Page fifteen: City structure and architecture

                                    

                                          


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The encyclopaedia of the middle-realm
Two thousandth, nine hundredth and fifty fourth year of the third moon
Architecture and city structure in the middle realm



The great goblin kingdom and its architecture
The goblin kingdom is made up of a huge landmass that stretches from the mountainous west to the swamplands of the east. Most of it is covered in leaf forest, with the capital of the kingdom near the western middle of the continent. A large majority of the inhabitants in the goblin kingdom are great goblins, while the other inhabitants are nymphs. The architecture is different depending on different locations in the kingdom.
Great goblins build cities and villages in two different ways. The most common way is on the ground, with houses built from clay. However, ever since the great goblins took over from an evolutionary perspective, the clay houses have been upgraded. Modern great goblin houses have both clay and wood structures, are taller and have a much more rectangular shape than their ancestors houses. The buildings do not have many windows, as to keep the brightness of the sun out. 
In the south, these on-the-ground villages are often built out of thinner wood, while heavier, stronger wood is used up north. This kind of building-style is common in the eastern parts of the kingdom, although it exists everywhere on the continent. 
The second type of great goblin structure are the houses built into caves and mountains. This type is more common in the mountainous western side of the continent. Underground caves, such as the capital cave city of the goblin kingdom, are built on many different floors and can hold thousands of houses. In the past, it was more common for all of the houses to be built into the rock. In modern times, a boom in population in popular cave cities have led to houses being built on top of each other, often out of both stone, wood and clay. 
The city structure depends on the size and location of the city in the goblin kingdom. The most modern cities, such as the cave city, have trams and artificial lightning made from the goblin crystal found in the cave walls. These crystals light up the underground cities around the kingdom, but also light up the darkness of the night on the surface. They work as energy for things like trams and production lines, but there is a limited amount of them and are mostly used for light.
On the surface, city structure is more simple than packed up buildings and tram lines. Most goblins live in villages, surrounded by forest and occasional farmland. A village will have, on average, fifty residences, as well as essential buildings such as a barrack, townhouse and stables. Farmlands are kept outside the city or town, often also surrounded by forest. The goblin king assigns each town over fifty people a village chief, or a town leader, depending on its size. The capital city is, however, under the king's full control.



Fairy architecture and city structure
Unlike the goblins, fairies have wings. This allows them to use not only the ground, but also higher spaces for building life. 
The fairy kingdom consists of very mountainous land, with occasional large forests with old, overgrown trees known as ever-trees. The fairy kingdom also has lakes and rivers, with crystal clear but often nearly ice cold water in them. These lakes and rivers are mostly unused, however serve as paths for fairies to fly over and find their way to the next destination. Despite their many mountains, the fairies do not live in caves as the goblins do. 
The fairy kingdom's population consists of mostly fairies, and a relatively large five percent nymph population. Out of the five percent, four percent are lake nymphs. Still, the larger majority is fairy population, and the fairy population can naturally fly. That's why most fairies live up in the trees, surrounded by the large leaves and branches of the overgrown, ever-trees of the western side of the continent. One of these large ever-trees can hold on average about twenty residences. The largest fairy residence in a tree consists of one hundred and ten residences. 
These ever-trees exist on small patches of forest land around the large mountains of the fairy kingdom. The biggest ever-tree city exists near the border between the two kingdoms, and is the capital of the fairy kingdom. This capital is known for being very packed and busy, but also as beautiful. The fifteen of the largest ever-trees make up the palace of the fairy king and queen, right in the middle of the city. 
On goblin land there is only one ever-tree, right above the cave capital city.
For city structure, the fairy kingdom's ever-tree cities are known for being airy and resourceful. The houses are built into the trees, and the roads consist of wooden bridges between the trees, forest paths on the ground and air paths for flight, with landing bridges on the side of every building. Everything is carefully managed. Flying is to be done on specific routes across the trees, known as flying roads. Walking is for the bridges and the pathways. On the ground is nothing but farmland and stables for the horses and other animals that the fairies keep. Most fairies live above ground. 
The palace is also structured very specifically. The three most important ever-trees of the palace are the towers for the princes, princesses and the tower for the king and the queen of the fairy kingdom. A fourth tower, known as the ever-tree armour, keeps a military presence over the capital, and is known as the most secure and yet most dangerous building in the entire kingdom. 
Between the cities is nothing but untouched land, often inhabited by small nymph villages that have little to no connection to the main population. The fairy cities are connected by larger flying roads that often go above the rivers. Flying roads are nothing but a few checkpoints every few hundred meters, as well as illuminated cave crystals by the sides of the river and ground to show where the road goes. For fast flying, it is important to stay on the right side of the air path.
Other ways of transport are boats over the rivers and occasional, small and badly managed roads and pathways on land. Soldiers travel by horse and often go off path on rough mountainous terrain.