The City of Ur-Zahalbielam (or just Ur)

[William_Oak]

Hello folks,

I'm gonna start putting up some of my map work for a future tabletop RPG game I'm going to run soon. It's my second attempt at making a large city. I've already determined most of the stats of the city I'm building, and am slowly creating it borough by borough.

-City Age: 548 years
-City population: 1.5 million, about 1 million citizens
-Tech level: Early Bronze Age, with high magic (magic is considered pathfinder standard) (about 30% of city population can cast spells)
-Goverment type: Council-based Oligarchical Magocracy

To start i'll be uploading the boroughs I've made. For the moment I've just got pngs, as I cant seem to upload PDFs (they're so much lighter).


Stylus_Borough.png
I do find it important to note that despite the various districts being named for a specific purpose, the districts are named for their "majority population" if it's relevant.

Stylus borough
I'll be starting with the Stylus Borough. The stylus is the primary tool used to write on clay tablets, and the stylus borough is where most of the citie's scribes live and work. The scribe's guild is centered here, as well as the main temple of the god of knowledge & writing, Thot. This part of the city is mostly low/middle class, though a number of more successful scribes live in compounds on the side of the river. The main temple of Thot, also known as the great library, is found on an island in the river and is said to contain copies of all that has ever been written in the city.

Old Town
Old town is one of the older sections of the city, and was once it's administrative heart. With the construction of the tower moving most of the bureaucracy to a more central location, much of the land was sold to various groups. The Defthands branch of the Sindicate purchased several of the riverside compounds owned by the wealthy. Much of the land was covered in low-class tenements by the city goverment, in the hope of providing cheap, reliable housing for the city's working poor. Much of the north-east side of the city was bought by middle-class craftsmen and merchants, who vitalised the area. Some signs of the past still stand however. Many powerful casters did not wish to move to the hills district when it became fashionable, and their towers still stand, in the hands of their students or (in one particular case) the original owner. The old courthouse was converted into an archive, though the grand obelisk of law, marked with the first complete law system of Ur, stands as a stalwart reminder of it's former power.

Slaughterhouse District
Located in the south of the city (so the dominant south-east winds would blow away the stench), the slaughterhouse district is focused on the production and products of meat. Thousands of head of cattle pass through each day, providing the city with most of it's meat. Alongside those, a great many business focus on treating and preserving the meat, transforming it, and on the production of transformed food products in general. The west of the borough, bordering the school of alchemists, is filled with rendering plants, turning the bevy of leftover animal products into soap, candles, oils and much more.

Weaverhome
The center of the weaver's guild, weaverhome is a small but poor district. It's dominant features are the grand loom, main factory and center of the weaver's guild, and the temple to Baal-Zebul, the destroyer, and one of the two great gods of the city.

[tilt]

That's a lot of houses - you've been busy

[William_Oak]

Yup! There are 15 borough, a giant tower (inspired by the tower of babel) and an undercity (where live a part of the dwarf & ratfolk population)

[William_Oak]

Also, while there are a lot of buildings, I prepared them simply by creating a small "area" of buildings (to a given scale, in a square shape) then performing random rotations & reflections as I copied the area. The pattern isnt obvious, so I think it fulfills it's purpose well: to create the impression of a randomly made area, despite being regular.

[bellbookandcandle]

Oh wow! This really shows how much effort you put in to it! Lovely!

[William_Oak]

Ok, so I've had some advancement in the last week. Three more borough! South third of the city is complete!

Dockersbald
Dockersbald, also known as the docker's borough, was once the most important port of the city. While that is no longer the case, it is now used by the docker's guild as a warehousing center. It is also an important poor residential district. The borough also contains the centers for the Boatmakers guild and the Carpenters guild, trapped in a political struggle between the more populist dockers & boatmen and the more elitist members of the Architect's guild.

Small Gods
In a long city tradition of mocking those not on top, the "small gods" district (so named since it house the temples of most deities that are not major) is the most diverse religious location in the city. It houses dozens of temples, the most important being the ziggurat of Yan-Luo, main cemetery and ossuary of the city. These religious organisations, headed by the clergy of Thot and Yan-Luo, created an "Association of minor gods" in a bid to secure political power against the more popular temples of Baal-Zebul and Ishtar-Raama. The borough is quite safe, as the various religious organisations have notable militias that patrol at all hours. Despite that, there is some friction between the various cults because of divergent philosophies.

Mire Borough
Without a doubt the most odorant borough of the city, the mire district houses the Alchemist's Guild, The fraternal association of Tanners, numerous rendering plants and the main facilities of the "Golden river" sindicate. The constant mix of chemicals in the air, and the important sewage treatment plants of the "Golden River" (Who are payed for hauling away the sewage AND for extracting raw materials from it) create an acrid scent that brings tear to the eyes of those not used to it.

Pretty happy with what I've got for now. I've at least finished the part the players in my next campaigns will visit. Any comments? Questions?

[HereBeLions]

Wow, that's a lot buildings! It doesn't come across as just a bunch of rotations, so you definitely pull off the 'random but actually regular' thing. I love that you can see individual 'wards' (I think that's what you'd call them - the little collections of city blocks built around a central point). Are you going to add a legend once it's all done? If so, that'll be a huge document all to itself C=

[William_Oak]

Glad the randomness came off. And yes, each ward (a word I had forgotten existed, but I will now use extensively) has a legend, I just havent taken the time to put it up. I've actually succeeded in creating 3 more wards! I've also done the undercity map for the southern part of the city. Cant forget important dwarf & ratfolk populations!

[William_Oak]

Ok, so I've got 4 more boroughs finished. Since the city map is filling up, thought it might be a good moment to put a version of the whole city. I've got 4 boroughs left, the central tower (think tower of babel type ziggurat) and the undercity for the new boroughs.

City_Whole_4.png

[William_Oak]

Ok, so I've had the time to (mostly) finish the city map. Including the underground!

The full underground


The full city


Grand Marketplace


Clay Borough


Hammertongs


Crafthome


Charcoal Ward


Peach Row


Guildheart


Arcane Academy

Quite happy with the results. I have a bit more left to do (one borough, the rich side of town, is still empty since it's all compounds) Still working on the legends for everything. Any questions/comments?