Opinions on Wayfarer City

[DavidJae]

I am looking for opinions and constructive criticism on a Fantasy City that I have developed.

It is a city of Wayfarers (treasure hunters, pathfinders and explorers) who hire out their services to the other CityStates. They are ruled by a Chieftain, who oversees the Ruling Council, made up of senior Wayfarers and Chief's of Industry. Wayfarers are organised into Cadres, small bands operating out of their own Headquarters. Anyone may form a Cadre, although it is usually a powerful and wealthy individual who has the resources.

Their technology is Earth Plus, more sophisticated with powerful aircraft and energy weapons, as well as advanced power generation.

They maintain a neutral relationship with the other CityStates, mainly because they are too useful to destroy or oppose.

Tell me what you think and any suggestions for improvements.

 

[Hans]

How much of the populace are wayfarers? What about supporting characters like artisans, farmers, officials and so on?
Are these wayfarers the ruling class or are you really thinking about an exclusive wayfarer city?

 

[edd]

depends is this a political conflict book?
power tends to corrupt who keeps the chieftain or council members in check??
depends on the environment ( war/ at peace/ or mixed)
do they have competition ? (like companies, fair trade system?, other countries)
depends on how complex and real you want to make it.
for a basic story line brief i don't see a lot i can add. you need to add a bit more info i think.
what kind of suggestions are you wanting ( best to do some research first, i know it can be time consuming)

 

[Kelise]

In the city, are there others who aren't Wayfarers? Who looks after the waste/stores/cooking and so on?

 

[JCFarnham]

Agreed. You don't want this looking like a one biome planet if you see what I mean

 

[shangrila]

As a basic framework it's ok, but as others have said it would need to be expanded to be believable. Basic infrastructure would be a good start, as well as the local economy (such as, wayfarers spend money at an inn, whose owner buys booze from a merchant, who hires the wayfarers to escort his caravans through a mountain).

 

[DavidJae]

Everyone is a Wayfarer and are trained as such, but they also fulfil other roles; engineers, medics, tacticians, farmers, builders and so on. Only in times of create danger and war to they all take up arms. They have no ruling class, just senior Wayfarers, and powerful figures.

 

[Hans]

That is plausible, to make it a cultural thing. Like in our society everyone has basic training as a savant (compared to most of human history).
The next question: What keeps them in that city? Wayfarers are not known to be the most settled people.

 

[Jon_Chong]

I'm not seeing how this city would function. Say the infrastructure is in place and there everything is hunky dory... why would wayfarers build a city? And if the primary source of income is the hiring of wayfarers, we come to the question of why would these city states hire these men and women? And how often? Would it be often enough to sustain a city? I am not sure if it is enough.

Then you have the fact that wayfarers by their name are nomads and their occupation has them traveling for most of their jobs. So why pick a city to settle down? This would be more believable if the wayfarer city is a standard city but serves as the headquarters for a wayfarer guild. There would be other wayfarer guilds in other cities, a means for these wayfarers to keep in touch and abreast with the motions in the guild.

 

[DavidJae]

The surrounding area has many abandoned ruins, cities and fortresses filled with dangerous creatures and rich treasures that are recovered by the Wayfarers. Having travelled all over the world and being experts on exploration of hazardous terrain, their services are much sought after. They also make aircraft and weapons which they sell to other cities. Their technology is not the most advanced but it is tough and effective, suitable for hostile environments. They have settled in the wildest, and dangerous, part of their land, where others wouldn't. This makes them tough and resilient. With the other CityStates distrustful of each other, they value the mercenary neutrality of the Wayfarers, who will undertake dangerous expeditions without any risk to their own people.

Wayfarer Cadres are like guilds, and not everyone in the city is an active Wayfarer, except in times of war. They have engineers, doctors, farmers, miners and so on. Think of Rohan from LOTR; they are mainly farmers living a peasant existence, but they know how to fight and will all ride to war when the muster is called.