Difference between revisions of "Urban (range)"

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[[File:Urban Range 1.jpg|right|490px]]
 
[[File:Urban Range 1.jpg|right|490px]]
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'''Urban''' ranges are densely settled areas relating to concentrated [[Town|towns]] or [[City|cities]], and with few exceptions, [[Village|villages]] as well.  The dwellers in urban ranges work primarily on non-agricultural tasks; while some settled population areas include orchards or fields located inside their environs, these parts are correctly thought of as [[Rural (range)|rural]] and not urban.  Urban describes dense streets, buildings, drainage for sanitation and [[Masonry|masonry]] for defense and managing the population.
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'''Urban ranges''' are densely populated regions comprising not only concentrated [[Town|towns]] or [[City|cities]] but, in some cases, [[Village|villages]] as well.  These areas are characterised by persons engaged in non-agrarian activities, though there may be small orchards or fields adjoined to a [[Neighbourhood|neighbourhood]] or a larger [[Manor Estate|estate]] located within the polis.  The essence of urban life lays in the presence of its compact streets, buildings, sophisticated drainage systems for sanitation, sturdy masonry structures for defense and streets that are busy with people.
  
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Urban ranges are built to take in tremendous supplies of [[Food|food]] and materials for consumption and manufacturing, the latter being transported outwards.  Cities and towns resemble a great bellows, with the movement of [[Shipbuilding|ships]], [[Boatbuilding (sage ability)|boats]] and [[Wagonwright|wagons]] flowing in and out.  Quays, docksides along rivers and large holding areas collect stores of goods that are sheltered beneath awnings or within great storehouses — which may overflow, depending upon the produce and which season it is, into the streets.  This is especially true of agricultural produce, which pours into the urban center more quickly than it can be transshipped outwards again.
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Urban ranges are designed to accommodate the influx of substantial quantities of [[Food|food]] and raw materials, required for both sustenance and manufacturing.  Economic activity gives rise to a dynamic akin to a great bellows, where the constant ebb and flow of [[Shipbuilding|ships]], [[Boatbuilding (sage ability)|boats]] and [[Wagonwright|wagons]] move goods in and out.  Along riverbanks, quays and docksides are built to create bustling hubs for the collection and storage of commodities.  Market squares and large storage areas link the polis with the surrounding countryside, bringing in locals every day, who although do not live in the city, are well known to it.
  
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The urban center also serves as an administrative and defensive bulwark of the province or kingdom — and so a substantial portion of the population relates to accounting, decision-making and maintaining order (not only of the urban space but also its environs).  Authority is far from centralized; it is divided between [[Nobility|nobles]], [[Military Orders|military orders]], [[Guild|guilds]], [[Cabal (organisation)|cabal]] and [[Religion|religious entities]], each of whom liaison with one another while subtly vying for control of the urban center's people and wealth.  This competition for power descends through the strata of the inhabitants, so that factions grapple for control of neighbourhoods, [[Market|markets]] and even the streets themselves, marking off territories and jealousy defending their dominance.  Status-seeking incorporates a quest for allies and trusted [[Henchmen|henchmen]], while isolating, negating or eliminating one's enemies.
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The urban centre also serves as an administrative and defensive stronghold for the province or realm, with a substantial population dedicated to accounting, decision-making and maintaining order.  Authority is decentralised between factions who are assigned to control different aspects and parts of the city or town; entities include the town guard and the town watch, nobles and the upper class, guilds and artisans, common labourers and the general poor, religious orders and individual churches, secret societies and cabals and learned persons and their attendants ... all competing for control over the general maelstrom of people.  Each [[Quarter|quarter]] and neighbourhood acts as a territory, where those in control defend their power.  Conflicts, mostly controlled and carried out with subtle grace, sometimes burst into fits of violence that usually end quickly.
  
 
== Conditions ==
 
== Conditions ==

Revision as of 19:10, 1 October 2023

Urban Range 1.jpg

Urban ranges are densely populated regions comprising not only concentrated towns or cities but, in some cases, villages as well. These areas are characterised by persons engaged in non-agrarian activities, though there may be small orchards or fields adjoined to a neighbourhood or a larger estate located within the polis. The essence of urban life lays in the presence of its compact streets, buildings, sophisticated drainage systems for sanitation, sturdy masonry structures for defense and streets that are busy with people.

Urban ranges are designed to accommodate the influx of substantial quantities of food and raw materials, required for both sustenance and manufacturing. Economic activity gives rise to a dynamic akin to a great bellows, where the constant ebb and flow of ships, boats and wagons move goods in and out. Along riverbanks, quays and docksides are built to create bustling hubs for the collection and storage of commodities. Market squares and large storage areas link the polis with the surrounding countryside, bringing in locals every day, who although do not live in the city, are well known to it.

The urban centre also serves as an administrative and defensive stronghold for the province or realm, with a substantial population dedicated to accounting, decision-making and maintaining order. Authority is decentralised between factions who are assigned to control different aspects and parts of the city or town; entities include the town guard and the town watch, nobles and the upper class, guilds and artisans, common labourers and the general poor, religious orders and individual churches, secret societies and cabals and learned persons and their attendants ... all competing for control over the general maelstrom of people. Each quarter and neighbourhood acts as a territory, where those in control defend their power. Conflicts, mostly controlled and carried out with subtle grace, sometimes burst into fits of violence that usually end quickly.

Conditions

If the characters have money, urban ranges are the safest places anywhere. Characters can choose to take a private room in a luxurious inn, prestigious rooms in an apartment block or even purchase their own house. So long as they remain upon avenues and among the hoi polloi, they may count on guards, social conventions and the presence of powerful acquaintances to ensure a life of refinement and peace. On a lesser scale, they may live among the bourgeoisie, less elegant but by no means uncomfortable or perilous. It is only in the slums and among the criminal element that the players need fear anything. In market towns, every object of one's desire can be purchased or at least sent for, though this may take hiring agents and the desired object may take months to arrive. In the meantime the character can dine, drink, study, learn a trade, operate a business, speculate, participate in politics or any of a hundred other activities ... so long as the money lasts.

Common Features

Below is a list of elements and features that are common to savanna ranges:


Urban Creatures

The following monsters are common to urban areas:


See List of Ranges

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