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--- tirades:2019-06-23 [2021/05/09 19:58] – shyriath
+++ tirades:2019-06-23 [2024/01/17 14:21] (current) – shyriath
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 And here we are, the third part at last!
-The last one gave an idea of what residential neighborhoods are like in [[avishraa:community:Poradrin:]]. But what, you might ask, about the bigger picture? What about infrastructure? What about services? What about crime? What about maintaining spaces vital to the public good? In a human city, even well before modern times, many of these things would be the remit of a government - since it doesn't sound like the city has much of one, how are these things handled?
+The last one gave an idea of what residential neighborhoods are like in [[geopolitical:Poradrin:]]. But what, you might ask, about the bigger picture? What about infrastructure? What about services? What about crime? What about maintaining spaces vital to the public good? In a human city, even well before modern times, many of these things would be the remit of a government - since it doesn't sound like the city has much of one, how are these things handled?
 Let's examine these issues, shall we?
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 Preindustrial human cities saw an increase of crime at night both because fewer people were walking the streets (being asleep) and because, in the absence of widespread light, those humans up and about could not see an attacker clearly. The long day-night cycle of Avishraa, however, means that many species, including all three known sophont species, are well-adapted for activity at either day or night and sleep more or less when they find it convenient. As a result, a would-be criminal suffers several problems in that there is rarely a time when the streets are not populated and that, unless the target and her habits are known in advance, there is no guarantee that she could be caught sleeping - and the previously-mentioned watchmen will, of course, be patrolling.
-Individual criminal enterprise is at a disadvantage in such an environment, and things like muggings and burglaries are in fact relatively rare and usually performed out of desperation. City life in Poradrin is unhygienic and noisy, but it's relatively safe from overt threats to life or property. Rather more prevalent are acts of what might loosely be called organized crime but which, in a fairly law-free environment, are viewed by the [[culture:ethnicity:poradric|Poradrics]] as something more like unethical business practices, usually under the control of all- or mostly-male gangs.
+Individual criminal enterprise is at a disadvantage in such an environment, and things like muggings and burglaries are in fact relatively rare and usually performed out of desperation. City life in Poradrin is unhygienic and noisy, but it's relatively safe from overt threats to life or property. Rather more prevalent are acts of what might loosely be called organized crime but which, in a fairly law-free environment, are viewed by the [[ethnicity:poradric|Poradrics]] as something more like unethical business practices, usually under the control of all- or mostly-male gangs.
 ===== Public Spaces =====
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 The city walls, by contrast, are a far more serious matter. Any resident can manage to ignore the condition of a street that he or she never uses, but a damaged city wall is of concern to everyone who relies on it for protection. One of the stipulations in the pact that holds sway over the city is that, when wall repair is called for, all precincts must answer - with labor and materials.
-Many of the other areas that in a human or [[takma:]] city might be considered public spaces are, in Poradrin, a type of property. Marketplaces such as the [[avishraa:community:poradrin:Great Commons]], for example, are also precincts with their own set of inhabitants, but with a different layout and different rules of use than 'traditional' precincts; instead of a ring of homes, each with a walled surrounding space, surrounding a small courtyard, individual homes in a market precinct generally abut each other directly from side to side; the walled open space associated with each home is behind it in a "back yard" arrangement, while the front face of each home includes a space with a counter and a small amount of storage, which directly faces a large courtyard. These spaces may be used by the inhabitants themselves, if they have something to sell, but are often rented to others; the same is true of the courtyard, in which for a fee (divided equally among the residents) the precinct will allow temporary stalls to be erected. Marketplace living is generally considered far more noisy and stressful than a 'traditional' precinct, but homes in a market precinct are nonetheless highly coveted, as they have a reputation for allowing one to make an easy living.
+Many of the other areas that in a human or [[takma:]] city might be considered public spaces are, in Poradrin, a type of property. Marketplaces such as the [[geopolitical:poradrin:Great Commons]], for example, are also precincts with their own set of inhabitants, but with a different layout and different rules of use than 'traditional' precincts; instead of a ring of homes, each with a walled surrounding space, surrounding a small courtyard, individual homes in a market precinct generally abut each other directly from side to side; the walled open space associated with each home is behind it in a "back yard" arrangement, while the front face of each home includes a space with a counter and a small amount of storage, which directly faces a large courtyard. These spaces may be used by the inhabitants themselves, if they have something to sell, but are often rented to others; the same is true of the courtyard, in which for a fee (divided equally among the residents) the precinct will allow temporary stalls to be erected. Marketplace living is generally considered far more noisy and stressful than a 'traditional' precinct, but homes in a market precinct are nonetheless highly coveted, as they have a reputation for allowing one to make an easy living.
-Another example of this is the [[avishraa:community:poradrin:Forum]]. The Forum is by far the largest building in Poradrin, and is to the city what a courtyard is to the precinct; any event of multi-precinct, or even citywide, importance, is held here, and is the site of the great city councils that occur when momentous decisions need to be taken.
+Another example of this is the [[geopolitical:poradrin:Forum]]. The Forum is by far the largest building in Poradrin, and is to the city what a courtyard is to the precinct; any event of multi-precinct, or even citywide, importance, is held here, and is the site of the great city councils that occur when momentous decisions need to be taken.
 Unlike the markets, which are entire precincts unto themselves, the Forum is one single property unto itself. Although the precise details are lost to time, the city's pact mentions that the maintenance of the Forum as a property is part of the honoring of an ancient bargain with the Forum's founder: that, so long as the property contained a building that allowed meetings and gatherings "for all of the City", it and everything on it would be bound by no rules except those of the city as a whole: it would not be part of any precinct.