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Let's create a city!

So for the past ten years, I and some friends have been working on a fantasy world with its associated cultures. I have now come to the point where I would need a more detailed definition of the worlds largest trading center.

Instead of trying to create the city with a "top down perspective" where you get a broad but relatively superficial product, I would like to try out a version where the city can grow naturally from a small fishing village up to a multicultural metropolis (with many steps in between).

The goal is to get as credible an end product as possible, where interesting intrigues can take place.

This will probably take some time and I would appreciate comments and constructive criticism along the way.

http://silvanger.blogspot.com/2017/07/en-stad-vaxer-fram.html

So, first of, we can go through the few things that have already been decided.

-The city is called Silvanger (a merger of Silver and Angr, which means bay in Old Norse) So in other words, The Silverbay.
-The city is located near the coast on the southernmost tip of the continent with a climate reminiscent of southern France.
-The culture that dominate the rest of the continent, will be strongly influenced by a feudal knight society structure, but because of international trade, many other cultures will have a strong influence on how this city will evolve.

In the next post I thought I would go through the geography around Silvanger in more detail.

Disclaimer: These texts have been translated and bunched together from Swedish blog posts, so I'm sorry if the proof reading leaves a bit to be desired...

http://silvanger.blogspot.com/2017/07/forutbestamda-kriterier.html

It is time for a geographic review. I thought it might be wise to develop the region where the city should grow before I begin with architecture and history.

I have taken the location and surroundings of three coastal areas as inspiration when drawing up this map.
-Hakodate in northern Japan whose city center is located on a land bridge!
-Stockholm, whose rich archipelago with many small islands creates an interesting chaos.
-New York with its sheltered inlet for a safer port, protected from both natural and human threats.

The red point is supposed to be the original settlement. Where a river of freshwater flows into the bay that gives access to the South Sea and a small cliff provides natural protection in several directions.



http://silvanger.blogspot.com/2017/07/geografi.html

Here we have the earliest settlement on the cliff. It consists of two to three family groups depending on how you count family ties.

The lower houses at the edge of the beach are fishing huts, this point is far enough up the bay that you don't have to worry about tides lines, but the houses are still on stilts to handle floods during the spring.

Up on the cliff they have built a palisade to protect themselves mainly from raids from other settlements in the area, but also from drifting raiders who travel along the coast.

Since it is impractical to dig a well on the cliff, they have instead chosen to build a crane. The flow of the river is strong enough here to avoid the freshwater turning brackish.



http://silvanger.blogspot.com/2017/07/fiskeby-med-palisad.html

The first settlement
1. The Slope house, when the ground slopes lightly under this building, therefore it has gotten a somewhat secondary status. Here lives the eldest son of the matriarch with his family and the first grandchildren,
2. The Cliff house, the matriarch's house with her three younger children. The house is identical to the slope house, but is more richly furnished.
3. The Crane, most like a big fishing pole, with a rope running through a loop at its tip. With this rig you can easily lower a bucket into the river below without hitting the rocks below.
4. The Watchtower, located on the northern edge of the cliff, it gives a good view of the slope, the fishing huts and upstream along the river.
5. The Fireplace, the two cabins are a little low to allow an open fire lick against the flammable ceilings. Instead they have to settle for the central fireplace, where most of the meals are prepared and also function as a local gathering place.
6. Palisade, a poled defense against intruders, based with stacked stones for increased stability. The tilting gate is mostly unattended and installed.
7. The traders road, leading down to the river ford a quarter of a day's hike north west, there it branches towards the nearest two settlements that are in good time willing to trade barter.
8. The log cut staircase, a shorter path down the ridge, with spare logs from the palisade building, the staircase is a safe and well-used shortcut.
9. The small boat, The brothers' fast transport is more like a canoe and is mainly used for short trips.
10. The big brother's cottage, well-cleaned and organized with each thing in its place, the cabin is quite sparse in its execution.
11. The New House, The recently arrived family descended from the north has been welcomed with strong optimism, their modern innovations have revived the small settlement, and who could have imagined a living fire inside!
12. The little brother's cabin, even though it is very similar to other, the interior is a completely different story. Here the inspiration allowed to flow with painted timber walls and trophies adorning the smallest surface. A slightly pungent smell also wafts from the fermented clay vessels from under the cottage floor.
13. Fish drying scaffold, Although the climate allows for fishing during all seasons of the year and there is no need for the villagers to starve during the winter months, the dried fish still provide a good source of barter for the necessities they can not provide themselves with.
14. The large boat, a more practical boat to fish in, it's big enough that both brothers can help to get the filled nets out of the water.
15. Net maintenance, the younger brother spend a lot of time between their outings on mending, cleaning and unraveling up their nets.
16. Embankment, in order to maintain the calm waters at the river bank around the cottages, it requires continuous maintenance of the artificial embankment on the other shore.



http://silvanger.blogspot.com/2017/07/period-01-karta.html