City Image - Petordan - The Flag City

Petordan is a large city centered on a river and two trade routes, so there is always traffic in and out of the city. The newly refurbished city wall (the old lost to an earthquake and minor after-flood) is semi-circular two man tall affair that is gleaming with fresh white plaster over a cement/stone wall. Every thirty pace there is a pole. Each pole has a banner. Upon the Wall, the banners are most often alternating between Petordan's Green and Blue with chalice colors, The Royal colors, and a banner by every "loyal to crown" noble house (each banner is actually supported by the house in question, renewed every few years). However the keeper of the Flags will change it to match the season/ holiday, special event, or who is coming to the city.

As an extension of the wall, the two Bridge Walls over the river are also colorful. These large stone affairs are topped with a three cart wide road. The farsides have full city gates towers for defense. There are no actual gates in the under arches, but one or two simple bars can be placed across to prevent easy passage (one possible bar is a foot or so under the water line to catch people unawares). The bridges have flags poles lining their roads every thirty pace. The colors are mostly for the city, but special message flags (showing river conditions, tariff blocks, which arch/ slip for customs, and messages to line captains) are also found flying.

The six gates along the walls are in built in towers. They are wide, but gated. The city seldom closes it gates and the gates are mostly cosmetic (like the wall itself).

The main streets are wide and well cobbled (that is to say, fairly flat less jarring). There are board walks (raised wooded sidewalks) lining the roads. They are traditional, left over from the pre-cobbled days and still used for the drainage of rain and other things (it does not rain here often, but when it does it is a deluge). Along the main streets there are flags and poles, an average three thirty paces between them. These are "city" poles, so they, like the wall, are controlled by the Master of the Flags (a minor position with more clout than any guild head!). There a pole flags along the mains streets, but also along most major ones. Minor and back streets are still colorful. They have citizen flags.

Almost every business and home has their own wall mounted flag pole. Citizen flags (as they all called) serve a variety of functions. Many will duplicate the recommended flag by the Master of the Flag, but they are allowed some latitude (peer pressure keep things in line). Most post neighborhood flags, as each neighborhood has its own little identity. Citizens can put out season flags, (spring flags with flowers and bunnies, summer flags with trees and suns, autumn flags with leaves, apples, and pumpkins, winter flags with snowmen and such), faire flags, flags for their favorite teams/ tourney, flags advertising their business, flags telling family news (pink and light blue), flags showing the mood of the citizen, and a host of others. There is a complete system of heraldry behind these that those not from the region seem mystified by, but the locals seem to know intuitively.

Most of the buildings here are one to two stories. They are tudor-esk in nature, with white plaster and exposed beams, wood split roofs, and cobblestone hearths. Warehouses are almost as common as homes here, as a main trading point. There are three chartered auction houses here. They are old buildings, made of mortared stacked stones and only partially plastered. Inside these places lots of goods are traded, as are shares in companies and guilds. Business of goods held outsides these walls are not legally binding, so while business might be conducted in the pubs around the auction homes and the parks on good days, real business happens inside the walls. Chartering of Merchants can occur in the First Hall. Each merchant is given an artistic scroll stating the limited areas he can legally practice trading (these (and copies) are posted in prominent places in every place of business.

Hoof care (the care of horses, mules, and oxen), wagon crafting, wheel working, and shipwrights are common trades here. There is no one district for any of these crafts (in fact one of the larger river craftwrights is actually quite inland... they hold a parade when they take a ship to the river). So one can have several homes, an inn, a warehouse, a shop, and a covered corral all in the same block. It adds to the motion and confusion of the city. (It also adds to the cramped feeling of the city, as most things are built practically upon everything else).

Besides the plethora of temples to commerce, there is a plethora of temples to deities too. Twenty three of them covering eighteen different faiths found in the region and surrounding lands. The various faiths seem to be competing on who can create the "most grand" temple on the limited land they are allowed here.

The City Hall is actually in an old Temple of the Light. So it is a grand, but not that grand of a building. The guild masters and Trader's Guild hold their meetings here.

There is a grand field here, larger than most, able to sit a huge number of people. The area around it caters to entertainment so there are inns and taverns here. In the same area there is a huge enclosed theatre (like The Globe). The city boasts two small stone bench amphitheaters as well. This city is too congested for plazas, but tiny parklets in odd places in the avenues add green to the riot of flag colors.

The city is known for its parades, market days, and faires. There is some kind of schedule to them, as everyone seems to know when to put out the right kind of flags.