Brainstorming: A City Within a Wall

[EP]

I am thinking most light sources are going to arcane in the form of glowing runes, and "sun beads" strung along the ceilings/between the streets. Or be natural and take the form of oil lanterns. I want to keep with my colour themes, so all the lights would be white, yellow or orange/red in colour.

I know this might sound repeated as its used in the Underdark, but glowing moss could work in your favour. If the wall was never designed to be lived in, having a natural light source conveniently available for the new residence could be taken as a sign of why they moved in.

 

[Treebore]

I think with as high magic as it is, I think Continual Flame spells would do the job, and be reasonably cheap.

 

[EP]

You know what? Step it up a notch. Cast continual light on a large supply water supply running through pipes inside the city. The water can be turned on or off into various rooms with large taps to light up the room.

 

[darjr]

You know what? Step it up a notch. Cast continual light on a large supply water supply running through pipes inside the city. The water can be turned on or off into various rooms with large taps to light up the room.

That is a wonder full idea. I think it might even be somewhat doable irl.

 

[RefinedBean]

You know what? Step it up a notch. Cast continual light on a large supply water supply running through pipes inside the city. The water can be turned on or off into various rooms with large taps to light up the room.

Or introduce some kind of luminescent algae to the water supply. An easy, low-level quest could be some sentient undead (ghouls/ghasts maybe?) who poison the algae to cloak the lower levels in darkness, making it easy to snatch people away.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

The moss could work quite well with the overgrown regions of the Sea Wall (don't want flames catching them on fire). Hmm... The salt could be very reflective as well, would make a nice effect with the sandfalls.

Continual flames could exist nicely alongside normal oil lanterns for those that afford it. I don't want too much light, since well without dark areas can't have shady deals going on. Nor would some of the various supernatural creatures that exist in dark spaces (Abyss creatures). I am especially thinking about some sort of intelligent, living darkness being existent throughout the whole city.

I can imagine the algae existing in the natural Sea as well. The cliffs could glow during the night from the algae washing onto them, and the underground layers of the Sea Wall where the water seeps through.

How multi-layered do you think be reasonable for the downtown? I am thinking how many stalls could be layered one onto the other. I sorta want to while keeping the downtown wide enough for traffic create a claustophobiac feel fom the amount of stalls, walkways overhead, etc.

 

[EP]

How multi-layered do you think be reasonable for the downtown? I am thinking how many stalls could be layered one onto the other. I sorta want to while keeping the downtown wide enough for traffic create a claustophobiac feel fom the amount of stalls, walkways overhead, etc.

Even have some stalls exist on multiple levels. Shopkeepers live above their stalls, store additional merchandise retrieved from ladders through holes or can be used as "back alleys" like the inner corridors of a real-world mall.

 

[chronoplasm]

Perhaps some merchants have special beasts of burden with spider climb.
The merchants and their wares would sit in carts that hang down from the beast's backs and drop down from above to do business.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Been mulling it over and more and more I am wanting to establish various setting ideas to implant into the campaign plot whenever it comes into being. Most of the campaign will probably be within the city, but rumours, plotlines or when they do leave the city will need ideas I can use.

So I am all ears. What kinds of:

• Locations
• Monsters
• Races
• Items and Weapons (Magical and Technology)
• Cosmological Phenomenon
• NPCs
• History (still need to figure out what the cataclysm actually is. The storms and war bands are simply side-effects).

I never build complete settings, only a base and then just build a bunch of ideas to fit in and take out as it pertains to the plot. So anything you think of could work.

I am a bit of a obsessive-compulsive when it comes to stuff like Themes, Colours, etc. So reposting that section of OP (and slightly updated as I thought up ideas):

Colour Theme: Gold, Bronze, Yellow, Red, Orange, Brown, Black and splashes of Green.
Atmosphere: Alive, Energetic, Chaotic, "Spicy", Tense, Mysterious
Themes: The Unknown and Exotic, Rampant Use of Magic, Destitute and Prosperous

 

[Phaezen]

Been giving it a bit of thought, and each section or caste within the city should have its own lingo. For example a noble might call the city by its full name, but in the market or slums it might be simply known as "The Wall" same way different regions could have different names depoending on who is talking at the time. It doesnt need to be too esoteric, but the slight differences in the way npc's speak depending on their caste or region should bring the city more to life.