Greetings,
One of my favorite cities in Tskarnor is Dar Gened.
It is situated on the northern side of the northern mountains in the province of Karna. These mountains are very high and precipitous, with the high slopes predominantly composed of a dark volcanic rock similar to obsidian.
It was built by the Xzantarian dynasty immediately following the reconquering of the Karnian mountains in the final stage of the 700 year war. It was built as a training center for private, civilian orders of knighthood, from which lords, military officers, and elite soldier units (the Heroes, aka Afcuroi) could be recruited for the imperial forces. The concept was for people to send their sons there to train in arms and become members of the several orders of knighthood based there, as a means for them to have a possible future in the highest services possible in the empire.
As such, it was built as a fortress city. And in the manner of all the old cities from that period, was completely indomitable.
To construct it, they channeled a high river from its course, leaving its icy, solid stone bed exposed right next to where it had rocketed off a waterfall over a cliff that ended several thousand feet below, only to launch off again over more cascades. They hollowed the foundations of the city into the bones of the mountain itself, and then melded the exterior walls with it, creating an impenetrable shell. They then allowed the river to follow its course again, surrounding the city by its deadly coils.
The interior of the city has multiple levels, vertically and concentrically. It has under levels and upper levels and even multiple ground levels. It is a three dimensional labyrinth.
In its prime, it housed over a dozen independent orders of knighthood, several dozen specialized training schools (read: dojos), and several hundred independent masters in exotic arts from around the globe who come there to teach.
It survived the usurpation of the Xzantarian line by Dëcë Cälorian, although the Cälorian dynasty did not make any effort to preserve the culture of honor that had marked the rise of Dar Gened, and instead interested itself with regulating and seeking to gain control over the hitherto free orders of knighthood there.
The rule of order collapsed in Dar Gened due to this new system of administration, and it became a death trap. Law became extremely lax in matters like murder and theft, and extremely tight in such areas as insurrection and curfew. Instead of an atmosphere of mentorly teaching, it became a matter of life and death, survival of the fittest. Those who went there, did so to win or die. A last resort.
Even so, it flourished, though not with its former grandeur. The schools took to using sports to help train their students in an effort to alleviate the deaths, but the arenas became like the coliseum: no law in the games, so that even games that were similar to football became life and death matters.
Okay I better stop talking... I can go on forever about Dar Gened (and it isn't the only city I have developed like this).
What I want is help in mapping its city plan. I want floor plans and street maps and architectural drawings, etc. Just I am bad at drawing ('cept for geographical maps). I have cultural essences, traditions, insignias, concepts, architectural designs, and stuff like that, so I can help you guys help me out here, if you want to jump in.
Oh my goodness! This city is extremely complex!