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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="willpax" data-source="post: 769371" data-attributes="member: 1602">I have one free city that runs along communal anarchist lines. Any group of at least one thousand persons can form a "faction" and gain a seat on the City Council. For every thousand residents you enroll in your faction, you gain another seat. Most of the factions are mercantile in nature (being an extension of the trade guilds that dominate the economy), although some racial and ethnic groups exist to represent small alien groups that reside in the city. A census is performed at the autumnal equinox each year (the time of year where rural types are least likely to reside in the city). The factions have authority to regulate their members however they see fit, and most also pledge protection to their members. This protection is the closest thing to a city watch: if you victimize a member of a faction, that faction may send people to track you down and right the wrong. Traditional retribution formulas exist to prevent this cycle from spiralling out of control most of the time. By tradition, however, there is a City Guard that controls the main source of revenue: a head toll at each of the city gates. The Guard exists primarily as a kind of neutral party in disputes among factions. Most of the surrounding political units (feudal and tribal) find the government of this city to be insane. In truth, it exerts an influence far smaller than its economic power would indicate because it is difficult to get the Council to agree to anything beyond basic economic promotion and local security. The inhabitants are fiercely proud of their rights, however, and the city has never been taken by force. Most opponents simply use the fluid power structure to influence the policy of the city to their benefit, if they have the ability.</blockquote>

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