In my WIP, my main setting is a city named Last Bastion (for historical reasons) that is very desirable for strategic commercial and militant reasons. It is saturated by magic, and is a cultural melting pot. Approximately 4.5 million beings live there. As a result of it's desirability, it has been attacked, seiged, and molested by bandits, pirates, and conquering armies very frequently since it's humble beginnings thousands of years ago. As a result, it is surrounded by tall, thick walls, it's food is brought in by portal from farms throughout the world, and it has a reasonable standing army, along with a militia made up of privately trained citizens. My question is, these conditions must have other effects on the city and it's inhabitants. What might they be?
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War torn peoples
- Thread starter Telemecus
- Start date
Fear and distrust of outsiders for one. If it has suffered such war, the inhabitants would feel only hatred and fear of those outside the city, and any information or pilgrims who reach the walls will likely be treated with suspicion.
The army likely will have received constant training for preparing for another constant conflict, which would have psychological effects upon them and the civilian populations too. Possibly a feeling of arrogance and elitism maybe? The city does still stand after thousands of years, so it'll have a fearsome reputation. The walls and buildings will be in constant state of disrepair too.
The army likely will have received constant training for preparing for another constant conflict, which would have psychological effects upon them and the civilian populations too. Possibly a feeling of arrogance and elitism maybe? The city does still stand after thousands of years, so it'll have a fearsome reputation. The walls and buildings will be in constant state of disrepair too.
When were the last major assaults against the city? Was the last four months in the past or forty years? And when were the assaults before that one? Also, is there any significant force threatening the city *now*?
Forty years ago with no serious current enemy means pressure to reduce taxes spent on military spending. It might mean gangs, as the militias would be recruiting fewer able bodied youths, leaving them at ends. It would also mean substantially less business for armorers, weaponsmiths, and provisioners for the military.
If the threat is current and clear, then all this changes: youths get pretty much drafted as soon as they're of age - maybe a 'last night out' or a 'last month of freedom' if there is a common enlistment date. Military providers would be working overtime. Vagrants, if possessed of any ability at all, would be pressed into workhouse / workgang details. Plus...
Paranioa would be rampant. Fear of infiltrators among the merchants and transient types. Ten or fifteen people get together, the odds are about fifty-fifty one will be an informant for the secret police (and yes, there would be a secret police). You'd also be looking at an absolutely massive black market, with many of the goods trading hands being 'common' - unusual fabrics, exotic foods...and probably just about anything made of metal. Many of the top black marketeers would also be near the top levels of the government (and might try to use the secret police to squash rivals).
wordwalker
Auror
Magic would also be an arm of the military, or at least the major arcane orders and opportunities would be heavily devoted to defense. Top priorities would be keeping those supply portals from being jammed, protection from arcane attack (like say other portals opening within the city), and any support they could give in "regrowing" the walls or otherwise helping the army. You'll need to think a lot about how magic has been organized and how it integrates with the rest of society (eg if magic is a rare but strong Gift, a capable mage is a national treasure), and how battles and other things are dealt with with it in the mix.
(Or you could say magic is much weaker, and the portals are a unique Old Secret. Until someone else masters it, of course.)
Some functions of medicine would be organized the same way, if it wasn't something mages learned to cover. Sneaking poison or disease into that supply (or catapulting infected corpses over the walls, the way the Mongols did) would do terrible things to a city under siege. Magical or not, the Medical Force would have immense power to declare quarantines and such.
And if the sewers and sanitation don't work, everyone gets sick anyway.
(Or you could say magic is much weaker, and the portals are a unique Old Secret. Until someone else masters it, of course.)
Some functions of medicine would be organized the same way, if it wasn't something mages learned to cover. Sneaking poison or disease into that supply (or catapulting infected corpses over the walls, the way the Mongols did) would do terrible things to a city under siege. Magical or not, the Medical Force would have immense power to declare quarantines and such.
And if the sewers and sanitation don't work, everyone gets sick anyway.
Fakefaux
Dreamer
I'd also note that it takes a while for a population to recover from wartime. Not just the people who die, but also the people who move away and don't come back. If there's been a recent war and the city is still recovering, the population will still be in the process of getting back to its pre-war numbers. There will be empty buildings, the survivors will still be bitter about the people they lost, city maintenance will have taken a hit because the workforce is smaller then it needs, etc.
Alexandra
Closed Account
Think Moscow during the Cold War.
CupofJoe
Myth Weaver
The Siege of Leningrad or Siege of Sarajevo might act as inspiration if it is a"hotter" time...
If the society is under enough stress then you might get some very strange effects. Cults and fanatics, sexual violence, mental illness and crime/profiteering are possible. So is great art and philosophical thinking.
If the society is under enough stress then you might get some very strange effects. Cults and fanatics, sexual violence, mental illness and crime/profiteering are possible. So is great art and philosophical thinking.
Nebuchadnezzar
Troubadour
What is the general tech level of your world? The reason I ask is that from Roman times up until about the 1800s, the largest cities in our own world had <1 million people (more or less) and most had far fewer. It wasn't until the 1860s-1870s that the largest city in the world (London) managed to top 4 million people thanks to the development of technology (especially rail networks and sanitation).
In other words, supporting a city of 4.5 million people requires technology and logistics at the level of the Industrial Revolution or the magical equivalent of the same. If you have a standard fantasy world level of technology (i.e. somewhere in the ancient/medieval/Renaissance zone), you'll could do a lot of brainstorming about the magic that allows a city of such size to exist while behind giant walls and under a constant threat of war.
Supply portals can operate in a fashion similar to the railroads, but they'll need to carry not just food but all manner of natural resources (wood, stone, cotton, wool, mineral ores, etc). Inflow of items is just one side of the coin -- there will also need to be outflow. Are there portals to handle the waste & garbage of 4.5 million people? What about the goods the citizens produce?
Obviously that many people take up a lot of space and I imagine they'd need to be tightly packed in. Fire would be a huge problem in such conditions as would disease, so there would need to be some magical means of handling these issues.
I'd also think that a city that is desirable for commercial reasons is not going to lock itself away behind walls. While the walls may exist, the gates would need to be open most of the time so that the trade that makes the city valuable can take place. The inhabitants may have a conflicting views about foreigners/outsiders -- wariness after so many attacks but at the same time a recognition and acceptance that you can't engage in trade without having customers.
In other words, supporting a city of 4.5 million people requires technology and logistics at the level of the Industrial Revolution or the magical equivalent of the same. If you have a standard fantasy world level of technology (i.e. somewhere in the ancient/medieval/Renaissance zone), you'll could do a lot of brainstorming about the magic that allows a city of such size to exist while behind giant walls and under a constant threat of war.
Supply portals can operate in a fashion similar to the railroads, but they'll need to carry not just food but all manner of natural resources (wood, stone, cotton, wool, mineral ores, etc). Inflow of items is just one side of the coin -- there will also need to be outflow. Are there portals to handle the waste & garbage of 4.5 million people? What about the goods the citizens produce?
Obviously that many people take up a lot of space and I imagine they'd need to be tightly packed in. Fire would be a huge problem in such conditions as would disease, so there would need to be some magical means of handling these issues.
I'd also think that a city that is desirable for commercial reasons is not going to lock itself away behind walls. While the walls may exist, the gates would need to be open most of the time so that the trade that makes the city valuable can take place. The inhabitants may have a conflicting views about foreigners/outsiders -- wariness after so many attacks but at the same time a recognition and acceptance that you can't engage in trade without having customers.
- Thread starter
- #9
I tend to think of my city built more like Babylon, mostly made of stone. Last Bastion is a port city (sort of) since it is built adjacent to seaside cliffs (think white cliffs of Dover-ish) with a bay nearby where ships can land and easily hire men to bring haul or cart goods up to the city. The reason Last Bastion was able to be built on these cliffs is because of a major magical landmark, a waterfall that runs upwards (an oldie but a goodie 
). The runoff from these "falls" creates a river through the center of the city, from which aqueducts on the level of ancient Rome are fed from, with water running underneath the city, bringing fresh water in, and carrying out waste water.
Technology is frozen pre-renaissance, and all further progress has been mostly magical. Magic is of varying power, since I am basing my magic system on knowledge and focus. Portals especially are rare, because you need to have copious amounts of knowledge on how your portal will work, and you need to know all about where both ends of the portal will be anchored, etc. Healing and fire control are other good examples. A healer needs to know exactly in what way the person was injured, and to a more general extent, how the limb or injured portion of the body works and is constructed when it is fully functional. Fire is a problem in my world, because learning to control fire generally involves getting burned over and over again, before knowing fire well enough to fight with it, or direct it, or put it out.
The last major attack was just under a decade ago when a band of pirates swam up the aforementioned falls, and infiltrated the city to attack from the inside. There is a small section of my city that is basically ruins, where immoral and illegal activities have started springing up, since the remaining (very heavy and magically imbued) rubble tends to make very good hidey-holes.
My story is centered around the start of a Grey war (war between groups of assassins and thieves, for those who have never heard that term) that blows up into a full-blown three sided civil war once the authorities step in. I guess these events would inspire a lot of paranoia, but I would like to think, like ThinkerX mentioned, that a lot of it would be directed inward, because, as anduril38 said, I think there would be a lot of elitism and "all outsiders are push-overs" type thinking spreading around.
Sorry my post is a little disorganized, but here's a little more info!
). The runoff from these "falls" creates a river through the center of the city, from which aqueducts on the level of ancient Rome are fed from, with water running underneath the city, bringing fresh water in, and carrying out waste water.Technology is frozen pre-renaissance, and all further progress has been mostly magical. Magic is of varying power, since I am basing my magic system on knowledge and focus. Portals especially are rare, because you need to have copious amounts of knowledge on how your portal will work, and you need to know all about where both ends of the portal will be anchored, etc. Healing and fire control are other good examples. A healer needs to know exactly in what way the person was injured, and to a more general extent, how the limb or injured portion of the body works and is constructed when it is fully functional. Fire is a problem in my world, because learning to control fire generally involves getting burned over and over again, before knowing fire well enough to fight with it, or direct it, or put it out.
The last major attack was just under a decade ago when a band of pirates swam up the aforementioned falls, and infiltrated the city to attack from the inside. There is a small section of my city that is basically ruins, where immoral and illegal activities have started springing up, since the remaining (very heavy and magically imbued) rubble tends to make very good hidey-holes.
My story is centered around the start of a Grey war (war between groups of assassins and thieves, for those who have never heard that term) that blows up into a full-blown three sided civil war once the authorities step in. I guess these events would inspire a lot of paranoia, but I would like to think, like ThinkerX mentioned, that a lot of it would be directed inward, because, as anduril38 said, I think there would be a lot of elitism and "all outsiders are push-overs" type thinking spreading around.
Sorry my post is a little disorganized, but here's a little more info!
Lillia Jane Marshes
New Member
I think most of the citizens, even the ones not in the militia, would have learned to fight pretty well, for protection if the army failed. They would most likely be very paranoid and suspicious of anyone that was from outside the city, and maybe even of people int he city they didn't like.
SeverinR
Vala
Along with this, as I see it:
1.technology other then tactics and war related wounds and illness tend to stagnate. You don't have time to expand of discover if you are continually fighting an enemy or trying to keep people alive and healthy in war.
2.Entertainment would be very important but would not cost much in time, money or resources.
3.Prolonged war on earth usually leaves an abudance of women and a shortage of men. But since seige, women could be harmed as well as men.
Waste, trash, sewage and disposal of the dead would be upmost important. Illness and disease are caused by build up of any of these, opposite-prevention of disposal or stopping the outflow of sewage would make living in the city unhealthy and intolerable.
WyrdMystic
Inkling
Conversely, if the people have succesfully fought of numerous seiges in living memory then they might gain a huge amount of pride and confidence. If they can find away around the usual siege problems, such as disease and starvation, then they could be quite immune to the psychological effects.
Nihal
Vala
If they have any kind of alarm system and suffered things as some kind of bombing specially children will develop some kind of trauma realted to high noises and agitated people. If the last attack was one decade ago you've got some shaken young adults there.
I guess they're not fearful now, but may have developed many disorders related to the trauma. However you must have in mind too that humans memories are really short lived if they're not constantly reinforced to the younger generations. That means that the younger ones may regard the wars as a "thing of the past" that won't happen again unless constant minor attacks happen or the "people want to dominate and kill us" idea is part of their cultural inheritance.
I guess they're not fearful now, but may have developed many disorders related to the trauma. However you must have in mind too that humans memories are really short lived if they're not constantly reinforced to the younger generations. That means that the younger ones may regard the wars as a "thing of the past" that won't happen again unless constant minor attacks happen or the "people want to dominate and kill us" idea is part of their cultural inheritance.
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