What should we name our city?

[Lin]

I'm polling for ideas as to what to call our city. Spiral ganked us some maps to use, but that doesn't mean we have to use the name attached to them. What should we call the setting for this project? It should be a name that is distinct and pronouncable. Other then that, I'm pretty open to ideas. As this is a game for and by the community, starting a thread to get ideas and maybe even come to a consensus seemed reasonable.

In short:

What should we call this place?

[VemuKhaham]

Brainstorming:

Ranessillan.
Renessa.
Rislan.
Or some other combination of these sounds.

[Japic]

It should be a name that is distinct and pronouncable.

Bob


I've never been to a Bob before and it's pretty easy to pronounce. I think you've got a winner.

Ok, more seriously (though Bob isn't that bad) lets see if I have got anything good floating in my head. Usually to get an idea for what teh town is called I like to look at what teh town is about; its people, culture, location, religion, etc.

Since We don't have much of anything in place I'll try some names coupled with what I think of when I 'see' them in my mind.


Forests Edge: gives me the impression of a little city sitting on the outskirt of a massively old forest (full of treasure seeking for the guilds). Alternatives could mebbe replace 'forest' with different types of trees; common the forest. i.e Oak, Cedar, Maple, Willow. Or to show history it could be called like Sapling Grove; part fo teh hsitroy being that it's been here since the forest were just saplings.

Boggy Ness: Again with the old thing; but a city surrounded by an ever growing marshland. The swamps have swallowed up other towns (on lowground) and secrets galore just waiting to be found. In the same setting it could also be called Highground, Sleepy Hills (which have since sunk) or Marsh Town.

Brightdale: A warm and populous city full of commerce and life (both the happy side and underground side). Location would be on the plains or arranged in low foothills making it easy to reach for commerce.

Umm, I'm sure I can think up more; but the GF tottered off to bed and I should too; gotta be up at the buttcrack of dawn again. Good luck on the search.

[TheZebraShakes™]

How 'bout we call it America.

Or going with Vemu's R words,

Ristan (yeah, I liked the "t" sound more then the "l")
or Ristan Heights. (who knows, it can be hilly)

or something to that effect.

[VemuKhaham]

Or Rislan Dale, Rislan Peak, Rislington, Risham, Risbury.
(Or these with the T, but I still like the L more myself )

But Japic's right, we should look a little at the city's earliest history and its most outstanding features. A name with a history is much better, though of course you can also make up an explanation for any name after the name is made. Rislan could've been the name of the city's founder or something.

By the way, I'm interested in what exactly this city is on a bit of a larger scope: like is it the capital of some nation? Is it a city-state? (I would like that idea) Is it a huge metropolis or a somewhat more modest city? (I think the bigger the better) Is it part of a kingdom, or a republic, or...?

Maybe though that is all part of other discussions, but they should come soon so that we can start making material that will fit in the box instead of making stuff first without knowing into what box we'll have to fit it.

[similar]

How about Gremia.

derived from the spanish for guild, gremio (Or at least that's what babel fish tells me)

[TheZebraShakes™]

I'm starting to get attatched to this Rislan idea even though it has the "L". But not Rislington, that just sounds funny.
Rislan Heights could be good, and if there's a mountain formation of some sort nearby it could be Rislan Peak, where all the teenagers go to make out.

But if it's a port city I don't much like the sound of Port Rislan. But Rislan Bay sounds cool.

And we can have a restaurant called Rislan's Chicken and Waffles.

[VemuKhaham]

What if Rislan was the only big city on a small island? Rislan Bay? Located on Rislan Isle? Rislan-upon-Sea?

But in all seriousness, I like the idea of the city at least being located near water so it has a harbor (I mean, there's no better place to start a guild than in the docks) and if the city is on an island that is only large enough for the city itself and a small countryside surrounding it, you really have that physical border in the game that we try to go for out of the game. I like the idea of a city covering nearly the entire island. Also, it gives the possibility for piratry and such. The mainland shouldn't be too far off, but it shouldn't hold much of importance unless the mainland interferes with the island directly (war or something).

[Japic]

My only complaint about Rislan is that is reminds me greatly of Rastlin from the D&D books.

I thinkn that a port would be good as well. If all went well here, I'd consider opening up a pirates guild (it's the kind of guy I am). But I also find it funny that you mention it thusly because I jsut saw a picture (below) before coming here and thought, "Hey cool, a city; though we've already got maps, and this place seems a bit smallish."


Picture borrowed from Paul Butler (I found him because I'm using another pic for my character)

I think that a port friendly city would be good overall to help stimulate our little economy.

[TheZebraShakes™]

It kind of reminds me of our Port Enoch in my homegame. All the hustle and bustle going on around the port, and then the outskirts for larger plots of land and properties. And the way the map is set up, we still have room for those deep woods and frightful terrains that one would have to cross through in order to make it to the other side. Or who knows, it can just be attatched to the mainland and not necessarily an island on its own. That's the way we have it.

[Lin]

I'm partial to the maps Spiral has provided.

As for the name, I'm suddenly attracted to Port Rislan of Gremia.

[TheZebraShakes™]

Yeah, I like Gremia as the continent or province, or Island or whatever we go with, and Port Rislan can be the city.

And Bob can be the name of the guy who works at the chicken and waffles restaurant. That way all of the suggestions win.

[Lin]

So, now as Vemu has already done, we are opening up to bigger questions:

1) What is the cities surrounding area like? So far, it sounds like we are going for an island, and I like that. And island nation where our city is the major city and there are still plenty of untamed wilds.

2) If this is an island, what are the major resources that they have/trade?

3) What is the political system like? With the guild system in place as it is, it seems a constitutional monarchy or other Republic is the way to go. The government should remain a powerful force, but it needs limits that allow the guilds to compete and conflict in a political manner with the government.

[Mellon]

Here are some of my thoughts:

1) I really like the idea of situating the city on an island. Maybe the island itself lies in an archipelago and there are a few (rival) city-states, each of them encompassing several islands. It would be a great setting for smugglers, pirates, treasure seekers etc.

As a variant to this, each guild could be active in every, or at least some cities. But I'm not sure I like this idea myself.

2) The island's resources would largely depend on its climate.
In a Mediterranean climate, major resources could be grapes / wine, olives / oil, wheat, gold, marble etc.
In a more temperate climate, resources would be: Fur, whale oil, iron, timber, coal etc.
Of course other climates are also possible (tropical, polar).

3) I'd say we are looking for a system that enables political intrigue. This could be a republic, combined with an aristocracy, like in ancient Rome. I wouldn't go for anything that's either an absolute monarchy or too democratic.

[VemuKhaham]

Yep, Port Rislan of Gremia sounds great. And to go with the origin of the word Gremia as Similar said, I would like a mediterranean climate and a political system that allows for lots of intrigue, corruption and competition. So we could use something like a senate or some other council of rich aristocrats.

And of course, guilds that grow in power will have agents and even official representatives in the political system.

As for the surroundings, I really like the idea of an archipelago with city-states each ruling one or more islands. Abundant piracy, wars between the states concerning domination over the smaller islands and their resources.

[Japic]

Port Rislan in Gremia; works for me.

Lets see now. Mellon pretty much hit the nail on the head with his suggestions.

But if this is to be an island then we need to consider a few things. Where exactly is FA planning on seeking their treasures. If the island is small then there's need to travel far; which costs time/money to the seekers. If the island is huge and untamed (like Lin said) then there's room locally for searching. I'd prefer a huge island, but other nearby ones would work well also (like Mellon said).

As for the resources I believe tropical or medterranian woudl be ebst. We'd want something teeming with life; a land that refuses to be tamed. If we're in the arctic circle then we've got a whole new set of problems that we don't need; foul weather... all the time. Whereas tropical gives heavy vegitation and something of the old school explorers feel (to me).

Government.. Umm, I can't offer much here. I'm terrible with government. But I think that if the island were on the far reaches of a goverened area it'd work out best for us. If it were far enough out that they didn't visit/control much the Guilds would practically own the town and their influence would be more important. Basically they own most otf the town/officials, but thtere's certain forms that must still be observed lest we pull attention to ourselves.

I hope that helps.

[Mellon]

I agree that a Mediterranean environment would be best. It sort of fits the feel of roaming pirates, smugglers and blossoming trade; the feel of the 16th century Caribbean, which I like a lot.

I would prefer several smaller islands over one huge island. It would be a groups of some larger and many smaller islands, like an archipelago. For those of you who know the pc game '1602 A.D.' (or 'Anno 1602' in German and Dutch): something like that.

As for the governmental system, I do like the idea of political intrigue and corruption, in which the guilds have considerable political influence. But I also think that outwards, there should be (the pretence of) a strong government. For one thing, this would make being a smuggler much more exciting.
Therefore, I would say that there is a strong senate or council or something like that. The senators rely on the people for political support and must govern "by and for the people". Behind the scenes however, guilds can have great influence by selling votes, bribing officials, getting 'their' senators selected and so forth.
But perhaps this is not so different from Japic's proposal.

[VemuKhaham]

so most likely we'll now have a political system in which there is no 1 absolute power but a government with many different powers of individual aristocrats and such, probably organized in a senate or council, with lots of intrigue.

But there's other matters that influence the way a state is governed, as well as the flavor of the entire setting. What about religion? Will we go with the standard D&D pantheon? Maybe we should try to make something unique to this world. What sort of pantheon will there be? Monotheistic? Dualistic? Polytheistic? Something entirely different, such as the worship of (nature/ancestor) spirits or even a mortal being?

To limit the amount of work as well as according to my personal preference, I think it would be cool to have only one or two divine entities. Having a limited amount of gods will usually lead to a more influential and stronger single religious faction, because competition for followers will be less fierce.

Possibly, a small but considerable part of the population is very orthodox in its beliefs, and the remaining population is not religious. That way, in the government, you have about a quarter of the representatives with a religious background, so they can put a considerable influence on society.

[Mellon]

I like the idea of having a unique pantheon for our city, as opposed to having the standard D&D or FR pantheon.

I'm not sure about the plan of having just one or several gods, however, and I don't entirely understand your reasoning, Vemu.

It's clear you want (a) strong religious group(s), but I don't see why this should relate to the number of gods worshipped. It's perfectly possible to have many gods and just one strong church, more or less like many christian churches, in which countless of saints are worshipped.

The opposite is also possible: having just one god, but several rival churches. For an example, look at Europe during the Protestant Reformation, when "protestant heretics" and the Roman Catholic church competed for followers, which notably led to the Spanish Inquisition, witch burnings and civil war in several countries.
This type of religious system has lots of opportunity for political intrigue, I would say.

[Japic]

Personlly I could care less about religion. It doesn't influence my games or the way my characters are played.

Lets face it I'm a godless heathen and that reflects in my characters.

I can't wait for the game to get going so we can work on guild stuf... Talking about it is all well and good, but I want to see this baby in action!