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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7376016" data-attributes="member: 6796661">To plan a lawful-evil city, I find it easier to start with a lawful-good city with planning values based on antiquity where power is centralized and the rulers have a mandate to rule over their subjects. Really, the only difference between LG and LE in this model is that in LG the ruler is benevolent and wields power and brings order for the good of the people, whereas in LE, the ruler does it for the sake of power itself.I've always liked the ancient Chinese myths and philosophy on this. Heaven was often depicted as an orderly kingdom and ancient Chinese urban planning would try to build heaven on earth. I remember seeing pictures of heavenly cities that Xian was supposedly designed from and similar discussions in Hangzhou and Suzhou, when I visited those places, but I can't find images of those paintings online. I did, however, find something even more interesting. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Chinese_urban_planning" target="_blank">Wikipedia article on Ancient Chinese urban planning</a> goes into detail on a book from the Western Han, The Artificer's Record which gives a grid plan for an ideal city:In the article they give images of the original notation and modern notation, but easier to understand is the Plan of Chengzhou, which is given as an example:[ATTACH]95466[/ATTACH]Further googling led me to a great book titled The Magic Square: Cities in Ancient China. The book is <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qhcRYkz-I3YC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">available in Google Books</a> as a limitied preview and it is full of illustrations. While fascinating and a good source of inspiration, there isn't anything that can be easily lifted and made into a map easily used for gaming purposes, but, still--worth a browse. A serviceable map of Luoyang, which was built on top of Chengzhou is available from Wikipedia: [ATTACH]95467[/ATTACH]But it is not as starkly orderly as the nine-sector "magic square" design. The following map of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27an" target="_blank">Chang'an (now Xi'an)</a> better demonstrates the principle and could be easily adapted for gaming purposes:[ATTACH]95469[/ATTACH]Another more modern approach that could still inspire your LE medieval fantasy city is Le Corbusier's "dwelling machines" (he proposed "the demolition of a large part of old Paris to erect sixty-story cruciform towers" see <a href="http://utopicus2013.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-are-utopias-for.html" target="_blank">LINK</a>). Also, check out maps of the Forbidden City in Beijing. There are plenty of maps readily available online. Just do a Google image search for "forbidden city map". If you want something geometrical and orderly, but not square, check out maps of Palmanova, and Italian fortress-city built during the Renaissance designed to follow utopic ideals. It is star shaped and can be reskinned to give it an ominous feel:[ATTACH]95468[/ATTACH]That's all I have time for now. Hope it was helpful or at least interesting. Looking forward to other ideas posted to this thread.</blockquote>

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