Ring System

The Ring System is one of two traditional styles of demesne planning that develops once there is enough populuation density to require organization to ensure all beings who live within its borders has their own space and ability to get what they need, whether be that by farming, by education so they can take part in the larger society, by access to the government that rules them, or by access to clothiers and other makers who allow them to make their lives more colorful, or in some cases, better able to defend themselves.
This system appears more frequently in demesnes where there is a signifcant population that is concentrated in one area rather than being more dispersed throughout the demesne, and while there are variations in the design, there is a general structure that can be agreed upon by people comparing the structures each demesne chooses.

Central Hub

The Central Hub consists of the ruler's residence, along with the other offices and buildings where those who help them to rule the demesne live and do their work for the Ruling Party. In some cases, all of these things exist in a castle, or are spread out like a villa with a central courtyard, but regardless of the shape this residence takes, but as long as all the necessary people can live and do their work there, it qualifies under this classification.
It is always open to those from the outer rings of the demesne to enter, as most healthy Courts maintain an open-door policy where people populating the demesne have the right to express their grievances to those who are ruling them. Even less healthy governing situations like to put in place the semblance of such a situation to delay the day when it will be made clear to outside authorities, such as the Tribunal, that the appearances they put forward was not the same one the people they govern see on a day to day basis.
Many rulers, in less stressful times, also cultivate gardens, libraries, or other places where the people can walk without being disturbed, such as the aforementioned courtyards, even if they have their own private garden others aren't allowed access to. While in some cases, such as Stiwen, the pleasure gardens for the rest of the popluation exists in the central ring, many like to keep those gardens close to the Central Hub.
It is thought they do this to limit the number of times they are required to leave their residence, which would put them in danger from those who disagree with the decisions being made at the seat of power.
In the case of those who do, in many cases, those rulers are the ones who like to meet with and interact with the people on their terms frequently instead of forcing them to come to the Central Hub to have their grievances addressed.

High Ring

Just outside the first wall that separates the Central Hub from the next layer of the demesne, sometimes situated physically lower than the Central Hub, is the High Ring. This is largely a residential area with large homes for people who have gained status either through merit or by fiat.
These streets are generally paved, sometimes with stone, and fancier magic transport that might not be found in other parts of the demesne are used here. The same can be said of the technology that runs the homes here, and there can be found in the large homes some of the more exotic pets that are more difficult to find or in some cases, tamed out of the wild.
It is questionable how much such a thing is possible, but there is also the rarified few who claim such a thing is possible.
Aside from the residences there are high-end shops that cater to the people who live here. They charge far more gold (or whatever currency/bartering system each demesne has in place) than might be found elsewhere in the demesne, and for this reason, many people like to venture out to the Center Ring where the prices are better before bartering, and the merchant takes a good bartering session as part of the pride they take in their task.
There is no bartering in the shops located here, as they are for those who do not venture outside of their rarified sphere, whether by choice or necessity. Many of the merchants who have permanent shops in the High Ring will say it takes more coin to operate here, so of course they must charge more. Many who live here consider the upcharge a convenience fee, and as many families who live in the High Ring have the currency to pay the upcharge, they shrug and do so.
However, not all families who live here are as advantaged as the stereotype would suggest, but as there is pride in living in this section of the demesne, they find ways to make it work, even if it is only an attempt to hold on to former glory the family no longer possesses, or it is the last remaining thing their predecessors left them.
The latter cases frequently get grouped in with the first, and treated the same by much of the population. It is for this reason why it is sometimes seen as a curse to be gifted one of the residences in this strata.

Interior Ring

The next strata in the Ring System is the Interior Ring.
Unlike the previous area, this Ring has very little residential space, and that which does exist only does so only for the Mentors and Master Craftspeople who have turned their homes into partial training faciilities and schools for those who study there.
In the educational sector of this area, there can be anything from larger schools where multiple Mentors and Masters have banded together to cultivate a cirriculum suitable to the people who have been chosen to study in the primary castes, to individuals who are experts at their crafts who have taken on either a single mentee or a handful of talented people to teach a particular skill.
Warrior-caste people are frequently taught their skills in this latter fashion, as are the Mage-Gifted. The former needs the room provided by the Interior Ring's proximity to the Wild Ring to prevent more accidents from occurring simply from being too close together with sharp blades and notched arrows. The latter needs the proximity to the Source in order to learn how it affects and occasionally overpowers their magic.
Frequently in the larger demesnes, there is a scroll-filled library in this section where the Scholars learn and maintain the demesnes history on the off-chance an emergency situation happens that threatens the communal knowledge that has been a part of every Eisan's connection to the world since they day they stepped out of Terra into this world they had created.
Having the protectors of the Realm being trained near the Wild Ring provides protection from the large open-air markets that have taken over the space that exists between the force-fields (or walls, in some cases) between the High Ring and the Educational sector. The food stands also provide sustenance in exchange for protection from the Wild, and occasionally from the Other Rings, by those who are being trained there.
Further complicating the security issues inherent in the Interior Ring is the frequent incursion of the wild places into the market proper. In addition, many of those who have booths at the market have incorporated the wildness into their booth design, so measures to protect the market and the people who shop there are frequently in flux.

Wild Ring

Some scholars believe the Wild Ring is the oldest part of the demesne, as it is the location of the elemental Source that powers all the magic that keeps the beings that populate Eisa alive.
The form this Source takes depends on the primary element powering the demesne. Frequently in Earth-based Courts, the Source exists as a clearing in the middle of an old growth forest, or dispersed between the wildflowers growing in an open field. Water-based Courts may have an open lake in the center of a wooded grove, or a river that cuts through the Interior Ring and the Low Ring.
Little is known of Fire-based or Air-based Courts, except the scholars know from their records that these Courts exist. It is believed most Fire-based Courts are aquatic ones, based around an undersea vent. There are rumors of Courts that exist in areas that have an ongoing pyroclastic flow, but there are no proof to those rumors. Air-based Courts may have formed in the higher altitudes, but as in the case of the Fire-based Courts, there is no evidence one way or another.
In some instances, there are demesnes that have a blended presentation between two or more elements.There are rumours suggesting those places where multiple elements existing side-by-side in the Wild Ring were located closer to the Founding, but as in the cases of the Fire and Air based Courts, there has thus far been little evidence supporting it.
These demesnes being scattered throughout Eisa provides further room for doubt in these claims, but the investigations continue.
Within the Wild Ring itself, many people treat the space as a location where they can come and commune with the Source.
However, in the past, the Source also served to protect people in danger from an enemy within the demesne. In this respect, it is considered something of a demilitarized zone where they can seek refuge until the allies they have called to help resolve the situation can locate them.
This aspect of the Wild Ring has made it possible for Conspirators to devise plans to exploit the very Source they were standing in the vicinity of. This is a situation that is being discussed across multiple Courts, but it remains a sensitive and complicated issue to resolve. The other aspects remain vitally important to the morale of those who live in the demesne.
The Wild Ring continues to be a place where everyone is welcome no matter who they are.
Thus far, the only answer that works for the short-term is to work with the Sylvan Guard to keep an eye on the sort of people who seek out the Source, and make sure nobody enters while intending harm to the Realm.

Low Ring

The Low Ring is also referred to as the Portal Region.
This name came about in the early years after the Founding, when the mages formed agreements with the Wild Portals where those portals would allow for regular transportation between the islands that became the demesnes that people were living on in exchange for those who use their services provide a small measure of Power so the portals could continue to thrive.
As such, they were stationed early on between the Wild and the residential areas of the Low Ring so the portals could take advantage of the magic easily flowing between both.
When the circumstances changed so the wild spaces shrunk down to the Ring size seen in modern demesnes, and the agreements those original mages had made were forgotten about, some of the portals were moved to more outlying areas in the Low Ring where they had less access to the people. The portalsmyths those originial mages became have been struggling with those portals ever since.
In the Courts where those agreements were remembered in full, social areas and merchants who sought a more permanent location than they could get in the Interior Ring's open-air market set up in the vicinity, and as long as there is no further magic imbalances affecting the nearby portal, the interaction between the people and the Portal runs smoothly.
On the other side of the portal, the design of the Low Ring takes shape.
Each demesne has a different design in this region, so it is difficult to generalize, as much depends on the size of the population living in any particular demesne. Many of the designs were taken from the old memories of the places they had once lived on Terra, so the city planning is based on what design makes the dominant group the most comfortable.
For example, Ostana was a small Court whose people had come from a small village when they stepped out of the world, so there are many similarities to how a similarly sized village would have been arranged in Central Europe, with the portal on the outside of the residential area. Despite this, the residential area has not cut itself off from the portal, so they don't have some of the usual problems expected in such a situation.
Stiwen on the other hand, has the same population one might expect from a small city, with neighborhoods and clusters of domicles where the people who live within that cluster are more comfortable with the other people who live within that cluster rather than others who might live in a disparate cluster they haven't spent as much time in the vicinity of. Within the clusters, there is the possibility for small pockets of the Wild to form in between clusters, which further works to separate them from each other unless they make a concerted effort to be more involved with each other.
In larger, more urban areas, each building in the Low Ring contains multiple chambers being wholly self-contained spaces so they can accept more people into the demesne before the limitations on the space available for new people mean they can take in no further people, and have to turn them away when they attempt to join the community.
Smaller communities have the equivalent of single-family homes, and while there are some echoes of the residential areas that exist in the High Ring, it is on a much smaller scale. There might only be enough rooms for there to be a single room for the family as a whole, a kitchen, and a privacy chamber, or there might be two or three rooms to guarantee each family member has their own space rather than being forced to share, but given limited resources, there is no guarantee.

Controversies of the Ring System

As with most things, there are debates as to the best system for the people who live within it, and these conversations force change, even if it takes years for those changes to come about.
The biggest debate about the Ring System among the people who live within it is about the location of the portals. As most people are unaware of the agreements that were made with the Wild Portals to gain their cooperation, all most people see is the location of the portals out amonst the people of the Low Ring indicates how much value the Royals/Coalition place on the populations under their rule. Long before the danger reaches the Wild Ring, which is well capable of defending itself against unknown forces, or the Warrior Caste trainees on the other side of the Wild more capable of defending against whatever danger comes through the portals, unlike most of the people who live within the Low Ring.
That is what leads some Rulers to redesign the structure to fall closer to the Spoke System, although in recent history it has taken great strife to force the Ruler in question to make such a move. Arannia was such a case where this occurred.People are also discussing what is being termed 'the Exile problem'.
Especially within demesnes who have a Royal leader, there is a tendency that when a family in their service falls into disfavor for any reason, those people are frequently exiled to the Low Ring and left to fend for themselves.
The primary problem, especially in larger demesne that might not have space except along the farthest edge of the Ring, is that it leads the presumptive rulers of the area scrambling to find a place where those people can be housed. Sometimes, a family who has lived within and served their communities in the Low Ring for many years are forced out to find a new place to live, as there is no means of expansion currently known for the demesne as a whole.
Resentment has built up in demesnes under these circumstances, and in particularly dire circumstances, people have been known to leave Eisa as a whole and attempt to blend again with the magical communities in Terra, which brings its own set of problems.
There is no easy answer to these problems, and the long-term solutions currently involve open communication and education for either of these controveries, but they continue to be discussed in the interim.