A Magical Medieval City Guide

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Chapter Three: On the Magical Medieval City The primary generative force of magical medieval cities is security. Most settlements begin in the shadow of strongholds, towers, castles, or great churches. As these settlements grow in size and number, coupled with an increase in population and trade from newfound stability, a network of towns, cities, and their surrounding villages appear on the map. But security is not the only generative force for cities. Commerce is another generative force that can take a village and progress it to an urban environment and there is also town creation by decree, where a section of land is given certain rights, declared urban, and formed from the ground up, typically in less than a decade’s time. Most urban communities do not grow past a few thousand souls, the majority remaining towns for their entire existence. Only towns in strategic locations, active in trade, and with plenty of surplus food and people develop into small cities, large cities, and metropolises. In the magical medieval period, small and large towns are usually five miles apart while small and large cities are 20 miles apart. All of these communities feed on the surplus food and people of the surrounding countryside. Towns serve the immediate surrounding countryside by selling goods, buying surplus, and offering the services of craftsmen and professionals. The city is a larger extension of the town, but has its own benefits and problems that do not grace the magical medieval town. Though titled On the Magical Medieval City, this chapter discusses trends found in all urban environments, from small towns to metropolises. Towns are usually the conservative side of the trend, while metropolises demonstrate the extreme of the trend. Lord’s Interest The development of the magical medieval city is largely due to the lord of the manor. Without the lord’s protection,
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