D&D General A Setting! A Setting!

[Indagare Nogitsune]

You've gotten 898 views on this, so I think there's more than two people tuned in - others are probably lurking, waiting to see how this gets fleshed out or cribbing notes.

One of the things I've been thinking about is a Fire Rift; we have the other three, could there be a Fire one, perhaps suppressed or not well-known to protect the city from being burned down by careless individuals? It could be of benefits to keeping the city warm in an otherwise wintry clime, mined for live coals or manipulated for forges/hearths and the like. Perhaps it was sealed long ago, and the ancient portal lies in the deep caverns beneath the city, protected by ancient guardians or under the stewardship of a cult who wants the city burned down (figuratively as well as literally). A "fire brigade" rebellion or criminal ring would be interesting; a protection racket of "pay the fire god or he'll visit your establishment" sort of crime syndicate.

When people don't comment it's hard to know, but I appreciate all the views

As Brendan Byrd pointed out, Hackwark is where the Fire Rift is, opposite the Water Rift in Waveswith. It is very useful for both heating and smithing and may or may not have had something to do with the Great Burning. It most likely has a lot of protection, especially since the crime syndicate you mention certainly could have existed (or still exist in different form).

In my head, the Modern City would be very Metropolis, the Noir City would be very Gotham and the Victorian City would be something like the various novels Sherlock Holmes, Around the World in 80 Days, 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and War of the Worlds among them. I'd argue Girl Genius too, but that would make the weird stuff of the future need to be weirder than the stuff of the past and that's a lot to ask from something based on that series.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Certainly an opportunity to redefine "fire ants".
Faction idea: The Formic Legion

Hackwark has a fire rift location, I think.

I mean, we've got Earth Ants, so Fire Ants are a possibility.

Everything should be on the map, I hope ^^;

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

For those keeping track, I've added a new map with the actual scale on it! I suppose the next part might be adding the Underground Lines or maybe streets?

 

[Stormonu]

For those keeping track, I've added a new map with the actual scale on it! I suppose the next part might be adding the Underground Lines or maybe streets?

For my money's worth - streets. Seeing how the city blocks are broken out is pretty defining, from the grid layout of planned cities, to the meandering cow-trails-turned-roads of Atlanta, or the narrow, defensive streets of some European cities. It can be as defining as the architecture or the population.

 

[Stormonu]

An idea:

The Waveswith Aquaduct and Canal: Some time ago, an enterprising individual realized there was great profit in erecting an aquaduct that ran almost directly from the Water Rift in Ellindam Lake straight down into Waveswith, bypassing the fouled waters of the Ell. The individual formed a construction company using their vast family funds, with buy-in from others who sought to benefit from the bypass. While the project was ultimately successful, its architect went bankrupt along with the company it founded. The original portion of the construction, which brought fresh water directly to Waveswith's core, was completed. The add-on, to create a keyed canal system to float boats up from the bay to the lake, was incomplete. Time and persistence has seen a less grand canal system emerge, allowing canal traffic to permeate Waveswith. A modest system, large enough to accomodate specially designed rafts, does exist to raise goods, but not boats from inner core of Waveswith up to the lake. It requires ships to unload at the bay, move the goods (by canal, wagon or foot) to the keyed Canal, and then placed on rafts where channels then "step up" the goods to the lake level. Though it is only marginally faster than travelling upriver along the Ell, it is considered much safer and easier than navigating against the current and flotsam often found in the Ell - in the best of weather.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

For my money's worth - streets. Seeing how the city blocks are broken out is pretty defining, from the grid layout of planned cities, to the meandering cow-trails-turned-roads of Atlanta, or the narrow, defensive streets of some European cities. It can be as defining as the architecture or the population.

I'll see what sort of scale I'll need to show them, but I definitely have ideas for it that would reflect the different parts. Your canal idea would definitely be part of it!

 

[Brendan Byrd]

Are there tides?
If yes, is Wavesith intertidal even of the river isn't? (Relevant to the age of sail technology.)
Waveswith = little Venice?