WHAT THEY BUILD AND WHERE they build their cities on the plain where the large fields nearby make supply easy they build them in the foothills that catch the rain that falls in predictable seasonal patterns where good stone for building lies close by they build them on rivers that enable trade they put them on the coast for the plentiful fish and the long journeys possible if you are brave enough in arid places half-desert they have found the soil to be rich if irrigated and in complete deserts they have built great cities that last as long as the water can be brought in in the center of grasslands that go for thousands of miles the blue above the shades of green and brown below they build where the great road splits decorated cities filled with music home to scholars who rely on the travelers they have built cities high in the mountains cities on islands cities in swamps cities where winter is long cities that only know summer cities with walls with canals with buried wires cities bored into the rocks of ancient gorges hell they are now even planning cities for the air made of machines incapable of coming back to earth
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