EN World City Project: Government Affairs Submissions

[wizardoftheplains]

Hail inhabitants of En World! Welcome to the EN World City Project GOVERNMENT idea submission thread. This thread is dedicated to the exploration of the Government and Politics behind the En World City Poject. Please take a moment and peruse this thread (and some of the others located in Plots and Places) and help us develop the city further.

Government Questions (feel free to post your thoughts on the following). As ideas develop we’ll mold the politcal structure of the city. As is the nature of these boards, the city will be open to diverse ideas and be a bit chaotic at times. Nevertheless, Mor’s End has managed to become a thriving city.

Background: Mor’s End.
Known as the City of Crafts by some, and the City of Coins by others, it is an independent City-state in the region of Enheim. It is a self-sufficient city, known far and wide for it’s abundance of natural resources, rather large artisian community, and as a melting pot of races, idealogies, and professions from all over.

Population: 10,200 (small city): Integrated - 40% human, 20% dwarf, 13% gnome, 8% humanoid, 6% halfling, 6% elf, 4% half-orc, 2% monstrous, 1% half-elf. *
Resources: Iron, sapphires, clay/pottery, cattle, silk

GOVERNMENT
Such a chaotic city needs a strong ruler, and it has one in the person of Lady Kelvin, Matriarch of Mor’s End. Little seen in public these days, she nevertheless makes her presence felt through the actions of the city’s ruling council. This leadership body, lead by Castelllian Althea Stangus, keep the diverse and sometimes wild city humming.


Questions I pose to you all regarding Mor’s End Governmental Issues:

1. The Leader is a mysterious female matriarch, hardly ever seen in public. Lady Kelvin is a beleagured leader trying to keep a hold on her independent city-state. The city's trade and position is much admired; located in a frontier land her city acts as an outpost serving several civilized settlements. Lady Kelvin moves around the city unseen. The daily duties of running the city are done by Castellan Stangus, and a group of city officials (see #2 below). Post some rumors in this thread as to who she is and how she came to power.

2. The day to day governmental workings of Mor’s End are managed by the City Warders. Representatives of each of the city’s ward, the Warders post the laws, settle disagreements, and keep the city going. We have a few EN World people in a few of these positions, but what are the others’ personalities and secret goals of these leaders? Post here.

3. Military. What type of standing army does the city have? Composed of companies of mercenaries, city guards, loyal guardsmen, etc? Please post any thoughts you have here.

4. Intrigue. Every city has a few secret societies that influence the government and businesses within it. Come up with a few. Currently we have the Glittering brotherhood which holds the secret of cutting the Mor river’s sapphires in a way that brings out their magical qualities, and the Merchant’s Guild, which holds a monopoly on trade coming through the town. What part does the Thieves Guild, the University, or other organizations such as Noble Houses play? Is there a secret police?

6. Temples and Religion. The city has a collection of small local gods. Not important to develop larger ones since this city is meant to be adaptable to many DM campaigns who’ll usually import their own gods. But do any of the local dieties or beliefs particularly stand out...and why. Especially if they have any political muscle. Post here.

7. Threats. What threatens the city of Mor’s End, keeping the government always on the watch and how does the government deal with these threats...ignore, keep a militia? Is it a maurauding band of ceatures nearby? Post here.

8. Anything else involving the government. Post here.

Note: Other threads dealing with the economy, trade, crafts, npcs, etc. of Mor's End will be posted soon by the various Ministers. Add your two cents to the creation of this fair city.

wizardoftheplains

 

[Krug]

I'll take a stab at 3:

The Force Golem

A hundred years ago, when Mor's End was just starting to emerge, the Dwarf Mage-smith Igdar Worhelm created seven Clay Golems that he gave to the City. The Golems were equipped with baskets that their riders or controllers, could ride in. These baskets were large enough to fit anything up to Dwarf size. Though most of the Golems were given to Dwarves who would reside in this new city, Igdar decided to pass two each to the gnomes and halflings as well as he believed it was not wise to favour one race over another.

The Golems were divided amongst seven Houses, and the Lady decided that they would police the streets and to be used in the defense of the town when necessary. The seven houses were to be paid an equal fee by the city for doing so.

So that was how it went... for a while. Eventually, the seven Houses became increasingly divided and petty, and squabbled amongst themselves over matters of duty and work. House Drekan claimed House Silas never bothered with controlling the peace, instead the halfling guildmaster Rtuni (a halfling) was more intent on spending his days drinking and playing Gullystone, and House Imar demanded a higher fee for patroling the Squats.

House Culder's Highmaster Fherl retired his Golem, claiming it would be more helpful to conduct experiments on it to find out how to build new ones, which led to the ire of the other houses as well as the present Castellan, who balks at paying a fee for work not done. Fherl, of course, claims it is for the long term good and they should not be so short-sighted; the Golems are unable to police the city like they were used to. By making new ones, Mor's End would not suffer as badly as it has.

The Seven Houses meet monthly in front of the Tower of Clay, used by Igdar during the period where he built the Golems. Open shoving and finger pointing are evident, and the townsfolk frequently gather to watch the heated debates.

The present seven houses:
Culder controlled by Fherl, Dwarf Expert
Drekan controlled by Mistar, Female Gnome Mage
Silar controlled by Rtuni, Halfling Rogue/Mage
Imar controlled by Gharl, Dwarf Ftr
Phal controlled by Igt, Dwarf Sorcerer
Linbak controlled by Miel, Halfling Druid-Rgr
Nitstar controlled by Ghal, Gnome Rgr-Exp

Plot Hooks:
One of the controllers has been replaced by a shape-changed kobold, eager to wreck havoc. He will continue to use the Golem to patrol the streets, but is seeding dissent amongst the houses.

One of the Golems is destroyed and chaos ensues. Who will patrol the area that it used to? The house is disgraced but the controller employs the party to investigate whodidit.

A new Golem has been created! But there's something wrong with it. It runs amok and guess who has to stop it...

No time to stat them out right now... the Golems should have rapid healing abilities as long as they are in Mor's End

 

[David Argall]

Lady Kelvin

The lady Kelvin has led the city-state for several decades. She was the bride of Lord Kelvin [a ruler whose greatest virtue was to let things alone. No small virtue given government efforts to tax or oppress, but it did allow a number of powerful people to be discontented about not getting government favors.] and so impressed all with her competence [at, among other things, making sure that those who crossed her regretted it], that at the sudden tragic death of her husband, she was quickly accepted as regent until the majority of her young sons, who, alas, each also suffered a sudden tragic death shortly before reaching adult status. Technically she still is only regent for her grandchildren, but only the most technical refer to her as Matriarch-Regent rather than Matriarch.

Lady Kelvin is seen rather rarely. The daily duties of running the city are done by Castellan Stangus, and a group of city officials. According to popular rumor, she moves about the city in disguise, and any woman, or man, you might talk to might be her. The truth of this is open to question, but she frequently proves to be extremely well-informed about matters one would think she had no access to.

Like many female rulers desiring to maintain power, she has frequently hinted at remarriage, but never came very close to it. There are constant rumors of romances, even at her age. [The better stories are deemed treasonous, but quite popular none the less.] However, for the most part, the Lady contents herself with arranging the marriages of her grandchildren. Most of these will be for political advantage, but she sees considerable wisdom in the stories of kings offer their daughter and half the kingdom to some great hero for a mighty deed. [She generally describes this as keeping the rulers blood from thinning.] So one of her grandchildren may well marry a commoner [ooc = PC].





(see #2 below). Post some rumors in this thread as to who she is and how she came to power.

 

[Tonguez]

1. Everyone knows about the marriage of the Lady Kelvin to Lord Kelvin and the Ladys delight in arranging the marriages of her many grandchildren (some of whom seem to have a talent as scorcerers). However there are whispers and questions still concerning her true identity, for nothing is known of her childhood before Lord kelvin introduced her to his household and the city.

What is her connection to the Warren of caves beneath the city and why were all records and artifacts brought back by the last expedition of the City Museum confiscated and sealed? Why is it that for three months of each year the Lady completely dissapears from public view so that even the Castellan can not contact her? Who is the Lady Kelvin?

3. The City Guard is a remnant of the original occupying forces used to subdue the area and establish the city on the frontier. Of course those frontier days are long since past but Mors End still has its share of rowdiness and raiding. The Guardsmen are a force mainly trained as infantry who serve the Council of Warders under the authority of the City Commander (currently Sebastiano Palmora second son of Anton Plamora).

The Castellan also keeps a small elite guard of archers who form the official bodyguard to the Lady Kelvin and are present at all official functions.

Beyond this is the house guard of the Noble houses, the Guilds, Temples and Clans.

4. The Silk Fish Harvester Clans (Palmora, Andovan, Maschal etc) are mainly elven and consider themselves to be the 'original' people of Mors End and to have claims that predate the founding of the city. It is known that the Silk Fish were harvested prior to the city being incorporated and the Museum of Antiquities has documented various ancient campsites which Fish Harvesters may have used.
The Silk Fish Harvesters maintain many customary traditions that fall outside the authority of the city Council of Warders including that of the Convocation and the appointment of a 'Harvest Master' (currently Anton Palmora) who holds the artifact known as the Trident of The Lake. The Harvest Master has a seat on the Council of Warders.
The Silk Harvesters through their control of the Lake and shipping are of some importance to the City and so the Council and Lady Kelvin do give them a degree of autonomy. The Families are also quite wealthy and many also have land based investments in vinyards and in cattle and horse breeding operations.
However the autonomy of the clans does mean that the Fish Harvester clans can openly oppose a city edict if they so choose - this has happened only once in the history of the city but could happen again. Some of the Clans are also known to be involved in smuggling operations and to have links with the blackmarket.

The Blackmarket is an interesting structure in Mors End. There is no single 'theives guild' as such but rather a series of 'gangs' each controlling a particular territory and some with connections to the clans and/or noble houses. There is however a central group of Smugglers and 'Fences' whose role is that of broker and dealer in the various goods procured by the gangs - that is to buy and sell illegal merchandise and somehow get it into general circulation. Silas Pimm is a master Fence who runs a pawnbrokers business selling goods to adventurer-types


8. The Museum of Antiquities is the key archive and repository of artifacts in the area. It is staffed by clergy, bards and loremasters who have the singular purpose of collecting, collating and recording the histroy of the city and surrounding lands. All official documents of the city eventually find there way into the Museum archives. The current director of the Museum is Brother Lukatus a Erudite Sage who organises an annual expedition to explore various ruins and sites of interest in the area around Mors End for which he often requires support - from bodyguards and feild researchers. However some of his finds have been confiscated in the past and Lukatus is being closely watched least his explorations become a danger to the status quo...

 

[Conaill]

I went through the DMG demographics guidelines on pages 139-140 and caclulated how many NPCs of each class we should have of every character level (see the "Time to open shop" thread for more details). Here are the results:

Paladin, Ranger:
1x 9th level, 1x7, 2x5, 2x4, 8x2, 16x1

Aristocrat, Barbarian, Monk, Sorceror, Wizard:
1x9, 1x8, 2x5, 2x4, 8x2, 16x1

Bard, Cleric, Druid, Adept:
1x11, 1x8, 2x6, 2x4, 4x3, 4x2, 16x1

Fighter, Rogue, Warrior:
1x12, 1x9, 2x6, 2x5, 4x3, 12x2, 24x1

Expert:
1x15, 1x12, 2x8, 2x6, 4x4, 4x3, 16x2, 32x1

Commoner:
1x18, 1x14, 2x9, 2x7, 4x5, 4x4, 16x2, 32x1

The highest level you can roll for any PC class is 14 (on 1d8+6), so I would suggest we make Lady Kelvin a 14th level NPC.

These numbers give us guidelines for the "Government" thread. For example, the head of the Mages Guild will be a 9th level Wizard or Sorceror, and the city only has a total of 30 Wizards and 30 Sorcerors (and most of those are lvl 1!) On the other hand, the head of the Thieves Guild is likely to be a 12th level Rogue, and there are a total of 48 Rogues in the city.

I also want to make sure that we are all comfortable with this size of city. Personally, I would prefer Mor's End to be a Metropolis or at least a Large City (12,000-25,000). That would allow us to have some fairly high-level NPC's (up to lvl 17), which makes the city scaleable for higher-level adventures as well.

This is pretty much our LAST CHANCE to change something as fundamental as this. I can easily recalculate the numbers I gave above, and I assume Buttercup could redo her numbers for the different types of businesses as well. But once we start weaving these statistics into the fabric of the city, it'll be too late to reverse any of this!

 

[wizardoftheplains]

Really nice work so far. We touch upon Noble Houses a bit. If the city has been here around 4 generations, would any Noble Houses in the city be decended from the original founders? Would the Lady Kelvin's House be one...and who are the others?

gary

 

[GladiusNP]

Just throwing this out here - I think the Glazers (not sure of technical name) who make the distinctive coatings on the pottery of Mor's End should have some power. If this is a unique product, the monopoly would be tightly controlled - such a profitable, high quality luxury item has the potential for making skilled artisans a lot of money.

Of course, there are all sorts of regulations pushed through by the guild to prevent just anyone from joining - and those who haven't joined can't use the seal of the city on any finished pottery - making it worth much, much less.

Since the Elven Silk Fishers are the other main luxury item produced by Mor's End, one has to wonder - what do they think of the Glazers? Some sort of rivalry could be good - not bitter, but friendly (at least until an adventure hook needs an escalation in hostility). Even the humans who quarry clay, and the elves who raise silk fish, the workers on the street, could have this rivalry.

One of the more notorious gangs of the Squats could traffic in counterfeit glazes - something a little unusual and unique for criminals to sell. They'd probably have decent influence amoung the clay-pit workers, and hide bodies in the soft clay - sometimes living ones. These counterfeit glazes would be vastly inferior - they give the lustre and brilliance of the real coating, but chip and crack within weeks. This would be a high priority for the guard - the Glazer's Guild would make sure of it. What use is money if you can't do anything with it?

The Glazer's also control, through their monopoly of the glazes, the clay-pits (and probably the quarries, though I can't imagine much decent stone gets dug out at Mor's End), and the pottery guilds/companies (who are you going to sell to - the guild who gives three times as much profit, or some other guy?).

They'd also give gold to the city - lots of it. Guardsmen, roadworks, public holidays, schools, and so forth. Especially guardsmen.

Lastly, the Glazers are going to guard the secrets of the glazes with all the means within their power. If you get the formula, the gloves come off - immediately.

(Edit - grammatical errors)

 

[David Argall]

thoughts

The DMG character class stats for cities [p. 137-40] are there only to give one a quick guide. When you have time to think over them, as we do, they are subject to considerable revision.
The obvious point is that a city like this should not have anything like the same number of druids as all other clerics combined. A substantial number of the druids should be converted into clerics. Equally barbarians should be rare, or even absent. Rangers too are a class that should be seen little of in the city.
So we should add to regular fighters, and to mages.

I too would argue for a large city, but I suspect that is set now.

 

[CrazyMage]

4. Intrigue. Every city has a few secret societies that influence the government and businesses within it. Come up with a few.
...the University...

Has the university been talked about someplace else, or could that be detailed here (thinking more of the form of the place first, before adding in any intrigue)? I haven't seen it mentioned in any of the other threads for this project. Any details already established?

 

[Lalato]

No details thus far on a university... There is, however, a Bookseller with a fairly extensive library in the Crafts and Trade thread.

A university would be interesting... What do you have in mind?

--sam