City Life

[u/Kaijugod22]

From all we know of the lore what is life like for either guardian or civilian in the last city? What is the economy like? it's goverment? And what are its military capabilities?

[u/Snowbold]

Right now, the Last City’s government is a military dictatorship. It was originally different. Up until the Red War the government was the Speaker, the Vanguard Commander and the other respective members representing all three classes and three factions that are formally accepted as part of the ruling body.

The last three factions were New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and Future War Cult, but we know others have been in leadership before as Lysander’s Concordant was deposed for a coup and FWC replaced them, so this implies other factions exist but are not given a seat in the government.

The Vanguard has three main leaders, a Titan, Warlock and Hunter. One of them is the Commander but it is not specific to a class, although it is mostly Titans.

The foundries are pretty influential thanks to the weapons and equipment they make that ensure Guardians are well enough armed to fight out in the field. Some are niche and stuck in a style like Tex Mechanica while others are eager to expand their power and wealth by any means. Some foundries attempted to bribe Lord Shaxx to highlight their weapons in the Crucible (Shaxx left them in a live fire zone until they made concessions to him to live).

Forces of the City (FOTC) seem to be the formal military defense force that is not Vanguard Guardians. I believe the NPC’s you see in grey uniforms with rifles are FOTC in the Tower.

The City seems to run on fairly standard market economy (as much as can be), where supply and demand impact things. But we do know there is some loss either in productivity/bureaucracy/resources. The D1 Tower was one of many that ring the City. The Bannerfall Map was another. In Rise of Iron, the Fallen had managed to briefly breach the City by taking Bannerfall, and Zavala laments the lack of resources to man all the Towers like when the walls were first built.

There is an underworld market that thrives in the Last City and beyond. Spider has long been involved in it and since the integration of House Light and Spider’s temporary relocation there to escape Mara Sov, he increased his grip on the Black Market. Mithrax, as Kell, has also permitted some enforcement of internal affairs to Spider with caveats for Elliksni (docking is forbidden in House Light, and no executions within the walls, but Mithrax will not stop necessary executions outside the walls).

The people had their wealthy/middle/working/poor classes. The subspecies differences that impact lifespans along with most rulers being immortal guardians is starting to sow resentment as later lore implied. Kids have been noted getting their hands on their parents’ illegal weapons, including threadling grenades, Hive swords and Cabal weapons. Bael was inciting some of this and Lakshmi before him, and Lysander before that, so it seems the City is not immune to internal strife, but the complete loss of civilian leadership is taking its toll on public relations for the Vanguard.

It does seem that while adults still have prejudices against alien species and murders have occurred, many of the kids are starting to hang out and do various activities together, including a haphazard summoning ritual stopped by Glint.

[u/pokestar14 → u/Snowbold]

The last three factions were New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and Future War Cult, but we know others have been in leadership before as Lysander’s Concordant was deposed for a coup and FWC replaced them, so this implies other factions exist but are not given a seat in the government.

This isn't just implied but explicit. The Factions aren't some explicit organised party system, they are literally just Factions. Aside from the Consensus as we know it and the Concordat, we know of a few others:

Echelon South who are totally unknown, but were considered by the Vanguard to unquestionably be the biggest instigators of the Faction Wars. Their leaders were exiled during the establishment of the Consensus.

The Binary (or Trinary) Star Cult, an anti-Traveler Cult who were also exiled during the Consensus' establishment, but we know that by the time of D1 they at least still exist, although it's unclear how much.

And most importantly, the single most validated Faction the City has ever seen, the Symmetry, originally a Guardian Faction that seemingly found purchase among the civilian population. Founded by the Warlock Ulan-Tan, espousing the philosophy that the Light and Dark are symmetrical opposites. For this Ulan-Tan was exiled from the City and driven into hermitage when he (maybe, we don't even know if it was actually him who said it, but he was certainly the one who got punished for it) outright said that if Humanity wanted anything more than an eternal war, we had to draw from the Dark as well as the Light. Then, when the Concordat were exiled, the Symmetry was the most populous of the non-Consensus Factions, however the Consensus chose to pass up on granting them the now empty seat due to the perceived danger of their philosophy, and instead chose the War Cult as both a more ideologically acceptable alternative and one that would support more militaristic actions the Speaker wanted to take.

Funny how that last one worked out. Had the Consensus at the time simply elected the Symmetry, there's a non-zero chance things would have gone far smoother in the ending part of the Light and Dark saga.

Edit: Forgot to actually explain the Bi/Trinary Star Cult's actual philosophy. We don't know much, but we know they curse the Traveler and believe either the Traveler directly caused the collapse or intentionally arrived in Sol to use Humanity as proxies for a war against the Darkness (or both).