Building A Skyrim Style ACK Setting – Part 5: Somerset: Villages, Town and Cities

Using the tables in the book, I have worked out the political structure, size, and population of the Kingdom of Somerset.

Villages, Town and Cities 

Like Skyrim it is seems to be at first glance like an agrarian, pastoral realm that due to the electoral nature of the Kingship has a centralized settlement pattern with the population concentrated around the Holds of each Earldom. If you have played Skyrim, then you would know that it is not that agrarian or pastoral. There is significant fishing, mining, lumber, metal working & ship building in the realm. Somerset is very much the same way. This has a significant impact on the size of the urban population, size and number of settlements in each earldom.

This is probable one of the more math intensive portion of the world building and having a working knowledge of excel is a huge help. Per the book we need to do the following

“The Villages, Towns, and Cities Placement table can be used in conjunction with the Political Divisions of the Realm table to develop the complete urban demographics of a realm. Starting with the largest vassal realm and working downward, find the largest settlement for each vassal realm on the Villages, Towns, and Cities of the Realm table and place this settlement on the map somewhere within its appropriate realm. (Macris, 2011)”

So for right now I am going to just focus on the earldom at the highest level to determine what the largest settlement is in the entire hold. This settlement is going to the capitol of each earldom. Using the table in the book (pg. 231) I get the following:

Table A - Original

Earldom	Population	Urban Pop.	Largest Settlement	Pop	Monthly Income	Market Class
Silverfeld	50,000	5,000	Large town (625–1,249)	1000	370–739gp	Class IV
Ostenstrand	48,000	4,800	Large town (625–1,249)	960	370–739gp	Class IV
Westbrerd	37,000	3,700	Large town (625–1,249)	740	265–369gp	Class V
Bretenanmere	25,400	2,540	Small town (450–624)	508	265–369gp	Class V
Eisenburg	24,600	2,460	Small town (450–624)	492	25–39gp	Class VI
Fýrdracaheald	23,500	2,350	Small town (450–624)	470	25–39gp	Class VI
Wulf Dúnland	22,000	2,200	Large village (250–449)	440	25–39gp	Class VI
Isenhelm	21,500	2,150	Large village (250–449)	430	25–39gp	Class VI
Stánhold	20,000	2,000	Large village (250–449)	400	25–39gp	Class VI
	272,000	27,200	10%	5444	20.01%

The base line that the book uses is that “between 10% of the population lives in urban communities and that around 20% of the realm’s urban population lives in its largest settlement. (Macris, 2011)”

The Urban Demographic can be shifted higher or lower (more or less) depending on several factors. In the case of Somerset it is going to be the settlement pattern. I envisioned that each earldom has a very centralized settlement pattern. The vast majority of the populace lives in small hamlets known as steadings. The urban population is going to be strongly concentrated in the major settlement in each earldom, the seat of government. Looking at the demographic shift chart (pg.231) I can shift down on the table 1 to 2 rows for “Centralized settlement pattern”. I shifted two rows down and I got the following.

Table B -Modified

Earldom	Population	Urban Pop.	Largest Settlement	Pop	Monthly Income	Market Class
Silverfeld	50,000	5,000	Small city (1,250–2,499)	2,000	740–1,474gp	Class IV
Ostenstrand	48,000	4,800	Small city (1,250–2,499)	1,920	740–1,474gp	Class IV
Westbrerd	37,000	3,700	Small city (1,250–2,499)	1,480	740–1,474gp	Class IV
Bretenanmere	25,400	2,540	Large town (625–1,249)	706	370–739gp	Class IV
Eisenburg	24,600	2,460	Large town (625–1,249)	683	370–739gp	Class IV
Fýrdracaheald	23,500	2,350	Large town (625–1,249)	653	370–739gp	Class IV
Wulf Dúnland	22,000	2,200	Small town (450–624)	792	265–369gp	Class V
Isenhelm	21,500	2,150	Small town (450–624)	774	265–369gp	Class V
Stánhold	20,000	2,000	Small town (450–624)	720	265–369gp	Class V
	272,000	27,200	10.00%	9,728	35.76%

As you can see I now have 3 small cities, 3 large towns, and 3 small towns scattered across the kingdom. They are the centers of trade, commerce, and government for the nine earldoms. 10% of the Realm Population (27,200 families) lives in a urban settlement, of that 36% live in the largest settlement in the hold. Those nine settlements contain 3.5% of the total population of the kingdom.

One important note is how I got the population for the settlement, because this is not in the book per say. There is not a formula per say, the number is selected based on what the DM wants. I however used a ratio to help me determine the population.

Example:

Silverfeld originally had a Large Town with a population of 1,000. This 1,000 is 20% of the 5,000 Urban Families. I then look at the lowest number in the range of large towns, which is 625.

• 1,000 – 625 divided by 1,000 = 60%

I then look at Silverfeld with a small city. The range for a small city is 1,250 to 2,499 families, 1,000 families is not going to cut it. How much more do we increase it?
Take the lowest range of a small city, multiply it by the percentage above and then add it to the lowest range

• (1,250 x 60%) + 1,250 = 2,000

Neat Huh? If you set-up a table to do this in Excel, you can change the realm population, urban population and various percentages to discover the right mix for your campaign. What if the urban population was 8% of the realm population and not 10%?

Table C – Alternate Version

Earldom	Population	Urban Pop.	Largest Settlement	Pop	Monthly Income	Market Class
Silverfeld	50,000	4,000	Small city (1,250–2,499)	2,000	740–1,474gp	Class IV
Ostenstrand	48,000	3,840	Small city (1,250–2,499)	1,920	370–739gp	Class IV
Westbrerd	37,000	2,960	Small city (1,250–2,499)	1,480	265–369gp	Class V
Bretenanmere	25,400	2,032	Large town (625–1,249)	706	265–369gp	Class V
Eisenburg	24,600	1,968	Large town (625–1,249)	683	150–264gp	Class V
Fýrdracaheald	23,500	1,880	Large town (625–1,249)	653	40–60gp	Class VI
Wulf Dúnland	22,000	1,760	Small town (450–624)	792	40–60gp	Class VI
Isenhelm	21,500	1,720	Small town (450–624)	774	40–60gp	Class VI
Stánhold	20,000	1,600	Small town (450–624)	720	40–60gp	Class VI
	272,000	21,760	8.00%	9,728	44.70%

The base game assumes a 10% /20% ratio. My campaign has a 10%/35% ratio, which I feel is a very Skyrim-ish feels to it.

Now that I know the largest settlement for the earldom as a whole, what about the sub-divisions?

I will use the Earldom of Silverfeld as an example.

Silverfeld	#	Domain Pop	Rural Pop	Urban Pop	Settlement	Avg Pop
Earldom	1	50,000	45,000	5,000
Ruler Doman	1,500		-1,500	-2,000	Small City	2,000
			43,500	3,000
Shire	6	7,250	6,525	725	Small Village (75–99)
Ruler Doman	780	4,680	-4,680	-653	Village	109
			38,820	3,073
March	30	1,294	1,398	129	Hamlets (74–)
Ruler Doman	320	9,600	-9,600	-780	Hamlets	26
			30,618	2,422
Herred	180	170	153	17
Ruler Doman	170	30,600	-30,618	2,422	Steading

The table may seem a little confusing at first. The Earldom of Silverfeld is composed of the Earl’s Personal Domain (3,500 families, 1,500 rural and 2,000 urban) PLUS Six Shires who are controlled by Sheriffs who own fealty to the Earl.

Each Shire has a population of about 7,250 including one Small Village with a population of about 67 families. Each shire is composed of the Sheriff’s Personal Domain (780 Families) PLUS 5 Marches who are controlled by Reeves who own fealty to the Sheriff and the Earl.

Each March has a population of 1,294 families including a Small Hamlet of about 26 families. Each March is composed of the Reeves Personal Domain (320 Families) PLUS 6 Herred who are controlled by Thanes who own fealty to the Reeve, Sheriff and the Earl.

Each Herred has a population of about 170 families and no significant urban settlements at this level. The land is worked by the yeomanry who owe fealty to the Thane,

This means Silverfeld has 1 small city, 6 small villages, 30 small hamlets, and a large number of small steadings composed of 2 to 3 families.

WHOOOOO Now I need to the same for all the other holds,