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Shabazik — Alfdreim

#castle #city #fortress #map #medieval #walled #degoland #elferie #alfdreim
Published: 2019-05-19 01:59:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 86671; Favourites: 1270; Downloads: 585
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Description

The City of Alfdreim, by the  2410,, during the time of the Sargonic Wars1

Aelfdreim, city in the Barony of Hanat, south of the Kingdom of Degoland, had the largest Elferie or Elf Quarters among the Five Kingdoms of the Northwest.

Which brought problems in it's own. 

While many of the older cities of the Five Kingdoms originated from elven cities of Old, be from the rossnes elven kingdoms of Aiea -as the ancient Empire of Aiesec- or the later high elven kingdoms, as Cairn'Hayrn and others, it wasn't the case of Aelfdreim, as in most cases the humans built upon the ruins or took the cities of elves of old.

Aelfdreim, later known as Alfdreim, Old Alfdreim or Dreim, originated from displaced elven refugees, who thanks to the Baron of Hanat (worried by the Kanov raiders south of the border, from the Barlans) were allowed to settle down in his scarcely populated lands, being formed a refugee camp, from which later emerged a settlement, and then a town.

Enduring progroms and persecutions, many of the elves of Degoland began to migrate to the south, to Aelfdreim, which had became a walled elf city, directly depending on the Baron. 

While initially an elven-only city -being for long the only elven-only city among the Five Kingdoms, until the foundation of the March of Cairie in the Northern marches-, the city began to attract as well half-elves and human settlers, who began to build their homes outside of the walls of Aelfdreim, to conduct trade and business with the elves of Aelfdreim.

As human population increased, New Alfdreim -or Mensendreim- began to envelope the old city, and in the farmlands, humans began to protest to the baron of Hanat, for elves having property over the land, which lead during the years before the First War of the Power to a worsening of the situation for the elves in Alfdreim, as they where banned from owning farms, and where to live within the walls of the old city. 

During the First War of the Power, as the armies of the Dark Legions of Demons marched into Alfdreim, having heard of the defeat of Degoland, the towncouncil surrendered the city rather than to fight, opening the gates for the city to be sacked, but not destroyed, and the lives of their inhabitants respected.

After the war, humans blamed elves for being the ones opening the gates and surrendering the city, but due the alliance between the high elven Venerable Empire of the Whide Axis and the kingdoms of the Northwest, while tensions rose within the city, there where actually some laws that relaxed the grip over non-human population... but in other parts of the realm, to escape the rising anti-non-human sentiment, more non-humans migrated, either to the closer Aelfdreim, or to the new Northern Marches, to the Polforian States of the Outregam, or the new elven principality of Erenian, beyond the traditional borders of the Northwestern Kingdoms, in the Barlans.

Not only growth the elven population, but as well other non-humans. Dwarf merchants and craftsdwarves made a small dwarf quarter, and some of the civilised orcs and half-orcs lived outside the city walls (as the municipal charter banned them from living within the city), and even was formed a Doroz or cursed elf Doroz Quarter: but the largest population became the humans.

By the time of the Sargonic Wars and the Second War of the Power, Aelfdreim had about 5,000 elves and half-elves living in the Elferie of Old Aelfdreim, being by far the largest elferie of the Five Kingdoms of the Northwest, a number that remained somewhat stable since the aftermath of the First War of the Power. But while at the time of the First War of the Power, lived about 2,000 humans in the New Aelfdreim or Mensendreim, in the human quarters outside the old wall, by the Sargonic Wars, human population (and other non-humans inhabitants living in Mensendreim, outside of the elferie) had reached about 30,000 inhabitants, making Aelfdreim one of the largest cities of southern Degoland, and with the old city being completely encircled by the human city.

The crowded Aelfdreim, became known for it's lack of security, the gangs and cutthroats, and the criminal elven youth helped create a stereotype among the humans of Mensendreim, that brandished all elves as thieves and cut-purse, and as well, practitioners of dark arts and magic.

To this, the elven community of Aelfdreim blamed in their own to the later immigrants, and specially, to the Doroz, or cursed elves, to the point that among the elven neighbours, they began calling these criminals and delinquents "Doroz", despite them being or not actually Doroz elves. It was said, there was a Thief Guild operating within Alfdreim, but this was contested by the town council authorities. 

A large city with a diverse population and relative tolerance in comparison to other places of the Five Kingdoms, and unlike the scarcely populated, frontier Erenian, in the safety of it's traditional borders, it kept growing, attracting further city dwellers... which later, included not only light elves, much to the distaste to the "old Aelfdreim" elves.

in Aelfdreim, will be founded by Grey elves from Dol-Sorne and a couple of teachers from the City of the Wizards of the Coast of Dahl'Haran, will be founded the Aelfdreim University of Aiea, which came to be one of the larger magic universities within the Five Kingdoms, and unlike the University of Karentia, that while had magic courses to elves and elven-blood magicians, it wasn't as closely watched by the Karentian Church.


1. This is more a study of style and layout than precise size, as the drawn image could have a population of some 3,500 people... yet by the 2410 a.a.H, Alfdreim was to be about 10 times that size in terms of population, with some 35,000 inhabitants!



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Comments: 82

khatyp [2022-11-18 20:24:44 +0000 UTC]

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Shabazik In reply to khatyp [2022-11-22 01:10:16 +0000 UTC]

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Soehave [2022-07-07 13:11:18 +0000 UTC]

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BalloonPrincess [2022-03-02 11:35:14 +0000 UTC]

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Shabazik In reply to BalloonPrincess [2022-03-03 00:20:54 +0000 UTC]

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DorheaTuasi [2021-10-01 17:34:09 +0000 UTC]

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RogueCaptain24 [2021-03-10 21:39:21 +0000 UTC]

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Shabazik In reply to RogueCaptain24 [2021-03-11 01:25:30 +0000 UTC]

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RogueCaptain24 In reply to Shabazik [2021-03-11 14:42:50 +0000 UTC]

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LeDaverix [2021-01-17 19:32:49 +0000 UTC]

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namezong [2020-10-14 09:20:29 +0000 UTC]

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HioginTheCat [2020-01-15 13:05:27 +0000 UTC]

I love it! More grow city next?

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Armilus616 [2019-11-13 14:38:53 +0000 UTC]

If I were to attack this City with an Army, I would come from the top right corner in between the rivers.
That I would do for the following reasons.
1. There is no mote there.
2. The walls there look the weakest.
3. Short distance to the center of town.
4. The woods provide cover until just before the wall starts, which is great for a surprise attack.

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Aimway921 In reply to Armilus616 [2019-11-17 18:02:58 +0000 UTC]

On the downside, however, looking at the previous pictures of the city's evolution, you shall have to fight an uphill battle, because that part of the city is situated on an elevation. That's probably why there aren't any moats there and the walls seem to be the weakest - the small cliffside is a good natural defense of itself. And even if you do brake through the wall, you'll either end up in the castle courtyard which would be the most defended portion, or you'll have to smash through another wall to get to the rest of the city almost right away (notice how the newer looking wall does a sharp turn downwards where the river ends, while the older wall continues going straight)

I think the only feasible way to siege the city is to do the following:

1. Enact a blockade of all the roads and a naval blockade to cut off the city from supplies.
2. Bombard the barracks, hopefully cutting off the main bulk of defenders there.
3. Generally, bombard the city from all sides. This would keep the defenders guessing where you would attack, thus forcing them spread out along the entire line of defense, rather than group up against your main blow.
4. Begin the siege of the North-Western wall, just above the barracks and break through into the city there. If most of the defenders would swarm there, thus mostly abandoning the rest of the walls, you can start a secondary siege with the blockading forces.

Once you take the outer city, You'll be able to get close to the walls that shield the inner city and the citadel. From here I would go from roughly the same direction you suggested originally, as now we're able to get onto the hill before having to smash through another wall.

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Armilus616 In reply to Aimway921 [2019-11-17 19:13:43 +0000 UTC]

Assuming I have the men, ships and time to block them off and trap them inside their walls isolating them, I might even trade a lot of losses on my side for a longer siege by simply cutting them off and waiting for their supplies to run out while my army feeds on their farmland and fishing grounds. In the long run, They'd either have to surrender or starve.

But if that happens in an actual war, my troops will be needed elsewhere, and therefore, there's no time to siege one coast city for six months or longer.
If I attack the City and try to conquer it, I need to go through at least two layers of walls and up that hill no matter what.
From the Northwest, I face weaker, thinner walls, no mote, have cover from trees until just before reaching the walls, and any archers and ballistas staying in the woods until the first layer breaks stand on elevated ground and have therefore an advantage almost as if on a wall themselves. Also, there, the distance is the shortest, to the center, minimizing the risk of my troops spreading too thin
And once I conquered the center district and what looks like a castle ruin on the pic, I can use their defenses against them. It is harder to get inside from outside, than it is to drive someone out from the inside. Castles and cities were built that way.
From the way the Drawing looks like, they left the northwestern wall unmaintained for a while, as it looks like a crumbling mess. I haven't read the lore very carefully, but I haven't found anything to prove me wrong.
If I am right on this, that spot is an obvious weak spot easily exploited.

But yes, cutting off reinforcements and resupplies and putting them under stress to weaken the morale where possible is a must. But if I don't have the means to effectively isolate them for a couple of months, I'll have to take the city quick, before any outside help has the time to arrive and ruin all of my plans.
I do think we are on the same page here. Generally.

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EmperorDragonfire In reply to Armilus616 [2020-06-22 09:42:36 +0000 UTC]

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Kellkrull87 [2019-10-19 22:38:17 +0000 UTC]

To think that many historical cities grew up in almost the same way.

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Shabazik In reply to Kellkrull87 [2019-10-20 00:41:36 +0000 UTC]

Well, historical cities are my inspiration. 

Probably the historical city -specially the old city- would have remained closer to the river thought!

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Kellkrull87 In reply to Shabazik [2019-10-20 00:44:37 +0000 UTC]

Nice. 

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CiLiNDr0 [2019-05-24 16:52:08 +0000 UTC]

Amazing job!! Looks great, how much time did it take to you to do it?

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runewuff [2019-05-23 09:20:41 +0000 UTC]

Impressive! I'm amazed you can work this fast, and throw in so much historical detail! Loving the irony the walled inner city is not the palace of the nobles but actually the Elferie, and considered the worse part of town. (Though I'm sure if you asked them, the elves must love occupying the part of town that looks like where you'd expect the nobles, "as befitting the noble race.")

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Shabazik In reply to runewuff [2019-10-20 00:44:12 +0000 UTC]

Thanks Runewuff!

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DragonStrider [2019-05-22 04:40:51 +0000 UTC]

I must say, this is I believe the second such deviation I've seen done by you, and I must express how utterly amazing this is handled with both architectural practicality, integrity and historical knowledge. I am always shocked when creators approach towns and cities in worldbuilding casualy and stupidly when it dosent take much to make a locale interesting.
You sir do something truly unique and are sadly a minority in the community and I hope you can create more elaborate pieces like this in the future and I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart.
As someone who likes this sort of thing, Thank you!

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Shabazik In reply to DragonStrider [2019-10-20 00:42:17 +0000 UTC]

Many thanks DragonRider!!

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RamoranScout [2019-05-20 21:24:27 +0000 UTC]

Really neat progressions. Is this just for fun or does it tie into something more?

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Shabazik In reply to RamoranScout [2019-05-21 15:41:44 +0000 UTC]

Just for fun!

But it ties up to my own fantasy setting, and several of my drawings are set in this city. Specially the Old town, the Elferie or elf quarters were live the elves.

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thrown-off-balance [2019-05-20 18:14:33 +0000 UTC]

this almost looks like.. is it..? no i don't think it is...

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Shabazik In reply to thrown-off-balance [2019-05-21 15:40:37 +0000 UTC]

It's a fantasy city, so I'm afraid no reference to any real one... yet many real cities have developed in a similar way!

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larqven [2019-05-20 17:12:53 +0000 UTC]

The elf city that is really a human city--but--the citadel of the city IS the elferie!  The highest and one of the better fortified quarters of the city!

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Shabazik In reply to larqven [2019-05-21 15:39:59 +0000 UTC]

yeah, but is full of yucky elves, so who want to live there anyway? Only pointy-ear lovers! D:<

(joking!)

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mareofstorms [2019-05-20 16:32:09 +0000 UTC]

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Shabazik In reply to mareofstorms [2019-05-21 15:39:27 +0000 UTC]

indeed. While not directly visible, some of the farm roads there go around the city, in a wider arch than seen here!

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anivalo [2019-05-20 13:47:55 +0000 UTC]

I really like this series. Switching back and forth through this image set to see how this place grew was a lot of fun.

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Shabazik In reply to anivalo [2019-05-21 15:37:48 +0000 UTC]

Many thanks!

Now, there have been done 8 stages of the city growth!

Doubting to do a 9th one, but have been spending too much time on this! XD

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ninjakimm [2019-05-20 13:46:37 +0000 UTC]

Can you make king's landing in similar style . It might go viral .

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Shabazik In reply to ninjakimm [2019-05-21 15:38:35 +0000 UTC]

Many thanks, but I won't be doing it... I prefer to make my own stuff!

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J-555ART [2019-05-20 01:36:25 +0000 UTC]

AMAZING!!!

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Shabazik In reply to J-555ART [2019-05-21 15:38:40 +0000 UTC]

THANKS!!

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J-555ART In reply to Shabazik [2019-05-23 00:56:47 +0000 UTC]

np

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Riveda1972 [2019-05-20 00:16:07 +0000 UTC]

You should make a timelapse animation with these maps, showing the town growing

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Shabazik In reply to Riveda1972 [2019-05-21 15:40:59 +0000 UTC]

AH! Could be fun, indeed!

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Riveda1972 In reply to Shabazik [2019-05-21 23:43:58 +0000 UTC]

I'll wait for you have done, then if you like I can try... both making a gif or a flash animation

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Etienne354 In reply to Riveda1972 [2019-05-20 01:19:10 +0000 UTC]

Then continue on into the future with further growth to 100,000 inhabitants, industrialisation, elegant stone buildings, townhouses and mansions, slums and a lively and disreputable waterfront / port district, then railways, later again much it torn down make way for skyscrapers and freeways, suburbs sprawing for 20-30 miles in all directions... 

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Guilty-10-Games [2019-05-19 23:20:52 +0000 UTC]

Niiiiice!!!!

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Shabazik In reply to Guilty-10-Games [2019-05-21 15:40:50 +0000 UTC]

Thaaaaanks!!!!!

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Minerva-anthen [2019-05-19 22:56:01 +0000 UTC]

Carcassonneeeeeee!!!
..
(I was joking but this city reminds me it ahah)

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Shabazik In reply to Minerva-anthen [2019-05-21 15:47:15 +0000 UTC]

It's a great city! : D

(the game Carcassonne as well may be an inspiration here! XD)

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Lugerball [2019-05-19 22:47:31 +0000 UTC]

Interesting. What's the reason why the keep is disconnected from the inner city?

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Shabazik In reply to Lugerball [2019-05-21 15:46:30 +0000 UTC]

The New Keep, near the river, was built afterwards, to increase protection of the city, but at the same time have the garrison control the city, in case they were to try to resist the change of rulers due a personal union of two kingdoms. 

The Old Keep had lost much of it's military value, and it's more or less neglected, and while still part of the city defences, has lost it's protagonic role.

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Aimway921 In reply to Lugerball [2019-05-19 23:41:35 +0000 UTC]

If by keep you mean that "castle" on the North-East most point of town, I believe it is because it has been there from the start when the city was in the Hillfort stage.

If you mean that part sticking out of the outer wall on the North-West side of the city, with red roof and 4 round towers around it, I believe it's for several reasons, most prominent being:
1. There was no room for it left in the inner city, which was already occupied most likely by the housings of the upper class, as it usually did happen in real medieval cities.
2. It looks a military structure that houses the garrison of the city. Having it in close proximity to what looks like the main gate into the city (just a tad bit North up the wall) makes strategic sense, as in that case, in event of an emergency, the garrison can reach the gate quickly, rather than have to run all the way from the middle of the city, which will also be slowed down by having to move through crowds of civilians. Finally, having a big-ass structure sticking out to the side of your main gate from which you can rain down death in form of arrows onto anyone who's trying to break through the gate is a very tactically advantageous thing. (Note: in what I just said there, the words "strategic" and "tactical" are NOT interchangeable. No time to write more now, but you can ask if curious and I'll explain that later.)

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