Difference between revisions of "Urban (range)"
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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. | '''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. | ||
Revision as of 19:10, 1 October 2023
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:
- Almshouse
- Apothecary
- Aqueduct
- Archery Range
- Arena
- Armoury
- Arsenal
- Avenue
- Bailey
- Bank
- Barracks
- Baths
- Black Market
- Bollard (see notes)
- Bridge
- Carter Post
- Castle
- Cathedral
- Combat Pit
- Courthouse
- Courtyard
- Court (space)
- Dry-dock
- Dump
- Fairs & Festivals
- Ferry
- Fishpond
- Flophouse
- Forge
- Fountain
- Garden
- Gong Pit
- Granary
- Graveyard
- Grocery
- Guardpost
- Guildhouse
- Harbour Tower & Spur
- Harbour
- Hospital
- Hostel
- Inn
- Keep
- Laboratory
- Lane
- Lavatory (see notes)
- Library
- Memorial
- Mews
- Mint
- Money Lender
- Monument
- Neighbourhood
- Office
- Palace
- Pharos
- Poster (see notes)
- Private Chapel
- Public Art
- Quarter
- Rat Catcher
- Reservoir
- School
- Sewer
- Shanty
- Slum
- Solar Observatory
- Stable
- Statue
- Stockyard
- Street Market
- Street Sign (see notes)
- Street
- Streetlamp (see notes)
- Tavern
- Temple
- Thaumaturgical School
- Theatre
- Tower
- Town Hall
- Town Wall
- University
- Villa
- Warehouse
- Well
- Workhouse
- Workshop
Urban Creatures
The following monsters are common to urban areas:
See List of Ranges
