The Dustbowl

All people are considered equal, there are no lesser jobs even if people have a difference in wealth (a butler is as esteemed as the butler's boss.)

The Court of the People consists of 100 citizens of the city-nation who meet bi-weekly (twice a week) to discuss the concerns of the nations, what improvements should be made, to hear the people's problems, and outline how the nation will run. The nation was founded on the idea that all are equal in stature, --- some just have more responsibilities. All people are taxed equally (5% of their yearly income) and no matter your occupation, sex, religion, ethnicity, or ranking in the rest of the world, you will be treated fairly and with swiftness. (This applies to all visitors, be they runaway slaves or visiting royalty --- which means no parting way on the streets for a procession).

The city is a citadel, walls tower at 300 feet at the lowest point, and 500 at the highest, not counting watch towers which there is one of every thousand yards. The walls are 50 feet thick and consist of overlapping sheets of stone that were moved into place by massive cranes, pullies, and rollers. A special mortar holds the stones so tightly together that it is as if they are one stone. Three main gates enter the city with 6 additional small gates line the walls, each has drawbridges that can be pulled back from the deep moat that surrounds the city and is full of incredibly sharp spikes. Each gate has two portcullises and have a seal, if under siege and the enemy may break through, a mechanism can be activated to drop a sheet of stone behind the gate, sealing the entrance shut for years against outside force. The people inside can retract the stone back above the gate, but the mechanism is incredibly hard to operate and each gate has a special team of 10 engineers to run and operate it.
In addition there are multiple ballistas, catapults, oil cauldrons, and other anti-siege weapons spread out among the walls. Along with this, all citizens in the city are giving military training as part of their schooling and attend scheduled trainings to keep them in fighting shape, ready to defend their city. Along with that, some people are specifically in the army and guard the city day and night, deciding who can enter or exit, defending the gates, and the tunnel entrances.
There are four tunnel entrances to the city, one in each cardinal direction, the West leads to the mines, currently the mines are closed off and unaccesable from the outside, but not all caves have been explored and there could always be a hidden way, this is why the entrance has guards to verify miners identities. In addition the entrance is surrounded by a keep that is prepared to withstand siege from inside or out. The other entrances have similar keeps and guards to check on all who enter or exit.
The East entrance is specifically to the farms where crops and animals are kept, this entrance has linking tunnels from various locations, but most are secured locations are already require a check to enter. Guards here identify any seeking to pass through.
The other two entrances to the underground are pathways, stationed on opposite sides of the city (North and South). They connect to expansive tunnel networks with various entrances throughout the Dustbowls land. These two entrances have larger guard stations with thorough searches of all who would pass through, this is meant to keep out spies, or keep them in so that they can't spread information.

The city-nation is self-reliant and doesn't need anybody else to run, but they mostly trade services, sometimes as mercenaries, or workers, other times as architects (they never reveal how the city defenses work though).

Built in the middle of a desert one would think that the Barrens have little to work with, but they have discovered the hidden elements of the world. They have rich mines far below the ground where they source their ores for weapons, tools, decor, and everything as well as stone for buildings. Free-use wells are on every street corner, drawing from what the people called the River of Life There is a complex system of sewers, garbage disposal, waterlines into houses if you don't want to meet with anybody at the wells (quite a popular way to gather your water). The people have no access to rivers or oceans in the citadel but they have extensive underground networks to travel in comfortable conditions and avoid the deserts rapidly changing climate. These tunnels connect to large but hidden shipyards where barges, skiffs, dinghies, and warships are built side-by-side. In the tunnels are bunkers, smithies, and other buildings, mostly war related, and it is under the city in large caverns that plants grow and animals are raised.

The city is not divided into many districts as typical of other cities, instead everything is mixed together, temples next to shops, homes next to barracks, wealthy next to poor (not that many are "poor"), bakeries next to the tanners, and on and on. Anybody can go anywhere and everywhere, except into people's homes uninvited.

There are many shops, farms, storehouses and silos, and the ground under the city was rich with ores.

There are guilds for the common groups, goldsmiths, iron workers, carpenters, chefs, and the lot.

Ever since its creation the people have fought in wars, always other people's, nobody has dared try to fight them in their home. They have had people fight in 23 different wars.

The entire city is a point of interest because of the uniqueness of its situation, but it's biggest attraction would be the Fountain of Life, which is the largest manmade fountain and it gets water from the River of Life. It stands at 85 feet tall, and is built out of rare silver marble. 
The other point of interest is the People's Museum, it is a massive museum that has sections dedicated to every known kingdom, big or small, past or present, each one has in depth exhibits and experienced professionals to talk about the displays.

People from all over the world visit, they wish to see the major points of interest and try the foods. But these visits are regulated and escorts are a requirement. The escorts are quite nice and double as tour guides and mostly just keep people away from important sites for the city's defense. There is an official inn for any tourists to stay at. It has 300 bedrooms, gyms, pools, and more for the tourists.

The houses are built close together with only a few having yards or small gardens. The houses have exteriors of overlapping stones or bricks and have wooden interiors. The stones vary a lot; limestone, granite, basalt, sandstone is perhaps the most common. Most homes have wooden walls built from Desert Ironwoods or Joshua Trees. One thing that the people are known for is their skill in weaving, they decorate their homes with banners, flags, and custom curtains that can display everything from favorite animals, family crests, to history of the world. These penants hang from window sills, doorways, and on cables strung over roads.

The citadel is built on a large plateau in the middle of an arid desert. Red sands form dunes and there are hidden crevices that may catch travelers off guard. The only water nearby is in the underground rivers and lakes that the people draw their water from. While having a good view, the view just displays red-shifting sand as far as the eye can see.

During the day temperatures in the Dustbowl area can reach 124^o Fahrenheit and at night it can reach the freezing temperature of 17^o Fahrenheit. Any travelling on the surface need to travel quickly with lots of water, travelling the most in the morning. Sand storms happen at least twice a month, they usually break against the plateau or the walls of the city, but occasionally they sweep over the city. Even in the winter the temperatures remain about the same as in the summer.

There are many various stones and ores beneath the city-nation that naturally occur. In the desert around the city are some Desert Ironwoods and Joshua trees. The people have tamed the wild yaks, goats, and sheeps that lived in the desert, they now tend to flocks that they keep in caverns under the city, other animals and crops have been brought in through tunnels to be farmed and used by the inhabitants of the city.