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  1. #1
    Senior Member Elton Robb's Avatar
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    Cool Ilien, a metropolis?

    I'm running a Play-by-Post game on the Paizo Forums and some interesting things have come to light. Like for instance, is Ilien a metropolis?

    I ruled it is, since the city takes up all of the resources of the area and that Rogr can't rely on sources there. (There is an exception in Player's Secrets of Ilien about an elven city underground). I've also had to make rulings on about certain feats my players discover on the site. But those are for another thread.

    The party consists of a Wizard, an Arcanist, and a Vigilante. We had a bard, but the player bowed out because of personal reasons. We're using PF1 as the base. Oh if anyone of you would like to join, We're playing on the southern coast of Anuire, and Mieres, Roesone, and Meodere is still available.

    But mostly I'd like to wonder if any of you think Ilien is a metropolis.
    Regent of Medoere

  2. #2
    Until 551 MR Ilien is the largest city in the south after the imperial city, I believe, given that it is in a province of level 7. In the player's secret of Ilien there are all the necessary details, but we are talking about a province with 40,000 inhabitants and is considered a big city. I believe it could also be used as an urban province, since it is a small county but surrounded by the sea. I imagine it more or less as big as waterdeep or neverwinter of forgotten realms.

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    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    It is one of the biggest cities in Anuire by province level and description, I guess that you could have a province that size with several large population centres, but Ilien is described as a single city so I would have said not in this case.

    I'm less sure why it would have such a huge city, it presumably has a good harbour, and is a centre for the Anuire/Khinasi trade, perhaps it also has trade routes to Aduria, beyond that it didn't seem to have a lot going for it - no great conflux of rivers, though I suppose Roesone acts as its backwater of supporting provinces.

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    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elton Robb View Post
    But mostly I'd like to wonder if any of you think Ilien is a metropolis.
    If we're defining a "Metropolis" as an entirely urbanized, independent province like the Imperial City then no. Could it be? Sure. It's one of the more apt candidates for "splitting" a province into a city province and the more rural province. We might think of it as a proto-Metropolis, colour-wise—a few more years of development and it'll be capable of being it's own thing.

    I would point out, however, that Ilien is behind the second largest city/province in the BR original rules set, the capitol city/province of the goblin land Kal Kalathor, the city Kal-Murthan in Murthang, which is a city in a 8/0 province, so if Ilien is a Metropolis then Kal-Murthan probably is as well. But then, goblins kind of get the short end of the stick when it comes to the whole "civilization" concept, so one could argue that there's something else going on in that particular case.

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    Site Moderator Sorontar's Avatar
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    Looking at the map of the province, 2/3 of the land is farmland which would rob it of some Source. The Erebannien is a part of the land, yet there is no Source there. This would imply (to me) that there is little chance of a regular Elven or Shadow presence there. Any mebhaighl in the forest is due to isolated events, creatures or minor pockets of magic (not major leylines or manifestations).

    The province is also regarded as Neutral, which implies to me that there is a certain degree of free trade and independent capitalism without full control or oversight from the state. As such, the farmland will be taxed but will be allowed to act relatively independently, rather than being dominated by major corporations or landholders. The Port of Call Exchange's Trade Holding may be more to do with controlling the import and export market than the production.

    Thus the city does not control the farmland but may encourage its development in order to support the city. It may not be a metropolis in the sense of it overcoming all of the province, but it may dominate the interests of the province due to its size and how it is run.

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