City Musings: Monsters?

There have been extensive mutterings and murmurings that I should construct a city, in which we -- wrongfolk, monsters, angels, and other undesirables -- can live as we wish. I certainly haven't decided not to, though it's probably a terrible idea for a great many reasons.

Still ... how do we wish to live?

Specifically I am thinking about the monsters -- Vae, of course, and the Elfimel. And hCevian, of course, though his case is less troublesome, mainly because he is nearly impossible to exclude from a city. But the other monsters cannot.

We could be an ordinary city. Primes inside, monsters outside. Vae is certainly used to this. The angels will be unhappy, but the angels are here as refugees anyhow.

Or we could let those four creatures inside the walls. It's not as if walls keep us safe from Vae anyhow, and the angels are not very dangerous. This will probably cut our prime immigrants by half.

Or we could, I suppose, try to allow other monsters inside the walls as well -- mherobump and taptet and other generally safe ones. This isn't that extraordinary, though few cities make much of a point of it.

Or, say, we could have a "Monster Ghetto". Monsters may come to a certain portion of the city, inside one set of walls, but outside of another set. The inner city is, of course, reserved for primes alone, just like a normal city. But, unlike most cities, monsters can come inside of some walls. And I'm thinking of, e.g., trying to make sure that some important cultural areas are in the monster ghetto -- like the museum and theatre districts, and the governmental areas, and the best shopping, if I can manage that. The inner city could be mostly for prime homes. That would be unusual.

[Poll #1726949]

City Musings: Monsters?

There have been extensive mutterings and murmurings that I should construct a city, in which we -- wrongfolk, monsters, angels, and other undesirables -- can live as we wish. I certainly haven't decided not to, though it's probably a terrible idea for a great many reasons.

Still ... how do we wish to live?

Specifically I am thinking about the monsters -- Vae, of course, and the Elfimel. And hCevian, of course, though his case is less troublesome, mainly because he is nearly impossible to exclude from a city. But the other monsters cannot.

We could be an ordinary city. Primes inside, monsters outside. Vae is certainly used to this. The angels will be unhappy, but the angels are here as refugees anyhow.

Or we could let those four creatures inside the walls. It's not as if walls keep us safe from Vae anyhow, and the angels are not very dangerous. This will probably cut our prime immigrants by half.

Or we could, I suppose, try to allow other monsters inside the walls as well -- mherobump and taptet and other generally safe ones. This isn't that extraordinary, though few cities make much of a point of it.

Or, say, we could have a "Monster Ghetto". Monsters may come to a certain portion of the city, inside one set of walls, but outside of another set. The inner city is, of course, reserved for primes alone, just like a normal city. But, unlike most cities, monsters can come inside of some walls. And I'm thinking of, e.g., trying to make sure that some important cultural areas are in the monster ghetto -- like the museum and theatre districts, and the governmental areas, and the best shopping, if I can manage that. The inner city could be mostly for prime homes. That would be unusual.

[Poll #1726949]

Homework!

Several of you gave me things to think about. Two of you -- kris_schnee and foomf -- even gave me homework. I shall do this homework, albeit somewhat flippantly. I am not being flippant because the questions are bad or irrelevant -- the questions are quite good, and the answers matter. I am being flippant because I am tired and I do not wish to write very much today.

(By the way, why do fantasy races always seem to be Capitalized? We don't write about "Humans".) The names of prime species are given the markers of respect in the language and orthography in question. The names of non-prime species are not. Actually we are being relatively nice -- some orthographic systems don't capitalize the names of individual non-primes: "Vae" would be "vae" in such systems.

What's the purpose of a city? To provide a place where many primes or (and?) monsters may live comfortably, fashionably, safely, and happily in close proximity.

How is that different from the purpose of a government? Well, flippantly, a government is not a place. Less flippantly, I think governments have other purposes (some of them worthwhile).

Does government and governance require a city? I can't see why it does.

Can there be a form of governance that works for all sentients living in an area? If the area is small enough, yes. For an area that contains two or more sentients, I suspect not.

Why did Primes form cities in the first place? I'll have to ask a relative about that. My vague impression is no more than, "It seemed the thing to do at the time." Mutual defense and all was crucial. It still is.

Why did non-primes form their cities? I have no idea. I don't even know if there's anyone around to ask.

Why did Primes exclude non-primes from their cities? Mostly because non-primes exist to trouble us, and we don't want to be troubled that way at home. This reason still obtains.

What benefits accrue to forming a mixed-prime-and-non-prime city? Vae is a lot happier. Some foolish concept of justice that I seem to want to observe will be satisfied.

What detriments would be inevitable? Trouble. Lots and lots of trouble, of the forms suitable to the non-prime inhabitants.

What detriments would be easily managed? Um ... if we let taptet in, we could outlaw potion-making, I suppose.

Who decides on the form of governance? The founders of the city.

What do the Gods of the World Tree think about all this? I can't see why that could possibly matter. It's not as if they'll be nice to us even if they like it.

Homework!

Several of you gave me things to think about. Two of you -- kris_schnee and foomf -- even gave me homework. I shall do this homework, albeit somewhat flippantly. I am not being flippant because the questions are bad or irrelevant -- the questions are quite good, and the answers matter. I am being flippant because I am tired and I do not wish to write very much today.

(By the way, why do fantasy races always seem to be Capitalized? We don't write about "Humans".) The names of prime species are given the markers of respect in the language and orthography in question. The names of non-prime species are not. Actually we are being relatively nice -- some orthographic systems don't capitalize the names of individual non-primes: "Vae" would be "vae" in such systems.

What's the purpose of a city? To provide a place where many primes or (and?) monsters may live comfortably, fashionably, safely, and happily in close proximity.

How is that different from the purpose of a government? Well, flippantly, a government is not a place. Less flippantly, I think governments have other purposes (some of them worthwhile).

Does government and governance require a city? I can't see why it does.

Can there be a form of governance that works for all sentients living in an area? If the area is small enough, yes. For an area that contains two or more sentients, I suspect not.

Why did Primes form cities in the first place? I'll have to ask a relative about that. My vague impression is no more than, "It seemed the thing to do at the time." Mutual defense and all was crucial. It still is.

Why did non-primes form their cities? I have no idea. I don't even know if there's anyone around to ask.

Why did Primes exclude non-primes from their cities? Mostly because non-primes exist to trouble us, and we don't want to be troubled that way at home. This reason still obtains.

What benefits accrue to forming a mixed-prime-and-non-prime city? Vae is a lot happier. Some foolish concept of justice that I seem to want to observe will be satisfied.

What detriments would be inevitable? Trouble. Lots and lots of trouble, of the forms suitable to the non-prime inhabitants.

What detriments would be easily managed? Um ... if we let taptet in, we could outlaw potion-making, I suppose.

Who decides on the form of governance? The founders of the city.

What do the Gods of the World Tree think about all this? I can't see why that could possibly matter. It's not as if they'll be nice to us even if they like it.