# Is a Settlement a Town?

It's a place of **Dwelling**, **Governance** and **Worship**, still in it's infancy (2 to 3 years?).
That's not a lot of time to build many complex, sturdy buildings.

So, when there's an **hierarchy of power**, like in any common society or organized group of people, the available **resources** will be used to first attend the need of those that hold the most power and wealth.

Therefore, the Settlement shall be composed by an intricate contrast of formal, strong, sturdy buildings and poorer, rickety buildings, some even of ephemeral nature.

***JERE:***
> 2-3 years sounds reasonable enough, but as I told you guys, we shouldn't write ourselves into a corner here. If there's something awesome you want to represent visually, but it doesn't fit into the 2-3 year timeframe, we can change the timeframe to make it work, or just handwave it with magic/techonology.
>
> The general feel of "the settlement is still in relative infancy" and making players feel like they are an active part of its development is the important part for me. As long as we can still convey that with the overall look and feel, individual details aren't as relevant IMO.
>
> Don't get me wrong, if we can manage to make everything consistent and air-tight from a logical perspective, all the better, but rule of cool should take precedence. We can always find justification later if people start asking questions. As long as we don't break immersion too much, we'll be fine. If the choice is between memorable and logical, I'd go for memorable.

# Material Aesthetic

Anything made of mostly **Stone**, belongs to the entities that hold the most power in the settlement:

- Places of Worship, Government buildings, high class Dwellings.

People that own businesses would also have the possibility of investing a bit more in the buildings they own. **Stone** would be used alongside **Wood**:

- The Tavern and the more established Stores.

***JERE:***
> I like the idea of the more affluent/influential folks in the settlement also having at least partial access to their pick of the rarer things found in the dungeon. This could open up room for some exotic materials (crystals, strange metals and minerals). How raw the materials look could be up for discussion.
>
> Considering they would be a novelty to these folks, I'd assume it makes more sense for most of it to be raw, but again, if the overall design looks better with polished and refined forms of these materials, I'd rather have that and come up with justification than make the art suffer because of a dogmatic desire to maintain internal logic.

The lowest class (farmers and such) won't have a lot of access to resources, so their dwellings should reflect that. They'd mostly have access to **Wood** and maybe **Straw** for the roofs. Possibly cloth?

- Low class Dwellings

***JERE:***
> I think we could add tarp to the possible materials. I think tarp would help nail the port aesthetic. For low class homes, we could see it used more haphazardly (e.g. using it to cover parts of the dwelling that aren't properly insulated from rain, using it as makeshift doorways. Here it could look stained, ripped and patched).
>
> For the better built parts, it could be used as awnings. Carts and tents selling wares on the street could use tarp as well. Here it would be better treated, probably dyed or painted with pretty designs, more intentional/decorative in its use rather than out of necessity.

# The Hierarchy of Power

What's the ruling class here? How devoted to higher divine entities are they?
Could the ruling class be of clerical nature? -> Municipal building would also be the place of worship.

***JERE:***
> The religious side of things hasn't been decided yet. We have hinted at Altarians seeing the beacon as something sacred, at the very least because of its practical importance in their survival. But how much of that is really religious is up for grabs. I expect to have a better answer soon.
>
> For now, the council rules in Altaris (although the idea of the settlements itself and its inability to protect people since the beacon started dwindling has sparked dissidence).
>
> In the settlement, the council rules in paper, and they adamantly work to maintain this rule. From their point of view, the settlement's sole purpose is to find the means to save the city, which clashes with the free-willed, adventurous mentality of these people who have already been away from the beacon's influence for a while. I want (if possible) to lay a subtheme of conflict between the settlement's inhabitants and the city (particularly between the actual adventurers who are risking their lives and discovering the thrill of exploration). I'm not sure if this is very relevant for the purposes of designing the plaza (maybe the decoration could hint at this by having the sections of the settlement that are further from the town hall have anti-altaris graffiti/posters)

Would the knights venturing into the dungeons, discovering hidden treasures be near the top of the hierarchy?

Maybe we could see the outside of the player's house (a new recruit) change according to his accent the social ladder?

***JERE:***
> More in general, some lore bits that you might not be aware of, which might inform how you design the square and settlement in general:
>
> As part of the justification for procedural generation and the dungeon being different all the time, we're going with the idea that high concentrations of umbra create such chaos that even the land shifts and behaves in unpredictable ways (that's how the actual terrain configuration of the dungeons changes with every visit).
>
> If this would affect the terrain outside the dungeon as well, you might expect people to build with that in mind. Some (very basic and probably not so good) examples: building houses so that they are levitating at all times so that they aren't affected by terrain changes, or building the entire settlement on a floating platform on the ocean, to make it immune to land shifts.
>
> This isn't a must, so don't think you need to reimagine everything if it doesn't make sense to you. It's just a nice to have. Feel free to incorporate it however you can/wish (it can be a subtle nod or a fundamental part of the design).
>
> Weather would also be unpredictable and changing, so architecture, materials and decoration could hint at this as well. For example, heavy presence of weathervanes and lightning rods (maybe even making the central statue double up as something functional could be cool).
>
> Not only is the land and weather hostile, but so are many of the indigenous creatures/wildlife/plants. Flora could be exotic and at times otherworldly. Of course, people wouldn't let deadly carnivorous plants with tentacles grow in their yards, but maybe a random shopkeeper could have a small one in a pot for sale (and you see it try to snap at the player whenever you get close). (edited)

> The settlement could show signs of the hostile nature of the place, so damaged/destroyed buildings/roads could appear every now and then. Maybe under repairs, maybe already repaired. Maybe some damage is left as a reminder of a certain event, or something mysteriously irreparable (like how in some fantasy settings some cursed weapons deal wounds that never heal properly). This could be the result of attacks or just merciless weather patterns (acid rain, lightning, hurricanes, or even crazier stuff like a meteor shower).
>
> We still have to decide how common we want this sort of chaos to be, but I do want it to exist to some degree. (edited)

> Also, having people decorate the outside of homes/shops with rare stuff found in the dungeon might be a cool addition
>
> **DISCLAIMER**: Don't take any of what I said as a must. All of this is very much open to discussion and the final word on anything aesthetic is on you and Ross. You both have a better sense of what works visually than I do, so please don't bend yourself backwards trying to incorporate any of the stuff I mentioned if you feel that it will hurt the final product. On the flip side, if something you design is really out of line with the lore, I will let you know, but we can still find ways to make it work if it does more good than harm.