Barbaric worshiper city state. Roleplay & Society help.

[Ointhedwarf]

I'm introducing a new type of city in my campaign. Long story short, for the sake of fairness the "good gods" have allowed the lawful existence of shrines to the evil gods as long as their worship remains within the boundaries of their evil, dark cities (basically city-states). I'm asking for suggestions criticism and/or soft irony.

Although at first I really liked the idea I'm finding it more and more difficult to flesh out the society that would develop in such circumstances. Depending on the god the society should be different but I think some qualities should be common, for example "might is right" should describe most of them. Also, high priests should be the "leaders" of the place.

But this is where magic comes in. I want these cities to be infested with magical summons. These summons mostly ignore the inhabitants but sometimes indulge themselves in slaughtering the weak. The priests would probably contest in power and piety by continually summoning these creatures and sending them out or keeping them in the city. Fights between the creatures would not be a rare sight.

I'm including such gods as: of nightmares, of darkness, of the exiled, of destruction, of madness, of debauchery, of plots etc.

Obviously a city state devoted to the goddess of nightmares could be unique. The main temple could be a demiplane of nightmarish terror where the goddess tests her priests or sends the damned. Similarly the city of madness could be very different from the rest. Nonsensical laws, ceremonies parodies of famous ones etc.

Would such cities need guards? Farmers? Bakers? Or would it be more communal where everything seems to get sorted out on its own?

Thanks in advance

[Florian]

I'm including such gods as: of nightmares, of darkness, of the exiled, of destruction, of madness, of debauchery, of plots etc.

That´s where I see a slight problem with the whole concept.
Such a city state should still be a place that is governed by the rules of society and should be able to sustain itself in a meaningful way.
If the deities you use are too conceptual in their goals or too close to abstract concepts, the whole city state will simply look silly.
What I think can work is using deities that exemplify the darker aspects of society and have them work as some sort of pantheon. So instead of the god of civilization, they worship Asmodeusu, instead of the god of trade, they worship Mammon, and so on, mixed with minor and local deities, like the chief patron of a city state.

[Ointhedwarf]

The gods are actually specific. It is a tamriel based campaign and the gods are the daedra. Each with their own histories, humanlike traits and so on. I avoided being specific on this so that the thread wouldn't sidetrack. I'm looking for more general rules which I can then build around each particular god.

[Florian]

The gods are actually specific. It is a tamriel based campaign and the gods are the daedra. Each with their own histories, humanlike traits and so on. I avoided being specific on this so that the thread wouldn't sidetrack. I'm looking for more general rules which I can then build around each particular god.

That is actually very helpful and something to work with.
Daedra are a real but supernatural thing and that can be incorporated. So its not "just" temples, but also homes and seats of power for those beings.

Let´s start with the overall look: Mix up "human" and "daedric" architecture and style. Make the "human" part pretty normal fantasy style, let the daedric part be fantastical, filigreed high-rise building that go equally deep underground.
Integrate permanent gates. Make a city state "Two Dimensional". It is two cities occupying the same physical space and both are totally interconnected. Make "crossing over" necessary. For example, in one dimension, a daedric building is all rooms and no stairs, in the other dimension, it´s just a big staircase, leading nowhere/anywhere. If you don´t know how it works, it may simply look strange why a, say, Golden Saint sits on a roof and looks out for something no-one else can see.

Now let´s include a twist here: Daedra deities are powerful indeed, but they give a flying s*** about normal "humans". All they care about is their standing with their own people. Now, they can´t control them on their own, but they can grant "human" the power to do so. The "human" population of such a city state summons and binds more and more outsiders, unwittingly bringing them into the fold of their daedric deity. That doesn´t replace or advance "tech" in any sense, as that concept simply is not known and the deity itself has no interest in advancing it.

So the "main industry" of such a city state is building gates and binding outsiders. All their activities are aimed towards those goals.

This could lead to a very weird situation: There will be a very productive industry solely focused on furthering the daedra, but there will be no laws, no police, no army, as that is the province of the local deity.

[Ointhedwarf]

That is actually very helpful and something to work with.
Daedra are a real but supernatural thing and that can be incorporated. So its not "just" temples, but also homes and seats of power for those beings.

Let´s start with the overall look: Mix up "human" and "daedric" architecture and style. Make the "human" part pretty normal fantasy style, let the daedric part be fantastical, filigreed high-rise building that go equally deep underground.
Integrate permanent gates. Make a city state "Two Dimensional". It is two cities occupying the same physical space and both are totally interconnected. Make "crossing over" necessary. For example, in one dimension, a daedric building is all rooms and no stairs, in the other dimension, it´s just a big staircase, leading nowhere/anywhere. If you don´t know how it works, it may simply look strange why a, say, Golden Saint sits on a roof and looks out for something no-one else can see.

Now let´s include a twist here: Daedra deities are powerful indeed, but they give a flying s*** about normal "humans". All they care about is their standing with their own people. Now, they can´t control them on their own, but they can grant "human" the power to do so. The "human" population of such a city state summons and binds more and more outsiders, unwittingly bringing them into the fold of their daedric deity. That doesn´t replace or advance "tech" in any sense, as that concept simply is not known and the deity itself has no interest in advancing it.

So the "main industry" of such a city state is building gates and binding outsiders. All their activities are aimed towards those goals.

This could lead to a very weird situation: There will be a very productive industry solely focused on furthering the daedra, but there will be no laws, no police, no army, as that is the province of the local deity.

Very interesting. Explain to me about these "gates". Do you mean that doors of buildings within the cities could suddenly send you to each daedra's respective realm? (Hmm maybe no matter which daedric city you're in there is always a chance you'll be sent to Boethiah's realm.)

About the summoning part, you mean that the worshippers main usefulness is to help trap these outsiders? Do you imply that they should be at least apprentices of magic?

[Florian]

Very interesting. Explain to me about these "gates". Do you mean that doors of buildings within the cities could suddenly send you to each daedra's respective realm? (Hmm maybe no matter which daedric city you're in there is always a chance you'll be sent to Boethiah's realm.)

About the summoning part, you mean that the worshippers main usefulness is to help trap these outsiders? Do you imply that they should be at least apprentices of magic?

I prefer the "Occult" angle to the "Magic as Tech" approach on this.

Consider two cities, one on the Prime Material, the other on an Outer Plane. Think about a city map with natural occurring cul-de-sacs and now connect those cul-de-sacs. You can easily wander from one city to the other (especially Escher-esque if both streets are facing south, and so on). Or consider these directions: "Go to the Plaza of the Rooster, turn counter-clockwise, walk into Night Alley for ten paces then sharply turn around to enter the Library of Dreams". The third option would be to have two "regular" three story building connect to form an internal six story building. Last on the list are the very prosaic gate-arches, like having an huge silvered arch in both marketplaces and connect them by walking through.

I would´t say "trap", I´d say "anchor in place". Look up two rules: Occult Rituals (Occult Adventures) and Diabolical Manifestations (Hell Unleashed). Both are very good ways to have even "mundanes" handle the "high magic stuff".

Let´s make a working theory here: Each Prime Material city sits on a fat ley line (Occult Adventures). The good/neutral deities separated the evil deities from their seats of power and banished them to reside in/with those leylines in hopes of cutting them off from their hosts in Oblivion.
Now deadra can´t cross over on their own and if they manage it, they don´t last very long until being pulled back (think summon monster times). That´s where mortal come into it and could be the basis of a very interesting power distribution: They can "bind" the daedra to the Prime Material but gain some sort of control over them in the process. Both sides are master and slave at the same time.

I´d go more with the Occult Adventure classes for the regular people in those cities. Mediums don´t channel spirits but rather daedra still on the other side, Occultists gain insight by handling daedric items, Spiritualists carry around daedra instead of phantoms of the dead, and so on.
That could be a pretty easy explanation as for why people actually life in those cities and thrive there, direct access to pretty incredible power.