Oooooh... Helvygon should have bells... like... big Notre Dam bells
I can see fireflies and ivy in Tasmerene.
And piebald/pinto style patterns in Gaeku or Virandene? :3

bells in helvygon -- YES! I have been so strapped for ideas about Helvygon -- til now it's been my big BLANK city, I haven't had any ideas. This is amazing.

Fireflies and ivy in Tasmerene -- it's my biggest city, and that sounds absolutely fantastic...

as for piebald/pinto style patterns, this is new to me -- what?! educate me! :D it sounds wonderful, regardless. please educate me! <3

Oh, just like animal patterns!
Like a pinto horse: http://spottedhorseworld.tripod.com/pinto.jpg
Except on fabrics? Or just leathers/furs/skins?

Oh wow, brilliant <3 it would make perfect sense in their town, where animal husbandry is one of their major trades. <3

In Virandene, I mean! <3 Gaeku deals mostly in sea-creatures >:D <3

*pesters with more comments* See? :D

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5988261/

Oh... since Helvygon & Gaeku have that rocky cape in common, they could both have... something rock related?
Like masonry... or little carved stone charms? Or maybe a system of unserwater caves that criminals can use at low tide? XD

Hunting birdies! Falcons, hawks, gyrfalcons and the like
Renown horse breeders (or any other animal)
Polygamy
Gypsies! (possible 'wandering town'?)
Town made up entirely of shorter than average occupants (I did this once in a story, quite entertaining mostly because the town couldn't understand why no one wanted to visit them. All of the buildings, furniture, signage was a few inches shorter than the same anywhere else. That was a comedy/parody story though :P)
Town full of libraries (Oh the joy :D )

Please note that I haven't taken the time to really read any of your novel, so if anything doesn't fit at all, that's why. :P Bad me, giving advice like that

no no no, it doesn't even matter! I want totally unobstructed thoughts, here, so honestly, the less you've read, the better. <3

:D Falcons and trained birds would work really well in Ausold or Helvygon...
The beasts of burden in my novel are parychs, deer-like creatures with rabbit ears. It stands to reason at least one town would breed them...
Polygamy-- duh on me for not imagining this must happen somewhere in my world--
A wandering town... that may have to be a sub-plot of some kind, perhaps I could wrap it in with the overhanging religion of my story...
Short folk... well... :D I'm not sure that would work in my plot, but I'll plunk it in with the coastal peoples of Gaeku or Albene, as they're separated from most -- perhaps short and sturdy, but rich in culture and know-how~ hobbit-like!
And libraries... well, I think Albene with its merchantfolk and rich libraries has that! <3

Thank you for the insight! I'm seeing so much more now than I did before.

Yay I helped ^^ And it's even 2 am and I should have gone to bed hours ago ^^;

what about one of them being very pet friendly, like in france? or being a renowned place to find/see/get exotic animals
a musical town, where there's always music and/or song and dance, 24/7
a really laid back town, and one that's all hustle-bustle everywhere
one where everyone where a certain type of clothes (i.e. kilts or togas x3)
majorly advanced one, in agriculture or something (maybe they're known for aquaculture?)
noticeable speech patterns? (like a heavy bostonian accent or lisps)
one where you're not allowed to have weapons, or one where everyone's expected to have one
one with higher-than-average intelligence, where everyone talks like a dictionary x3
ok, i think that's all i can think of for now x3

just gonna spout out idea of what ya can have that pops to mind... a plateau with a lush forest on and around it. and another that just popped in my head in sure its not suitable for anywhere but a volcanic desert. meaning its like most deserts but it has a one or more volcanoes in the area that are semi active and there may be veins of glass where the magma comes close to the surface. ya asked and i just said what popped in my mind well take care eather way

P.S. I loled so much at that interview ^^

Hmmm. Well I do a ton of world building. and this is the sort of thing I have to do all the time. You get a system.

1.) What people first settled the area?

2.) What sort of resources to they (in the majority) extract for income/sustenance?

3.) What is the local food dish? (Not that they eat just one thing, but the food that they are known for by others)

4.) What unique festivals do they have, due to history?

5.) How big is the town now?

6.) how prosperous is it? What is their volume and type of trade, and taxation?

7.) How high up the social ladder are the local leadership?

8.) Are they welcoming or xenophobic? (Related: Culturally are they insular and backward, or cosmopolitan and on the societal cutting edge< or even a cultural definer for ttheir area?)

9.) any Rivalries/Hostilities with Neighbors? Level of military preparedness?

10.)size/perniciousness of criminal Element

Give one a massive clock tower and have everyone in town be completely preoccupied - obsessed even, with the passage of time.

You could have a town that had access only to a particular type of wood or rock and it makes it almost entirely the same color on the outside. For example, white wood and marble together. In my head, it gives epic look like Minas Tirith in Lord of the Ring. XD

Roof design is something that's quite easy to differentiate a town, we take it for granted, but the simply slant roof can have many designs. Not only that shingles can be as varied as anything. Do they have spire peak roofs with slate shingles, Gentle sloping tiled roofs. Flat tar roofs with drains in the middle. It's a large backdrop since many of the buildings will have the same roof "style" to match a pattern in these small old world villages and town. You can set the mood quite easily with something bright and cheery or dark and ominous.

I wanted to say things but then you showed me a video of neil gaiman and I squee'd, and all my ideas went away.

Lets see, what can I think up. Now please forgive me if I foul something up in your novel or put something out there that just won't work. I haven't read it so I'm just throwing anything I can come up with out there so you have a springboard ready to use.

Riehelia's Rest
-secluded city of thinkers/monks
-buildings adorned with natural elements (door frames carved to look like branches) or possibly buildings that are actually grown.
-built around some sort of sacred land mark (giant crystal formation, ancient ruined tower, the tomb of Riehelia, etc.)

Enos
-harbor town, full of fishermen
-one of the rougher towns/cities you could visit in Epoch
-once known for amazing ships, but they never replanted any of the trees cut down

Figured those two places could use a bit of help, they didn't have anything in your little illustration.

There are some really good ideas in this thread already, I'll throw in a few that I didn't see above. You can pick and choose characteristics at your whim. Feel free to change them up, alter them, or not use them. I just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

The Slumbering Ones
- a quiet town/city with a population that seems to be almost afraid of its own shadows. While they wont say why to any casual passer-by, they are in fact taking care of an ominous set of creatures that lay sleeping beneath the foundation of their land. Failure to keep the creatures happy leads to an uprising in which the towns children are stolen away into the darkness, never to be seen again.

The Springs
- Hot springs beneath the city have been harnessed into a source of power that provides an unusual amount of sophistication in technology. They possess rudimentary machines and conveniences not often seen in the world thanks to the harnessing of the steam power. Of course there are always problems with natural sources of energy. Sometimes the springs super-heat and blow out parts of the city, and other times they cool, leaving the sophisticated machinery they power almost entirely useless.

Dearly Departed
- The people of the city were so terrified of death, that they discovered a way to keep remnants of the dead bound to the normal plain indefinitely. The village is shrouded by a massive canopy so that the light doesn't disperse the ghosts that roam the streets of the city, constantly searching for a way to free themselves from the mortal plain, but bound by the magics of the city who doesn't want to let the past go.

Utopia
- Everything seems great upon entering this city. The streets are perfectly clean, the houses are all neatly aligned in rows, and everyone you meet has a smile on their face, but there is an obvious tension in the air. As it turns out, the government has strapped down a bit hard, and has made EVERY offense punishable by death, and the laws are all inclusive. Even complaining about the laws can get you killed. Worse yet, their are guards posted INSIDE the gates, to keep people from leaving the city. The governing parties themselves, of course, do not need to follow all of their own rules, and have created an inner circle of debauchery, sexcapades, and hedonistic living that only the rich and privileged can partake in.


Those are a few ideas. :D

Here are some questions I ask myself when I'm designing towns/cities/countries:

Are the people polite or blunt?

Is the town clean or dirty? If it's clean, do the people get pissed if you happen to mess up some display or drop something and forget about it? If it's dirty, do the people just throw whatever on the ground and forget about it? Are there broken glass bottles all over that could get stuck in the bottom of your shoes?

Do they have their own language other than the common language that they talk in when a stranger is around? Do they have lots of slang that no one outside the town would understand (like people that live in Great Brittan)?

Do the different parts of society live in different places? Like the rich living on top of hills while the common folk live near the base of the hills.

Does the town pride itself on making certain foods better than anywhere else? If you walk into any bakery or eatery in the town will you find one type of delicious corn bread that no one anywhere else can seem to match?

Are there stern laws about how buildings/properties have to look or what sorts of places can't be next to each other?

Are the people obsessed with a certain symbol of the town like a flower or a family crest that seems to pop up everywhere?

Do the people in the town touch each other a lot? Pat each other on the back, grope playfully? Or are they concerned with personal space to the point that they get unusually angry if you bump into one of them?

And lastly, how popular are the arts in the town? Are there lots of places to see shows? Do they have lots of gormet restauants? Are performers revered and well supported. If it's a town that is all about art and performing, do lots of wannabe artists end up pan handling in the streets because people come from everywhere to try and make it big in that town?