PDA

View Full Version : Feedback on Urban Campaign Setting Desired



Force
2011-03-13, 08:44 PM
So, a friend of mine knows I like to play D&D and has requested that I DM a solo online campaign for her. She specifically requested an urban setting, so I sat down and spent an hour rummaging through my brain to build one for her. The result is very, very, VERY first-draft-ish, but I would love any commentary you guys can provide.

The City Itself:
Crossroads: An ancient magical city. Said to have been created by an ancient wizard named Axares, the city is enormous and multi-tiered, honeycombed with buildings, streets, and mysterious regions, where one can step through a doorway and into a forest, a sea, or the bowels of hell itself.

Crossroads' origins are steeped in legend. While originally the city was said to float and fly thorugh the heavens at the command of Axares, Crossroads is currently located in the Gowyai mountain range at the center of the continent of Tauweap. To south lies the Fjord of Grasha, which in turn leads about fifty miles further south to the Sea of Bahnam. To the west lies the Purple Republic, and to the east, the Empire of Loressa. To the north lies the dwarven Kingdom of Durmitrand.

Crossroads acts as a neutral city for all three nations. The three each maintain embassies in Crossroads, using magical communications to communicate with their respective capitals.

Crossroads itself is ruled by the five estates. Each Estate is composed in turn of all the guilds that fall under its purview. The five estates are as follows:

-The First Estate: Craftsmen and tradesmen. This estate is composed of all who build and create, ranging from bakers to constructors to shipbuilders.

The Second Estate: Traders. This estate is composed of all who do mercantile business-- and as Crossroads is the center of Tauweap's trade, this estate is larger than you'd think.

The Third Estate: Laborers. This estate is composed of all who labor but are not considered to do so with skill.

-The Fourth Estate: Arcane. This estate is composed of all who work arcane magic.

-The Fifth Estate: Divine. This estate is composed of all who work divine magic and serve the gods of Tauweap.

Each Estate is composed of separate guilds; the Baker's Guild is represented by the First Estate, the Sailor's by the Second Estate, the Farmer's by the Third Estate, the Magi by the Fourth Estate, and the Priesthood by the Fifth estate, for example. There are many different guilds within the first three; there are few within the last two. Each guild head, who may or may not be elected, votes to select a single person to represent the Estate in the Estate Council, an Estatesman. The Council is led by one of the Estatesmen, called the Council(wo)man, whose position rotates every year. Each Estate holds the Councilman's seat once every five years, in numerical order. Currently the Third Estate holds the seat.

Every resident of Crossroads, unless considered transient, is required to register as a guildmember. Dues are assessed as a percentage of income, similar to taxes, and based on a sliding scale. Even transients are required to identify themselves at the gates of Crossroads and will be pursued by the guilds for membership if they appear to settle.

Each Estate holds to a fifth of the city, known as a Khate. Each Khate is subdivided into specific quarters-- the Second Khate, for example, holds the Market Quarter, tne Sailor's quarter, and many other Quarters. Residents of the various guilds generally live in the quarter their guild is named after. Each guild contracts with the City Watch, a nonpartisan guild, to secure their quarter. As each guild pays what they please for Watch presence, security is very different-- from guardsmen on every corner and patrols every night in the Market Quarter to the twenty guardsmen who hold down the entirety of the Farmer's Quarter.

The Council Spire lies at the center of the city. An enormous spire reaching almost fifteen hundred feet in the air, the sides of the Spire are emblazoned continuously in magical runes that support it and give it strength. The Council and the headquarters of each of the Estates are located within the Spire, lowest to highest, with the Council's chambers at the top. Also within the Spire are the magical defenses for the city, the province of the Fourth Estate.

Crossroads' magic is not yet fully understood, despite centuries of study. What is known is that the current goverment is not the first to inhabit the city-- perhaps not even the tenth. Axares' magical defenses are extraordinarily powerful, and every race following him has only added to them. On command, the city walls can be reinforced by a magical field that is nearly impenetrable. The city also continously maintains a Dimensional Lock that prevents teleportation directly into the city and routes it into specific holding areas that are locked down by magic, preventing invasion-- though teleporting inside the city and from the city to the outside is permitted. The lock also holds against planar travel, although again, one can shift to the Planes from the city, merely not directly into it. Anti-air wards provide defense against aerial attack, destroying those who would fly into the city with bolts of lightning, blasts of fire, and waves of pure force that literally disintegrate attackers. The defenses are extraordinarily complex and have been secured through magic, to the point that-- while the Mage's guild is sure Crossroads has many more magical abilities than are known-- no one has yet been able to access some of Crossroads' more legendary capabilities.

One of Crossroads' stranger abilities is that the city extends itself into another dimension, a plane called by the Mage's Guild "Elsewhere." Elsewhere consists of a series of pocket dimensions accessible through specific locations within the city. Elsewhere does not follow all the laws of physics, and is very dangerous. Most of Elsewhere is locked down and used only under rigorous safety protocols. The single exception is that controlled by the Farmer's Guild, which has been sanitized and secured. Thanks to the fact that the pocket dimension known as the Gardens is nearly limitless in size, the city is assured of a continuous supply of food as long as access to that portion of Elsewhere is assured.


Other locations in the campaign world...


The Golden Republic is a polyglot nation-- almost every race known to exist on the continent has representatives there. The backbone of the republic, however, is the human race. About seven hundred years ago, a strong human named Forgothrax rose from the barbarian tribes and began to unite tribe after tribe. He was a powerful magician and a puissant warrior besides. The various organized city-states stood against him, but they were old and crumbling. They vanished under the wave of his power, and Forgothrax united the West. It took him almost fifty years, and he was a feeble old man before he saw his dream realized, but Forgothrax eventually stood united over an enormous domain. His family took the reins of government and have led the Republic since his death until the present. His successors can always be distinguished by long, thick black hair and a hooked nose.

The term "Republic" comes from the fact that every conquered city state, every tribe, and every polity Forgothrax originally deigned to acknowledge is allowed to send a Senator to represent them in the Golden Senate. The Senators gather in the capital city of Gahnokh and elect a Praetor from among them to serve as the leader of the Republic for a term of five years at a stretch. Forgothrax's family members have, with a few exceptions, served as Praetors since as long as the history of the Republic has been recorded.

The Empire of Loressa is an elven-dominated nation-- or, more accurately, a nation of the Sidhe. Unlike the Golden Republic, the Empire of Loressa has existed since time imemorial. while members of all the known races do live in the Empire, they are considered second-class citizens. The Sidhe and their lesser cousins, the elves, are the only members of society who hold authority. They are ruled by the descendents of Loressa, a mythological figure who is said to have led the elves to settle upon Tauweap-- from where, or how, is unknown. The Empire itself populated mainly by those deemed second-class citizens and the elves, who administrate the Empire-- in the case of the High Elves-- or live elsewhere in it, such as the forest elves. The Sidhe, while they do live in Loressa at times, come and go at will-- where, no one knows, and the Sidhe do not answer when asked.

The Kingdom of Durmitrand is populated by the dwarves and only by the dwarves; less than five percent of the population is composed of the other races. Compared to the other nations, Durmitrand is tiny-- it exists only within the Gowyai mountains and for a mile or two along the footlands at the base of the mountains. However, size isn't everything-- the dwarves have spent time imemorial exploring the mountains. Their cities are carved into the mountains, in the form of miles of tunnels, full of mines and miniature cities. They serve as the barrier between the Purple Republic and the Empire of Loressa-- neither race is stupid enough to fight the dwarves, for they possess both the steel that can turn back the Sidhe's magic and their cousins alike as well as the sheer numbers and brute strength that could eat the Purple Republic's armies alive.