Pre-thread: A Fool's Paradise: The Collaborative Fantasy City Building Project

[bombshoo]

Over the last week or so, I've been tinkering with the idea of doing a collaborative city building project, based around player created stories and world building.

The city itself is a large megalopolis, inhabited by about 13 million people from thousands of different species, races, religions, creeds and languages. These different peoples should be fantastical in design and origin. The weirder the better. The City is especially diverse as it sits upon a mysterious "fissure" that connects to the other parts of the super sized planet upon which our city is located. Our technology level is a strange mixture of fantasy, modern and industrial tech, with the specifics yet to be decided (players will obviously have some influence here). Other than that, not much else has been decided.

In addition to designing the inhabiting races and characters, players will also help to shape our fair city. As we begin, I'm hoping for lots of input on our city's history, society, culture, politics as well as the geography of the city itself. To get us started, I have created a large map and sketched in what will likely be our Central Business District, as well as some of the surrounding neighborhoods. "The Fissure" and the beginnings of a rail network are also present.

Spoiler :

At the moment, if you wish to participate, here's a good place to start. Note that you don't need to follow this exact format as it's just to help you get your thoughts organized (though it's fine if you do). Don't worry about getting everything filled out all at once either. A lot of these things will begin to come together as we all build and collaborate.

Race Name: anything you want
Country of Origin: where your race is originally from, assuming they are not natives to The City.
Characteristics: physical descriptions as well as any skills or unusual traits your race might have.
Religion: Who do they worship primarily, if anyone?
Brief History: Why are your people in The City? Are they refugees? Natives? etc
Primary Location (within the city): Mark a spot on the map or tell me, so we can work together to design the neighborhood.
Other Notes: Anything else you want to add.

Feel free to design as many races as you want. Also, even if you don't feel like designing a race, but want to take part in designing the city, feel free to chime in or even edit the map yourself.

I hope this goes over well. Have Fun!

 

[ork75]

Very, very interesting. Will make something when I get some time to do so.

 

[Shadowbound]

I'll bite.

Race Name: Azer
Country of Origin: The Roof of the World, aka the City
Characteristics: Azer are rocky humanoids, approximately 1 meter in height, whose eyes and orifices glow like embers. Over the centuries they have carved intricate patterns of geometries and patterns into their bodies, recording their personal history and deeds. Over this they typically wear metal armor, not for protective purposes but as a decorative display. Azer prefer to work with stone and metal and rarely wear woven cloth, so these metal sheathes serve as clothing.

Each Azer is immortal, barring violent death, and was forged at the beginning of their race's history by God Himself. They have no formal hierarchy beyond the, mostly egalitarian, ranks of the Host of the Azer, which has ceased to exist in any compelling fashion. The lives of each individual Azer is devoted largely to contemplation, but many serve as builders, smiths, and teachers, taking advantage of their millennia of knowledge and skill. Azer are powerful magicians of the earth and fire.

Religion: The history of the Azer is the history of their religion, as they are the chief worshipers of a dead god, the Wandering God, who came to the world millenia ago. After begetting offspring, the Titans, he retired to the Roof of the World where he created the Azer, the Smiths, to help him forge his great work: the Wall of Fate. The Wall of Fate predicted, or possibly determined, many things including the laws of physics, the nature of magic, and the future. When he was done he invited the Titans to see his creation. Unfortunately when surveying the Wall of Fate the Titans found passages which predicted their own demise and undoing. In anger they turned on their Father and tore him limb from limb, and then when that was done they shattered the Wall of Fate and took its power for themselves so that they could avert their doom. The Azer, created only as an extension of the Divine Will, were left without purpose and waited for a century in the rubble for their dead god's command. After centuries of discussion and contemplation they formed the Host of the Azer and waged war across the world against the Titans to avenge their God by slaughtering his children.

This war was waged across the world over a millennium and resulted in the death of all the Titans and a great chunk of the Azer, as well as the overthrow of many early empires in favor of younger races. The events written of in the Wall of Fate came to pass as a result.

Brief History: After the Titanomachia the Host of the Azer disbanded. The thousands of Azer scattered across the world, following their own goals. Many retired to reclusive strongholds in the mountains, carved into the very rock over centuries, where they contemplated the nature of their own existence. Others taught metal and stone working to early humans. A few delved into deep mysteries, futilely trying to learn how to create more of their kind. Some still search the world for fragments of the Wall of Fate, to reconstruct God's great work. In the end many would return to the Roof of the World, where they had been born. As it was a site of great magical power and importance it grew to become a city, the City, the greatest in the world, and the Azer were some of its founders and taught their secrets of magic and technology to the inhabitants.

Primary Location (within the city): The Temple District, where the Azer built their residences-cum-temples-cum-tombs

Other Notes: What happens to angels without a God to serve?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Race Name: Zung
Country of Origin: Zungs are widespread, but have existed around the city since its foundation.
Characteristics: Zungs are inveterate mimics and copiers, devoting great energy towards building a resemblance to, and gaining acceptance from the cultures around them. They are almost aggressively friendly, each individual seeking to brighten the world. Of course, the idea of an 'individual' among the Zungs is a bit hazy... because Zungs are colonial fungi, forming thick mycelial mats under the ground and across the surfaces of decomposing objects. These networks contain complex chemical brains, the largest of which can become fiercely intelligent. However, the Zungs that most people are familiar with are the mobile bodies that they generate, sometimes in cooperation with other Zung main bodies (thus containing multiple entities within a single apparent body). These mobile bodies are close facsimiles of the other creatures that Zungs observe, thus leading to the creation of Zung-men, Zung-women, Zung-dogs, and so on. While sharing many resemblances to free-living creatures, and having temporarily independent minds, these mobile bodies retain fungoid physiologies, and need to periodically merge back with their main bodies to rest, heal, and share thoughts. A Zung mobile body separated for too long will grow withered and emaciated in appearance, then undergo steady physical degradation until death. Zungs can't eat like most animals, they rely on decomposition. Thus, many Zung mobile bodies spend their days working and collecting organic refuse, which they bring back to their main bodies. As part of their penchant for imitation, most Zungs disguise their main bodies as houses, to make themselves appear as familiar and normal as possible.
Religion: Zungs generally share and adopt the religions of their neighbours, although all Zung belief systems tend to be tinged with a strong community ethos, and Zungs themselves tend to have rather material outlooks on reality.
Brief History: Zungs are very fond of civilization, and have existed around the city since its earliest foundation. It is hypothesized that earlier, more primitive Zung cultures accumulated around waste deposits around the edges of cities, before gradually civilizing themselves and adopting the mannerisms of the peoples around them.
Primary Location (within the city): Zungs are by preference widely spread through the city, although there are larger clusters of them in the central region of the triangular western peninsula, and along an inland band of the southern shore of the river. They also live surreptitiously underground in parklands, and are present in most underground delvings, wherever there is pliable earth to be found.
Other Notes: Zung love you long time.

 

[Dreadnought]

Interested. Will edit my post when not on mobile.

 

[Thlayli]

The Elethria "The High Ones" / The Insumbri "The Fallen Ones"

Origins: The Elethria have passively floated around the planet since the dawn of recorded time, although they sometimes enter into "associations" with particular civilizations, like this one. They do not claim to be from any particular place. The Insumbri are also from all over the planet, although they tend to cluster in highly populated areas of great wealth, openly or in hiding.

Characteristics: Elethria (singular Elethrion) are very tall (6-8 feet), slender, and pale in color, with skin tones ranging from cream to pale blue-green to faint gold. They weigh approximately 30-50 pounds despite their height, due to hollow bones and their natural magic, which makes them float. Most have two eyes, but some have a third central eye or two pairs of eyes, depending on their bloodline. They do not have noses, and their ears are long and angular. They have limbs similar to a human, although fingers vary. They reproduce sexually and by choice, but without pleasure.

Elethria do not eat food, but absorb light for nutrition. They do not sleep, but remain mostly stationary during the day, floating through the sky and gathering light. Then, at night, they descend to earth, glowing gently, to drink water (and occasionally obtain other trace nutrients like gold, calcium and phosphorus.) Even on earth, Elethria appear to float or hover rather than walking.

Elethria are incredibly magical creatures. They possess a natural telepathy, which they prefer to use rather than speaking, although most know multiple mortal languages from passively absorbing the unguarded thoughts of mortal beings. Any Elethrion is capable of discharging some of his or her stored energy in blasts or beams of light, although overuse can cause the being to become exhausted. Elethria often master other magical systems with ease, however. They are immortal, and some Elethria have existed for thousands of years. Their individual mental capacity is extremely high - some say even limitless.

Personally, they tend to be somewhat apathetic towards mortals, with the full range of their emotions only expressed to each other in their natural telepathic language. Due to their beauty, wisdom, age, and radiant nature, they are often worshiped by mortals, to which the Elethria mostly shrug their shoulders. Some, however, prove willing to provide knowledge, raw energy, or even leadership in return for tributes of the often rare minerals they require to survive, and for assistance with things like constructing shelters and manufactured objects that the Elethria are too physically weak and detached to make for themselves. [The two eldest Elethrion are over thirty-two thousand years old and rule a major human theocracy on the other side of the world, or rather it rules itself in their name.]

The Insumbri are born from the fall (literal and figurative) of an Elethrion. Although the origin of the transformation is shrouded in mystery, with multiple legendary and religious explanations as to why the Elethria suffer this curse, the transformation process is very common knowledge among scholars. If denied access to light for a long time, or through perennial overuse of its natural magic, an Elethrion begins to become intensely hungry for another food source. After about a week of deprivation, the cravings ultimately become strong enough for the Elethrion to attack a mortal being or an animal. If it successfully drinks even a small quantity of the mortal's blood, the transformation process begins, and cannot be stopped.

Their skin darkens, generally to a dull reddish hue, although variations have been observed. This is accompanied by an increase in muscle density and strength, causing the newborn Insumbri to be incredibly physically fast and powerful by mortal standards. They also tend to be incredibly beautiful. The natural light-based magic of the Elethria is also changed to blood magic. The Insumbri use their own blood as a weapon, conjuring any manner of objects from shields to whips from a single droplet. They also possess the ability to disguise themselves as mortals of other races.

The Insumbri lose the ability to fly, which they secretly long for, and are forever cursed with an intense desire for mortal blood: The more accomplished or beautiful or magical or powerful the mortal, the richer the blood. The desires of the Insumbri are generally described as "tasteful gluttony:" They desire the best of all things. Be they rich clothing, impressive magical artifacts, beautiful courtesans, or simply the adoration of beautiful followers, the Insumbri want more of it, and their greed is matched only by their intelligence, their narcissism, and their instinct for self-preservation.

The Insumbri are not only born from the fall of an Elethrion; they can also create children of their own by producing children with mortals, or in rare cases, each other. However, these second-generation Insumbri, while still incredibly powerful, lack the strength of the original Fallen One, and are born with their father or mother's mark on their forehead. They also owe magical loyalty to their parent, unless released. Younger Insumbri resent this deeply, and there are documented cases of children turning on their parents. Successive generations of Insumbri are each weaker than the one before, until the ninth or tenth generation are little more than dark-blooded humans (or whatever race) with a penchant for greed and some extra charisma.

The Elethria collectively view this corruption of their own kind to be an abomination, and did everything in their power to exterminate it. They chased the Insumbri to the ends of the earth, with supportive mortals marshaling crusades below. But the Insumbri fought back, sacrificing legions of their own spell-bound mortals in wars that approached cosmic levels of destructiveness, and took down several empires along the way. About four hundred years ago a great peace treaty was signed, and the Insumbri and Elethria have mostly sunk into a long-term cold war since, the Insumbri relying on assassination, while the Elethria encouraged mortal states and religions to pass laws restricting their resident Insumbri, many of whom went into hiding.

In the modern era, there are many more Insumbri than there are Elethria. Most scholars estimate about 4,000 Elethria on the planet, with a new one born every few decades. The number of first-generation Insumbri (the true Fallen Ones) is about 150, but they have had thousands of children, who have in turn had thousands of children, and so on. One estimate for the total global population of second and third generation Insumbri is 300,000, but as many live in secret to avoid persecution from hostile races, religions and states (of which there are many), the true number is impossible to know.

Religion: The Elethria do not worship, but have a certain special reverence for, the two eldest Elethria and (to a lesser extent) their first generation of children, who are the ancestors of all the Elethria on the planet. A major human religion worships these two as god and goddess of light. Generally the Elethria are agnostic about other gods, and about their own status as 'angels' for many mortals.

The Insumbri are said to have a secret cult that they do not divulge to outsiders. Rumors abound that they worship a particularly powerful demon god, but most who have gotten close and escaped tend to report that the only real Insumbral gods are themselves. The eldest Insumbri all perished in the war, and the truth of their dark gods may have died with them. Or perhaps not...

Brief History: When this part of the world was opened to mortal settlement, a large chunk of land surrounding the Fissure was granted to a certain group of Elethria who patronized the exploring government. They still technically "own" the entire area, and lease it to the local government, maintaining a 100% hands-off approach. They could care less about the city or the mortal politics; their only interest lies in the Fissure. Approximately 20 Elethria monitor and study the Fissure, doing things to it that they typically say, when queried: "You wouldn't understand, even if we explained it to you." They have, however, claimed that they are keeping it from consuming the entire world, which everyone generally appreciates.

Since it is one of the largest permanent populations of Elethria in the world, a very large and multiracial segment of the mortal-run Church of the Luminance has also moved in to venerate the Elethria, which the Elethria are only slightly annoyed by, since it gives them a political proxy with which to manage the Insumbral Problem.

As for the Insumbri, unlike their need to hide in large segments of the Old World, the lack of religious restrictions attracted them to this region in large numbers. Although a surprisingly large number of Insumbri have attempted to "go legitimate," there is a general suspicion placed upon them due to their magical charisma and their tendency to consume mortal blood, which they are allowed to purchase legally in the open market. They have clustered in the affectionately-named Little Hell, which doubles as the red-light district and entertainment area. Unsurprisingly, they are also at the top of many of the city's underground occupations like scams, crime and mortal smuggling.

The Luminant Church is not in any way okay with this, and actively pushes for the institution of the "white laws" common in the Old World: Expelling the Insumbri from the city, or at least registering them, and more heavily restricting the drinking, gambling, and prostitution. For their part, however, the Insumbri, led by three of of the original Fallen Ones who have created a financial conglomerate which has diversified into banking, real estate and shipping rather than the traditional benighted and glorious prince of lust route, and have encouraged the Fallen community to try to rein in their worst proclivities to avoid another crusade, which is, of course, terrible for business. They employ a lot of lawyers.

They have formed a political party, and are active in the city council with a platform that includes lowering municipal taxes (which is popular) and legalizing slavery (which is less so). Religious parties tacitly accepted by the Elethria are some of their most vicious opponents in local government, and their "Remember that time they treated us like literal livestock?" attack is moderately effective, although often condemned as medieval scare-mongering by the Insumbri faction, who have augmented their natural seductiveness by trying to bribe their way to the top (and in many cases, succeeded).

Primary Location(s): TBD.

 

[Thlayli]

I think the best place for Little Hell would be the southern end of the small lake which is north of the central island, from there to the fork in the stream. Irregular, twisting streets there, not built according to a central grid plan, since the Insumbri immigrants were largely exiled to the other side of the river, and settled on their own without the benefit of central planning. Also, some of the blocks will be larger in size than others, since some Insumbri bought up the neighbors' land to build large establishments.

I think I'm going to plan out a university district as well, where a few of the Elethria will be resident professors. Thoughts on where a university area might be are welcome.

 

[Thlayli]

Come on guys, stop being lazy and post some races. Let's make NES great again.

Also, per Bombshoo I'd like to take solicitations for how the city government works, and along those lines I have some proposals:

The city is broken up into Wards which are led by Wardens (or Aldermen or councilors or whatever name people like most). Each player who makes a race controlling a district will control at least one Warden, but the majority of the Wards will be controlled by NPC's who the players compete to get on their side. Most of the Wardens are democratically elected, but some are "democratically elected," and other religious, corporate or union-controlled districts may have an appointed Warden who they choose. Once every two years, elections are held for the executive. (Mayor, Governor General?) This requires the Wards to nominate one of the Wardens, and you can't nominate yourself, so this forces players who want to control the city (or have a say in who controls it) to politick with the other players and NPC's in order to win a nomination and votes. Presumably election season is filled with festivals, massive bribery attempts both legal and illegal, scandals of all sorts, parades and public manifestos.

I would imagine that there are no term limits, so if someone wants to build a Tammany Hall-style political machine and rule for decades, they can. The actual power of the executive is probably pretty poorly defined, but mostly extends to deciding where all of the development money goes, what gets built and where, and overall control of the city defenses/militia. (Which would be separate from the individual ward militias/police forces) So the mayor will have carrots and sticks, presumably. I think it would be interesting to have an independent judiciary as well.

Bombshoo is ultimately the one who counts the votes of all the Wardens and decides the election, since the bulk of the districts will be NPCs. Although I could see players scheming to take control of more than one ward through a variety of benevolent and malevolent methods. I think this will create a very rich narrative in which players can use everything from benevolent populism to bribery, intimidation and even using ward militias, mobs and criminal organizations to swing the election outcome, albeit with all the possible risks to their political reputation.

I would also imagine Bombshoo will set the ward boundaries to start. I think it would be amusing if there were some rotten boroughs with only a few blocks that have as much power as the district with a hundred thousand poor Zung next door. I would imagine issues like redistricting and universal suffrage (making the elections for the city executive direct rather than indirect) would be hot-button political issues. There's also the fun side effect of huge protests or even riots if an individual without real democratic legitimacy wins by manipulating the process.

 

[bombshoo]

The city is broken up into Wards which are led by Wardens (or Aldermen or councilors or whatever name people like most). Each player who makes a race controlling a district will control at least one Warden, but the majority of the Wards will be controlled by NPC's who the players compete to get on their side. Most of the Wardens are democratically elected, but some are "democratically elected," and other religious, corporate or union-controlled districts may have an appointed Warden who they choose. Once every two years, elections are held for the executive. (Mayor, Governor General?) This requires the Wards to nominate one of the Wardens, and you can't nominate yourself, so this forces players who want to control the city (or have a say in who controls it) to politick with the other players and NPC's in order to win a nomination and votes. Presumably election season is filled with festivals, massive bribery attempts both legal and illegal, scandals of all sorts, parades and public manifestos.

This is pretty close to what I'm thinking, though, I don't want to box in players into having to play politics. I am open to characters not being political.

I would imagine that there are no term limits, so if someone wants to build a Tammany Hall-style political machine and rule for decades, they can. The actual power of the executive is probably pretty poorly defined, but mostly extends to deciding where all of the development money goes, what gets built and where, and overall control of the city defenses/militia. (Which would be separate from the individual ward militias/police forces) So the mayor will have carrots and sticks, presumably. I think it would be interesting to have an independent judiciary as well.

Pretty much. The important thing to remember, is that while we'll obviously draw from real world examples to an extent, we're not tied to them at all and this city is sort of a giant hodgepodge and mess. We're not tied to any real system and I think it's most likely that what we actually have is something built out of an ad-hoc system for managing affairs as numerous groups coalesced, rather than a straight "this was founded as a city with rules" type situation (outside of the oldest settlements anyways). The Mayor as basically a figurehead was something I was counting on (if the position exists at all). We probably operate under a City Manager system, but even they are comparatively weak compared to Wardens/Ward Managers/Whatever. We are a city-state so we have a Real Military and calling them a militia seems a bit disingenuous. In terms of our neighbors, we are the largest/most powerful city-state in an extremely balkanized area. The idea of confederating with the other city-states will come up.

Bombshoo is ultimately the one who counts the votes of all the Wardens and decides the election, since the bulk of the districts will be NPCs. Although I could see players scheming to take control of more than one ward through a variety of benevolent and malevolent methods. I think this will create a very rich narrative in which players can use everything from benevolent populism to bribery, intimidation and even using ward militias, mobs and criminal organizations to swing the election outcome, albeit with all the possible risks to their political reputation.

I would also imagine Bombshoo will set the ward boundaries to start. I think it would be amusing if there were some rotten boroughs with only a few blocks that have as much power as the district with a hundred thousand poor Zung next door. I would imagine issues like redistricting and universal suffrage (making the elections for the city executive direct rather than indirect) would be hot-button political issues. There's also the fun side effect of huge protests or even riots if an individual without real democratic legitimacy wins by manipulating the process.

This is pretty much correct, though the more I can make this dictated by story rather than "orders" the better.

I did some work on the map. I added the "Temple District" (the big plazas/round green park), "Little Hell" (the messy round area south of the small lake north of the main river), the Warehouse District (by the main port) and a yet to be named ritzy area with lots of parks, to the west of the Temple District.

Spoiler :

 

[Thlayli]

That all sounds great, but a few questions. If there is a Real Military, then who commands them? If the mayor is a figurehead, then do the generals operate independently, or are they appointed by the homeland?

Secondly, the city grid plan as it is now mostly looks like it has been laid out by a central planner. If things are intended to be more chaotic, then things should look a lot less like 1800's Paris or 1890's Manhattan, and more like the city plans of older European cities, for example. In particular, there wouldn't be as many long, straight streets that pass between multiple districts, right? And the grid arrangements, where they exist, would be different-sized between districts. But I feel like having a regular grid all set out from the beginning implies a level of organization between districts that just isn't there. There should be more loopy, wandering major highways that take inefficient paths based on where people just happened to settle at the time.

Your current planning, with wide, long, straight boulevards, is very Napoleonic, and Napoleon was notably an absolute dictator with the ability to bulldoze neighborhoods to redesign Paris as he saw fit. Which is not the political dynamic here at all, especially with a powerless executive. The city currently looks like a central planner's dream; it should be a central planner's nightmare. Additionally, some requests for Little Hell would be: Less parkland, (or move the parkland to be closer to the lake,) no big oval and fewer curved streets, more extremely tiny, often turning alleyways with no organization interspersed with extremely large blocks.

 

[Terrance888]

I'd say, some centralizing reformer took power after a major disaster [which said reformer may have caused... or at least that's what they say] and got deposed later, but not before establishing straight lines upon the grid D:

I like the idea of the city looking like small cities that accidentally grew together, perhaps a cluster of grapevine-esque culdesacs as towns cut off each other's surroundings before they realized there's only decent sized artery left to funnel trade/movement into them. Or even an neighborhood whose roads which don't connect to the main road network whatsoever, with only foot and/or river traffic connecting it to the rest of the city.

BTW working on a race of varmints with moderate lifespans (30-50 years, say?) but very short generation spans and maturation times (3 years, say). It's interesting trying to work out the social impact, especially inheritance. This race is intended to be a relatively new entry into this world of ancient peoples. They are young, fast breeding, excitable, and optimistic. They are probably smarter than how others perceive them, but dumber than how they perceive themselves.

Race Name: Myrlet
Country of Origin: TBD, Some Magical Forest that was destroyed or something
Characteristics:
Religion: Who do they worship primarily, if anyone?
Brief History: Most likely refugees who fled through the rift. Often utilized as labor. Sometimes demeaningly as exterminators.
Primary Location (within the city): Mark a spot on the map or tell me, so we can work together to design the neighborhood.
Other Notes: Young. Fast Breeding. Excitable. Optimistic. Your move, ancient archaic races!

Thoughts:

Not sure if I should size them up much, and if so how much.

With the mismatch of their generation time and their lifespan, family situations can easily get chaotic. Consider a 15 year old Pine Martin. Such an individual could easily have one sibling aged 27, or nearly twice his own age. At the other end they could have a newborn sibling as well. Meanwhile, their first children are 9, first grand children are 6, and first great grand children are 3, and first great great grand children are newborn.

With their rapid maturation they would have a greater focus on continuous learning throughout their lives. Very few ever "settle" for one job, one hobby, one talent, even if they happen to be very good at it.

They have no sweat glands and breathe with open mouths, leading to a characteristic sharp-toothed grin.

They have retractable claws, and, I suppose, opposable thumbs and dextrous "fingers"

More thoughts:

Polygamous society organized on bloodline from the mother. Litter size ranges from 1-5. Due to long possibility for siblings, littermates would be most similar to normal sibling relations.

Several steps removed from the wild gains them some civilizing elements. But animalistic tendencies like marking territory or heat remain, just altered and changed to be more accepted culturally. For example, those in heat may spend it with their chosen partner, or work to gain some extra money at a red light district. Territory could be marked with coats of arms or other devices instead of simple scat. Architecturally, they would probably place toilets near the entrance of larger dwellings.

Common jobs industrially would be as mechanic/engineer/technicians. Some of the more skilled ones are able to dart into active machinery to fix minor issues or perform maintenance.

A common but more demeaning job would be pest control: extermination of animal vermin such as mice, rats, pigeons, and squatters.

I can see them using their climbing and hunting skills as bounty hunters. Although they might not have pack instinct, they are quite ferocious alone, and can still learn group combat as they are civilized.

Due their size, their preferred weapons would remain blades, spikes, and blowdarts. They cannot handle the recoil of gunpowder, and ranged elastic weapons are too small. Maybe slings could work. Their size is to their advantage, allowing them to hide or sneak through unexpected areas adn attack from flanks thought secure. Although LOL, imagine a group of them loading up blunderbusses like cannons. They can also use their natural claws and fangs as weapons, becoming a whirlwind of pain if the victim was not able to grab them fast enough.

Idea for place from whence they came:

"The Woods of Twilight" is a magical realm which have changed the Pine Martens. Not sure if the Pine Martens would be a hunted race, an allied race, a servitor race, or merely byproducts of magical concentration. However, a disaster befell them and they fled, eventually escaping through a portal to reach The City on the Rift.

EDIT:

Architecturally they usually do not use stairs or roads. For upper stories, they prefer ramps, protruding rods, or just climbing up walls. They prefer rooftop to ground level traffic, and have installed cables over streets and between roofs for use in crossing them.

Also, I can see wealthy families keeping a "Closet Myrlet", where the house keeping Myrlets live. The Myrlets would install extra "shelving/floors" and spend their days clambering on walls and under tables cleaning and dusting. Also, killing any vermin they find. Less wealthy families with extra room can lease out a Closet to a Myrlet family for a bit of change.

 

[Thlayli]

That's cute Terrance. Also yet another reason to restrict voting rights, or we'll have a parliament full of adorable furry creatures wearing monocles and top hats in 20 years.

I'm imagining a team of 5-10 Pimars working as bellhops for a fancy hotel, standing at attention in their cute little uniforms, and then it taking like 4 of them to carry one suitcase.

 

[Sniiperman456]

Can I make humans as a race?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I think that the setting would be a lot more relateable if we had humans present, myself.

 

[Thlayli]

Yeah, at least my background kinda assumes that humans are present.

bomb, are you planning on giving us any more worldbuilding/background info, or are we supposed to come up with that all ourselves?

 

[Sniiperman456]

Race name: humans
Country of origin: many different country's.
Characteristics: same as modern day real life humans.
Religion: many different ones, including Primarly Christianity, also Islam, Buddhist, atheists.
Brief history: Humans here got transported from earth to the city.
Primary location: humans live in all sorts of areas, including farm lands, slums, sewers, urban areas, basically anywhere.
Other notes: picking humans makes my job creating the race much easier, I will confess.

 

[Thlayli]

Ohhh boy.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

In this case, we're working in a fantasy world wholly separate from Earth, so it's very unlikely that there will be Earth religions here.

 

[Sniiperman456]

In this case, we're working in a fantasy world wholly separate from Earth, so it's very unlikely that there will be Earth religions here.

Well, there are earth religions here now.

 

[Thlayli]

Ohhhhhhhhh boy.