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PerennialRook wrote:

Did who bring any weapons with them?

The Refugies who are going to start the new city

Thank you

Yes, and no.

Most of the weaponry was already owned by the refugees (e.g. the Dragonborn, Ariana, the Dwarves, Jeffers, etc.) There are also a few smiths in the group that can make weapons in a pinch. Any materials that the smiths didn't bring, had to be smelted down from existing equipment.

anything need to be decided about city

Back when the Greyhawk wars left a hole in the Shield Lands, I wrote a campaign for taking it back. My brother, who likes to play Psions (Savaunt, usually), got a hold of a Griffon, found a place to for the party to hole up (high platau with artisan spring at the bottom), and the party began raiding those excellently made roads. Things went entirely too well for them, so they stayed. This changed the campaign.
Keeping to the 'no survivors' policy (no enemy survivors), they were able to free many people and escort them out of the country, or use them to fortify the party's position. He was eventually able to recruit and train enough people to give Iuz's cronies serious problems. Through the use of clerics, wizards, and magic, they were able to make their platau a better refuge. Once they were able to find people to manufacture alchemical fire - and pepper bombs - they were able to make their area, temporarily, more secure.
Their biggest problems were getting Griffons trained. A Griffon that wants to retreat is tough to convince to go back and face a dragon ("C'mon Starfire! He's getting away!"). A Griffon that has decided to attack - because it is seriously disturbed, from constant combat - is also hard to convince that, although tasty, the wizard is well armed and that it's a trap. Also, rolling a 1, while riding a mythical killing machine, could get you dumped or worse ("It looks like 'Brick' has eaten another 'new guy' for nicking his head during combat."). There were few cases when there was a middle ground, but it was great when things went well.
They were able to upset supply lines and pack loot into caches about the countryside ("We've got way-y too much copper and silver, here, and the refugees can only carry so much. . .). They were, eventually, able to hire people full-time for not only their new stronghold, but for other redoubts. When they were offered titles and land for their efforts, they had to think about it.
All thoughts of finding a rod of power was forgotten, until it turned up in someones loot (much, much, later). It was their favorite tactic to pretend to settle a keep or stronghold and then break the new pattern of supply lines and take out the 'new leader' that has come to root them out. Except for a Psion and a Ranger, many NPCs became players (The Ranger was a deranged Griffon, named Brick).
Building and rebuilding can be varied - even temporary- but sometimes people just stop running and set up shop when they are safe enough and have a good line of supply.

Dougan Axehammer wrote:

For the purposes of the new city, I'd like to open the discussion with its theme. The new rules hint that the world is a dark, mysterious place with points of light where civilization exists. So, I think we should incorporate that theme into the new city.

As a point of light, I don't think the city should benefit from a rapid influx of new residents (the previous threads felt a little inorganic to me.) The population should grow very slowly as a rule, only adding a single person here and there. I also don't think that an adventuring class (PC class) would be necessary for starting a town. Any character can fill the role of a leader, and we can always introduce PC classes later. However, it also seems (to me) somewhat inorganic to have some random NPC find some land and have people gravitate towards it.

So I'm thinking that perhaps the city and its residents have already been there for a while, and for some reason they find that they must start anew, such as a cataclysmic event or invasion. Now they must either replant or find someplace new to settle down. Personally I like the idea of some event that levels the city leaving the few survivors left to dig through the ashes hoping to find a way to rebuild over the next few chronicles. Then, in a later chronicle, this same event has caused an sudden, mass of refugees to migrate to the new "point of light" for protection; led by some savior PC class, they all choose to stay to help guard (or oppress) the town.