Why Cities Form Where They Do

Geography, Magic Nodes, and Divine Intention — the hidden forces that pull civilization into place

The merchants call it the Crossing. It was a flat shelf of land where three rivers met, unremarkable in every way except one: it is the only place for sixty miles where you can ford all three in a single afternoon. There is no fort here, no royal decree, no founding myth. There is only the water, and the mud, and ten thousand people who needed to get t…