Suggestions on this homemade city?

[Lord Ben]

Okay, I  thought up a city real quick to use to introduce a new group of people to Exalted.  I wanted to create a location with defined boundries so I could keep the game in check sort of, but I didn't want it to be a dungeon crawl.   Or I didn't want it to feel like one.   Anyone  have any suggestions to help out?  I haven't run Exalted much, and this will be my first time for a group of Exalted newbs.


City of Glacier Bay


A city on the oceanfront.  Approx 15,000 live in the


city and if the center area was habitable and the


remaining high-rise buildings were inhabited it could


maybe hold 1,000,000+ reasonably well.


The only way to get to it is by sea. (or some dog


sleds perhaps)  Merchant ships dodge icebergs to get


to this city.  The city grows very rare plants not


found for thousands of miles (tropical basically)


worth lots of money.


The city is surrounded by 3 sides by an enormous


glacier that never will descend into the city due to


the city magically generating warmth.  Many rivers


flow down now-abandoned streets and the center of the


city is the warmest getting colder as it goes out.


Some of the city is covered by the glacier, some of it


ends with a rocky wall.  There are rumors of tunnels


that lead into unharmed buildings covered by the


glacier.


The 4th side is a bay with a harbor that can hold some


decent sized vessels.  Merchant and whaling vessels


mostly.


In the center of the city is a lush tropical region


that is very warm and wet and grows warmer the closer


to the center you get.  There is a vaguely pyramid


shaped hill in the center.  The locals live along the


edge and those skilled enough (in botany, etc, not


fighting) venture into the jungle to get rare plants


and spices to sell to the traders.  There is a ancient


Dragon Blooded who visits the city fairly often


(several times a decade!) and people say he maintains


a residence inside the jungle.  He lets people wander


but the governor makes sure nobody messes with the


pyramid structure for fear of pissing off the Realm.


Recently the temperature spiked (unusual but not


unheard of) for a few days and part of the glacier


(from the covered part) fell on a section of the city.


 It revealed the entrance to a structure.  5 Pillars


of blue glass stretch hundreds of feet into the air


supporting the roof and 5 giant statues stand facing


the center of the building.  Each of the pillars has


the mark of demons scarring it's surface.


The local governor has sent a letter to the Dragon


Blooded in the realm that maintains his residence in


the city but in the meantime merchants and whalers


spread rumors throughout the lands....

 

[memesis]

Sounds pretty good.  Makes me think back to the Bard's Tale games, with Skara Brae, the town shrouded in eternal winter.

 

[DugCoffin]

That sounds awesome!  


I'd love to know more about the people who live there.  Do they have a certain skin tone?  What's fashion like?  What about language?  They sound religious, are they?  Players tend to spend a lot of time chatting with NPC's.  They often color a place more than the buildings they work and live in and if done correctly, can tie your players to a place.

 

[Lord Ben]

That sounds awesome!  
I'd love to know more about the people who live there.  Do they have a certain skin tone?  What's fashion like?  What about language?  They sound religious, are they?  Players tend to spend a lot of time chatting with NPC's.  They often color a place more than the buildings they work and live in and if done correctly, can tie your players to a place.

I pictured them norse like.  Blondes and sort of stocky.  Mostly living in a grimy and dirty city.  Water flows through the streets depending on how fast the glacier melts and it's always humid.  It's colder on the outskirts of the city and even when it's warm at the center there is always a sudden gust of wind that'll give you a cold chill.  It's hard for anything to stay dry so as a result everything is really dirty.  


I didn't think of religion of the people, but there is a god of the glacier who was pissed that the city didn't offer the right respect to him since they think they're protected by the fire spirit and whatever god lives there.  So he dropped a big sheet of ice on a section of the city and killed hundreds of people.  As a result though it opened up the structure in the buried part.   He'll claim it's an accident if asked but the ice sheet was just his pretend revenge, actually...


My players won't read this but the "city" is actually a first age zoo and greenhouse based around a fire manse so people in the north could check out tropical life and go on vacations.  The first age city is the various dwellings for animals and plants to be inspected (some of it is city).  The big columns on the exposed structure (roman parthanon looking entrance) are actually prison bars built to contain a behemouth and the statues are possibly animated guardians built in resemblance to the Solars that originally caught him.  


Fast forward 1000 years and all the zoo animals and plantlife are wild and when the entrance to the big behemoth exhibit is exposed the brave hero's go inside thinking of first age phat lewt and the god of the glacier will attempt to trick them into freeing the behemoth as the real revenge on the city.  Wreck the fire manse/demense and then the glacier god can win.


The governor of the city at first appears to be a groveling toady, but that's because he knows the best way to avoid attention is to pay his taxes on time and let people do what they will.  If the city is threatened however he'll rat the PC's out to anyone he's managed to make contact with over the years.  If they're openly solars he likes the reward money for turning them in too.   He'll pretend to love their ideas of freeing him from the realm and attempt to get them killed by the wild hunt.


There is a freewheeling bar with lots of rough scandenavian sailors.  This will be the bar fight that gets them (and me for 2E introduced to Exalted combat.  


And there is also a hot spa/brothel.  Not sure how it'll be special, but my PC's will appreciate being treated like kings probably.  If they have the money.

 

[Jeppe]

It sounds like a good idea, but I'm a little confused as to where the city is placed in Creation. I imagine that it is placed somewhere in the north, probably rather far north, if the city is to be in constant contact with ice and glaciers. But then you mention the city being a satrapy of the Realm. The Realm holds no influence this far north. And if it should hold a city here or there, given the current political situation of the Realm, they probably woulnd't pay too much attention to some backwater town in the far north being threatened by solars.


Rather, in this environment, it tends to be rule by the strongest. I kind of like the idea of a Dragon-Blooded, who have found and claimed a manse in the city, but in my opinion, his dealings in the clacier city should be unaffiliated with the Realm. If he found this place and was able to claim it, the chance of the Realm discoring that he has a little private manse in the far north is very slim, so why bother tell anyone?


The backstabbing governor is a fine character, but were I to run this city, I would make him stronger, make him kinda brutish. Then when he realises that a bunch of solars is more than he can take, he turns toady. At least until his DB master returns to his estates, that is. But on the buttom line, this guvernor guy has to hold the position of the most powerful man for miles around, in a desolate place, far from any allies and backup. He needs to be strong.

 

[Persell]

It is a solid start but right now still too much of a homogenous block which might players' find boring after a while. More conflict within in the city would do it good in my opinion.

 

[Ker'ion]

It sounds like a good idea, but I'm a little confused as to where the city is placed in Creation. I imagine that it is placed somewhere in the north, probably rather far north, if the city is to be in constant contact with ice and glaciers. But then you mention the city being a satrapy of the Realm. The Realm holds no influence this far north. And if it should hold a city here or there, given the current political situation of the Realm, they probably woulnd't pay too much attention to some backwater town in the far north being threatened by solars.
Rather, in this environment, it tends to be rule by the strongest. I kind of like the idea of a Dragon-Blooded, who have found and claimed a manse in the city, but in my opinion, his dealings in the clacier city should be unaffiliated with the Realm. If he found this place and was able to claim it, the chance of the Realm discoring that he has a little private manse in the far north is very slim, so why bother tell anyone?


The backstabbing governor is a fine character, but were I to run this city, I would make him stronger, make him kinda brutish. Then when he realises that a bunch of solars is more than he can take, he turns toady. At least until his DB master returns to his estates, that is. But on the buttom line, this guvernor guy has to hold the position of the most powerful man for miles around, in a desolate place, far from any allies and backup. He needs to be strong.

Sounds like it would be on the coast of the glacier covering the Pole of Air.  The setup he has is actually a very workable scenerio, as a crafty merchant would drop a physically impressive, yet socially average leader. Going by the "Only the Strongest Rule" setup, you end up with a city devolving into a barbaric state, yet, using manipulation, intrigue, and general toadying, you would end up with the normal aspects of medieval society in an empire setting.  And a vacation hot-spot would probably garner some atention from the Realm, since the Dragon-Bloods probably don't want to lose a good resort villa (the USA would step in if there were an attempt to take over or destroy any of the major vacation areas in the Islands of the Gulf of Mexico).


And the entire idea sounds like something I would use in my games as an area to just dink around in.

 

[Lord Ben]

Ran it this afternoon.  It worked well enough to introduce them to exalted without me having to buy a setting book.   The city had a unique enough experience to shake them out of the D&D mode and the lobsterish behemoth trapped in a "zoo" type enclosure they thought was a tomb or some treasure trove definately made them feel powerful to take down and not like our normal 1st level d20 characters.


Not too much was done within the city other than describing it.  They talked to a few whalers,  etc.


Since it's on the Ocean I figured the Realm can get there just as easily as if it were a hundred miles inland right on the threshold.  They have ships and sailing isn't hard to get places.  It's not a major holding by any account and the Realm may not listen, but the city DOES have a way of contacting them.  I figure the governor probably also knows a few nearby Lunars.  I wanted to make him powerful, but not physically imposing.  I find if I put in NPC's to oppose the characters and they carry weapons the PC's go into combat mode in their minds and just RP out until the combat trigger.   If I put in weak mewlings who don't even carry a dagger they're more likely to listen and not be constantly expecting a showdown.   Sometimes you have to design NPC's to cater to the group you run with and in this case a clever and manipulative but outwordly toadyish character works well.

 

[Jeppe]

Sounds like it would be on the coast of the glacier covering the Pole of Air.  The setup he has is actually a very workable scenerio' date=' as a crafty merchant would drop a physically impressive, yet socially average leader. Going by the "Only the Strongest Rule" setup, you end up with a city devolving into a barbaric state, yet, using manipulation, intrigue, and general toadying, you would end up with the normal aspects of medieval society in an empire setting.[/quote']
The setup sounds workable indeed. I am merely asking for a few elaborating comments in order to clear up a few things I am unsure of.


My reasoning for thinking that a physically imposing and strong character would be the obvious choice for a leader in this town, is that so far north, Creation isn't very civilized. City states are scattered and far between, and the Icewalker tribes raid them occasionally. Trade is limited and likely expensive, as the way to other trading towns is relatively long, and as the waters in that region would be difficult to navigate given icebergs and strong winds. It is unlikely that a city of 15,000 people this far north would have the economy to maintain a standing army, so the people need a strong leader to look to when the city is beset by enemies.


That having been said, there is absolutely nothing that hinders the imposing and strong character to be either smart enough to realize when he is facing people to strong to intimidate or strike down, and thus turning to manipulation and backstabbing. Just because he is charismatic and physically imposing doesn't mean that he can't be socially intelligent as well. Altenatively, he could be a figurehead for the backstabbing, toady merchant, who would be the real brains behind the operation and the true power in the city. Whatever the case, I still maintain that a city in a region such as this needs a charismatic leader, who can rally the people in times of war.

And a vacation hot-spot would probably garner some atention from the Realm' date=' since the Dragon-Bloods probably don't want to lose a good resort villa (the USA would step in if there were an attempt to take over or destroy any of the major vacation areas in the Islands of the Gulf of Mexico).[/quote']
I'm not sure the current political state of America resembles the political state of the Realm enough to warrant such a comparison. It isn't wholly impossible that the resort city could call upon reinforcements from the Realm, but it is far more plausible that such reinforcements would be the troops of an individual DB with private interests in the city, rather than the dispatch of the Realm proper, or even a unified great house.

 

[Lord Ben]

I still maintain that a city in a region such as this needs a charismatic leader, who can rally the people in times of war.

Enter the party of 4 Solars stage left...  


Toady merchant realizes that they can be a great help and goes about trying to get them to help him out of a jam.  It works.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Concering the leader, I like the idea of him being strong, and the idea of him being smart, but I think being smart is more important.  One possiblity is to make him a hereditary leader, his grandfather or whomever kicked a lot of heads in and took over, and he's inhereted a relativly stable city that he can control through manipulation and backstabbery.  And, of course, his big tough sons, brothers, friends slaves or whatever that make sure he doesn't get himself killed.


He could even be a thamaturgist, just for that extra kick or coolness, as that gives him a sorcerer-king kind of mystique that would intimidate most mortals, but still doesn't make him much of a match for Solars.


That might be the hardest angle to work in, now that you've already run.  Sounds neat though, maybe I'll pull it into my groups round-robin chronicle, we're based out of Whitewall afterall.

 

[Ker'ion]

You could always roll with the decendant of a Sidereal for that extra bit of deviousness, able to trace his lineage to the first incarnation of Exalts in the First Age.