The new city of (CC0)

[kortleggur]

i propose that we create a grand City in a generic fantasy world where the history of every building, who built it, what skills and architecture style techniques he had access to and for what purpose he built that building and possibly why this person or his family is part of this city.

I hope I can facilitate a nice city building project for fun and public prosperity. As this fun is so much more fun if everyone can play with it change it, levee out what they think is silly or even put parts of it in there own publications and games. I also propose that each contributor to this threat mark it at one time with public domain license (CC0) for his/hers contributions to be incorporated in this (CC0) City. Even if it is not required by this license to attribute a copy of the work, then it is honorable. But pretending that you did work that you did not do is still not permissible. Any material that you post under this license is still your work and you can license it under a different license at a different time whenever you like. We will start by making the city in the early days, and then go decade and decade into the future. Recreating the city and its characters on the way. The (CC0) License will allow anyone to use any of the characters so anything you post must be your own creation.

This is my start, it is a regional town and later a garrison fortress, it is not the capital on any empire, but subject to different ones at different times. Perhaps the center of a Kingdom at some time in future. Perhaps even the seat of an Arcane King from time before written scrolls in modern tongues, long abandoned with some obscure ruins but resettled now at founding the date.

The first Question

Did the first buildings of the early town originate as
1. Place of commerce, a market where traveling merchant from different areas traded with the local people
2. Place of worship of the a. Holy tree b. some wild animal (insert spices) c. ancestral shrine d. other
3. Place of industry, where local people came to exploit a natural resource to produce tools, glue, and make trade goods.
4. Place of justice, where people where put to death for there crimes, with a small garrison and threat of rebellion by local people for injustice endured.

The second Question is the starting time frame.
The first decade of the city, what time frame would the founding of the city have to our current world, is it at a time culturally when people where building the Pyramids, is the building of them pyramids long time in the future or are they forgotten ruins with obscure legends by now?

Possible Future events that mark the decade change:
- Marching army camps and grand battles
- Falling and rising Empires, Riding Hordes and Prospers Kingdoms all around
- Chaining Trade-routs
- Religious cults and conflicts, nature worship and heathens and all the other things...
- Many Cultures around and Diasporas from fare away areas
- ...

[J.Edward]

I had a thought for you. The first buildings are almost always places of residence/shelter.
Just an ironic thought.

[Wingshaw]

Interesting idea. I would be keen to see how it unfolds. Here are a few thoughts and questions for you (might repeat a few of your original points).

--does the city develop according to the same/similar patterns to real-world cities?
------what, if anything, is different? (eg. a world where everyone can teleport would have little need for streets)
------what, if any, real-world culture/period is the city based on?

--what is the general topography/geography of the city?
------what climate does the city exist in?
------what is the main source of water?
------what is the main source of food?
------if they grow their food, where is the best farmland relative to the village?
------what other towns/villages/sites are nearby, with which the CC0 city may trade/fight/interact?
------are there natural defences? If so, are they settled/built upon/used?
------what threats exist in the environment (enemies, natural disasters*, weather disasters*, animals, supernatural)?
------what natural resources are available nearby (eg. furs, timber, minerals/ores, herbs/spices, clay etc.)

*natural disasters/weather disasters: this is simply my way of separating disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, from floods, bushfires, strong winds etc.

--origins**:
------merchants setting up camp on a trade route, crossroads, navigable waterway;
------farmers building houses near (but not on) good farmland;
------soldiers forming a garrison/bandits founding a stronghold;
------local authority (king, noble, priest, merchant company, other) deliberately founding and encouraging the growth of a settlement;
------extraction of resource (eg. mine, timber harvesting, charcoal burning, coral, quarry etc.);
------gathering place (eg. holy site, execution site, trading site etc.);
------what is the primary building material nearby?

**regarding the first buildings: don't forget, in many pre-Industrial settlements, a building could be residence, workplace and shop all at once; depending on the culture, it may also include a family shrine, and so be place of worship, too.

--culture (if you want to get really in depth from the start):
------what kind of social structure exists (nuclear families, extended kinship groups, feudal hierarchy, individualistic--not mutually exclusive)?
------who owns land and how is it divided/distributed?
------who (if anyone) administers law and order? What is the nearest source of authority, how close is it, and how much authority does it truly wield?

These questions, I think, are a good starting point. From them can come a greater understanding of the shape that such a city might take, and how its history would develop.

THW