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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Trickstergod" data-source="post: 1275273" data-attributes="member: 10825">There are a number of ways, without having to resort to off the wall things like arches made of gold, or dragon bones framing the kings castle, or a black obsidian mages tower that looms over the city, which just get to be silly after a while. One thing you can do is to go with the environment itself. Perhaps one city lies tucked into a mountain, with the open side bearing a massive protective wall. Describe how the place is constantly covered in shadows except for around noon time, due to the mountain and walls blocking out the light. Or a city that commonly has a thin mist which winds its way throughout the streets. Go with architecture; perhaps many of the buildings have gargoyles carved into them, or many of the streets or walls have mosaics of great battles in the past. You can also go with the people themselves. In a sunnier clime, describe how the folk bare much skin, in another, colder one, how it's rare to see much more than a persons face. Go into their customs, their attitudes. One city is particularly friendly, the people embracing each other on the streets, unabashed about their feelings for one another - perhaps going so far as to carry this custom over to strangers who they've just introduced themselves to, to make them feel more at home. Or where the folk are sullen and gruff, hesitant to touch others, untalkative. Try to find one trait that defines the city, and stick to it, and build off of it. Thus, while much of the city might be fairly generic - which most are, anyway - there will be something that makes it stand apart, something that people can latch onto and go "Oh. Yeah!" Where when something sticks out they might say, "Hey, wait a minute..." and question whether the building is native or new, or whether that sullen individual who acts almost violently to any who touches him might be a foreigner from that other city they visited. Just something that will be memorable, to set one city apart from another. It doesn't even need to be all that much.</blockquote>

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