what are the important points to remmember in area creation?

[akma]

Settings are composed of many areas.
When I focus on building one of those areas, what are the important things I should remmember to do?
What are the things players are likely to ask?
I`m hoping to compile a list of important questions to be able to answer about any region I make, but first I need to know which questions.
I`m hoping you could help me with that.

[Yora]

I would say the most important thing to keep in mind is the areas around it. You can't have a giant valley that has lots of trees and rivers on the slopes but a bone dry desert in the center without a good explaination where all the water comming down the slopes is going to.

But otherwise, what matters to a region depends a lot on how large it is and how it interacts with other regions.
Maybe one thing to consider is where the water and food for all the settlements is comming from. A farming and fishing village can supply itself, but when you have larger towns and cities where most of the people are not farmers working the field, the food has to come from somewhere. Either several farming villages just a few miles outside the city itself, or a permanent and secure supply with food from somwhere else.
In a similar way, the placement of settlements depends a lot on available paths of transportation. Rivers are always a good option, as are the shores of lakes and seas, the alternative is roads. Larger settlements are almost always found in places where at least two or more such transportation routes are crossing or coming close together, as they need trade to sell all the non-food products they create, and the more roads and rivers are nearby, the more merchants will be passing through.
Obviously water can never run uphill, but roads and highways usually are build on paths that are as flat and even as practically possible. If going around a mountain is just a bit longer than going over the mountain, then going around is still going to be a lot quicker than trying to make the hard climb up and down again on the other side.

[TheKoalaNxtDoor]

What races live in what regions? Is it one-race dominated, or a hodge-podge of all sorts of things? Or are ther two dominate races coexisting in that area? If so, do they actually co-exist, or do they dislike each other? Is one higher or lower class than the other? Maybe one enslaves the other? Are they geographically divided? If it's mostly one race, who are the most prevelant minorities? Do they live in that land, and their communities are small, or do they trickle in from a neighboring kingdom? Again, what is their relation with the dominate race? Are they treated as second-class? Do they group together in small chinatown-style communities, or do they spread out?

What is the ruling class like? Is it ruled by a king? Or perhaps a Queen? Is it an Aristocracy, a Beurocracy, or maybe democratic? How centralized is the government? Is everything under the thumb of a very centralized emperor, or is it mostly divided up into largley independent states, and the ruler is content to let them do what they will so long as they contribute to wars and pay their taxes? What are the state's relationships to each other? Maybe it's a theocracy? Are other religions stamped out and burned as heathens, or are they tolerated but treated as second class? How powerful is the actual ruler? Is he a figurehead? What do they think of other government types? Are they violently opposed to anouther government type, "Damn commies/capitolist pigs" style, or are they ok with other ruling systems? Is the ruling class opressive? If yes, than by how much? It could be a full-on curfew with weekly home inspections, spies everywhere, it's a crime to think style, or is it more subtle, with cunning propoganda used to keep people in their place and subtle removal of rights?

What's it like economically? Who does it trade with? How much focus do they have on trade? Are they isolated and self-sufficiant, or are they a trading hub who relies on neighboring kingdoms? What are their chief exports/inports?

What do they think of the neighboring kingdoms? Who are their allies, who's at war with who, who's untrustworthy and who's a fence sitter?

[Pokonic]

What is the power structure like? If a sunny little village is a days travel from a outpost of generic evil faction #23, what influence do they have? Additionaly, how has orc/ogre/half-ogre orcish clan #20 survived between city #15 and hamlet #12?