List of Settlements
From Dragon Eye Atlas
For the purpose of this atlas, settlements have been divided into several categories:
Cities[edit]
Cities are the largest settlements, but their main discriminating factor is that they have a local government structure and can pass their own laws. Most cities have a wall or other fortification and at least one market. They are typically a local center of economy and politics, and house several thousand or even ten-thousand people.
Towns[edit]
The main feature of a town is that it has a market. Towns are smaller than cities, usually between 500 and 2,000 inhabitants, though the main difference is the lack of local laws - a town is fully under the control and governance of the local lord and its laws are the same as in the villages around.
Villages[edit]
Smaller than towns, and without a local market, villages are rural communities that can be as small as a dozen houses. The peasants will travel to the nearest town for most commerce.
Hamlets[edit]
Even smaller than a village, a hamlet is a small cluster of buildings, and unlike the village has no inns, temples or other buildings that are not directly related to its economic purpose, be it agriculture or mining.
Farmsteads[edit]
Farmsteads are large, individual farms, often inhabited by a single family with its hired hands, sometimes two families. They are often found in isolated places and on grounds not fertile enough to provide for an entire village.