Anticipating the introduction of different sites and embark scenarios I would like to present my ideas for some of them.
Dwarves
Special features:
- Dwarven sites always produce alcohol.
Huge Fortress
First site of the dwarven civ should always be a HF
Ruled by the monarch or a duke
The largest fortresses built by the dwarves.
Has a library, multiple temples, multiple taverns, deep mines
Has many large houses of the rich merchants and nobility, close to where the monarch or duke lives
Has a large courthouse with multiple judges
Has a treasury - large storage of coins and precious bars with guards 24/7 and traps
Has a professional military force and large militia
Houses the main guilds
It is hard to become a citizen there as it is already quite crowded and the locals don't need more citizens, unless there was a disaster or a war which would lower the population
Contain a large dungeon
Large Fortress
Smaller in size than Huge Fortress
Ruled by a count or the monarch if it is the largest fortress owned by the civ
Has a library, one or two temples, one or two taverns, deep mines
Has a smaller treasury or a normal one if capital
Has a smaller military but large militia
Has a courthouse with the number of judges depending on the population
Contain a small dungeon
Fortress
Ruled by a baron
Has a library, a temple and a tavern
Has a small treasury
Has a small military and militia
If large enough could have a courthouse with a single judge, otherwise the baron is the judge
Contain a small dungeon
Penal colony
A prison where imprisoned creatures are forced to mine and smelt ore
Controlled by a warden, appointed by the king or his secretaries
The number of guards depends on the number of imprisoned creatures
The player can either become imprisoned here, build the colony in the fortress mode or become a guard in the adv mode.
The prisoners will try to escape, riot if left unchecked or there are not enough guards, bandit groups might try to take them over and over enlist their inhabitants.
Colonies are not allowed to trade and have to deliver a fixed amount of bars every three months. The nearest fortress might however supply the colony with food and necessary equipment.
Mine
Much smaller than a fortress
Privately owned
Its economy is based on mining and smelting ore, they rarely produce anything other than bars
Ruled by a manager
Has no military but some militia. Mines which are close to the borders might have a small garrison.
In fort mode player can build a mine as a property of an existing mining company or a rich individual. He has to supply it/him with certain number of bars every fixed period of time.
Fort
Forts are essentially small castles.
Those are not carved in the mountain but built above ground.
Ruled by a Captain.
Host a number of soldiers depending on the threat - forts on the border with the enemy will contain a larger garrison than forts that are policing the roads.
Contain a small dungeon.
Guard post
Small towers with little military presence,
Ruled by a sergeant.
They are usually placed near the roads to protect the trade.
Contain a small dungeon.
Toll post
Ruled by a clerk
They exist near the roads on the borders, near bridges and on the roads, depending on the laws of a civ.
Contain a small military presence and a small dungeon for those who wanted to evade taxation or were wanted for crimes.
Tavern
Owned by tavern owners
Essentially a small tavern by the road, with some fields, livestock, and booze-making facility
Village
Ruled by a village elder.
Contains of at least a dozen farms, each owned by a family and inherited by the oldest child. Farms are made of a family house, a barn, a granary, fields and livestock.
Depending on its wealth it could have a small shrine, a tavern, a small temple, and/or a small market.
Villages customarily send a tribute of food to their liege - baron, count, duke or king.
Town
Ruled by a mayor
Larger than villages, contain some houses in the centre, a tavern, a temple, a granary, and occasionally a courthouse for the town and nearby villages.
Has a sheriff who patrols the closest villages.
Has some militia forces
Can be surrounded by a palisade or a wall.
Academy
Exists in a fortress.
Contains different faculties of different schools/sciences.
Can teach engineers, doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, logicians, astronomers, philosophy, optics, and other tech.
Its size and influence depends on how much a civ values knowledge.
Might teach wizardry if magic is enabled.
Manor
A rich manor with several sub-types depending on its size.
Basically a large home occupied by the owner and his family, and also containing housing for servants/slaves/indentured servants (depending on civ's political system and values).
Surrounded by owner's fields cultivated by the peasants/slaves/servants living in the manor's housing for them.
Can be surrounded by villages that belong to its owner (if a civ is feudal), if not, fields belonging to the manor could be quite large.
Dwarves should be able to have them, but these should be more common in human civs.
Depending on owner's values could have variety of rooms - library, shrine, ball rooms, armories etc.
Can contain workshops where servants/slaves can produce goods for both manor's needs and to be sold if civ values commerce.
Humans
Special features:
The humans have cities and castles as their largest holdings. Cities are either Royal Cities - ruled by the monarch or a duke or Free Cities ruled by mayors and city councils.
Most humans live in villages that belong to the nobles.
Royal City
Serves the same purpose as the Huge Fortress but is built above ground.
Nearby villages belong to the owner of the castle - either as his property or as his fief with a knight being its owner.
Ruled by the monarch or a duke.
Has a keep or a palace in the centre, and different districts around it - the richest and most powerful live close to the keep/palace, along with guildhouses, greatest temples, courthouse, the n lives the middle-class and on the outskirts are the lower-class districts, manufacturing-district etc.
Has a large market, library, temples, taverns, multiple shops and a luxurious hotel in the middle of the city where the rich can stay and eat.
Has large baths for the rich.
They are usually placed near the rivers or by the sea.
They are surrounded by large, stone walls.
Rich homes are made of stone, while most are made of wood.
Free City
Essentially very similar to Royal Cities but ruled by a mayor elected by the town council consisting of the richest and most powerful citizens. To become a councilman, a person has to either inherit the post or be accepted by the council.
They enjoy a high degree of autonomy, and the rich merchants like to settle here while the nobles prefer the Royal Cities.
Always has a large courthouse and a dungeon. The Free Cities never send their prisoners to penal colonies.
They have larger thieves' guilds than usual being richer than other sites.
They contain banks, trading companies, huge markets and harbours, and are generally the largest centres of trade in the world.
They are usually placed near the sea or the rivers, close to the trade routes.
Large castle
A large, stone keep, with a small town surrounding it, protected by a stone wall.
It is ruled by a duke.
The nearby villages belong to its owner.
The closest counties are the fiefs of the local duke.
Contain a strong military force under the duke's command.
Contain a large temple and usually a library.
Contain large stables.
Medium castle
Smaller than Large Castle, ruled by a count. Otherwise the same but smaller.
Contains a library if its owner values knowledge.
Small castle
Smaller than Medium Castle, rules by a baron. Otherwise the same but smaller.
Contains a library if its owner values knowledge.
Contains a temple if its owner values religion, otherwise a shrine.
It is surrounded by a village. Only the keep is made of stone, wall that surrounds the village is made of wood.
Large village
Owned by a noble, who lives in a small keep made of wood or stone depending on his wealth.
The noble has to send an annual tribute of food to his liege.
The peasants can either be free or be serfs, depending on the civ. If they are free, then they have to give their noble an annual tribute. If they are serfs, they give everything they produce to their noble, who leaves them what they need to survive.
Might contain a tavern if by a road.
Contains a shrine.
Depending on its location and wealth might contain bee hives, produce wood, fish, alcohol, and some small goods - can have a single blacksmith, bowyer, clothier, carpenter and/or hunters.
Village
Owned by a noble who does not live in the village.
The peasants can either be free or be serfs, depending on the civ. If they are free, then they have to give their noble an annual tribute. If they are serfs, they give everything they produce to their noble, who leaves them what they need to survive.
Might contain a tavern if by a road.
Contains a shrine.
Depending on its location and wealth might contain bee hives, produce wood, fish, alcohol, and some small goods - can have a single blacksmith, bowyer, clothier, carpenter and/or hunters.
Monastery
Can exist when the civ's religion has them.
Ruled by a prior.
Houses a dozen or more monks.
Can contain a religious library if religion values knowledge.
Contains a temple.
Contains fields and livestock.
If civ values knowledge, it can also serve to preserve knowledge by acquiring and copying books, writing chronicles, and preserving old books.
University
Can exist in a town as a district or as an independent site.
Depending on the fantasy setting it can teach wizardry or common knowledge.
Contains different faculties of different schools/sciences.
Can teach engineers, doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, logicians, astronomers, philosophy, optics, and other tech.
Its size and influence depends on how much a civ values knowledge.
Training grounds
Though not necessarily exclusive for humans (dwarves should train inside their fortresses I think), I imagine these built mainly by those civs which have larger, standing armies.
It is not permanently settled, but rather an assigned spot near castles where soldiers periodically train. It could have contain some ditches built by the soldiers. Should also be heavy littered.
Player could perhaps occasionally find a piece of armour or a weapon left behind.
Humans can also build Mines, Taverns, Guard posts, Manors and Toll posts .
Elves
Forest Palace
Elven king's luxurious palace.
It has strong military presence of the Royal Guard.
Has the shrine of nature.
Has a library.
Forest retreat
A village with an orchard.
Nothing interesting really, just a bunch of tree-huggers providing food for their civ.
Goblins and Kobolds
I don't think they need anything else, unless their civ would understand concept of more sophisticated organization. For now, at least for me, they are tribals really, with no advanced thought, which would make them want to protect trade routes or establish universities to preserve knowledge.
Every goblin site should have slaves though, as their economy supposedly relies on them entirely. Basically, goblins should be lazy and want to exploit others for their benefits, while they can fight, steal, pillage and murder.