GEOGRAPHY AND ECONOMY; CLIMATE

[rachel2205]

LOCATION

"Located on a horn-shaped peninsula astride the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, ... Constantinople dominated the narrow waterway that divides Europe from Asia. The complexities of that geography provided both advantages and challenges to the site's defense. A steep and rugged shoreline and the Sea of Marmara's swift currents protected the

Comments

[silence_excolo]

A quick question - With Konstantiniyye being such a melting pot & quite full of wealth & culture, along with the emphasis on naval power, would there have been the same surge of piracy on the high seas as in our world? I'm still reading up on everything (and it's almost 3am, so I'm sure to have missed some stuff), but I'm guessing trade routes would be fairly different, not to mention relations between Great Britain &, well, everyone else? XD

[snakey]

One of the reasons I was thinking about relationships with other countries was trade routes! :D

[rachel2205]

I think piracy makes a lot of sense. And would probably be severely punished in the city... But also potentially funded by different powers if piracy was targeted at other powers. >_> *thinks of Francis Drake*

[tezcatl_ipoca]

I had not been thinking about this at all. >.>

[snakey]

Hmm, I wasn't sure which section to put this in: wondering if the city is divided into different areas/quarters by religion or ethnicity? And how strongly that's enforced?

[torrain]

Tying into that (okay, in my brain, which is bouncing around a bit), is there a city guard? How strict are they? (I am reminded of the anecdote in Bloody Business about police investigating the disappearance of a maid, and when one of the officers found a bloody nightgown, another burnt it and then scolded him for thinking of troubling the home owner with this detail.)

And how does it deal with neighbourhoods that have decided, for whatever reason, that they would like their own protection--e.g., an impromptu Neighbourhood Watch in one of the suburbs, or private guards hired by the elite families (or branching family) on the other side of the water?

[rachel2205]

I was wondering about having the golem as the city guard :)

[tezcatl_ipoca]

Oooh. I wonder if they can be hacked....

[middlemarching]

I'll work on a map with place names and so on but for now this is Istanbul in 1922, which should give you a sense of the scale of the city.

Okay, I see where I got 1922 from earlier. :P The date stuck in my head when it shouldn't have.

The detail here is outstanding! I'm agonizingly excited to get involved in this.

[rachel2205]

<3 Thanks so much! From what you've said I'm super excited to see your application.