The City
The City is the (currently unnamed) hub of the Dark Mod setting. There are lots of other cities where mappers could create stories, but our focus has been on this one.
Overview
The city is a vast, sprawling port city, built atop a hill at the mouth of a river. It existed as a small town even before the birth of the empire, but became much more important over the last few centuries. It is home to many powerful aristocratic and merchant families, who have gained wealth through lucrative shipping contracts. Almost all sea trade is offloaded in the city for transfer to riverboats, which sail up the (unnamed) river to other ports in the empire.
Generations ago the city was an important part of a powerful empire, but that empire has been in a long decline and is now concerned primarily with protecting the distant capital from rampant barbarian invasions. The city has been largely left to rule itself since then, and has lucrative trade (legal and illegal) with enemies of the empire. A tempting target for other nations, the city has had to fight several fierce naval battles over the years to keep from being conquered, relying on the strength of its defensive walls and (more recently) the ingenuity of the Inventor's Guild.
The city is fairly isolated from overland travel because of the vast wilderness that stretches out from the surrounding fields and villages. This wilderness is full of pagan tribes and dangerous creatures. Most travel to the city comes by riverboat, from the sea, or along specially guarded 'Builder Roads'.
Power Structure
In the city, a person is defined by their relationships: what he does, where he lives, who he is related to, what guild he is a member of, and what tavern he drinks at. Power generally comes to groups, not individuals. Lords have power because people have an implicit understanding of landed aristocracy. Priests have power because they belong to the Church. It is extremely rare for an individual to wield power independent of a social organization. Guild memberships, official appointments, tax exemptions, personal favours for friends and family, blatant extortion and bribery, and bending the rules for personal benefit are all well-established means through which powerful groups manipulate their surroundings.
In the city, multiple groups contend for control of social issues, laws, and taxation. Merchant families fight the town lord for more control and less extortion, craft guilds fight taxes and levys on their goods, and the Church tries to exert authority over legal issues. Of all the groups vying for political power in the city (other than the town lord himself), the following are the most notable:
City Council
The city council (made up of prominent merchants and aristocrats) is the municipal head of the city. City councils deal with levying various taxes, such as gate taxes, bridge taxes, taxes on luxury goods, war taxes, and emergency taxes. The city needs an entire financial system for collecting taxes and keeping accounting records, as well as other economic practices like forced loans (where the city can force a merchant or noble to loan money to the city, at a generous interest rate, by threats of confiscation or exile).
The city council also has the right to form a militia for city defense, including stockpiling weapons, food, and other logistical materials, including men for military use. The City Watch is essentially a professional standing army, charged with defending the city walls in time of attack, and of keeping the peace inside the walls. Because of the importance of the city as a gateway port for sea trade, the city has always had a sizable city watch for defense. In times of war the city has also been known to hire foreign mercenaries, which often stay in the city afterwards, hiring themselves out as bodyguards or escorts.
When city lords are weak, the city council can wield a great deal of power.
Guilds
There are two basic kinds of guilds: Craft Guilds (guilds that make things) and Merchant Guilds (guilds that sell and transport things).
Craft Guilds generally weild relatively little power in the city, although there are some exceptions, like the Inventor's Guild. But even the smaller guilds are not without influence. Weavers banding together in opposition to the merchant guild's regulations on their craft, cobblers disagreeing with the large tax on fine foreign leather coming into the city, and masons striking beause the master mason in charge of building the new church is not a local master mason are all common examples of crafts affecting city life.
Some craft guilds charge exhorbitant entry fees, while others allow entry only through heredity or marriage to a guild member's daughter. These limitations make guild membership socially exclusive and financially beneficial for those with influential guild positions. It is the Master craftsmen who benefit most from guild rules. Master craftsmen decide who becomes a journeyman and the selling price for the products of their craft. They are ambassadors of the guild in civic matters and in dealing with the merchant guilds.
Merchant Guilds rank higher on the social ladder than craft guilds. They negotiate rights, taxes and rents with the city lord, make municiple bylaws, and pick city officials. Prominent merchant guild members are always represented on the city council as well. Although in the past, strong city lords were able to curb the power of the merchant guilds, they currently have almost exclusive power over trade in the city.
Merchant guilds are concerned with the transporting, buying, and selling of goods. Some buy local goods and transport and sell them to neighbouring towns or fairs. Others concentrate on importing sought-after goods into the city. Selling staple products like grain and coarse cloth are always profitable; other wholesale merchants specialize in luxury goods like wine, furs, silks, or fine linen. As the city grew, the single merchant guild eventually formed multiple guilds according to their specific commodity.
The Church
The Church has a great deal of political power in the city. The archbishop is easily as powerful as the city lord, and priests of prestigious perishes enjoy the same level of social and financial power as the heads of merchant guilds or lesser nobles.
The Church has its own ecclisiastical courts, where members of the clergy are tried. They also claim jurisdiction over all cases of blasphemy, desecration, and church vandalism or theft. The Inquisitors have authority to investigate and punish heresy wherever they may find it.
See the Builders for more information.
Physical Description
The city is one of the largest in the known world, with over one million inhabitants. Vast and sprawling, most who live there go their whole lives without seeing just how expansive it is. Having been built and rebuilt over the centuries, much of the city is a confusing maze of narrow streets and alleyways.
Each time the city grew beyond its defensive walls, a new wall was added, encircling a new district. After many centuries, there are now more than a dozen walled districts (called wards or quarters), each connected like a honeycomb to the others. While some districts grew and prospered and were modernized over the years, others did not.
Outside the city walls are miles and miles of farmland and small villages, which support the city with grain and other produce (though the city must still import most of its grain from up river).
Because city districts were built and rebuilt over time (primarily due to fires), the older districts atop the hill have a city beneath the city. Subterranean crypts and passages abound, and are used as secret highways or meeting places for societies of Necromancers and thieves.
There is a saying in the city, "Wealth rises to the top" (or "Shit floats to the top", depending on who you ask). Both refer to the fact that the oldest and most wealthy districts lie atop the hill overlooking the ocean. The Builders' Grand Cathedral, the City Council Chambers, and the mansions of many of the wealthier inhabitants are all located there. The further you go from the hill and the port districts, the poorer and more foul the districts tend to get.
Districts of Note
A 'district' is a particular section of the city, usually defined by geographic features like walls or roads. Also called wards or quarters.
The Flood Ward: One district on the coast began to flood at high tide four decades ago, and is now permanenty half submerged. Abandoned by honest folk, it has become a haven for smugglers, thieves, and Pagans, who prefer to stay away from the city watch and builder patrols.
The Pagan Quarter: Although most pagans live in tribes and villages outside the city, over time there have been many that come inside the walls to live and work. Pagans are not forced to live in the Pagan District, but they tend to congregate there to be among their own kind. Those that follow the Builder religion (the vast majority of the city) mistrust those who do not. Pagans also tend to follow traditions involving magic and the reverence of nature spirits, both of which are disliked by the Builders.
The Pagan Quarter something of a slum, with generally poor dwellings crammed together. Pagans generally build around existing trees and leave room for communal gardens (for growing vegetables) where they can. Non-pagans generally stay out of the district unless they are seeking to purchase illegal magical talismans or salves, or they are looking to make trouble. Drunken louts intent on starting fights or causing other harm know that crimes committed against pagans tend to be taken less seriously.
The Plague Ward: About two decades ago, a deadly plague erupted in a district on the opposite side of the river. In a panic, the people quarrentined the entire district, barring the great gates and walling up the exits. People moved away from homes close to the walls, leaving them abandoned. To this day the district remains walled up. It took a decade for anyone to even consider opening the district again, but the fear of releasing the plague once more--not to mention the stories of damned spirits seeking vengence--have kept that from happening. The area surrounding the district continues to be virtually abandoned as well, lived in only by the desperate or those seeking sinister privacy.
The Old Quarter: Located atop the hill overlooking the sea, this is the oldest part of the city. The Administrative District (which includes the library, council chambers, and other civic buildings) is located in this area, as well as the palaces of the oldest noble families.
