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The Urban Journey: An “Ex Novo” City-building Quest

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[X] The Etchers

Having a bunch of body modification specialists have a degree of power in our society sounds pretty interesting.

HQ would be wherever they gather to practice their craft I assume.
 
[x] The Council of Exiles

They likely have the most military might and are the most organized, given that they were a semi-military organization.
 
[X] The Council of Exiles
A fortress palace buried deep within the green eastern hills, probably situated on some hilltop. A good place for defense along with the collection of resources.
 
So it certainly makes sense that the first point of power would be the most militarily inclined, though the Cradle of Olpan has the advantage of already having been here. I have the strongest personal interest in the Etcher's (as they are the most interesting at the moment) but from a narrative standpoint, I think they are the least likely to have the lead in power.

For that reason, I'll vote for,
[X] The Cradle of Olpan

They have the advantage of already being established here, the other two factions are newer with likely The Council of Exiles being the newest. This gives them the most thorough understanding of these lands, and are likely the mediating factor between the other two factions being quite diverse.

Now as for strongholds for each of the factions:
Council of Exiles: Given their military background I could see them perhaps having constructed a fort, with maybe a longhouse or something akin to that within. Likely wood at this time given they are new here, someplace that can be defended well, be it in the hills or perhaps on a peninsula like section on the lake, meaning only one area needs to be prepared from land invasion.

The Etchers: Since in my opinion they've gotten here before the Council of Exiles though could have a more built up location, while an important faction of them are primarily interested in body modification, I like the idea of playing into the stone carvers in their group. Perhaps their landmark is a statue they have constructed with multiple workshops around it, likely painted brilliantly, not just bare stone. What the statue is of I'm not really sure, but it would be significant to their culture.

The Cult of Olpan: I like Happerry's Stonehenge-esque idea, though I did consider a tower/pyramid idea, playing with the old be as high as possible when honoring the divine idea.
 
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[X] The Cradle of Olpan

I like the idea of having them in charge, as they were here first and could serve as mediators between the two other factions.

As for HQs, I like the idea of the Council of Exiles having a built up location. Maybe instead of a straight-up fort though, they have something similar to a Norse clan-hold, similar to what ComiTurtle said. So like a sort of self-contained complex housing many inhabitants, with most of their needs served near or within the walls.
Given the Etchers' roots as craftsmen, they may set up shop in a sort of guild hall central to the workshops or places where their good sort sold.
I'm also a fan of Happery's idea for the Cult's HQ.
 
[X] The Cradle of Olpan
I personally like the cult more than the others and they've been there for a long time now so I feel it would be rude to have them replaced when they're the ones who helped the downtrodden.
 
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A City Founded, But What To Call It?
  • Threadmarks
    • Adhoc vote count started by hessan_yongdi on Dec 10, 2020 at 4:37 PM, finished with 9 posts and 9 votes.
    Click to expand...


    Thank you all! The winner for our vote was the The Cult of Olpan. You might have noticed, I accidentally put the wrong name in the poll of the "Cradle of Olpan." I will refer to it as the Cult of Olpan from here on as originally intended.

    I agree that it certainly makes sense for the Cult to have the starting faction point and think that having the shrine's design based on a megalith is very cool. I am going to make a slight modification to reflect their growing power and say that they have hired artists from the Etchers to add carved and painted frescoes to the stones depicting events from of Olpan's life, complete with his flaming blue crown. (Olpan has vivid auroras that occasionally become visible from our planet during eclipses or when the moon is close to the new phase)

    As for the other two, I think that a longhouse is a good idea for the Council of Exiles. This might expand to a full fortification should their power increase significantly. Likewise, the Etchers landmark will be a simple dry-stone building made from ruin salvage that may become more complex going into the future. For an example, I would recommend looking at the Gallarus Oratory in Ireland but make it about 1.5 to 2 times bigger.

    An updated map can be found here! You will also notice in the lower left the three cards for our current factions. The faction icons are temporary, as I intend to create custom symbols for them in the coming days. The power token that the Cult of Olpan received due to the vote is not supposed to come from the starting resource spot, so we still have two unused power tokens on the board for use as the Development stage begins.


    This leaves us with one last task to accomplish in the Foundation stage before we move on to the first round of the Development stage. What are we going to name our fledgling city? It can either be an "English" city name or you can provide a concept and I can translate it into Nerlekmar. The Nerlakthad conlang is a bit farther along than you have seen here, but this would be a good excuse for me to branch it into new directions. Like last time, I will give us about 24 hours to make suggestions and then start a vote where you can pick your favorite.

    Please don't feel like the name needs to be super epic right now. Remember our city is essentially a medium-sized refugee camp at the moment. In fact, it might even have multiple names since the groups founding it are so fractured. If events take us in a new and very interesting direction in the future, I will ask for a name change when it seems appropriate.

    [ ] Your suggested city name.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Cradle's Rest
    I think this feels like the original name of the city and maybe later it would be named as something glorius.
     
    City Name and Our First Roll
  • Threadmarks
    • Hello all! Sorry about the delay. I am afraid life got a bit busy for a couple of days. The voting put Cradle's Rest in the lead, so I have updated the opening post with the new name! I will be sure to save Lakeside and South Point as neighborhood names for future.

    Now we have officially moved on to the Development phase of the game! If we were playing the game in person, we would roll 3d6 and check the chart to see the result. Rather than adding the numbers together, each die represents a number in a three-digit number.

    As an example, I will do our first roll at the bottom of this post. Whatever the die result, I will consider the results on the chart and then make a second post by the end of the day. My current plan is that I will give you all a couple of possible story paths to vote on based on the current flow of the story and the situation the dice give us.


    See you again soon!
    hessan_yongdi threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: First Development Roll Total: 9
    3 3 4 4 2 2
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Development Turn #1 - Vote
  • Threadmarks
    • Development Turn #1 - 342
    An Unexpected Shortage
    An Embargo, a blockade, or the collapse of a particular supply chain. What good exactly is in shortage? Is another settlement behind this?
    =>Remove a Resource, (add an external faction)


    Since we are at the very beginning and only have one resource that we can't really lose (the ruins), I am going to rule that we don't need to lose our resource. However, we will add an external faction that reflects the power making life difficult for our new community.

    Normally at the end of every development round, we would decide if we add population to our city. In regard to this, I think that the shortage would discourage our community to grow much from either natural growth or migration, so we will skip that this round.

    ----------​

    This time, I will give you three options to chose from. Please vote for one. I would also like for everyone to do as you vote for your favored scenario is to go ahead and roll 3d6. This will act a queue for the next couple development posts.

    [ ] The King that the rebels have been fighting against in the northern kingdom has managed to secure the borderlands, the former home of the Council of Exiles. This land was our only source for several crucial herbs and medicines. They know we have former rebels among us, so they have severely limited our access in revenge.
    Faction Added: The Tyrants of the North

    [ ] The followers of the Prophet Qumol continue to disrupt the lives of all! In their search for their holy land, they have begun securing the resources to build up a fleet. This has disrupted trade up and down the eastern coast as they buy up every ship they can find. Their ship-building has also made it difficult for us to get quality wood and rope for construction.
    Faction Added: The Flock of Qumol

    [ ] A clan of Raanel, a migratory avian people that rely heavily on the sea for their livelihoods, have settled on the islands to the south. With farming being impossible on parts of the peninsula our people have also been using fishing as a major food source. Our competing needs have not led to violence, but it has limited the number of fish we can safely harvest from the sea without risking the future viability of the fishing grounds.
    Faction Added: Clan of the Southern Isles
     
  • Threadmarks
    • I'm quite unsure, all of them seem potentially interesting, so if someone has a good arguement for one I'd be more then willing to listen. But for now I'll do this vote.

    [X] The followers of the Prophet Qumol continue to disrupt the lives of all! In their search for their holy land, they have begun securing the resources to build up a fleet. This has disrupted trade up and down the eastern coast as they buy up every ship they can find. Their ship-building has also made it difficult for us to get quality wood and rope for construction.
    Happerry threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: As Requested Total: 14
    6 6 2 2 6 6
     
    While I certainly want us to eventually build up our own naval power, I like the idea that we're sort of hindered towards the beginning, I also like this great fleet to the holy-land concept being promoted, and if they are a faction we'll see more of them. The Tyrants to the north are tempting but I think I want strife to still be going on there for now. I like the Raanel group, but I'd rather keep the Flock of Qumol in our vision going forward overall.

    [X] The followers of the Prophet Qumol continue to disrupt the lives of all! In their search for their holy land, they have begun securing the resources to build up a fleet. This has disrupted trade up and down the eastern coast as they buy up every ship they can find. Their ship-building has also made it difficult for us to get quality wood and rope for construction.
    Faction Added: The Flock of Qumol
    ComiTurtle threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: Banked Event Total: 13
    6 6 3 3 4 4
     
    [X] The followers of the Prophet Qumol continue to disrupt the lives of all! In their search for their holy land, they have begun securing the resources to build up a fleet. This has disrupted trade up and down the eastern coast as they buy up every ship they can find. Their ship-building has also made it difficult for us to get quality wood and rope for construction.
     
    [X] A clan of Raanel, a migratory avian people that rely heavily on the sea for their livelihoods, have settled on the islands to the south. With farming being impossible on parts of the peninsula our people have also been using fishing as a major food source. Our competing needs have not led to violence, but it has limited the number of fish we can safely harvest from the sea without risking the future viability of the fishing grounds.
    Faction Added: Clan of the Southern Isles

    Though this is probably wishful thinking, but a part me just can't help but think these guys might have something to do with the ruins, if my little suggestion for "Avian iconography" was the incentive that led to their inclusion as a choice.
    MurderChicken threw 3 6-faced dice. Total: 12
    2 2 6 6 4 4
     
    [X] A clan of Raanel, a migratory avian people that rely heavily on the sea for their livelihoods, have settled on the islands to the south. With farming being impossible on parts of the peninsula our people have also been using fishing as a major food source. Our competing needs have not led to violence, but it has limited the number of fish we can safely harvest from the sea without risking the future viability of the fishing grounds.
    Faction Added: Clan of the Southern Isles
     
    [X] The followers of the Prophet Qumol continue to disrupt the lives of all! In their search for their holy land, they have begun securing the resources to build up a fleet. This has disrupted trade up and down the eastern coast as they buy up every ship they can find. Their ship-building has also made it difficult for us to get quality wood and rope for construction.
    Faction Added: The Flock of Qumol
    ALanos threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: Future Total: 12
    1 1 5 5 6 6
     
    The Villain said:
    @hessan_yongdi
    So, what happens to the factions that don't get picked? Will we still have a chance to encounter them in any future turns?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    While not every vote will go like this, all the possible factions will still exist in this particular case. They just won't have a significant impact on events in the city at this time if they don't win the vote. For example, I plan on having that clan of Raanel move onto on the islands no matter the vote results. The civil war in the north and exodus of the Flock of Qumol are likely to continue in the background for the next several rounds. Therefore it is possible that any of these factions could have an impact on future events.
     
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