![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
REALITY: Other Cities
|
BASICS 01 - Premise 02 - Rules 03 - FAQ 04 - Taken List 05 - Applications 06 - Reserves OOC 07 - Calendar 08 - Mission Control 09 - CR Meme 10 - Hiatus/Drops 11 - Player Contact 12 - Mod Contact WORLD 13 - History 14 - The Matrix 15 - Reality 16 - Zion Defence Grid 17 - Uploads 18 - Recruitment 19 - NPCs COMMS 20 - Info 21 - Network 22 - Logs 23 - Memes 24 - OOC |
▶ OUTPOST CITIES There does not exist a city that matches Zion in grandness, but population growth and dissenting opinions have meant that smaller towns of civilian and militant natures have blossomed over the world. Some have their own form of governance, but do not possess the same military might and influence as Zion, which is the first significant human settlement closest to the machine's own city, named 01, and thus dictates the shape of humankind's resistance. ▼ KOSALA Officially the second largest settlement, Kosala lays heavier emphasis on civilian population and production, and shares Zion's military defenses. In return, they trade food and cloth and medical supplies -- while Zion is self-sustaining, Kosala's ability to provide has allowed them to thrive even more. Kosala is also the breadbasket for other, smaller settlements. Many civilians who live in Kosala consider their city to be the true sign of humanity's rebirth, with its low militerisation and its establishment of trade. While it does not have its own military force, and Zion sends patrolling hovercraft or responds to distress signals as they happen, they do have some of their own ships with which to help defend their borders and free unplugged humans. Its governance is dictated by Zion's council, with a handful of elected officials who regularly meet with the Council and speak of Kosala's needs. Kosala has similar infrastructure to Zion, but instead of a defensive upper layer, the docking bays form a perimeter around the main city, which is only a few layers deep. Mountainous terrain directly above them provide defensive support against tunneling, but the machines have never directly attacked them, perhaps considering them a part of Zion's domain. Their main conflicts include smaller run-ins with machines outside but close to their territory, and human pirates intercepting their trading. It is also a city that tends to be conservative against newcomers that aren't there to simply provide defense on their behalf, leery of overcrowding in a way that is contrary to Zion's own more culturally opened armed reception. ▼ IRKALLA A defensive military outpost turned pirate, Irkalla is a place of deserters and traitors thanks to a violent take over some decades ago. Zion had attempted to reclaim it, but as expected, Irkalla was supremely hard to breach -- just as they'd intended when they built it. The Council finally withdrew claim in an attempt to broker peace, for the human race could never afford to be so divided as to cost human lives, and encouraged Irkalla to develop a leadership of its own and come to the table with them. It never did, or at least, never for long. People of significance came and went, usually a case of who had the bigger stick, and so the Council declared an embargo. Irkalla was free to exist peacefully and if they managed to do so without incident for long enough, then they could resume lawful trading, and predictably, this never happened either. While they have some life sustaining-systems in place, Irkalla depends on piracy, which depends on pirates. What non-crew population exist there are largely cut off from the rest of the world, and Zion has limited word on their living conditions. What To Do About Irkalla is the topic of many meetings, with some pushing for another attempt to invade it both out of military and human interest, others supporting halfway measures in more aggressive arrests of rogue ships, and many declaring that their focus must remain against aggressive machines, not other people. Its structure was never meant to support an independent population. It has a surface level docking station with massive mechanical gateway structures (known collectively as the Shield) and a bristling array of surface-to-air weapons systems (known collectively as the Sword), and below that, more docking stations from underground tunnels which are similarly well defended. These systems suggest central control, but it seems as though those who flip the switches are under the oppression of a league of ship captains of common interest. ▼ ANTIOCH Antioch began as an extension of Zion, a mining settlement devoted to meeting supply. Workers would bring over their families, and new families would form, and soon, it sustained within itself a separate civilian community that was a generation removed from its Zion roots. Independence was mutually agreed upon with the establishment of trading treaties, similar to the defense for produce system established with Kosala. There is a secular feel to Antioch's population, and a spartan simplicity to day to day living. Everyone is a miner, or the children of miners. If not a miner, then a factory worker or perhaps an engineer, or of the supplementary workforce of medics and other necessary roles. The city as a whole has a union that deals with Zion's Council, but policy hasn't shifted since its independence and remains a reliable resource. They allow people to come and go, but if you're going to come, then you had best work. It also produces ships and ship parts, machinery, weapons, and other hardware, which means Antioch itself does not necessarily hurt for defense. It has its own life sustaining farms, but generally requires supplementary resources from Zion and Kosala. It does not cause problems politically, but there is a black market undercurrent Irkalla feeds into and the occasional dispute with Kosala that sometimes arises. ▼ OTHER HUMAN SETTLEMENTS The three cities above, along with Zion, can all be described as the four major hubs of self-sustaining human life, but a myriad of smaller settlements are scattered across the continent that depend on Zion for defense, and Kosala and Antioch for resource, or might even have a black market share with Irkalla. One of note is a coastal, surface-based hydroplant, known as Vintr, and another is an underground fate-based monastery known as Etham that is hugely dependent on the kindness of bigger settlements to survive, and is usually honoured with gifts as a holy place. These places have frequent run ins with machines, particularly should exploration deviate towards territory considered to be under their control. ▶ 01
All land above ground should be considered enemy territory, but the known global power, central to machine kind, is its first city, known as 01. This city was built before the war when divisions rose between mankind and machine, and it became its own economic powerhouse, having developed much of the technology humans still use even today, such as hovercrafts. During the war, it withstood nuclear bombardment and has only flourished since dominating the human race. It runs on nuclear fusion and the outlying energy fields of plugged in humans. Getting into 01 is a near impossible feat, let alone staging an offensive attack. It is also said that the mainframe computer that possesses control over the most of the machine race, known as Deus Ex Machina, resides within its well defended borders. ▶ MAP  ▼ ALL TRAVEL TIMES INDICATE HOVERCRAFT TRAVELLING IN A STRAIGHT LINE AT TOP-SPEED (155mph/250kmh)
|