KOTCL Dev Diaries: Sunny City

Knock, knock, travelers!

Today we’re finishing our journey across Midian, and not in any old blind alley, but in the majestic Sunny City, the capital of the elves. Calling it the capital of the elven state would me a misnomer, as the Sunny City is the elven state. (Naturally, you’ll ask: what is the Frontier, then? And I’ll make sure to talk about it later.)

Sunny City: Big City

Imagine Ancient Rome built from wood and among the woods themselves. High-rise buildings intertwined with tall trees in a one-of-a-kind composition, drowning in lush green and flowers. It’s big—I mean really BIG. If you pass it on the left side, you’ll end up in the Rotten Bog, if you go on the right side, you’ll have to traverse the Crimson Steppes. That means that size-wise the city is roughly equal to one of the biomes in Knock on the Coffin Lid. For comparison: even the Northern Gate takes up less than a half of a biome, so you can imagine that.

All this magnificence is blooming and fragrant, making a very pleasant impression. Persival once or twice let slip that he enjoyed being there.

Sunny City: Safe City

If you’ve entered the Sunny City legally, then you have nothing to fear within its boundaries. There are no robbers, thieves, cultists, lycans, death servants, and certainly no demons there. You won’t even find any lunar druids in the city, because unauthorized contacts with the Star Spirits are strictly forbidden.

You’ll think that it’s the most peaceful and safe place in Midian, until they ban you, too.

Sunny City: Strict Prohibitions

All power in the city is concentrated in the hands of the Supreme Council of druids, who are spiritual leaders, unquestionable authorities, and fanatical devotees of harsh ways.

You are allowed to live quietly and peacefully, to pray to the Primordial Spirits of the Forest, and to delight in harmony with nature. Everything else is forbidden. The Sunny city’s well-being is maintained by relentless repression.

It’s Not All Bad

The harshness of local laws is offset by mild punishments. If you break the rules of the city, you won’t face the death penalty, torture, or prison. There are no prisons in the Sunny City. The only possible punishment is exile.

Although, if an exile returns to the city, they will inevitably be executed (I think that goes without saying; I’m just clarifying just in case.)

Elven Love for Exiling Their Own

All elves that live outside the Sunny City (including the Frontier) are either exiled or willingly relocated. Living under the rule of religious fanatics is far from being everyone’s cup of tea. If something is not to your taste, you always know where the door is.

The Sunny City’s sociologists (who were promptly exiled for voicing this) noticed an interesting pattern: the bigger the city’s population, the stricter the laws and the more people get exiled. Conversely, when the population is in decline, there are fewer sentences.

Elves love chasing each other away wherever they are. If you left the Sunny City for the Frontier, you can be exiled from there, too. Just like Bjorn was.

In some sense, it serves as a tool for both their survival and their expansion. Indeed, it was precisely their habit to exile members of their own society that allowed the elves to spread across all Midian.

I guess that’s about everything

I did my best to tell you about all the locations in Midian in a way that left no questions, but if questions do still arise, the comment section is always waiting!