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2004-04-16T02:00:03Z

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Now that your Solar has conquered his first city, how is he going to defend it from attack, either internal or external?

== Physical Security ==

Methods for securing your city that don't involve magic as their central focus.

=== Guards and Soldiers ===

Soldiers can be drawn from the ranks of the populace (either in the form of an existing standing army, or through the use of ''Tiger-Warrior Training Technique'') or they can be hired. A mercenary company is a Resources 3 expense per month; a crack company, or regular army, is Resources 4. To actually raise your own legion is a single Resources 4 expense, 3 to maintain.

=== Fortifications ===

Walls are a Resources 4 expense. This cost can be reduced if you can compel large numbers of earth elementals to perform this task. Similarly, a moat offers basic defensive benefits as well as a source for water for magics such as ''Torrential Cascade''. Excavating a moat and then temporarily diverting a nearby river to fill it is a large-scale engineering challenge that can be eased with the support of elementals and spirits.

=== Supplies ===

Lay in a large supply of foodstuffs. Spells such as ''Purifying Flames'', or specific wards against decay, can keep them fresh over long periods of time, in the event of a siege. ''Eternal Crystalline Encasement'' can very reliably ward up to 80 man-days worth of food per casting.

== Magical Security ==

This encompasses the specific techniques for guarding a city against magic, or using magic.

=== Thaumaturgy ===

The Art of Wards are a must, and are easy to establish if you have Occult, time and considerable resources. They will protect you from most mundane and lesser magical threats. A typical city-sized ward is a difficulty 5 roll, requiring 5 days per +1 to strength and 4 days per +1 to durability, and Resources 5. A strength 6 ward will obstruct any being of Essence 4 or less completely; a durability 7 ward will last for a single year. Maintaining such a ward is a Resources 2 expense and will take 100 man-days over the course of the year. Wards can be vulnerable to counter-magic.

The Science of Geomancy is useful, if you have a trained and skillful geomancer. Bringing about a blessing of money on the residential area of your city, and good crop yields in the fields, can increase a city's overall prosperity and hence its happiness. Proper hygiene and geomantic alteration of a city's water supply can fend off disease.

=== Solar Charms ===

* ''Bureau-Rectifying Method'' - multiply the effectiveness of a city's existing bureaucracy dramatically.
* ''Deft Official's Way'' - a valuable tool for policing your bureaucracy.
* ''Durability-Enhancing Technique'' - used against city gates to make them impervious to conventional assault.
* ''Heroism-Encouraging Presence'' - useful when leading the city's defenders.
* ''Seasoned Criminal Method'' - a day of sweeping the streets and taverns can produce an impressive "who's who" of crime in your city.
* ''Tiger-Warrior Training Technique'' - elite guardsmen and soldiers can be produced quickly and easily, even if your city had no standing army.
* ''Underling Promoting Touch'' - to delegate authority.
* ''Understanding the Court'' - a quick and easy way to keep tabs on the economic and political strata of your city.

=== Dragon-Blooded Charms ===

* ''Benevolent Master's Blessing'' - for speeding the wheels.
* ''Revelation of Associates Hunch'' - an aid to surveying the mercantile or criminal subcultures of the city.
* ''Testing the Waters'' - a useful adjunct in democratic cities.
* ''Voices on the Wind'' - for surveillance of likely targets.

=== Lunar Charms ===

* ''Courage-Building Address'' - a Valor booster for troops in battle.
* ''Glorious Battle Presence'' - a battle-leadership Charm.

=== Sidereal Charms ===

* ''Demon-Blocking Battle Pattern'' - a strong defense against the undead in battle.
* ''Essence-Draining Battle Pattern'' - a strong defense against magical opponents in battle.
* ''Implicit Construction Methodology'' - a very fast way to accomplish public-works engineering.
* ''Neighborhood Relocation Scheme'' - useful for rearranging small areas of your lands.
* ''Predestined Triumph Practice'' - small penalties for the enemy in battle.

=== Sorcery ===

* ''Demon of the First Circle'' - bound demons, while perhaps socially unpopular, can provide effective defenses at critical entry-points into the city.
* ''Mercury's Deliverance'' - though it lasts only a single night, it can obstruct distant magic. The radius is probably not sufficient for more than a single sanctum or fortress.
* ''Mirage of Protective Shelter'' - probably the ultimate in city-scale defenses, this will protect you from large-scale invasions, leaving your other defenses against individual intruders.
* ''Ritual of Elemental Empowerment'' - a quick and easy way to equip your city guard with semi-magical arms and armor.
* ''Solar Sanctuary'' - cover the city in overlapping sanctuaries for a dramatic "home court" advantage.
* ''Torrential Cascade'' - a sufficiently large moat can serve as a source for this spell, as well as a mundane defense.
* ''The Violent Opening of Closed Portals'' - knowledge of the spell presumes knowledge of the countering wards that prevent it from being used on you.

== Allies ==

These are general types of allies, spirit or otherwise, that any master of a city will find useful.

* The City Father - using spirit Charms such as ''Lend Authority'' and ''Sense Domain'', the City Father or Mother is an invaluable asset in managing the day-to-day, social and military affairs of the city.
* Ifrit - cities in the south will find these beings useful as diplomats and leaders.
* Road Spirits - making pacts and alliances with the spirits who provide access to and from your city can be an effective early-warning system and tool.
* Terraserpents - cities wishing to make extensive use of underground channels as aqueducts, subterranean storage areas or escape-tunnels can summon such beings to dig them very quickly.

BillGarrett/CityDefense - Revision history

BillGarrett: *