Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Citadels are the Psychonian replacement for cities built in early years after the many
apocalypses. They are built to resist invasion by land or air, clouds of toxic gas that
pass for weird weather and to hold a community together. Sometimes the current
occupants are not the original ones. Conditions and functionality of systems vary based
on the civilization occupying them. Open cities like ancients do exist but have problems.
Shelters are the main requirement of any community on Psychon from caves to build
bunkers or using ancient sub road tunnels.
You might want to connect it to a subworld or use elements from that. Or use space hab
modules here also. Tables to generate a citadel are below.
Psychon citadels range from 7-50 stories tall with population equaling stories times
d100. Short ones also called zigurats or arcologies. Could use some of this for surviving
domes of ancients too. Bottom most floors are for defense and foreigners. Other floors
may be dedicated to temples or what passes for magic schools. Libraries, food
production, sport arenas, schools, and many other dedicated functions. Citadels are
sealed against Psychon’s weird weather. Underground stores, shelters, connections to
ancient sub train tunnels, morlocks or other creature lairs.
Locations in citadels
You could allocate locations you think your citadel needs first and roll extra or roll them
all. Location sub tables are merely standout features of otherwise typical features in
citadel planning. Sub levels and ground floor may have multiple section per level but
most others equal a floor or story. Low tech citadels use muscle or steak powered
elevators or stairs with elevators and even gravity tubes for more advanced. Not all
locations are as specialized as sub tables show so feel free to use more generic areas
or develop your own or hybrid results.
Sub levels 1d4+1 You may assume power, cisterns or storage and roll rest
Ground floors 1d4+2 You may assume a gatehouse and roll rest
Mid levels 1d4 x 1d10 You may assume a ghetto or middle housing and roll rest
Upper levels 1d12 You may assume a palace for rulers and roll rest
1-3 Defence
4-5 Merchant
6-7 Foreign
8-9 Manufacturing
10-12 Ghetto
1 Merchant
2 Church
3 Library
4-5 Greenhouse
6-7 Manufacturing
8 Ghetto
9-11 Middle Housing
12 Stadium
D12 Citadel Zones - Upper LevelThese levels are for the elites and rulers of the
citadel often forbidden to lower residence. Foriegn diplomats or great heroes or
merchants may be welcomed.
1 Cistern
2 Mine
3-4 Catacombs
5 Garden
6 Greenhouse
7 Shelter
8 Storage
9 Ghetto
10 Power Station
11 Transit Tunnels
12 Dungeon
d12 Catacombs
These ancient tunnels have had various uses and are a maze of mostly roughly hewn
and seldom used. Storage of the dead and occasional hiding place is what most locals
think. Usually spooky, dank and unwelcoming. May be far more ancient than citadel or
apocalypse. More modern citadels recycle dead for food or fuel or sell them to
morlocks.
d12 Church
Temples are used but people to worship gods in most cases but could include shrines
to ancestors, the state, the rulers, abstract philosophical concepts. Some may have
specific roles and clientele. The popular faiths are generated with the civilization of a
hex but these represent more dedicated centres of belief in citadel.
1 A tiny shrine with idols, simple stone slab altar or artwork in a niche or small room
2 A small church with room for a dozen worshipers and accommodation for holy teacher
3 A temple with room for up to a hundred worshipers and several staff
4 A cathedral with room for up to a thousand with many chambers, staff and artworks
5 An abandoned shrine to a long lost cult mostly dust covered
6 A hidden shrine with disguised entrance to secret cult chamber
7 A shrine which acts as a place of healing
8 A mausoleum with hundreds of interred dead and a chapel
9 A monumental scale work of devotional artwork such as a huge statue or stained
glass
10 An oracle where locals come for divination, prophecy and advice
11 Monastery or nunnery where devotees live lives of simplicity and contemplation
12 A fully functional temple where holy folk commune with a god with holy guardians
d12 Cistern
This is usually simply for water storage but also includes waste and sewerage
possibilities. Most have water stores or wells and sewerage but these represent larger
more eficient functioning examples.
1 Huge vaulted water supply of good water with many chambers connected by arched
tunnels
2 A maze of sub canals with dock with boats used for transport
3 Huge wells going deep into subterranean water filled caverns and waterways
4 Chambers with underground springs and crystal deposits
5 Spectacular ancient bathhouse with steam rooms and swimming pools
6 Fungus garden of exotic narcotic and edible stuff lit by dim phosphorescent glow
7 Huge cisterns full of sewerage, possibly flammable gas and unwelcome creatures
8 Sewer tunnel complex like a nightmare maze crawling with critters
9 Water treatment area where contaminated water stored and filtered
10 Slime encrusted grotto overgrown with strange growths from tainted water
11 Garbage filled cistern filled with citadel trash and drain water and sewerage
12 Lair of someone or something uses water for secret movement beneath citadel
d12 Defence
These are to defend city from invaders and often manned by soldiers, police, agents or
militia. They are usually serious places and unwelcome to visitors. Most citadels have
most of these especially a front gate but subtable results equal far more examples than
needed.
1 Guardhouses everywhere to police area, often with view of outside and alarm device.
2 Gatehouses with massive doorways and mechanisms possibly murder holes and
traps
3 Lockup or stocks where vagrants and miscreants and enemies are temporarily
detained
4 Observation towers with view of outside or a district with communications of some
kind
5 Recruiting centres where new troops are trained and drilled and drafted from populace
6 Barracks where troops eat, sleep when not on duty
7 Armoury is a guarded store house of armaments and weapons and repair facilities
8 Drill hall or square where troops march and perform drill in large open area
9 Secret police HQ is well defended complex where spies, assassins and other agents
work
10 Martial art school where some specialist school of fighters train under a master
11 Training area with firing range, commando course, test dummies and other aids
12 Garage or stables for mobile defence forces
d12 Dungeon
Intended as a grim place of imprisonment may include areas abandoned to unwelcome
creatures and persons having overtaken abandoned areas. Most regard with fear and
trepidation. Most have at least some cells if not dedicated high population facility.
Banishment or execution is a lot less effort and cheaper.
1 A huge prison with cells, work yards and security gates and barracks
2 A huge maze of torture equipment and cells with imprisoned victims in appalling
conditions
3 A mental hospital where mentally ill are kept in despairing conditions
4 A hospital where deformed, disfigured, disabled and mutants are kept in horrible
conditions
5 A sweatshop of imprisoned labourers usually chained at workbenches
6 A workhouse for orphans, single mothers, delinquents and other unwanted youths
7 Slave yard where slaves work and are sold and bred, possibly of a different people
8 A cursed series of catacombs overrun by undead and supernatural evil
9 Overrun by creatures and monsters of all sorts and long abandoned by citadel
residents
10 A hidden complex of morlock kidnappers eating citizens in secret
11 Humanoids like goblins or kobolds have taken over area as a homeland
12 Heavily sealed and trapped, something sealed in here best forgotten long ago
d12 Foreign
This is where outsiders who visit for trade and diplomacy come to do business with
citadel occupants without the citadel being contaminated. Aliens are usually
documented and given passports for duration of stay and are often unwelcome outside
this area or given limited access beyond. Only local merchants and brave locals mingle
with foreigners. Some cities are more tolerant of foreigners living among them, others
dont even let them inside. Dedicated foreign districts mean more trade and tolerance.
d12 Garden
A place of recreation, beauty and education to be enjoyed by better class of citizens.
Some places prefer fungus gardens, especially if underground. Gardens are for
recreation and science rather than feeding a whole community.
1 Pleasure garden with scented edible plants, narcotics and roaming prostitutes
2 Herbalist garden where scholars, cooks, pharmacists and herbalists grow exotic
supplies
3 Drug crops often guarded and exclusive to elites or sect
4 Sporting green for games and competitions of all kinds with snack stalls
5 Children’s park where kids and carers frolic with harmless creatures and gentle trees
6 Botanical park where plants of many lands are kept for educational purposes
7 Zoological park where beasts many lands are kept for educational purposes
8 Lovers park where youths come for holding hands and other liaisons
9 Theme park with extravagant entertainment, rides, stalls, clowns and other fun
10 Abandoned park gone feral with unwelcome beasts and gangland fights
11 Royal park where elites only frolic amidst tasteful decor and artwork
12 Water park with streams, ponds, thermal springs and exotic fish in tanks
d12 Ghetto
These areas are dwellings of poorest, often overcrowded, dangerous, polluted and
miserable. Some are a different race or ethnic group to typical citizens. Some citadels
have no poor classes. In others the poor are expendable slaves.
1 Monoculture of single crop with specialized tools and chemicals and labour
2 Mixed gardens with many variety of crops and animals
3 Eco garden which appears wild and unkept but is a thriving ecosystem
4 Hydro garden with crops grown in nutrient sollution
5 Aquaculture farm with fish, eels, lampreys and shellfish grown in tanks
6 Bug farm with insect and larvae farming, often low maintenance
7 Wild greenhouse of savage ecology mobile plants or fungi
8 Algae farm grown for food and biofuel
9 Soylent green processing plant where miracle manna made to secret process
10 Overgrown with toxic slimes and fungus and inhabited by unwelcome creatures
11 Culture farm where huge vats of bacteria and yeast bubble constantly
12 Huge bloated humanoids plumbed into refinery producing nutrient
d12 Library
A depository of wisdom, learning and culture for citizens and scholars to access data.
All literate cities have small ones at least and some bookshops. Some restrict who is
able to read and use books. Some censor books stockpiling some but burning most.
d12 Manufacturing
A centre for making goods and refining materials. Provide work as well as luxury, trade
goods and weapons. More industry equals more work.
d12 Merchant
This is principle area of commerce and trade where citizens obtain basic food and
goods. Otherwise corner shops in housing estates are common.
1 Market square filled with barrows, pushcarts and wagons with small stalls
2 Warehouse district with huge stockpile of bulk goods available
3 Spacious clean post-industrial supermart with androids serving prepacked goods
4 Banks of atomic powered replicators creating food and goods operated by priests
5 Rows of tiny specialist shops in a mall with street vendor food and drinks
6 Rows of vending machines, actually with gremlins or goblins inside
7 Rows of vending machines, with variety of packaged goods
8 Automated warehouse with AI terminal and priest programmer as storekeeper
9 Department store with various specialist sections with individual sales staff
10 General stores with clutters of goods and crotchety old shopkeepers
11 Shifty blackmarket with goods sold off back of carts, no questions asked
12 Huge junk heap and plies of goods tended by crazy old man with big dog
d12 Museum
Museums house collections of cultural and educational artifacts of interest to public and
scholars alike. Some are popular thriving cultural landmarks that tell the story of a
people. Others are dusty, musty and forgotten shambles. Some hold forbidden works
kept hidden. Some cities have no cultural facilities and are impoverished culturally.
1 Historic artefacts telling story of the citadel and its denizens through the ages
2 Apocalypse museum telling story of the fall of the ancients containing borgs and
weapons
3 Museum telling what local experts believe ancients lived like before apocalypse
4 Art museum of paintings, sculpture and fine design of citadel and other lands
5 War museum of cities battles and struggles of the past
6 Heroes museum of leaders, scholars, magicians, athletes, warriors and holy folk
7 Black museum of hidden lore, well guarded and filled with alien relics of the elder
gods
8 Natural history museum of stuffed animals, meteors, fossils, bottled creatures and
insect displays
9 Museum of erotic culture with displays on sex from many cultures and species
10 Space museum with retro space suits, re-entry pods, rovers, alien heads in jars,
flying saucer
11 Industry and industrial museum with displays of tools and technical progress
12 Propaganda museum of how citadel superior to other civilizations
d12 Palace
These are habitats for leaders and social elites. Most are luxurious and glamorous but a
bit tacky. Some are run down and decayed and even have unwelcome tenants. Most
citadels have some flash pad for elites of some kind.
1 Fabulous throne room for leaders to impress the common citizens with processional
stairs
2 Private royal palace for ruling clan with gilded furnishings and hundreds of paintings
3 Fabulous crystal palace of special grown crystal with strange holographic echoes of
past
4 Harem palace for consorts of elites and their children heavily guarded
5 Palace of justice with courthouses, execution facilities and holding cells
6 Hotel for foreign dignitaries, rich merchants and locals wishing a taste of luxury
7 Casino where locals lose money in opulent setting
8 Run down palace for older retired dignitaries and officials
9 Assembly hall for leaders to debate law and public policy
10 Palace for elites with hundreds of secret passages and rooms hiding some awful
secret
11 Palace for religious or spiritual leaders filled with art and symbolic designs
12 Ruined ancient palace long sealed with unwelcome animals and monsters
d12 Shelter
Shelters are to keep population safe from conditions on surface in the event of war or a
new apocalypse or severe weather. Most have oxygen filters and some serve specific
purposes. Citadels are inherently a shelter but even they need back up plans.
1 Science bunker where scientists work on weapons of war, possible remnants of
research loose
2 Huge chambers for general population for a week or so
3 Bunker where elites can survive for hundreds of years
4 Bunker for elites has been forgotten and overrun by unwelcome creatures or entities
5 Bunker with automated clone banks to create new race if occupants killed
6 Bunker has been forgotten with former citadel folk in hibernation
7 Bunker overrun with organised crime gangs
8 Shelter used by secret cult for forbidden rites of evil
9 Morlocks or goblinoids or mutants dwell in secret preying on citadel population
10 Contaminated frozen undead, mutants or worse ready to arise
11 Used by political faction to prepare army of terrorist or revolutionary thugs
12 Past population came down during disaster now in hiding or unaware of outside
d12 Stadium
Public spaces for entertainment and leisure and contests of various types provide
residents with social opportunities. Without these a city is much duller but most citadels
have at least a square or meeting hall for gatherings.
d12 Storage
Citadels have many storage needs and this area provides space for long term use. Most
have warehouses. Some are so long forgotten new inhabitants or fabulous lost
treasures await within. Some are well guarded by personal or technology.
1 Station for local tube train system to other local places of interest often in a loop
2 Station of ancient intercontinental vacuum sub trains long abandoned
3 Long forgotten pipelines for gas or fluids many now occupied by unwelcome creatures
4 Entry to natural caverns now crawling with life in dynamic ecology
5 Secret tunnels for military and government agents
6 Emergency tunnels for evacuations sometimes used by unauthorised persons
7 Tunnel complex for farmers to bring food and goods into the citadel
8 Long collapsed sub roadway now occupied by wild creatures
9 Tunnel complex dug by morlocks or kobolds or some other race
10 Tunnels used by locals but dug by giant creatures like worms or moles
11 Tunnels to long forgotten subworld or ancient city
12 Tunnels to subterranean kingdom with artificial sun
d12 University
Most civilized people have schools for young and at least apprenticeships for adults.
Universities are self contained micro communities often with own housing, libraries,
council chambers, mess halls and even security. Many imose strictures like celibacy on
students or make them wear uniforms. Some are exempt from military service some are
able to be incorporated into units rapidly and perform cadet drills. Students may operate
own councils, secret societies, publishing, clubs and sports separate from wider
community. Some are recruiting grounds for elites, cults or crime or military. Some
provide public services like hospitals or conduct research or maintain museums and
libraries and children’s schools.
1 School for middle class residents to learn literate and technical trades
2 School for elites to learn sciences, arts and magical skills
3 School is a front for teaching forbidden black arts
4 District with clusters of private schools and tutors
5 Military school teaching elite troops and officers
6 Trade school teaching basics of industry and agriculture
7 Philosopher schools teaching debate and what passes for logic around here
8 Monastic school teaching with strict discipline
9 Research school with mammoth library and dedicated to advancement
10 Mad science facility with research into weapons and doomsday devices
11 Hospital providing healing for masses and teaching of healers
12 Arcane school teaching secrets of science and sorcery
Outside details of a citadel: Surface and surrounding area
The countryside around a citadel may have additional features. Roll 1d4-1 times on the
surroundings suitable. Outsides of a citadel may have extra features. Some features of
a city power plant might include outside of a citadel. A sub table for external features is
optional but a d3-1 rolls might be useful amount of detail.
1 Fortifications including sharpened stakes, tank traps, mines, trenches and walls
2 Farmland with farmers shacks and barns, people retreat in citadel in emergencies
3 Sprawling slum with crudely made dwellings with population usually not allowed inside
4 Water features with moats, ponds, lakes stocked with fish and waterfowl
5 Windmills or solar panels or salt ponds or algae lakes for power or fuel generation
6 Garden earthworks with fruit trees, strange follies, shrines and statues
7 Ruins of ancient city or abandoned town sprawl around city with unwelcome residents
8 Tents and wagons of foreign travellers and nomads who seasonally visit for trade
9 Pits of garbage, polluted discoloured pools, pits, mounds of dirt and other crap
10 Dense vegetation grown for food and defence including thorns and toxic plants
11 Biological slime lake of gelatinous goop, fungi or shoggoth matter used for food and
defence
12 Open mine pits, factories, mills and other industrial structures possibly abandoned
1 Defences bristling with battlements, turrets, guns, towers, observation posts and
guards
2 Vegetation with food and industrial resources with animals and birdlife and streams
3 Wind mills or solar panels or algae tubes for power production
4 Highly reflective shiny glittering surface resistant to energy weapons
5 Force shield wall of energy protecting citadel from threats
6 Scared pitted ruined appearance from battle and environmental damage
7 Organic coral or flesh or vegetal coating giving citadel natural appearance
8 Rocky coating resembling natural stone formation possibly keeps hidden
9 Covered in antenna, dishes, radar domes, cameras, neon signs and electrical
transformers
10 Crystalline tiles or solid sheathe coating highly impervious and beautiful
11 Shambling huts, shacks and tents of impoverished class
12 Magnetic field containing plasma or magical energy field for defence
I will generate a few examples soon - quite pleased with this and would love too see
results of anyone using it - happy new year!