An important facet of building your dream world is the city. Cities are major economic centers, fueling their nations’ growth as goods and money are traded many times every day. But economics isn’t their only significant attraction. Cities also serve as key military strongholds and each have their own places of worship. You might be wondering, how do fantasy cities stack up here?
Fantasy cities are humming with activities. Each city is designed differently, yet they have many of the same type of buildings. People spend their hard-earned money to buy things they need for survival or luxuries they want. In many places, musicians of all stripes play on the streets or in plazas as people scurry to and from work. Cities are dynamic creatures, always changing every day.
In your world, cities are where important events happen, events that alter the course of history. A beloved monarch passes away and his son and heir becomes king, beginning a new era. A great city is besieged by monsters and nearly brought down to her knees. Perhaps a new invention takes the world by storm, bringing great prosperity to the city’s residents.
Fantasy cities are located in many different places though there are several things they need not just to survive but to grow and thrive for many years. Firstly, they need water, so they’re near water sources like rivers or lakes. Secondly, a steady source of food should be close by and available all year round. This means either animals or plants or both. Thirdly, they need protection from enemies. Cities tend to be on hilly terrain or close to forests to make it difficult for their foes to be able to destroy them in one swift stroke.
When you’re constructing your fantasy world, you need to consider what buildings you should have in your cities. It depends on the country’s culture. If a nation’s focused on having the most powerful military, her cities will reflect that perspective. Even military-oriented nations need to have places for their soldiers to enjoy some downtime.
This is the first of a two-parter series covering the kinds of buildings cities have, so let’s start with one everyone knows: inns.
Inns are found in all fantasy cities. At first surface, inns are only a place for weary travelers to rest for the day before hitting the road. Such appearance is deceptive, for inns are so much more than that.
In fantasy, inns play several important roles:
In urban centers, inns are found in strategic locations. They can be found right next to major thoroughfares or marketplaces. Additionally, they’re near their target audience. For example, if an innkeeper wants wealthy customers, he’ll build one close to the part of the city where they live. Inns also like to be close to castles or military installations as people are always coming and going from those places.
In the countryside, inns sit at the side of the road, being only a stopping point for travelers. They can also be at the site where two major roads intersect. For small towns, they’re found either on the edge or in the center.
A mainstay of fantasy cities, taverns are popular because they draw many different kinds of people. A ne’er-do-well might go to the same place as the leader of the city and the two might bond over their favorite drink. Sitting in a corner, an ambitious noble might be impatiently waiting for news about whether his bid to seize a tract of land from his rival will succeed or not when the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen appears at the doorway.
Taverns differ from inns in that they focus on selling liquor and food to their patrons. Ale is a popular beverage in many taverns. Their owners know their customers only come to forget their troubles and have a good time and they work to ensure they’re happy so they come back.
Since they sell food and drinks, they’re places where people meet and do business. People might exchange news about a faraway war or negotiate an important deal that will bring great money to both sides. People also go to taverns to gather information, since gossip runs rampant in those places.
Taverns are where drama and other trouble occurs. Since they’re watering-holes, bar fights tend to be common. Such fights can lead to an all-out brawl, leading to tables and chairs being broken and people bloodied.
They’re found mostly in fantasy cities due to the great number of people living in them, which ensures they have a steady stream of money flowing in. Their ambience reflects their neighborhood. If they’re in a wealthy part of town, they’ll have pieces of art on the walls and expensive tables and chairs. For those found in the bad part of town, they’ll be rundown and their tables and chairs will have missing legs.
For those found in the country, they’re in towns that are an important stop alongside the road. They tend to have a wider diversity of drinks available, wanting to cater to the widest number of people possible.
Many fantasy cities have some kind of military installation, a place for the country’s armed forces to reside and defend them from attackers. In many cases, it’s the barracks and in major or significant places, the military presence is increased to better protect them.
Barracks are where the soldiers assigned to guard the city live in. They’re usually on the outskirts, away from the city’s center so they have better vantage points. In some instances, they’re outside the city’s perimeter and not considered part of the city.
The soldiers who call the barracks home have their own activities, separate from the city they’re protecting. While they get to enjoy what the city offers, they have to constantly train every day to remain in prime fighting condition. Activities such as archery and sword-fighting are mandatory.
The barracks is led by the commander tasked with keeping the city safe. The soldiers all sleep in the same room but the commander gets a separate room for him. Additionally, the room is where the commander coordinates strategy and tactics with his soldiers and fellow commanders who come to visit.
Barracks can also double as jail cells, owing to the military acting as the police force in the city. Drunkards and criminals are escorted to the jail cells where they remain until someone pays their bail.
In wartime, barracks are a hive of activity as soldiers constantly come in and out. They, alongside with their commander, work with the city leaders to keep the city safe. When the city is attacked, the soldiers swarm out of the barracks and move to destroy the attackers. After the battle ends, they help rebuild the parts of the city that suffered damage in the battle.
The genre contains a lot of religious elements, places of worship being one of them. They’re found in many fantasy cities in as many worlds and while they all look different and have differing belief systems, the one thing they have in common is that they serve as a place for people to pay tribute to their deity, usually in the form of prayer.
In many worlds, religion plays a great role in people’s lives. People believed in the supernatural and attributed both good and bad events in their lives to their god. They endeavored to go to Heaven, not Hell.
People attended many functions hosted in their place of worship. They had a weekly Mass where they would hear the sermon for the week, or gatherings to raise funds for someone in trouble or for the religious organization.
During dark times, people looked to places of worship for comfort and consolation. As their lives crumbled around them, they sought hope, which they received but they had to stay on the right path.
Places of worship were considered sacred, meaning that if a crime was committed in said place, the criminal would be punished severely for desecrating a holy place. Weddings were held in those places because it meant that the couple getting married were receiving the blessing of their deity. Babies being baptized signified their purity and acceptance of their god.
Indeed, places of worship were a power center in the city and their location in the city’s heart demonstrated how much power they held. Priests or other high-ranking clergy were held in high regard across the city due to their holiness. Even the most powerful king had to watch his words with them. In many instances, powerful lords worked to ally themselves with the faithful.
Fantasy cities are dynamic beasts and play a pivotal role in shaping events that change the course of the world. Inns offer shelter for people traveling the land and serve as a place for them to converse about many things such as rumblings of war in distant lands or the latest going-ons in the city. Taverns are where different groups of people bond, for better or worse, over their favorite drink. The soldiers tasked with guarding the city call the barracks home and places of worship are where people pray to their god for guidance on what to do.
Cities are constantly changing. As a nation girds for war, the barracks plays a greater role than it does in peacetime. When dark times descend upon the city, people flock to taverns to drown their sorrows or places of worship to hope for things to get better. Once-busy inns become slow as less people travel on the road during turbulent times.
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