This Looks quit good so far, and your concept for the City Sounds convincing
I happen to be watching a documentary on the History Channel about Roman vice right now, and looking over the couple of lists that lists medieval professions, I notice there are some that could be associated with the gritty underside of a city, such as brothels and casinos/gambling dens. But I did not see anything specifically linked to a bath house, which could be common in any medieval-like city, whether fancy upper-class or those that are little better then brothels.
Shawn Vincent has a delightfully comprehensive list of medieval occupations.
Consider whether you're setting up a generic city, or one with oddities, quirks, and specializations. You mentioned it's a central location for commerce - maybe administration too? Then perhaps you have more bookkeepers, lawyers, lenders, and wagoners. Maybe instead of a handful of members of a certain trade guild, this city has a regional HQ hall for that guild, particularly if its a local specialty. Maybe they make scads of pottery yet have to ship in all their glass - that could stem from as simple a thing as the land being all clay and no sand.
Have you detailed your society? Earth's Scandinavians would expect plentiful sauna- type bathhouses, where the English or French might regard such as dens of torture :-). When mapping some of these occupations, allow enough space. A stable/ wheelwright/ carriage maker/ tack and feed enterprise might have quite an open yard, even in the middle of a city. Suppliers of building materials would have store yards, as would dealers in bulk products like firewood or coal. Without refrigeration, butchers might keep some meat 'on the hoof' until needed, or in a big enough place a slaughterhouse and stockyard could serve a whole district of butchers and tanners.
About the map itself - great start. Some of your shadows are adding up - darker due to tower plus wall just isn't how light works ;-). The layout begs to have an enemy defeat the three main fortifications in detail -- looks like once under attack, if the enemy is within an outermost city wall (that's what the right edge is?) there would be no way to shift defenders from church to keep to barracks. If the walls are historical artifacts and no longer needed, you'd maybe see more gates and gaps. Your shading is doing a good job of making it come alive- now your river could use at least a hint of banks and their shadows.
I like it - I look forward to seeing it develop.
Last edited by jbgibson; 05-12-2013 at 12:38 AM.
Talondor,
I'm just drawing this from my head (No Google for now) so I might be totally off-base, but from my understanding of the bath houses of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages, they were literally just that, somewhere to bathe, not for any "less than pious" purposes that some modern bath houses have become known for. I do believe they were very common, especially in the warmer latitudes.
Tell that to the writers of the documentary I just saw. I saw it in this one as well as others that Roman bath houses come in many forms, from social clubs to brothels to just baths, all centered around the baths.Originally Posted by WillP
Anyway, the point of my post was that I did not see anything on the profession lists that related to working in just a bath house.
I for one know that when I leave my 'special' bathhouse, I feel clean and refreshed
This long other list of old vocations brings up the thought that with such narrow, specific trade names, some manufacturing must have been in either big enterprises, or parceled out among a bunch of parts-makers. That doesn't have a huge impact on city mapping *except* maybe there's both a tubber's alley and hooper's close off of cooper's street. Just *having* a whole street named Bungmaker's Lane could imply there's a LOT of liquids being barreled. It's always fun to plant implications for the careful reader of your map to draw ;-).
Anyone know about a similar list for an age of steam setting?
AMX, and you feel happy.
I haven't been able to turn up a list of jobs during the Industrial Revolution, but the general pattern is a decline in cottage industry as many products could be made more efficiently in factories. Also, tenant farmers and poor landowners began to lose out to mechanized farming, driving many people who had previously been in agriculture into the cities. Many of these farmers and craftspeople became unskilled labor in the factories, alongside many women and children. The apprenticeship system collapsed, but it was quickly replaced by formal schooling, as there was a greater need for educated clerks and managers in the factories.
Steam power also created a much larger need for coal, so coal mining, the management thereof, and the transportation industry created many jobs.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
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