D&D 5E Why do cities in Faerun have fortified walls?

[Umbran]

Walls are odd in fantasy land as all the great threats can fly / magic.

So, there's an illogic to the idea that, since some things can fly, we should not use the simple defenses against the majority of things that cannot fly.

 

[Jackdaw McGraw]

Those cities are old, usually centuries old - when they were constructed, there was a more credible threat of semi-conventional mass attack.

But the walls in most of the art and maps look contemporary of a civilization with a 15th - 16th century sensibility. They're either updating their defenses for offenses that don't exist...or cities in Faerun in the late 1400s looks the same as they did centuries ago.

 

[Alzrius]

I've been flipping though Forgotten Realms maps and reading through the 3.5 and 5 lore...and I can't figure out why most of cities have fortified walls, especially those on the Sword Coast.

They're there mostly to stop land-bound monsters. Trust me, you'd want a wall too if a giant penis century worm suddenly showed up outside your door.

 

[Tonguez]

Walls are odd in fantasy land as all the great threats can fly / magic.

To keep safe you should live underground in " dungeons".

Not if all the walls are equipped with anti-dragon ballistas, of course you would expect to have a more angled breastwork, casements and civilian domes

 

[opacitizen]

Walls are odd in fantasy land as all the great threats can fly / magic.

To keep safe you should live underground in " dungeons".

Unless your walls somehow project a mostly transparent magical dome above the city. Which, in a fantasy setting, may very well happen.

 

[John R Davis]

Fantasy domes probably quite resource heavy.

Underground the way forward against overwhelming air power / magical missiles

 

[Umbran]

But the walls in most of the art and maps look contemporary of a civilization with a 15th - 16th century sensibility. They're either updating their defenses for offenses that don't exist...or cities in Faerun in the late 1400s looks the same as they did centuries ago.

Faerun has never really mapped cleanly to European architectural history. Indeed, the fantasy world generally doesn't seem to advance signifcantly, not unlike the Star Wars Old Republic, lasting thousands of years essentially unchanged. I'm not convinced there's any value in using Earth as the standard for comparison..

 

[Greggy C]

If you don't have walls, how are you going to collect taxes when people come in, or check to see if the Zhentarim are trying to slip past.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Isn't wall of stone a cheap source of stone wall? Palissades need to harvest lumberwood, plant it in a palissade and need probably more upkeep than a stone wall... when it's no longer usable, just invite the citizen to take a few stone slabs to build their own home and recast wall of stone...

 

[Jackdaw McGraw]

Faerun has never really mapped cleanly to European architectural history. Indeed, the fantasy world generally doesn't seem to advance signifcantly, not unlike the Star Wars Old Republic, lasting thousands of years essentially unchanged. I'm not convinced there's any value in using Earth as the standard for comparison..

I suppose you're right. This may be rolled into a gripe of mine that a setting that doesn't reflect the passage of time in it's culture, architecture, clothing, etc., is basically a dreamscape or theme park. It's more of an IP than a compelling world.