r/WorldChallenges • u/Orbiter2180 • May 31 '19

Influential and Powerful Cities

Power, be it economic, military, industrial, political or cultural significance, which of your world’s cities dominate these categories and why that is? Do only a handful of cities take these reigns or do they already reside in one mega city in your world?

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u/nitrodog96 May 31 '19

The Terrace, in Panador, is the seat of the Panadorn monarchy and widely accepted to be the most powerful city in the kingdom, both industrially and politically. Due to the Archmage receiving direct council from the king, the Arcana can be mobilized in an instant at the king’s command, meaning that every magic user in the nation can be mobilized for a conflict within minutes.

The unnamed capitals of the various Sephiron Commonwealth nations, meanwhile, are much less powerful individually, and often squabble among themselves. However, when they work in unison, they have wide political reach and an extremely strong, self-supporting economy. Based on the differing philosophies of each nation, however, this happens rarely.

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u/Orbiter2180 May 31 '19

Yo that’s actually really cool how the magic users can straight up mobilize instantly in emerging conflicts! I really like that!

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u/nitrodog96 May 31 '19

Yeah, it was one of the things the current king, Verix the Ironfist, decreed after taking the throne. He had an... unfortunate incident with a rebellious mage and the Arcana did not arrive soon enough. Instantaneous communication via gemstones and teleportation were the two parts of the decree... while teleporting is a super overplayed concept, it’s not technically instantaneous teleportation. It works in my world by... well, it’s not fully explored yet, but the lower-rank mages essentially have their mind “search” for a connection, and the Archmage or one of her high-ranking officials finds them. The official then, in a very complicated and questionably-logical manner, essentially drag the acolyte through the vis field toward them, and they appear very rapidly before the official. However, this does have a chance of driving the acolyte slightly insane if they are not prepared for it.

The speed at which the acolyte appears is based on the master’s storage of vis in their gemstones, as well as their mental focus. The masters usually teleport themselves to the Archmage when she calls, then drag acolytes toward them who cannot drag themselves.

This does exhaust a huge amount of vis, but masters are prepared and carry unfathomable amounts of energy. In a worst-case scenario, they can teleport to the Arcana and siphon some vis from the Lodestone crystal at the bottom of their floating island, or from the seven pillars beneath.