. Furthermore, giving them a fancy name like Anarrk is just as silly. If they would be called anything, they would be called wastelands or no-man's-land. They wouldn't be given a funny-spelled version of anarch.

My point is, I think it's a poor idea at best, and a poorly executed poor idea at worst.

[Renrik]

Good point. It does seem rather incongruous. There could be lawless communes or anarchistic districts, but they would probably have different names. The deep tunnels do fit the bill for the murderous thug zones.

So, we could keep Anarrk and go about it as planned, or just incorporate some of the ideas elsewhere.

[50cr4t3s]

if Anarrk has absolutely no government, and the City has no say in it, then it really isn't even part of the city at all. In order to create a lawless district, you need to have a district so overrun with criminals, that the police simply have no power there. No one reports crimes, no witnesses testify, until you basically have a criminal district. But a district where the city has absolutely no say, even on a superficial basis, can't truly be a district of the city, but an independent community.

[Strawman]

Okay, I'll withdraw the idea of Annark since alot of people think it wouldn't work or it doesn't make sense. Although I don't think the city council would care all that much about forcing a lawless district to obey them, unless the district was somewhere valuable or important. I imagine they have to pick their battles.

Also, I like the idea of places run by criminals in deep tunnels.

I do think that in a city this large there would occasionally be lawless areas that fall through the bureaucracy's grasp. Maybe some lost paperwork means that no one knows whether two streets somewhere belong to the Temple District or the Market District for a little while. Tension and plot hooks ensue.

[jagadaishio]

Okay, I'll withdraw the idea of Annark since alot of people think it wouldn't work or it doesn't make sense. Although I don't think the city council would care all that much about forcing a lawless district to obey them, unless the district was somewhere valuable or important. I imagine they have to pick their battles.

Also, I like the idea of places run by criminals in deep tunnels.

I do think that in a city this large there would occasionally be lawless areas that fall through the bureaucracy's grasp. Maybe some lost paperwork means that no one knows whether two streets somewhere belong to the Temple District or the Market District for a little while. Tension and plot hooks ensue.

Agreed. I just think that the powers that be would try to re-establish order in any important districts and any anarchy zones that are minor enough to not by targeted by police would probably be nameless little communes. Anarchy zones would definitely exist though, no matter how transitory the major ones would be.

[BRC]

Yeah. Rather than any truly lawless areas, I imagine there are simply areas where the police forces are too corrupt or incompetent to really stop criminals from doing much, so the criminals pretty much have a free-reign except for when the occasional M.I. brute squad comes in to quiet things down for a little while, or to chase down some serious criminals hiding there.

[Renrik]

I concur.

Now, what do want for the names of the two other districts in the Ether and the backstory on Commodore Vleigenhoek?

[jagadaishio]

Name: Redmere
Other Names: Cinder, The Smokes
Government: Martial Tribunal
Law Enforcement: The Element Guard, Fire Platoon

Redmere is the citadel on the Elemental Plane of Fire. It is built of bricks of solidified fire, and all of its inhabitants are either naturally immune to the effects of fire, gain healing from fire, or have some sort of acquired, likely magical immunity to fire. The sole job of these soldiers is to tour the city's extended holdings throughout the plane and make sure that the gates from the elemental plane of fire to the city are safe and clear. It is because of the Fire Platoon that fire elementals don't flood the Steamworks and wreck havok in the city. Aside from that, the occasional trading party reaches Redmere, though these parties are few and far between. Though originally the Fire Platoon saw much action when Redmere was first built, the elementals have learned to avoid the city's holdings, and this is therefore considered to be a relatively boring post. The elementals know the fortress as Cinder.

Name: Aquarane
Other Names: Current, The Wash
Government: Martial Tribunal
Law Enforcement: The Element Guard, Water Platoon

Aquarane is the citadel on the Elemental Plane of Water. It is constructed of riverine and all of its inhabitants have the ability to breath water and either some sort of natural or acquired immunity to high-pressure environments. This is considered to be the worst assignment for members of the Elemental Army, as not only do members of the Water Platoon see less action than any other detachment, their daily responsibilities consist of clearing the much away from the gates to the city broken up only by the rare, uneventful patrol around the city's water holdings. Aside from the weekly exports of riverine, the fortress sees a fair amount of trade, but almost all of that is through-traffic to the city proper, carrying supplies of all manner of rich resources of the plane. The occasional Lake-dweller will visit Aquarane, but the reverse is more true. The elementals know the fortress as Current.


Organization: The Element Guard

The Element Guard was formed when the inhabitants first started exploiting the permanent portals that connected to the elemental planes, be they the naturally-forming ones so common in the city or the artificial ones made for industry and agriculture. The purpose of the guard was to secure the extraplanar territory surrounding the gates to make sure that the workers on the other side were safe and the industry remained efficient. Organizations which use protected gates pay a tax to the city which goes to the pay of the Guardsmen.

Guardsmen are paid highly, and when the organization was new they saw much danger in exotic and impossible planar locales. In modern times, though, these chunks of territory have been fortified and stabilized to the point that a position in the guard is considered to be stable and lucrative but boring. Guard members are famed for their extreme drinking and partying when in the city proper, which they do to relieve the oppressive boredom than anything else. It's said that the deepest layers of Hedon cater almost exclusively to bored Guardsmen.

[Strawman]

I like the elemental districts. I think Aquarane would get more trade than just the riverine. The city's residents who live underwater in the lake would probably enjoy visiting and trading with Aquarane.

[Renrik]

I concur. The elemental plane of water has numerous resources to be exploited.

[jagadaishio]

Name: Aerodyne
Other Names: Draft, Breezeland
Government: Martial Tribunal
Law Enforcement: The Element Guard, Air Platoon

The Air Platoon is considered one of the more fun positions in the Element Guard for a number of reasons. The first is that a ton of extraplanar airship traffic comes through it. Some stop there on the way to other planar locales, and some are going through to moor at the Tower, but all of them carry exotic wares and interesting passengers. The Guard sees to it that ships are protected from elementals and that the portals providing fresh air to deep tunnels and the upper floors of the Tower remain unimpeded. It's a common occurrence to need to chase rogue elementals away from the massive pumps, both to protect the pumps and to keep the elementals from getting hurt by being sucked in. The average member of the Air Platoon uses a longspear, a long bow, and a whip with either some sort of natural flight or a magical effect. Air elementals are usually chased away with long poles rather than lethal force. Many Falcons are former members of the Air Platoon and vice versa.

Aerodyne is a massive fortress of wood, paper, and clothe anchored in a massive fog bank in the elemental plane of air. The natives of the plane know the citadel as Draft.

-----

Fair enough on the point of Aquarane. I'll fix that.

[BRC]

District Ideas that don't have time to flesh out right now.
A Dwarven District, maybe call it "Buildmountain" or "Greathall" or somthing.
A Goblinoid district, maybe with some orcs and other monstrous humanoids.

Also, I should find some time to write some more Graveyard Shift.

[Strawman]

The dwarven district and the goblinoid district could be in seperate tunnels, but the ends of the tunnels are near each other. They are both exploring a valuable ore vein, but will soon reach each other's tunnel. Or, if the districts are in multiple places in the city, it could be a significant branch of each district approaching each other.