I finished this map earlier:
This is Valdin, capitol city of the Valiero'ji nation. Located on the southern shore of Cyro'bar, on the northern shores of the Eljo'k Sea, Valdin is very close to the south most point of Valiero'ji territory. It lies south of the large Oss Lake and is connected to it via the Road of Oss that follows the Ryan River through the Valley of Oss. Two rivers flow into the sea on either side of Valdin: the aforementioned Ryan River and the considerably smaller River Shin.
The city was chosen as the capitol of Valdin because, for centuries, it was already the economic capitol of the Valiero'ji kingdom. The city essentially controlled trade through the Eljok Sea (a stretch of water connecting two of the planet's great oceans) and became quite wealthy through trade with and between the nations beyond the Gap of Torin and the Gap of Glyphs.
During the third age of Valiero's existence as a nation [will explain the ages thing later], the king moved to Valdin from the nation's previous capitol of Tel'nir, on the shores of the Shien Gap. As the two cities were literally on opposite sides of the already vast kingdom, the move was a huge effort - virtually all contents of the palace, high temple and university of Tel'nir had to be moved a quarter of the way across the planet. The task was achieved by sea and with the aid of the recently invented kite-sails.
When Valdin was established as the new capitol of Valiero'ji, the messy merchant’s harbour was rebuilt, almost entirely from scratch, and was made to be quite larger.
The land on which Valdin is and was built was once a meteor impact crater, about 700m in diameter, now eroded to be much shallower than it once was, the rim being about twenty meters above sea level at its highest. The crater is directly on the shore, and its southern rim folds around a bay within the crater to form two small peninsulas. The River Ryan flows just west of the crater and the River Shin just east.
At the time when the city was about to be rebuilt, Valdin's only buildings were around the shores of the bay, Valdin Bay, and the mouths of the two rivers. The first thing to be constructed anew was the palace, which was built in the centre of the crater, on the shore of the bay. To construct the palace, two canals connected to the rivers were dug through the area of the city as to allow building materials from quarries upstream to be floated directly to where the palace was being built. Next came the reconstruction of the street layout, buildings and finally, on the rim of the crater, the city wall. The only parts of the city that remained virtually untouched was the area outside the crater and the peninsulas on either side of the bay.
Two canals were also constructed, both connected to either of the two rivers, that cut through the city, allowing easy access to the streets for merchants coming from the inner water ways of the kingdom via the River Ryan.
Today, half a century later, the population of the city has come to be around 300 thousand and over half don't even live within the city walls. Outside the walls is the Managar Forrest, a thick tropical jungle that gives evidence of Valdin's proximity to the Equator of Novusvita. Between the vegetation close to the city are the Outskirts. Four independent districts make up this part of the city: Ryan South, Vanadash, River Town and South Bank.
Sectors and Districts of the City-West Sector:
Northwest Triangle (Formal);
Valdin Bay West (Commercial);
Ryan South (Rural/Informal);
Valley of Oss (Rural).
-Northeast Sector:
North Triangle (Formal);
Northeast Triangle (Formal);
Varadash (Informal);
River Town (Informal).
-Southeast Sector:
Southeast Triangle (Formal);
Valdin Bay East (Commercial);
South Bank (Rural/Informal);
Valdin University (Formal).
Circles of the City-The Inner Circle:
The Inner Circle is at the heart of the city. At its centre is the palace complex and around it are the homes of the rich - people who can afford to live here (such as people in politics, people in law, scholars, powerful businessmen and the otherwise famous). The circle can be roughly divided into five parts: four housing segments, the Palace Bay area and the palace itself. The grand buildings in each of the four housing segments are built around large garden parks, forming four large courtyards in the Inner Circle. These courtyards each only have two entrances, apart from the doors of the houses, making the homes in the Inner Circle quite private. Normally, an entire housing segment in the Inner Circle, or at least most of it, belongs to a single family.
-The Middle Circle:
In the mid-radius of the city is the Middle Circle. This ring is reserved for the middle-class citizens of Valdin: doctors, enforcers, not as powerful businessmen and the like. Here, the courtyards are smaller and the houses more. The Middle Circle is separated from the Inner and Outer Circles via streets on either side that go in concentric rings around the city. Another "street", that runs concentric to the aforementioned two, essentially further divides the Middle Circle into two separate rings. The only difference between these two rings is the shape and size of the courtyards. Like the Inner Circle, there are multiple groups of houses that share single garden parks. The main differences are that both the houses and the garden parks are smaller and less lavish and normally not populated by single families.
-The Outer Circle:
The Outer Circle is nestled between the city wall and the Middle Circle and accommodates the lower class working citizens: merchants, sailors, carpenters, smiths, tailors, labourers, house workers and such. In the outer circle, the houses are tiny, at most about three small rooms. The courtyards are about the same size as those of the Middle Circle, but often even less lavish. The Outer Circle also contains the market plazas and, in the Southeast Triangle, Valdin's barracks and armed service academy. The Outer Circle includes the Valdin Bay peninsulas, where the majority of the original city's still-standing buildings can be found. This is also where the majority of the harbour can be found. On the edge of the outer circle, along the city wall, these is another concentric "street". There are also staircases that connect the street level of Valdin to the city wall.
-The Outskirts: (Misspelled on map)
Outside the city walls, Valdin seems to loose its charm. The geometrical order of the circular street layout within the city walls disappears, as does the many garden parks and courtyards and plazas are replaced by wild jungle. Instead of a street layout of concentric rings and perfectly divided segments, the streets of the Outskirts are irregular and often nothing more than dirt paths. The buildings themselves seem to have been built out of what the Inner City, has thrown out. This is the home of the poor. Bottom class citizens that often have no jobs and sometimes struggle to survive find their homes here. There is some diversity, however. The further away from the city you go, the more rural it becomes. Homes are buildings are further way from one another and citizens generally lead healthier lives. Closer to the city, the houses are more dense and the environment becomes more slum-like. Here, crime is highest in the city and disease is common. A far cry from the lavishness of the Inner Circles.
Infrastructure-Water (Pipeline and aqueduct not shown on the map. Pumping stations are shown, but not labelled, as circular buildings along the shores of the rivers):
All of Valdin's running water has its origin in either the Valdin Peaks or the two rivers of Valdin. With the former, reservoirs in the mountains channel the water of rain and snowmelt into large pipes/tunnels that have been cut into the rock. These pipes eventually congregate as a single pipeline that follows the path of the Pass of Ungush. When the slope of the mountain evens out, the water in the pipeline feeds into an underground reservoir (originally a closed cave) and then out of the mountains via a raised aqueduct and into the city wall. The water is made to spread and flow the entire lengths of the city wall, the down to street level, where, thanks to the slope created by the impact crater, the water spreads through the city below the streets. This entire system works with gravity alone. With the latter, special water powered pumping stations along the rivers pumps water up into the city walls, where gravity once more does its duty.
-Streets:
The "official" streets of Valdin, in the Inner City mainly follows a geometrical circular pattern. There are three concentric rings of these streets that encircle the city, only interrupted by the bay, and nineteen streets that go at right angles to the ring-streets from the city wall (sometimes called the "Outer Wall") in the direction of the city centre, though only three reach the palace. Where they reach the palace, they become staircases up to the palace plaza, where they pass through large gates in the palace wall (sometimes called the "Inner Wall"). Where they reach the city wall, they also become staircases, in this case ascending to the top of the wall. The top of the city wall is often also considered to be a "street", of sorts, as citizens often use it to get to places quickly. There are also two "unofficial" ring-streets in the city. One passes through the Middle Circle, the other on the rim of the Outer Circle. Where the latter meets the staircases up to the city wall, the staircases essentially become bridges, allowing the "street" to pass underneath. The main differences between these streets and the "official" streets are that they do not pass over the city canals as bridges and they are paved as the city plazas and aren't cobbled like the "official" streets. Outside the city wall, the roads out of Valdin continue as roads normally do, following the landscape to their destinations, no longer according to the city's geometry. Aside from these roads, the streets in the Outskirts are unpaved and often nothing but dirt and mud. They seem to simply fill the spaces between the buildings where there would otherwise be jungle and are completely irregular, even random, following no particular pattern at all.
-Facilities:
Baths, clinics and shops form part of the building layout along with the houses in the Inner City and is amongst the best standards on the planet, aside, of course, from those of the Jawheads. There are three official markets in Valdin, on three opposite sides of the Inner City, Harbour Market, Gate Market and Soldier's Market, each supplying the citizens and businesses of the city with a menagerie of different goods and services. The city also has its own cab service which traverses the entirety of the city and, for the right price, may even take travelers to neighboring settlements. A ferry service also allows travel to certain islands near Valdin, such as the Rocks of Sodam. A Certain ferry also regularly takes citizens from their homes in South Bank to their work places in Valdin Bay East. One of the main universities of the kingdom is also located in Valdin. Normally, children are sent to their future workplace and learn on the job, only ever being in a school-like environment if and when they learn to write or do calculations. Normally, a tutor is hired to come to the home of the child on a regular basis, but at universities in the kingdom, students go to the tutors. Valdin University teaches many fields of science, literature and other studies for certain prices for certain courses. It also holds the largest store of knowledge in the kingdom: The Valdin Library. Then there's the High Temple. Every large city in the kingdom has a temple and most settlements at least have a shrine. The High Temple is the religious centre of the Valiero'vi. On the outside, its appearance is that of a tower, but most of its treasure is below ground. Every artifact that used to be in the temple of the Spire of Tel'nir has been moved to the underground of the High Temple. Citizens of Valdin enter the temple on a monthly basis to practice their faith. There are also many bounty boards throughout the city where travelers or citizens can do jobs for others and earn a reward or some extra money. Some individuals make a living by only completing bounties.
Places of Interest1. Valdin High Temple
The Temple consists of four main parts: the Tower, the Monastery, the Catacombs and the Archives. The Tower is where the most religious practices are held, including preaches, blessings, weddings and funerals. This is the most public part of the temple and consists of the exterior building. Most of the tower is hollow, with balconies along its rim where citizens can view the teaching or ceremony below. At the centre is the platform on which priests preach, below the congregation. The rest of the temple is underground, but has many windows to the outside in the forms on small holes in the cliff face of the hollow mountain. The Monastery is where priests, monks and nuns are trained and live. The Catacombs are where the bodies of powerful religious leaders, Jenin (saints) and Sion (Messiahs) are preserved, or the remains thereof. The Archives are where other religious relics, artifacts and texts are stored and preserved. The entire underground was built from existing caves and can be accessed with permission from a spiral staircase in the Tower.
2. Temple Valley
Temple Valley is the depression between the rise of the Pass of Ungush and the hill on which the High Temple has been constructed. It is largely wooded with a large path running through it. The path is used by citizens of Varadash as a shortcut to the temple. The Temple Valley is also the location of a terrible tragedy that occurred about two decades back. It was a prayer day, so the city was congregating at the High Temple. At the time, it was raining heavily. While the path of the valley was at its most crowded, a landslide occurred, killing many in the valley at the time and flattening two homes.
3. Ungush Inn
Ungush Inn is an inn located near the end of the Pass of Ungush, near the side road that leads up to the High Temple. The inn was built to accommodate weary and tired travelers coming from north via the pass. It has grown larger over the years, due to good business, and has come to include a tavern, shop and stables, along with many beds and a small restaurant. It is also the location of one of the many bounty boards in the city.
4. The West Gate
The West Gate is one of the two road gates of the city, along with the Valdin City Gate. The gate is located below an elbow in the city wall and directly connects the Northwest Triangle and Valdin Bay West with Ryan South. The Road that enters Valdin through the West Gate, the West El'jok Road, splits into two different roads when it passes through the gates. The one continues on to the palace and the other goes to the guard tower at the
tip of the western peninsula of Valdin Bay, one of the two Pillars of Valdin. The Gate itself is a large, metal doorway, snugly set in the wall, that can be easily opened inward, but only from inside. However, the road gates of the city are rarely ever closed, meaning that, without regular care, the gates could rust into place. The West Gate is also the location of a bounty board.
5/7. The Canal Gates
The canal gates are the two "water gates" of the city that connect the canals to their corresponding rivers. The North Canal Gate connects the North Canal with the Ryan River. The East Canal Gate connects the East Canal with the Shin River. When the city wall passes over either of the canals, it stops and is briefly replaced with an arched bridge that connects the parts of the wall on either side of the canal with one another. Below these bridges the Canal Gates will be found. The gates are large wooden doorways that fill their spaces fully, from the bottoms of the canals to the ceilings of the wall-bridges. When a vessel wishes to enter a canal, the captain must first show his or her permit to one of the guards on duty at the base of the gate. If it is valid, the guard will then signal to another on duty
inside the wall to open the gate. A counterweight mechanism is then put into action which causes the gate to slowly swing open inward. A separate counterweight mechanism then closes the gate.
6. Valdin City Gate
The "main gate" of Valdin, the City Gate is much like the West Gate, aside from being larger and more lavishly decorated. The gate is located in the northeast of the city, and directly connects the North and Northeast Triangles with Varadash and River Town. The road that enters the city here is the Shin Road, but the East Eljo'k Road, the Pass of Ungush and the East Forrest Road also connects to this road, meaning that the traffic of four roads must be able to enter here, as appose to two at the West Gate, which is why the Valdin City Gate is larger. The street that this road becomes as it enters the gate continues on to the palace and is considered to be one of the city's two main roads, along with the ring-street that runs between the Outer and Middle Circles. Like the West Gate, the City Gate is rarely ever closed. On either side of the gate are staircases up to the city wall. On the outside of the gate, there is a bounty board.
8/9. The Canals
The Canals were originally built to allow building materials from quarries near Oss to be floated directly into the city, easing construction, especially of the palace. Today, they allow traders and travelers from upstream Ryan to enter Valdin without having to face the often fierce currents of the Sea of El'jok. Because of this, meter-wide piers line the canals at water level against their sheer walls (which are anywhere between twenty and two meters high, depending on street level). Ladders, staircases an even tunnels allow access to street level from the piers in the canals. Where street pass over the canals, light-weight metal draw-bridges span the length. These bridges are essentially bascule bridges and are able to fold upward on either side, like a doorway on its side, to allow boat traffic through. This is achieved through counterweights at the bases of either sides of the bridges. There is a constant, yet slow current through the canals, from the North Canal to the East canal as water flows in through the North Canal Gate from the River Ryan and out through the East Canal Gate into the Shin River.
10. Valdin Palace
And here I got lazy... I'll add the others later.
Sun Apr 24, 2011 10:11 am
