Cryndon Revamp

[lycander]

I have always been a little unhappy with Cryndon's layout - an entire kingdom of 1,200,000 people split between only 3 cities. The capitol city has 500,000 people in it, while the other 2 had 350,000. THe next closest to that is Doluhre with 159,000. I have already started to ammend this by layering the 3 main cities, making them more like a stack of 7-10 than one huge metropolis. Unless there are any major objections, I will be adding several small villages/towns within the kingdom. Most, if not all of them will be along the various tunnels through the mountains. The shortest one spans 125 miles, while the longest (the Dwarven Homeroad) spans well over 1000 miles and is definately something that can't be traversed during the day. I am proposing to add a sort of way-station every 10-20 miles along the tunnels, either at what would be considered an average trek or at spots with very good mineral or gem deposits. This would explain how they keep their ore flowing and not mined out. This may also open underdark-style campaigns.

I welcome any feedback on this. I'm not sure if there was any reason for the current layout, or if this has any significant ramification with any other kingdom, but I feel this will make this a more attractive site for campaigns and not just the best place to sell your loot.

 

[Emiricol]

Well, I voted "along the road" but the fact is that it could take decades for significant population centers to spring up (ie ones that are big enough to be listed in the main setting guide).

I know, however that the three main cities are set up along the only three passes through the mountains. Layering the cities into semi-autonomous levels is a brilliant idea! However I'd like to see a half dozen or dozen smaller towns - mining enclaves, military establishments and supporting civilian center, that sort of thing.

If you will be updating the setting guide entry, excellent - give me your email and I'll send you what I have for v2.0 book entry

 

[DMEntropy]

It sounds like a very good idea.

 

[DMEntropy]

It sounds like a very good idea.

 

[Northman]

I don't think anyone has actually played in the kingdom yet, so I don't think it should matter what you change, as long as it doesn't have big impacts on other kingdoms. What you've said sounds good. Create other towns, villgages, etc. The waypoints are good too, but you might not want to create all of them. The farther you go down teh Home Road the more you might want it to be "wild" underdark. Since trade hasn't opened that way yet, it wouldn't make sense to have too many "inns" for lots of people who arn't passing by yet.

Just a thought.

 

[Emiricol]

I don't think anyone has actually played in the kingdom yet, so I don't think it should matter what you change, as long as it doesn't have big impacts on other kingdoms. What you've said sounds good. Create other towns, villgages, etc. The waypoints are good too, but you might not want to create all of them. The farther you go down teh Home Road the more you might want it to be "wild" underdark. Since trade hasn't opened that way yet, it wouldn't make sense to have too many "inns" for lots of people who arn't passing by yet.

Just a thought.

So long as the passes are blocked, yes. During the Thoradur-Mittendein war, Ulruz had to negotiate chartered trading cartels rather than just bash through some uninhabited pass, which is what they would have liked to do!

Also, I like Northman's idea on wild underdark - a thousand miles is a huge distance to patrol...

 

[lycander]

Thanks for the feedback! Let me respond to a few of these.

Em:
I'm not thinking anything significant yet. I'm currently considering just a few that are at spots where rich veins have appeared. (I mentioned in one of the timelines that they found a small vein of either adamantine or mithril, I can't remember which.) Also, all the debris from the mining had to go somewhere. Waypoints off of the main road would be there so groups could get rest and still allow supplies to flow each way while construction was going on. These will probably be simply unadorned caves for now, but may blossom into something different later.

Northman:
I've viewed the construction of the Homeroad as a tunnel dug through solid rock instead of opening up into large areas of unexplored underdark. The dwarves were building this for safe and secure travel between dwarven kingdoms, and not as a direct access route for invaders. THe road is not straight, but curves to stay within solid rock. ANy place they may have dug through to the underdark was subsequently collapsed and marked for later exploration. Towns will undoubtedly spring up at these points, and exploration of the underdark will begin after the secure road is completed. Although after looking at this idea, I like the thought of the Homeroad hitting a huge expanse of Underdark, making them fortify that area as well and sending well-armed caravans through a hundred miles or so. That will be fleshed out later.

Em:
As far as I understand it, the Daggerwall is inhabited by all sorts of nasty critters, and the tunnels through the dwarven cities are the only safe passages. The passes through the mountains aren't blocked, at least not that I know of, but there is the ever-present danger of a giant tribe or a rampaging dragon. Or worse. If my thoughts on the Daggerwall are wrong, please let me know. Also, I sent you an update for the 2.0 a while back, including the layering of the cities. I would appreciate a new version to look over, however. I've set up an e-mail address for cryndon-specific mail at cryndon@cox.net.

As for a more complete list of places, I will get everything I can done once I actually get the time to sit and think on it. I already have a killer bit of artwork for one of the mountain gates, and should be getting some more soon. I will also be designing a crest for the kingdom.

On a similar note for Cryndon, I have been thinking of it's general attitude. THey are Lawful Neutral. As I see it, they really don't care who enters or leaves their cities as long as the obey Cryndon's laws and don't cause trouble. THere are a few exceptions - they won't allow giants, giant-kin or Dueregar into the city, and tend to attack them on sight. I have envisioned ome of the city levels as being enchanted so they show the sky outside (I hate to use this for an example, but think of the Hogwart's dining hall from Harry Potter). In others, light would be illegal. The different cities house all kinds of guilds, from assasins to paladins, healers to necromancers. All practies strictly governed and following all applicable laws. If this is taking things a bit too far, let me know. But since the kingdom is all about trade, they will traffic in almost any good or service. THose who ae turned away from most other "civilized" lands can turn to Cryndon and be accepted, even if there is a slight surcharge. I have begun fleshing out the Edict of Guilds, and will include it in the gazeteer. This should explain it some more.

 

[Silverglass]

I agree that the idea of waystations is a good one, and also that the vast majority would just be a space carved off the main tunnel. I would expect that these would be where water sources have been accessed in the main. Any travellers would be expected to carry food but cutting the requirement to carry water through the tunnels would make a huge amount of sense and these stops would also be of great use to the dwarves involved in constructing the tunnels.

While many of the stops should be a simple cavern some would have settlements, especially those where the tunnels pass through an are with valuable mineral veins.

As far as the 3 cities go I don't see any problem changing them as you suggest either, the definition of what is a city really varies from nation to nation, elven cities in Lorlynia would more likely be a series of linked communities spread out over a large area with a central hub as that conforms to the natural terrain more than carving out a massive city. In the same way Cryndon's cities could be spread out far more than surface cities both horizontally and vertically to make best use of the available caverns and to exploit the softer rocks to create large open areas (hollowing out a layer of softer rock between 2 strata of grantite makes more sense than trying to carve out a cavern in granite with a sandstone ceiling for example.

In the main guide we have really only detailed the large population centres, anything less than a large town hasn't been named as that would be far too big a task. So adding villages and mining camps across the kingdom does not really contradict what is in the main guide as long as the only large settlements are the three cities.

One thing that should be added came from a suggestion arising during the back history of the age if kings after the alliance between Cryndon and Paludosus during the Mittendein war with Thoradur. After Paludosus expanded east into the plains the area, on the river between Paludosus and Cryndon, became a major food exporter, as the river makes travel easy we established a major trade route where wood and foodstuffs go up the river to Cryndon and are traded for ore and finished metal goods. To make the whole trade thing easier I suggested that the 2 Kingdoms cooperate to build a secure fortified settlement at the point where the river becomes impassable to large shipping. The river boats would dock there to transfer cargo that then goes by land to one of the entrances to Cryndon. Exactly how far this would be from the entrance is up to you but it seemed a logical idea to protect trade in this way. The proposal was that Paludosus helped pay for the public buildings, warehouses and fortifcations and would provide troops to defend it while Cryndon would share the cost of building and defending it with the whole place being run under the rule of a dwarf nominated by Cryndon and a second nominated by Paludosus.

The other suggestion was that it have its own codified set of laws that were the meeting point between those of both kingdoms, mainly by removing anything that either side found objectionable (no Paludosan duelling or slavery for example).

I sent the suggestion but that was about when Cryndon became quiescent so nothing came of it, let me know what you think of it.

 

[Emiricol]

Goblinoids would not be generally welcome. We did a large bit of roleplay around this, and in fact the result is that the only Cryndon folks who can enter Ulruz on trade, and the other way around too, are "chartered" trading companies. These have to be escorted by guards from the local military unit. It's all very tense, but the only way goblinoids and dwarves aren't going to end up killing each other.

As to the rest, your ideas are all good, imho. I'm not opposed to a slight reworking of things. Don't forget to check the timeline for potential changes too, though!

And your read on the passes is no doubt the correct one (and the more logical).

 

[Lith]

I like the idea of the waystations, and towns springing up along the road. However I don't think they should all of a sudden appear there. Using the timeline to advance these things is a great way to make the kingdom seem more alive.