In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the Necromancer Kingdom ...

In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the Necromancer Kingdom ...

Here's a post about city design. This is a weird post, very much in the weeds on how the Caliphate structures its cities. I figure the audience for this is five people, at absolute most.

There are three main types of cities:
(0) The Capital, which is a combination of all three of the below.

(1) Organic cities. Whether in areas where the Faith is new, or cities older than the Faith, these cities are a combination of buildings built by Lifeless and designed by priests, and those that predate.

(2) Leisure cities, focused on the people rather than those people having jobs. The safe distribution of flour and turning it into bread is the main industry in these cities. The bakers guild loves the leisure cities.

(3) Working cities, centered around production. Different priest-architects have designed different version of these. The most successful make the building labor sufficiently repetitive as to require mostly Lifeless, and empower the people in these cities to work.

The above nomenclature ignores the Lifeless Enclaves that farm and mine, which also serve as garrisons.

All the cities have the multi-use tenements built for the Faithful. Remember, anyone who goes to church receives sufficient Flour to make ends meet -- 50 cups of flour, if my memory checks out. Go twice, get 80. Go three times, get 100. That is, there is diminishing returns from returning. As these are built, so are support locations, such as temples, bathhouses, and schools.

Of course, the Faithful build their own houses and businesses, but only in the working cities is this viewed as a matter for the Church to plan.

The working cities also have parks, commercial areas, suburbs (individual houses), and industry as well as the tenements, temples, bathhouses, and schools.

In one conceptualization, a working city is thought of as a mile and a half diameter half-circle around a river. The city is broken up into a grid, with 1000 feet (300m) by 1000 (300m) feet sections. These are divided into 25 squares, each 200 ft (60m) by 200 ft (60m). Outside of the grid is a network of homes, both for the wealthly and simply those who do not wish to live inside the apartments.

[ I played way too much SimCity. ]

Of these 25 squares:
1. The middle is a Temple.
2. The surrounding 8 are parks.
3. The outer 16 contain the industry, tenements, bathhouses, commerce, schools arranged such that when you put a square next to another square, nothing touches a like building.

That is, the outer edge of each square is the "city", with the inner being parks and temple. Because Temples are important in the Caliphate of Azithan! This is an approximation, as roads simply disappear at this resolution. A lot of the life of the city occurs within those inner 9 squares.

Here's the layout of a tenement in a working city:
Because I think in terms of feet, the following are primarily in feet and contain translations to meters:
Tenements: approx 160 feet by 160 feet (50 meters by 50 meters). That's 25,600 square feet (2,500 m^2).

In all cases, stairs are on the outside.

Basement: Accessible from the priest's apartment, and holds the Lifeless. Most of the actual work of the church is done at the temple, if there is one nearby. In the designed cities, there always is.

Ground Floor: This is divided evenly into 8 locations, each accessible from outside: 6 retail, 1 magistrate office, and one apartment / workshop for a priest. The priest's apartment contains the entrance to the basement, which has the Lifeless and doubles as a machine room. Each is approx 2,500 square feet (~250 m^2). The retail usually includes a couple places to eat, a leasing office /cop shop, and other useful shops. What else goes here?

Floor 1: Apartments fit for families, with running water! Eight of these, each approx 2,000 square feet (~300 m^2). Balconies on the roofs of the floor below. Population: ~40.

Floor 2: Apartments fit for singles, couples, and small families, making a reasonable wage in local industry. Each apartment has rudimentary plumbing. Sixteen of these, each approx 800 square feet (~80 m^2). Balconies on the roofs of the floor below. Population: ~30.

[ As an aside, my apartment isn't 800 square feet. Of course, it is also made out of steel, drywall, and glass. Not concrete.]

Floor 3: Dorm style! Small rooms, and a lot of them. Each ~100 sq feet (10 m^2), and 50 of them. Not all of these have light, and are accessible by hallways lit only by the outside. There's a waste and waste water disposal shaft for the floor. icky! Communal balconies. Population: ~30, but up to ~50 without too much difficulty.

Floor 5: Barracks style! Additional housing for the Faithful as needed. Visiting monks, additional lifeless. Those Faithful who don't work and wander from City to City! Whatever!

Thoughts / Ideas / Questions/ Comments welcome!