Buildings are easy. They never complain or try to cheat you. They don’t come begging for exceptions or just want a moment of your time to discuss one matter or another. People, however, have no such qualms.
The city is, as I said, an 8x8 grid, with each square in the grid being a 4x4 grid of buildings and smaller streets for local traffic, all in a 2x2 mile city. Simple layout, no diagonal roads. There are very few deviations from this plan, but you wouldn’t believe the number of petitioners I have received that wanted some estate or another that spanned 2 or more lots. If I made an exception for one, I would have to make an exception for others, and I didn’t want to go down that path.
Priests are just the worst of the bunch, because not only are they entitled, they feel that some god or another is on their side and that their god in particular is important. There are enough gods that, if each had his or her own temple, the city would be nothing but temples. The Light and Dark pantheons are the most prominent, so each god in those pantheons gets their own temple. All the smaller pantheons, such as racial pantheons, get one temple each. Usually, that means the god at the head of the pantheon gets the biggest room, and the rest get smaller ones. The unaffiliated gods get jammed together in a few remaining temples. This is the plan, but some priests even threatened me with excommunication. I felt more concern with being blacklisted from receiving Bellwright’s monthly newsletter about the latest trends in fashionable headwear.
[Nobles] and merchants tried the same thing. Some were even willing to settle for just having an entire lot to themselves. Sometimes I wonder if I am speaking in tongues, because they either don’t listen to a damn thing I say or they lack the mental faculties to comprehend the words that come out of my mouth. No one gets a fancy estate! There are some housing options that are more prominent in nature, at most taking up a quarter of a floor of a building. I don’t care if they are a [King] or a [Street Vendor], the artisans, merchants, and [Nobles] all have the same upper limit on housing options.
Naturally, some of these people wanted to outright purchase or lease buildings from me, but they don’t get it. People live here by my grace and generosity. Those who contribute to the wellbeing of the city are permitted to stay. Those who are no better than deadwood get evicted, regardless of station or politics. I know most of those greedy bastards hoped to buy up all they could and then sublease things at a premium markup.
Taxes, or rent, depending on your perspective, are rather straightforward. Only those who sell the final goods or services pay taxes. So, some artisan can move to the city and pay a monthly flat amount based on how much floor space is used. However, the maid who cleans his house and the sales clerk who manages the store don’t pay any taxes or any rent for their dwellings. Ultimately, the cost of the tax is passed on to the final customer, but it simplified the process of keeping track of who owes what and eases the burden on the lower class.
I basically copied Berkerin’s healthcare plan to ensure that everyone had access to healthcare without concern of bankruptcy. To sweeten the pot, I do allow people to become citizens, with each citizen possessing a specially attuned bracelet as designed by yours truly and printed out via a sophisticated and proprietary enchanting apparatus that I have developed. Citizens can get more complicated medical care for free, such as complex surgeries. Citizens have a few other rights and privileges, but they do pay a yearly tax, which can be greatly mitigated through approved public works or service to my flight. Benevolence is great, but ultimately, I aim to cultivate loyal subjects to my city and flight, and the masses would be hard-pressed to find better offers in other lands. Additionally, a city this critical to the survival of our world cannot be allowed to fall to ruin because of a public health crisis.
Everyone in the city has employment. This is only feasible because the city starts out devoid of any inhabitants and only those invited to live here may do so. However, those people will eventually have children, and those children will need employment. Inevitably, the supply of workers will exceed the availability of work, and so the various schools and the university in town will help to identify the wheat from the chaff. Those who excel will be permitted to stay, the rest will be expelled from the city. Good thing there are all manner of free companies and soldiers of fortune only 50 miles away who need able recruits to help hold the line against an unending tide of death. I know many of those young people will perish, but that really isn’t my problem. I will at least have programs to help them settle in other towns or villages, for as World’s End grows, so too will other patches of civilization sprout up nearby.
Cities live and die by the structure of their districts. Commerce, temple, government, civil services, residential, entertainment, manufacturing, military, medical, education, and utilities are the most prominent examples, and all need to be staffed by the correct people. And as ideal as my design and plan for the city may be, I recognize that corruption always seeks an easy mark. Guards can be bribed, officials can fudge documents, nepotism and favors can see the incompetent fools rise above their station, and cultural clashes can cause unrest. Since my flight is in its infancy, I need to outsource some of the work to keep things in line.
Even without street urchins and unemployment, there will still inevitably be those who seek fortune through dishonest means. Since I cannot beat them, the only solution is to join them. If I play both sides, I always come out on top. Officially, I cannot say that I am colluding with certain individuals that work within the city’s underbelly, but the people will eventually learn that certain crimes never see their offenders end up in court. I am a dragon, and my views on punishment for people who go well out of their way to hurt others is rather, well, draconian. Fortunately, I have the exact muscle in mind, but before that, they will need incentives for them to come here.
Indeed, the city will also need a host of Adventurers to protect it from the various beasts and monsters that prowl the edges of civilization and occasionally trespass. But for that to happen, the most sacred of buildings must first be finished, one whose holy grounds offer the sweet sacraments and rituals that the faithful yearn for. And by that, of course, I mean the brothels. My daughter, Tamadora, would control the red-light district, ostensibly located as the madam of the most prominent brothel, depending on her preferences. Loose men and women, each willing to ply their trade and alcohol to eager customers, would be best to pry the secrets from those in the position to be in the know. Additionally, she would cultivate a fine collection of Traits that would serve her well as Broodmother. Likewise, she would handle the illegitimate side of governing my holdings and keeping the enforcers in line.
Conversely, Kaisadoro would handle legitimate government, most likely working closely with the [Princess]. Very closely I imagine, for she is easy on the eyes, as [Nobles] tend to be. I already have a harem of my own, it just sorta happened, no need to hog all the delights that come my way. My two children would secretly work together to ensure that nastier things stay out of the city and certain ‘illicit’ goods find their way smuggled to the right people. I can’t outright ban everything that is fun, and people tend to feel content to accept the scraps of what I allow to trickle in, perhaps because they enjoy the rush of doing something illegal. Alterez would be the subject-matter expert on what I should or should not allow, especially since his cults will need items that may be mired in questionable ethics.
In the ambiguous gray area of legality and ethics are orphanages. With a never-ending battle only miles away, orphans will rack up. And I, in all my benevolence, will see such children housed, fed, educated, and if they prove promising, trained in certain skill sets for which I am ever in short supply. I don’t force such things upon them, but orphans tend to be loyal to the one who gave them everything when they had nothing. Devoid of strong ties to family or factions, some of my orphans will find service in my flight to be very rewarding, with most serving in legitimate positions. However, I will need spies, assassins, informants, and all that ilk, and those poor little orphans just make the best ones. Some people out there are just irredeemable bastards and need killin’, so those orphans who accept working for the greater good will find purpose and reward in my service. This is not a novel idea, but I hope to perfect the execution of it beyond what anyone has achieved before. Also, the neat thing about orphans-turned-assassins is that they tend to make more orphans, so it should eventually be self-sustaining.
I never claimed to be a saint. You try creating an empire while keeping your hands clean.
Hopefully, a good number of them will end up serving in my Crossing Guard, or my personal honor guard, if you will. They don’t exist yet, but with all my [Enchanting] Skills at my disposal, as well as my [Material Arcane Science], I have the means to make a lot of powerful weapons and armor, but a lack of loyal subjects to use them. The less worthy could find service in the city guard, the police, or the military, all of which are very separate entities because I don’t want to create a police state. I will need to recruit people to train them and to manage things until my flight can pop out the required children to administer those matters, but the point stands. I have plans in the works to keep this city under my control.
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And to that end, as construction on World’s End was in the final stages, the first batch of immigrants arrived. Now, I’m not racist, but I am rather aware of my surroundings and culture. Show me a riccen who works in legitimate business, and I will show you one who works in a front for illegitimate business. Damn near all of them are tied up in one gang, mafia, cartel, or another. I’ve made honest attempts to find ones that were not, but it is part of their nature to scheme and steal. If your riccen are constantly stealing, then they just lack enrichment, and you need to give them sources of work and entertainment that allow them to use their skills. You can even raise one far away from dishonesty, and they will seek it out regardless. Being practical, I had an opportunity for them to coexist in my city, and indeed, I required their skills greatly.
The first shady looking riccen I saw walking into my city, which is the same as the first riccen I saw walking into my city, I had my whelps lure into a side street and down into the sublevels. It wasn’t hard, just have the whelp fly past with a bulging coin purse that had that tell-tale clinking of gold coins, and the poor riccen’s nature did the rest as he followed along. Maybe a coin or two would fall out of the bag and onto the ground whenever he became cautious or discouraged, all to lure him deeper. And there, in a private storage room, far from prying eyes, I locked him in, with only myself and the whelp as company.
He tried to escape the instant he realized he had been caught, but I just stood there and gave him a minute to realize he was trapped like a rat in a trap, since you know, he is an anthropomorphic rat-person who is indeed trapped. When he calmed down enough to assess me, I flashed a series of hand signs to him, ones I had learned long ago from a more prominent riccen. The riccen before me was no fool, and signed the same signals back to me. Doubtful that he knew every set of signals from every gang of riccen, but he would have elders he could report to, and they would sort it out.
“In this sack,” I said to him while gesturing to the coin purse my whelp seemingly struggled to keep aloft with it clutched in his claws, but the struggle was just for show, “is enough gold to see you safely to Berkerin. Spare no expense in getting there quickly. In two week’s time, I plan to have a meeting with the master of the resident gang of your kin in Berkerin. The details are in a red scroll in this sack. The black scroll is to be delivered to the master. Do this, and you will be rewarded with another sack of gold. Do we understand one another?”
Ever silent, his head bobbed up and down fervently in acknowledgement and acceptance of the task presented to him. It goes without saying that declining would not be in the best interest of his health, at least as far as he would be used to dealing with. I left the implication hanging in the air, for I wouldn’t actually have him killed just for refusing me. However, he would comply, because of the implication.
“A wise choice,” I continued as I waved my whelp over to the riccen. The riccen eagerly but respectfully took possession of the offered purse, and he promptly withdrew the red scroll inside. His beady eyes quickly scanned the contents of the document, and upon finishing it, he used some Ability to set it alight in his hand, the scroll consumed by magical fire in a matter of seconds.
“I look forward to your success in this matter. You may go now,” I finished as I worked my magic to activate the door to opening.
Without hesitation, he scurried out with his sack of coins carefully tucked away on his person. He never saw the satisfied smile that brightened my face. I found myself one step closer to having my own crime syndicate.
If only I were making as much progress on my trade consortium. Bylo’selhi, Emperor of The Equivalent Scales, already had a claim to much of the world’s commerce and shipping, especially when it came to dragons. I wouldn’t want to step on his toes, and indeed, I would want him as an ally in the years to come. He would control the trade, but I would control the roads on which his merchants and caravans would travel, which left us at odds if there was only enough room for one dragon to remain supreme.
Optimally, I would want to be more involved in the manufacturing of goods, which he and his merchants would then transport and sell. However, as my flight grows in power, I would want to take over the entire chain and muscle out the middleman, which would be bad for business for Bylo’selhi. He is no fool and would see how greed now would feed a threat for later. However, simply killing me would saddle him with a new and unknown Emperor, as well as bring some sort of curse upon him, from what Nanu told me, so directly warring with me was not an option. This remained one reason why dragon hunters were still around, as they served as a loophole if prodded and herded in the direction of one’s enemies.
However, I didn’t want to be antagonistic with Bylo’selhi, but I did want to grow and not be dependent upon him, hence the dilemma. This was indeed a problem for the future, but not planning for the endgame now would spell my downfall. What I lack is detailed information in exactly what he and his flight peddle, and going into negotiations ignorant of his affairs would only spur on his predatory nature to bend me over a barrel in negotiations. Time to acquire such knowledge without raising suspicion was the commodity I lacked most. My only ace in the hole was my [Enchanting] Skills and how I could provide the quality and quantity of goods that would make him very wealthy, but the balance of power between us would be as delicate as it would be ever-shifting.
My new riccen friends would know more, but they would most likely keep such information secret. It would almost be worse to appear ignorant around them than Bylo’selhi, for at least he has a reputation for being fair in his dealings. Some of the riccen had more ambition than scruples, and even a cornered rat could put up a fight against a fool. The easiest thing for me would be to sit everyone down at a table and talk it out, but how could I keep them honest?
A thought crept into my mind, a rogue idea that sought refuge in a scheme. The only way to keep everyone honest would be to have enough factions at the table that already knew all there is to know. With enough wheeling, dealing, and backroom conversations, I could slowly pry the bits and pieces of information and cobble them together to build the bigger picture. However, my Crossroad Consortium didn’t even exist yet, and the merchants and artisans that would be part of it would have questionable loyalty until I proved my worth. Perhaps playing them against one another for the opportunity to be my advisors could loosen their tongues, but who else could I bring to the table. Faction-wise, there would be me, riccen, and The Equivalent Scales, but I feel like one or two more would be needed to hold it together.
Nanu is better at this stuff than I am. She has been out of the game for a while on account of her being a prisoner and possession for the better part of two decades, but she was no greenhorn like me. Alterez was also quite experienced, and Nabonidus could present many opportunities to bribe or torture the information I needed from people. Well, not the real people, but hypothetical and future versions of them. Skull would know what temples had skin in the game, and Jericho would know more about what supplies and sundries that armies would need, and who the big names were in delivering those supplies.
Timing would be important. I would need to finish World’s End, and most likely the fortress around the soon-to-be-portal before I would be in a position of power and prestige to leverage everyone to the table. After the portal opened, and assuming we were not overrun, a better picture of what the world needed and who could provide it would take shape. That would most likely be my best window of opportunity to force a conclave of interested parties to renegotiate trade.
A small yelp of concern from my whelp made me realize I was still standing in the room where I had trapped the riccen in with me. Skull had remained patient and silent, trusting that I would eventually go do something.
“Skull, I think we are going to change the world or die trying.”
“Ominous, but not without precedent. I favor the option that sees us not dying.”
“As do I. I don’t know how to pull it off just yet, but I will need the help of you and others to see it through.”
“Those who change the world create uncertainty. From uncertainty sprouts fear and opportunity. Those who master their fear and seize the opportunities are favored by Gulthar. My god and I approve of whatever scheme you have cooking in that noggin of yours. Just ensure your reach doesn’t exceed your grasp. I will continue to love you even if you fail, but do try not to fail.”
Skull’s support and affection filled me with renewed confidence. I knew that the specifics of my plan, the machinations and schemes that would see me achieve my goals, were beyond her care. It mattered not to her which direction I went so long as I did not hesitate to advance. She does enjoy the execution of my plans, provided it is more exciting than mining stone.
A lot of letters would need to be dispatched. A great deal of boring meetings and side-deals would have to be slogged through. Contracts would have to be drafted, and secrets would have to find themselves best kept in their tombs, along with those who knew them. With survival of my flight and my own person on the line, I would strive forward, or perish in the attempt.