Take a look out of the window and into the city.
From Create Your Own Story
Your room is situated in the north tower of Castle Phanotikos, giving a perfect view over the richest part of the city. The city itself is divided into three main sections. Built atop a a hill where the eastern slope was relatively shallow and the western face was almost as steep as a wall, the city is in a fantastic defensive position. The lowest section of the city is protected by huge walls, 4 large gatehouses and portcullises and well over a dozen towers. This part of the settlement is relatively flat and is home to most of the city's peasant population, who mostly work out in the fields beyond the outer wall. This section comprises about half of the city, and over half of it's population.
Most of the wealth is found in the second section of the city, which is located in the middle of the slope leading up the hill to the summit. Here, merchants, bankers, craftsmen, guild members and the middle classes ply their trades. The cathedral dominates this part of the city, and it's towering parapets can be seen from miles around. From your room, you can see almost all of this part of the city, from the beautiful cathedral at one end to the market quarter at the other. On breezy days you can sometimes smell the exotic spices from your window, and hear the many different languages and accents of the merchants carrying from their stalls. A smaller, but heavily defended inner wall separates the poor and rich sections of the city, with two heavy steel gates controlling all traffic between them.
The last section of the city is home to the Castle Phanotikos, which looms over the rest of the city from it's near unassailable position. The rock leading up to the summit has been carved into four steep terraces, each separated with a low wall and a portcullis. If the defenders wanted to, they could make it so that anyone wanting to reach the castle would have to fight past four walls and four gates, under constant missile fire, before they even reached the main gate of the castle. The only other way into or out of the castle is through a small sally port leading out for the castle cellars onto the sheer rock face on the western side of the hill, which is almost impossible to climb.
You can see the towers on the far side of the city flying your family's banner high - a yellow sigil with a blue ram's head. Each tower and gate flies this flag, giving the illusion that they are all heavily manned and ready for anything. In reality, your people have not seen real war in over a generation, maybe longer. Few soldiers man the defenses, and those that do know little more about war than which end of their spear to hold. The huge gates of your city spend most of their time wide open so as to let people move freely, and most of the gatekeepers probably don't even know how to shut them. Regardless, the walls and well planned out defenses make you feel safe. With enough warning and food, your people could hold the city for months under siege, maybe even years.
