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Post by Maximor on Jun 4, 2018 1:21:02 GMT
The City of Lights
---------------------- Area: Las Vegas, Nevada, and surrounding area Name: The name comes from the brilliant glow of the city at night due to the bright neon signs, billboards, mega screens and what not. History: Las Vegas survived the Aether Wars almost miraculously, it suffered not a single direct hit from the bombing. As a result of this, the sin city continued to thrive and evolve from where it left off as its own independent nation. As technology and science took a progressive step forward, the City of Lights learned how to harness Aether and use it as a power source. Over time the metropolis has greatly increased in scale, it's large buildings look over the city and some of the older preserved ones. Gambling and vice is more prominent than ever thanks to the super casinos that populate the area and shady corporations and families who run them. Not only do they run their own operations, these powerful groups also run the city, controlling things from local utilities to the law. And with time crime has only risen, violence is more prominent than ever thanks to the long developed underworld, the streets are a very unpredictable place to be nowadays, with frequent murders, robberies, and disappearances among other things. Because of the drastic increase in criminal activity, a powerful security company has been established to keep things in line and protect their employers and their property against the other factions up against them, including typical local gangs, an underground extremist organization, and even other corporations and families. The city is chaotic, and it's not uncommon for people to end up as unfortunate casualties caught in the crossfire. Climate: The city and the Mojave Desert are still as hot and dry as they were centuries ago. Very little precipitation occurs within the desert throughout the course of the year. Culture: The City of Lights has maintained it's notorious reputation as Sin City, gambling has remained the most prominent pastime, followed by sex and other vices. The chaos throughout the city has become an everyday thing for locals, most just shrug at the violence that happens on the streets. Economy: The nature of the city hasn't changed much over the many years, casinos still generate most of the revenue. In addition to gambling operations, less official and shadier businesses are run under the table, ranging from drugs to sex rings. The City of Lights is dominated by large business fronts and companies, leaving little room for the few independent and private businesses that exist. Infrastructure: Much of the buildings have been greatly upscaled and the updated city has expanded beyond its original borders. Super casinos and corporate buildings showcase the power of the groups that own them, one such example of this is the Luxor at the heart of the city, which has been greatly expanded with a larger pyramid built over the old one and converted into a headquarters for the security company. Outside of the city underground highways beneath the desert exist due to projects from long ago, some are still quite usable while others have been abandoned. Government: The governing system of the the City of Lights is practically an oligarchy with the most powerful companies and families running the show. The politics of the city are a lot more passive and indirect, though the living standard is quite high the rulers are quite complacent about the majority of the population and their well being as well as public services. They generally have no interest in affairs unless it's something that is affecting them or has the potential to. On the bright side civilians are allowed to own weaponry as means of self defense, so long as it isn't anything too destructive like explosives or railguns. Technology: Due to the progressive steps the city has taken over the course of time it has adapted quite well to the changed world and thrived in terms of tech. Most devices if not all are powered by Aether. Advertising has seen a great improvement, it's not just big screens and neon signs anymore, but holograms as well. Cars are quite uncommon among the average citizens, seeing as many use public transportation. Personal vehicles are easier to find among the rich, ranging from vintage status symbols to more impressive flying cars, which can be used to reach higher entrance points on the neon towers and buildings that can't be reached otherwise. Cybernetics are prevalent within the City of Lights, one out of five people have been augmented in some way, whether it be mechanical or nano tech; non-cybernetic means like pharmaceutical enhancement is also available. Androids are common throughout the city, they can come in a more robotic appearance or one that is indistinguishable from a real living person; each one has a core unit implanted within their body that communicates with a remote server that contains their AI. Military: The closest thing to a military that the City of Lights has is a large and powerful security force employed by the corporations and family to look after their property. The forces are armed with top of the line conventional weapons, high coverage body armor, as well as APCs, armored cars, and even the occasional mech. They have a reputation for their ruthlessness and deadly efficiency. Additionally, some units may be outfitted with exo suits, greatly enhancing the mobility and strength of the trooper. Aggressors: Much of the hostile population is made up of the local gangs, who often prey on anyone who wanders into their territory, though most steer clear of the local security force's and the extremist's war going on. Though not technically a gang, the city features another faction which consists of debtors made into cops by the security force and corporations to pay them back, unfortunately most of them have ditched the idea of being a public servant and would rather act as a thug in a badge with their new equipment, harassing the common folk for more money than they get in their paycheck or just for the hell of it. The underground extremist group in the city can also be considered aggressors, while they don't exactly go out of their way to terrorize the average joe, they have no problem with any bystanders getting annihilated during their acts against the corporations, which has earned them a nasty reputation with the locals on the surface. And finally outside of the city there are bandits and various other gangs that hunt on the roads, though they keep out of the city. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This world is a collaboration between myself and the awesome one and only Ravished Improbability projectcyden.boards.net/user/5I ask that you DO NOT comment on this thread unless you are me or Ravished Improbability, we would appreciate this so we can maintain consistency. If you want to say anything about it, you can do so on the community's discord channel.
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Post by Ravished Improbability on Jan 9, 2019 1:14:24 GMT
Transportation in the City of Light
Transportation is an important lifeline inside a city of over 40-million people. The surface roads are for middle and lower class. They are crowded with pedestrians, personal cars and light commercial traffic for deliveries. The air is for the wealthy. The upper classes can fly around in luxury comfort inside a private VTOL aircar. And underground huge tunnels channel the many tons of cargo needed to maintain the glitz and glamour of the city.
Ground Transportation
With many of the city's residents living inside the mega towers, owning a car and parking spot is a luxury as one can find work, shopping, and entertainment usually within the same tower, and for sure within the nearby towers. It is a rare deviation from the daily routine to travel more than a few blocks from the tower in which they live. Of the tower residents that frequently travel outside, many of them invest in some kind of compact personal transportation system. Briefcase size scooters and folding bikes that could be packed into a backpack are the most common, as these bag size means of transportation can easily be carried on the subway or into a building. Those with some money may have a self-driving AI equipped animal mount or motorcycle from companies like 'The Sphinx and Mermaid' or 'Aphelion Motors' that can park themselves out of the way till needed again. Those looking to travel in comfort and moderate privacy can call for a self-driving taxi to deliver them to their destination. For the majority of the city's residents, the only means of getting around is walking and riding the subways connecting the city's many districts, still there are close to 20-million motor-vehicles within the city.
The majority of private car owners live out in the city's suburbs where the mega tower life-style has not taken hold. Here at the edge of the city, all of a persons needs cannot be found under one roof. For some they live above there place of work, for many they live in townhouses and apartments and travel to work and entertainment, usually at a distance greater than one can easily walk. Food and entertainment is often in a different building, and even if the place of work has a cafeteria or food court the need for variety drives the residents to seek other locations.
The bulk of the transports on the roads are wheeled transports in the form of standard cars and small trucks. The middle class likes them as they are easy to operate, reliable, and well understood. They are sold at reasonable prices, and for those in the towers an affordable luxury to keep stored in one of the cheap robotic underground garage-warehouses. They are easy to maintain with many second hand cars and trucks still driving on the streets over a decade after they left the factory. They are also easy to customize with many mechanic shops able to turn any vehicle into the perfect ride to suit the owner's tastes. With a suitable garage space, the vehicle's owner can install aftermarket parts themselves to improve the vehicles performance or comfort.
Many of the cars on the main strip are rentals in the hands of visitors enjoying the city's casinos. The bulk of the rentals are cars and trucks under two years old, as visitors to the city can afford and expect to drive around in the newest models of cars that fit their taste and budget. These rental cars make up the majority of the city's noncommercial ground transportation. The rental agencies are mostly independent of the casinos and are often enticed by the casinos with lucrative leasing contracts that mutually benefit the rental agency and casino. The deals negotiated in the contracts benefit the casino's guests, as the contracts provide guests extra perks for both staying at the casino and renting a vehicle from the local rental office. These perks include package deals as well as coupons for food and attractions.
As many visitors travel alone or as couples, the rental agencies promote compact four-door sedans and two-door sport models as the best rides to get around the city. The recommendation is not only from the rental companies, travel agencies also recommend the use of smaller vehicles to save time parking. Of course there are plenty of larger vehicles for those traveling with larger groups or need for extra cargo space.
The casino's keycard provides a parking discount for those that link their vehicle with their room, or take their parking receipts to the front desk for reimbursement. Some may even offer a flat daily fee for a guaranteed spot in one of their valet or robotic garages. They may come with a certain number of single use discounts should the client request guest keycards so that an acquaintance can come knocking on their door. Everyone else pays anywhere from a modest charge to steeply depending on the level of security of the garage. Visitors can pay by the hour or for a half day for a slight discount. The cheapest parking is farthest from the door with no security and the legal minimum level of lighting. The best parking are closest to the door with controlled access, bright lights, and high security. The highest security is the valet lot, accessible only by the valets themselves ensuring that no harm will come to your ride during the normal operation of the garage. There are also robotic vending-machine style parking that offer both affordability and security at the cost of slow turnaround in parking and retrieving the car.
Those living in the city can rent a parking spot on a monthly or yearly bases, and be assured that they will have a spot in that garage no matter when they come or go. There also some long-term parking lots that rent spots on a weekly bases for those in town for work or extended stays. Parking garages in the inner city is mostly underground. Outside the city's core where land values are low enough that mid-rise structures are cost effective, multi-level above ground parking garages and hybrid above/below garages are more common than full underground garages. Out in the suburbs, where land values are low, one can find the classic open air parking lots. Most shopping centers offer some form of free or discounted parking for those that validate at one of the service kiosk or purchase something from one of the stores.
Wheeled transports are not the only ground vehicles inside the city. There is a growing market for hovercrafts powered by re-purposed aircar or aircraft engines. They are typically built in private garages to be high performance hot rod machines, with many of the hovercrafts taking part in the quasi legal street races. Not all of them are custom built, and there is a small market for mass production hovercrafts. The mass produced hovercrafts are quite useful for getting anywhere in an out of the city. They are unaffected by terrain, and the larger bodies allow them to carry 4 to 6 people and supplies. The difficulty of keeping larger hovercraft inside traffic lanes keeps them a rare sight outside the suburbs. While the boat like handling of a Hovercraft can lead to trouble inside the city, they are easier to handle than a skimmer.
Ground effect skimmers, or just skimmers for short, are also popular out in the bad lands for sport and as a means of quickly crossing the dangerous desert. They use the same engines as the hovercrafts. They look like aircraft with stubby low slung wings and high mounted engines. They are as fast as aircraft, easily pushing 300-mph, while being cheaper and lighter for a given set of passengers and cargo. Unlike planes though they cannot typically climb higher than 150-meters above the ground, and most have a hard time breaking 50-meters. They can still easily fly over trees, small buildings, and even hills, giving them the advantage of the off road trucks and buggies.
For the best ratio of power, cargo capacity, and off-road capability tracked vehicles are the go to for purely outside the city transportation. They can crawl over loose sand and boulder piles with equal ease. Rubberized tracks make them road safe but under heavy loads they are often to slow to use inside the city except during certain hours late at night when civilian traffic is at its minimum and commercial vehicles are allowed to freely travel the city's roads. Even unloaded they have trouble turning at speed, less they throw a track.
The standard commercial cargo vehicle within the city are multi-axle trucks with 10 to 24 wheels to spread the weight across the ground. The trucks easily travel the wide city streets connecting the warehouses to the many small businesses in the outer districts. The containers and pallets are moved into the warehouses from the cities main cargo network through massive freight elevators rising up from stations connected to the underground road tunnels. A single underground station services an entire warehouse complex.
The final delivery to the customer is often through the use of anthropomorphic androids on the streets or high-flying delivery drones. These remote control androids can walk the streets, or even ride motorcycles to provide a friendly face to the delivery. The androids and drones simple minded machines programmed to safely navigate from point to point through the chaotic streets. They are directed by a centralized AI owned or rented by the company that allows them to perform more complex tasks and interactions with people. Large or heavy deliveries still requires the use of smaller two-axle cars or trucks, and more than one person or android to unload.
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"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Dr. Emmett Brown, 'Back to the Future'
The Skylanes
Not all transportation is limited to the city's streets or ground-effect skimming. For those that can afford it, the skies can be your road. Weaving between the mega towers and even above it are many air-lanes for aircars and personal vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft of the more wealthy residents of the city. The towers feature landing pads and hanger parking for VIP and guest aircars along the sides and on top of the buildings. Larger VTOLs are restricted to flying above city and using the upper most pads as their wide rotors and powerful downward jet wash make them to dangerous for use in the narrow gaps between the towers. The mega towers sometimes have a large hanger for the penthouse owners to store there air limo or personal VTOL.
Air cars are roughly the same size as a normal car or truck when parked with wings and tails folding or other wise collapsing to allow them to be stored in a normal size vehicle parking spot. There is a large variety of air cars from slim single-seat air bikes to huge multi-engine flying limousines with seating for a dozen. The most common are two to four seat flying sedans with typically 4 ducted fans for lift and propulsion.
The bulk of the large VTOLs are hangered at the city's vertiport, or one of the many smaller airfields at the edge of the city. These transports includes classic designs like helicopters and tiltrotors, as well as aircar designs styled like flying buses and SUVs.
For the safety of all within the city, all flying vehicles inside the city limits are under the controlled of an autopilot AI guided around the city by one of the many Flight Control AIs tracking all air traffic around the city. The Flight Controller just assigns and updates routes through the city that should get the aircraft to its destination while avoiding collisions with the many other aircraft. The actual flying is left to the on board autopilot, which uses a combination of data from sensors mounted on the towers and on-board the craft to stay within its assigned lane while avoiding any threats like birds or stray balloons. It is illegal for any civilian to manually fly an aircar of VTOL within the city, sort of a rare case of a manual emergency landing. Emergency Personnel and Security Forces may be given permission to manually guide their craft with AI back-seating for collision avoidance to better handle an emergency or threat.
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The Underground Tunnels
Under the city is a deep multi-layer labyrinth of infrastructure, service tunnels and rail lines. Much of it left over from the original city. The new foundations of the mega towers of the casinos complexes punch deep through the layers of old mostly abandoned infrastructure with their huge multi level basements and deep foundations. Fresh tunnels fan out from the tower's foundation to form a modern network of underground mega roads and tunnels.
The bulk of all cargo in the City of Lights is carried by giant trucks running through the underground tunnel system. The huge underground roads are as wide as highways to allow the trucks to efficiently transports the tons of food and other materials the casinos use on a daily basis without adding to the congestion on the surface roads. The tunnel walls are armored clad to resist damage from the occasional bump and scrape of the thousand ton trucks moving quickly, as well as multi ton armored race cars crashing into them.
The trucks are each 64-feet long, 22-feet wide, and over 18-feet tall with four wheels on each of the five axles to spread the load out. They are configured like trains with control cabs at either end and 3 to 5 powered trailers in the middle. The double ended configuration allows the road train to travel through the underground tunnels without needing to turn around, instead control is transferred to the cab at the rear to go the other way. The wide configuration allows the short cargo containers to be loaded sideways across the truck and trailers, maximizing access to the cargo in the relatively low ceilings and tight confines of the tunnels. The truck cabs can carry 5-containers each on their flatbed, while the trailers can each carry 7-containers. With a full load of up to 35 containers, the trucks can carry can upward of 41-thousand cubic-feet or just shy of a maximum of a thousand-tons of cargo.
Containers and sometimes entire trailers are switched out as the road trains reach each of the underground stations. The loading docks are arranged so that trucks can pull along side, and all the cargo containers are accessible from the dock without fancy maneuvering of containers or loading equipment. An overhead crane or specialized heavy forklift can latch onto the top of the container and slide it over onto a smaller trailer to be moved to its next destination.
The underground roads are also connected to the factories and labs allowing the trucks to move their goods unseen by the general public. The only time the public sees the tunnels is as camera backdrop for sections of the Silver City GPX were the camera is panned to keep up with cars racing at hundreds of miles per hour.
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The public does have access to a network of subway tunnels that allow those not willing to drive or take a taxi to travel with relative ease to different parts of the city for a small fee. Some of the loop lines are elevated above ground to provide scenic views of the city. The subway network offers both express lines to popular stations and regular trains that stop at every station along the route. Most mega towers have a station in their basement, or otherwise share a station with a neighboring tower.
The main stations are large multi-level constructions to provide access to both the loop line and spoke line passing through the station. These stations service a popular destination, like airports, casinos, and major parks. Some may have extra levels to connect to the express lines and even the elevated rails. The interiors of the stations are big productions with large numbers of shops across the multiple floors of the station.
The smaller local stations have only a few shops catering to quick foods and goods for workers and tourists. The size and shops of the station is related to volume of people that visit the station. The more popular the station the more and better the shops. The stations service neighborhoods, shopping districts, and other general locations where people frequent but no single destination is the cause.
The main shuttle line connecting the city to the Alma-Everett International Airport is part of the subway system. Being connected to the main system the shuttles have access to all the main stations including the big casinos. The city runs a few different shuttle trains that make loops between the airport and a handful of casinos. There is also one that runs an express service to a few select stations in the outer city that are close to popular hotels. Visitors wishing to get to other parts of the city can easily transfer over to the main system routes to finish their journey.
There is also an underground rail line connecting the city with Harris McFarland Airport. Their are only three stations connected to this line. At one end of the line is the Troy Station under the airport. At the other is Station 16-N under the city's central spire. At the middle is the Ithaca Station. Most of the traffic flows between Troy and Ithaca stations. The line is mix service carrying both passenger shuttles and cargo trains. The cargo running through this line is high value and express as it is quite expensive to get space on the small high speed trains. The line provides direct access from the city center to the cargo airport. The trains arriving and departing from Station 16-N are armored and windowless to protect its cargoes of high ranking city officials and/or classified materials. These armor trains travel between Station 16-N and Troy Station nearly exclusively with stops at Ithaca Station being extremely rare.
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Airports
The City of Light has four major airports: an international airport to ferry the many visitors to and from the city; a cargo port for the many goods shipped in and out; a vertiport for local aircar and VTOL traffic in and around the city; and an airbase for police and firefighting aircraft to protect the city.
Located inside the city limits is the vertiport where many of the helicopters and larger VTOLs are stored. The vertiport occupies the city's original international airport. As the city grew in size the airport became to small to serve the needs of the city, it was decommissioned for a time. It was kept as a backup airfield encase of issues at the primary airport to the south.
Once the new international airport to the south hit its stride, the small intercity airport was repurposed as a vertiport, and modernized to handle the many different airships and VTOLs operating inside the city. The runways are preserved and well maintained. Two are primarily marked out as landing pads for VTOL operations, while the other two are kept clear for short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft and the longer runway needs of the occasional traditional plane making an emergency landing. All four runways once cleared can easily handle the lift off and landing requirements of the modern airliners in an emergency. The airport has bulldozers on hand should the need to quickly clear a runway occur. They are mostly use for moving stuff around.
The huge wings of the terminal building have been stripped of most of the passenger boarding bridges, commonly known as gangways, and gutted of the miles of baggage handling equipment common of large commercial airports. Hangers have been built in place of the removed gangways, while the passenger lobbies have been converted into individual offices and the lower baggage area turned into storage for parts and tools.
The one section of terminal that retains it's boarding ramps is the section leased by the Emerald Dragonfly, a flying casino. The vertiport serves as the passenger terminal for the massive green and gold hotel and casino airship that has become a permanent fixture in the sky of the City of Light. Smaller airships, styled like golden chariots, are the main means of getting guests to and from the Emerald Dragonfly with ferry flights roughly every 4 hours to shuttle people between the casino and the terminal. They pull up to the gangways to allow easy disembarking and boarding of passengers.
Guests waiting to board one of the shuttles heading up to the flying casino can relax within the posh interior of the terminal wing that serves as a huge lounge and extension of the casino. The lounge allows guests to arrive early and enjoy themselves in comfort while waiting for the next of the 6 daily shuttle flights to the Emerald Dragonfly. The lounge features comfortable seating, live entertainment, and fully stocked bars. The company recommends that you arrive at least forty-five minutes early to ensure your on board for the next shuttle flight up to the casino. Guess are welcome to stay a while in the lounge as well after disembarking from a shuttle. The lounge closes for an hour at 6:30am for cleaning and maintenance before reopening in plenty of time for guess to relax before the next shuttle.
The casino's cargo shuttles operate from both the vertiport and cargo airport to deliver fresh food and other consumables, as well remove waste from the airship for processing. The cargo shuttles are slightly larger and has a ramp at the rear for quick loading and unloading on the ground, and a standard hatch in front to connect it to the airship.
The casino leases one maintenance hanger at the vertiport for minor repairs of its fleet of shuttles. Only one can be in the hanger for repairs, while two can be squeezed into the hanger to shelter from weather. The rest of the shuttle fleet needs to retreat north should severe weather threaten.
The vertiport is the casino's alternate landing site should the primary landing field and maintenance hanger on the spacious grounds of the Harris McFarland Airport to the north be unavailable. For severe weather the airship must retreat to the massive maintenance hanger built to service the Emerald Dragonfly on the grounds of the cargo airport to the north.
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Located 40 miles to the southwest of the city center, Alma-Everett International Airport is the main passenger hub for the city, and provides the main connection to the rest of the world. The modern airport sees an average of 300-thousand passengers passing through its terminals per day, and over 100-million people annually.
The airport is huge with seven runways arrayed out to handle the many arrivals and departures from all over the world. Four of the runways are angled in parallel pairs to handle flights serving the north east, the other three are aligned horizontally east to west for international and cross continental flights.
The airport has 5 huge terminal wings on the main building located at the center of the U shape arrangement of runways as well as a sixth independent terminal building the west side for the irregular arrival and departures.
The airport's runways are equipped to handle any kind of passenger aircraft from small business jets to the newest models of jumbo jets. The airport is not designed to handle airships, those should land at the vertiport inside the city or at one of the airship fields at Harris McFarland Airport.
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Finally, furthest away from the City of Light and largest by area, is the Harris McFarland Airport that keeps the city supplied. The massive cargo service airport was constructed in the open desert 60-miles northwest of the city near the town of Mercury to serve as the landing field for the huge cargo airships and giant cargo jets that carries the thousands of tons of cargo needed to keep food and money flowing through the City of Light.
The airport has three runways, and acres of apron space to unload, refuel, and load the many cargo planes. The airport also has many more acres of compacted and paved desert to handle airships. The airships have approach and departure corridors to keep the slow flying ships out of the way of the faster jets coming in to land or taking off.
The airport looks more like a container port and rail yard for the transhipment of containers and other cargo, except the ships fly and the railcars ride on double tracks. The giant cargo planes and airships flying in and out of the airport carry so much cargo that it stacks up in nearby container yards, fields, and underground warehouses. Approximately 750-thousand tons, or approximately 20,000 containers for the region pass through the airport a day. Much of it in the form of raw materials imported and finished products shipped back out. About half that cargo is trade from the city itself. The rest moves to the other towns in the region.
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The old military airfield to the northeast is preserved for use by the city's police and fire departments aerial response forces. The air base is modernized with many new hangers, bunkers, and general buildings added house the personnel and equipment. The airports two runways are kept busy with routine patrols and training flights. The air base can scramble its planes and VTOLs quickly in the event of an emergency.
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There are also many small airfields around the city's edge. Some are home to fleets of ground effect craft used to travel over the desert around the city. The rest are home to a variety of small to medium planes and VTOLs. They typically have one or two runways sized for small private jets.
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Post by Ravished Improbability on Mar 20, 2019 23:41:26 GMT
Food in the City of Lights
While most of the City of Lights' food is imported through the airports, a fair amount of the food is grown locally in large greenhouses on the outskirts of the city, on ranches outside the airports, and in factory-labs under the city. Home gardening is popular as well to reduce the cost of bringing food to the table, at least for those living out in the suburbs or smaller apartments were they have access to private or communal space for a garden. Many commercial and larger residential buildings feature rooftop gardens to supply the kitchens and shade the roof to reduce cooling costs. Surprisingly, the most into local food production are the mega towers with both large basement farms, rooftop gardens, and even vertical farms and green walls.
The bulk of the locally grown produce and grains are produced out on the city's outskirts in large warehouse sized greenhouses, green-warehouses for short. Many of them are converted from old warehouses were much of the roof is replaced by massive insulated skylight windows and fiber-optic collectors to pump in daylight to the rows and shelves of growing plants. Convex mirrors under the light tunnels and skylights help spread out the natural light evenly across the warehouse, insuring that even plants on the lower shelves get enough light. During cloudy days and nights, efficient blue and red LED growing modules provides supplemental lighting to the plants, and help even out the growth. The green-warehouses are climate controlled to maintain optimal humidity and temperature for growing inside the building. The optimized growing conditions can produced crop yields from 5 to 30 times more than the same crop left outside in traditional soil, chemically fertilized, and exposed to the whims of the sun, weather, and mother nature. The high yields allows the rather small total acreage of farms to produce a lot of food for the city.
The farms inside use a variety of methods from traditional open-fields for trees and other tall growing crops to pallet farming for small fast growing crops to state of the art hydroponics depending on what provides the best cost to yield ratio for the crops they want to grow. The exact method varies as different processes work best for different crops.
Leafy greens and small root vegetables are grown using pallets of soil substitutes that can be stacked up on shelves to maximize growing space within the warehouse volume while minimizing the required harvesting equipment. Root vegetables typically like the drier environment of aeroponics or passive hydroponics, as excessive water can damage the large tasty tubers. While large leafy greens like lettuce can be grown in water gels or even in circulating baths of nutrient rich water as they enjoy the extra moisture. Robotics are quite useful in the indoor growing of rice crops, allowing the rice fields to be stack with minimum overhead above the crops much like small leafy greens. Grains like corn and wheat are grown using more traditional techniques performed by robotics in open fields with the hydroponic medium flowing under the large mats of artificial soil. The farming machines are more advanced and efficient with overhead robots to do the planting and care for the crops. To harvest a large combine with hard light or laser blade easily scythes down the stalks as it rolls on rails from one end to the other without dulling. The blade of light is also used to harvest some types of flowers in bulk, while people and robot arms armed with clippers harvest the flowers that grow on bushes or in clumps. The robotic individual harvesting method is also used for difficult to pick berries like grapes and strawberries, with the machines logging the location and ripeness of each berry and returning to pick them when enough of the crop should of ripen to warrant another pass.
Glass walled control centers provide stations for organic oversight of the farms to insure everything is running smoothly. Doubly so while the robotic harvesting is in operation. They also insure that the machines are shut down before serious damage is done should anything go wrong, and automatic safety protocols fail. The control center is situated to watch over multiple farms, and can manually control all the robotics.
Outside the Alma-Everett international airport are many newly made green-warehouses. These sprawling farms typically use traditional soils, compost fertilizer, and cheap single level fields. The covering greenhouses allows the farmers to control temperature, recycle the expensive water lost to evaporation, and reduce losses from insects, birds, and other animals. Most farms also provide their crops supplemental lighting.
Most local meats are efficiently produced in lab-like factories were muscle and fat tissues are grown in bulk without the waste of bones or other organs. Other than liver, other organ meats are not easily cloned or synthesized in the meat labs. For meat of a more natural origin, chicken, cows, goats, pigs, sheep, turkey, and other livestock are raised in large ranches built on the low value land out by the Harris McFarland cargo airport.
They are little different from the typical farms of today. Though the living conditions are improved by advances in automation and material science. The livestock enjoys climate controlled barns, self cleaning pens, routine exercise, and better diets. Some farms also grow various fast growing fish and shrimps. The bulk of the local seafood is farmed near the lakes on the east side of the city where water is more accessible. Most of the seafood has to be imported into the city from where they are fished up from natural bodies of water.
The majority of the feed for the livestock is produced by high-tech CCSS style algae farms or high-yield electroprotein bioreactors reversed engineered from destroyed TCA ships. Some biomass is also recycled into the livestock's feed but much of it is recycled into the nutrient baths for the algae and crop farms. The algae and electroproteins are also used to feed seafood and the excess is recycled into fertilizer. The energy dense electroproteins are a common food additive, much like tofu powder, and is also a common base for protein mixes and energy bars.
Shifting focus from the edges to the core of the city, many of the mega towers grow some foods in automated hydroponic farms in their basement industrial areas, alongside the factories and labs. The mega towers can have acres of farms in its subterranean levels. They grow all kinds of crops and may even raise seafood or chicken for meat and eggs. A few towers even invest in raising larger livestock like pigs, goats, or dairy cows. The farm typically grow some staple crop or a specialty crop in high demand in the tower. There is trade between the different towers, as the individual towers focus on production of just a few crops and livestock that would most benefit the food needs of the tower.
The tower's underground is not the only location that food is grown. The large flat roofs of the towers are commonly home to greenhouses and gardens of both food producing and decorative types. Fruit orchards are common, so are green houses One mega tower even has a complete rooftop vineyard for the production of a local blend of wine. It is not uncommon to landscape the roof to serve as an attraction or park for the tower's many guests.
Some towers display their industrial sized farms openly. The green focused towers have one or more large vertical farms built into their structure, alongside the offices and apartments. In some of the buildings the farm is a greenhouse built into the outer walls. Others wrap the residential and commercial floors around a central vertical greenhouse atrium. These towers typically feature lush green balconies and skyways, and often a terraced garden across the sloped roof. Some feature large greenhouses or arboretums.
Small apartment and commercial buildings feature light weight greenhouses for vegetable gardens to provide fresh food for the kitchen. Larger buildings dedicate some of their roof area to decorative flower gardens for their residents to enjoy. These larger buildings have the roof area to spare for trees, so plant small to medium size fruit trees or decorative trees for shade as well as fresh fruits.
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Food on the Dinner Table
How the food is made is only half the story. There is also how it gets to the table. Specially at the end of the chain were it gets into the hands of the people.
The city has plenty of the standard eateries you will find in any large city: fast foods, delis, diners, cafeterias, and fancy restaurants. It also has its share of corner stores, grocery stores, and super markets to buy foods to eat at home.
A few examples stand out in the city. Some of the most famous are the city's sky high restaurants. The flying casino, Emerald Dragonfly, is quite well known for its Asian and Middle-East fusion cuisine and cloud level views of the city. Then there are the tethered balloons where you can enjoy tender barbecue from the privacy of a balloon's gondola. Not nearly as high but still with breathtaking views of the city is the space needle; a tall spire extending from the top of one of the mega towers that features a revolving observation lounge as well as a large revolving Italian-Mediterranean restaurant.
On the other end of the scale are the food trucks. The individually unique mobile kitchens are protected by the neighborhood's controlling fraction. They are sometimes subsidized by the neighborhood till they turn a profit to ensure they have a chance of being competitive against the other restaurants and food trucks. Popular ones have the full support of the locals and may be invited to other neighborhoods as part of diplomatic exchanges.
The most common and popular are the themed restaurants. There are the standard location theme restaurants, and places with a certain kind of food. Then there are restaurants where the servers have a unique dress code to attract a crowd with extra eye candy. These restaurants include: the classic sports bars with girls in sports top and shorts; surf and turf shops with barely there bikinis; and the various maid cafes where the hemline generally starts above the knee, sinks down to near the ankles, before climbing to above mid-thigh as the price and exclusivity rises. There are even exclusive places where the girls were practically nothing but an apron. Typically the higher end restaurants wear uniforms that match their theme: silver clad space girls in glittery tank tops, mini skirts, and knee high boots; nymphs in toga inspired dresses; frilly beer maidens; and even the gold, gems, and sheer body stockings of the ancient Nile to name a few.
The most extreme of the theme restaurants are the robot cafes located within the city where the majority of the staff are robots. There are two schools to this theme. One branch tries to remove the humanity of from the staff and use industrial looking robotic arms, conveyor belts, and other factory automation to serve up the food. The other branch uses anthro style androids to provide an almost normal restaurant experience except the staff is all controlled by an artificial intelligence. Some of the robot cafes take advantage of the doll-like anatomy of the otherwise realistic androids to not give them any uniform or clothing at all.
The most novel are the slot machine style cafeterias and vending machines. They go by a few different names: Charlie's Chance Cuisine, Lady Luck's Lunch Lottery, and The Prince or Pauper Gourmet to name some of the branding. The way these places work is the customer purchases the slots for the type of food they want, and the lottery machine rolls for quality. If all their slots matches they get an upgrade in the quality of the food. If they get the jackpot they get an extra slot and top quality food. They also earn points that can be applied to upgrade a future roll of a slot, or even buy a slot for free.
The machines are weighted toward a moderate standard of food. The worst it can get is a prepackage non-refrigerated meal item like a meal bar, and the best it can roll is food that would not look out of place on the table of an expensive luxury restaurant. The exact food varies with the location. Sometimes its coupons good for the local cafeteria. Other times it places a to-go order with one of the near by restaurants in the food court for you to pick-up. Most of the time the machine is connected to an automatic robotic chef that will cook up the foods right then and there.
The robotic chef is a much improved version of a common 3D food printer. It does away with the tubes of food pastes of the printer style insta-chef, and replaces it with full feature robotic arms and machine vision able to mimic the actions of a real person. The robotic chef is able to pick up and work with the same store bought items you use in your own kitchen, in fact the most advance models are able to work with in your own kitchen picking items from your pantry and refrigerator, and using your pots and pans on your stove and in your oven to prepare a home-cooked meal for you. The less advance ones are kitchens in a box where you must input the required ingredients as needed as they have no internal storage for fresh foods.
Many fast food restaurants make use of food printers, robotic chefs, and android waitstaff to provide speedy service. Even with all the robotics and automation, the restaurants have one or two management staff to handle customer service issues, look after the machines, provide security, and to lockup at the end of the day. Though there is still a popular demand to see a real person when ordering so there are still chains that employ live staff to work there restaurants.
A popular location to see fast food restaurants with living staff is in the skyway or sky-bridge malls connecting two towers. The lowest level of the skyway bridges are on the fifth floor and connects between two and six floors. Other skyway bridges are found around the 30th and 55th floors, though these higher bridges are a less common sight in the city. The large twenty story gaps between the allowed bridge levels provide plenty of room for the skylanes to meander the lower levels of the city without excessive risks of collisions. The skyway malls are popular destinations for shopping and entertainment. The top of the bridges are an open air garden or plaza, where you can get some fresh air or smoke a bit while walking between the towers. Many of them are green with decorative bushes and flowers, though some decorate with lower maintenance but more expensive sculptures and other outdoor art installations. They are also a good place to take in the view and relax in safety while getting away from the crowded streets below.
The top of some of the bridges are level with a balcony or terrace of one or both towers, forming a large outdoor plaza with shops, benches, greenery, outdoor tables, and landing pads for aircars to drop off and pick up shoppers. An exclusive fast food joint only found on the sky bridges makes use of online ordering and carhops to quickly deliver food to these landing pads or even to the tables on the plaza. Out in the suburbs the sky bridges connect the tops of many of the buildings into one large continuous roof top plaza. Seem from above these connected roofs and buildings make it seems like the suburbs are made of much shorter buildings.
Supermarkets are the main means that the city's residents get their food and other home goods. They act like company stores often having the same parent company as the rest of the businesses in the district. They sell just about everything a person would need, being a combination of department store and grocery store.
Pure grocery stores also exist, often as stand alone shops in the suburbs. With less overhead and more focused inventory, they tend to be cheaper overall compared to the supermarkets in the goods they sell. The smaller groceries occupy store space in malls that are not dominated by a supermarket. They sell all the foods you'll need: fresh produce, breads, and meats for a home cooked meal; canned goods, cereals and snacks; sweet pies, cakes, and candies; and of course a well stock freezer section. They sell a small selection of personal hygiene items, common electronics, and house hold cleaning and maintenance items. They also sell seasonal items, flowers, greeting cards, and beauty supplies. The larger grocery stores usually offer home delivery services.
A common staple of the prepackaged foods are self-heating dinners. They are a civilian version of the military MREs, typically sacrificing shelf-life for increase variety and quality taste. The common method of heating uses a safe biodegradable battery and heating elements placed near the food. Older models and longer shelf-life ones still use a chemical heating pack to warm the food on demand. The convenience of the self-heating meals has not replaced the cheaper classic convenience of the frozen meals and foods. There is also the less bulky and super shelf stable canned and dried goods.
Corner stores or convenience stores are a combination of grocery store and restaurant allowing you to grab a hot bite to eat along with picking up some snacks and even staples on the way to work or home. The often have a hot deli style cafe or fast food restaurant inside for a quick meal before or after you pick up some snacks for later.
They generally have a self serve drinks and hot snacks. Soda and coffee machines provide cheap hot drinks in sizes up to 100oz. Special machines keep smoothies and slushes from settling. For quick snacks they keep hot dogs and sausages on a warmer and even serve up treats like hot nacho cheese, nacho cheese with jalapenos, meat free chili sauce, or salsa to put on top of your chips.
For those that want something else, the convenience store sells a variety of individually wrapped snacks and single serving drink packages. After the chips, the second most popular snack are the self heating snack cups that offer up quick easy to hold servings of popular foods. Spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni and cheese, and curly chili fries are some of the most popular snacks. There are also classics like loaded nachos, chili pie, and potato skins.
There are many vending machines in the city. They serve a variety of foods and drinks. The most common are ones that serve cold canned or bottled drinks; or non-perishable snack foods like candy, chips, and cookies. Refrigerated vending machines can serve up refreshing cold treats like popsicles, ice-cream cones, and ice-cream bars. More advance machines offer hot drinks like hot-chocolate, coffee, and tea. The reverse is also possible and machines exist that serve up cups of cold drinks like fruit smoothies, soda floats, and soft-serve shakes. On the food side, the vending machines can offer instant hot foods using a built in oven or microwave allowing them to serve a variety of frozen heat-and-serve snacks. The highest end machines offer savory treats like fresh grilled sandwiches, instant omelets, and even fully topped hot-dogs cooked fresh inside the machine.
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Post by Ravished Improbability on Apr 21, 2019 6:35:21 GMT
Combat Aircars and other Specialty Aircars
The small VTOL flying cars, aka aircars, that are so common within the city also serves a role in securing the City of Lights. The armed aircars provide many advantages over traditional VTOL's. They are generally smaller and more nimble than the larger helicopters and tiltjets in the canyon like airspace between the buildings. Their shrouded fans and rotors are protected from damage from clipping guide wires or brushing against buildings. The shrouds are also safer around the city's large population, as the covers makes the danger obvious and more difficult to accidentally come in contact with the deadly blades.
Aircars occupy a weird intersection point between cars, helicopters, and planes. They seat comfortably between one and four people, they are agile at low speeds like helicopters, and can support themselves by lift alone at high speeds.
The most basic designs modify popular models of civilian aircars, much like the police variants of ground cars. These civilian looking aircars provide a less threatening form of security for routine patrols around the city. They are also generally cheaper than the purpose built combat aircars. The downside of using civilian aircars is that they have a rather limited maximum take-off weight even after engine upgrades. To free up space and weight for all the upgrades, the civilian passenger capacity is typically sacrificed, leaving room for a crew of one or two. Most of the freed up weight budget goes into armoring and engine upgrades, the rest goes into sensors, radios, and other specialty equipment.
The flying patrol cars have light armoring, with the majority concentrated into protecting vital systems like the crew, power-plant, and engines. They are typically crewed by two officers, in keeping with the tradition of pairing up of senior and rookie officers as partners. Extra sensors and upgraded communication gear is installed to allow them to see abnormal activities and securely talk to each other. The engines and landing gear are beefed up to handle all the extra weight and to give them enough top speed to chase down other aircars. Other modifications are done to improve stability and maneuverability at high speeds, and generally give them an edge over civilian aircars within the confines of the city.
They are generally unarmed as the modified civilian designs have a very tight weight budget, but they can be lightly armed with a light machine gun in a light weight turret on the front or underside. A common alternate armament is a single fixed medium machine gun or low power cannon. Heavier armament can sometimes be achieved by reducing the passenger capacity entirely, and leaving room only for the driver. The armaments are optimized for ground attack as air-to-air combat would cause unnecessary collateral damage.
Larger aircars are equipped with a secure cage to carry detainees back to base for processing. These small flying vans are generally left unarmed as there is no benefit to arming a slow moving people mover. They generally do have the same armor, sensor, and engine upgrades as their smaller cousins. Some variants lack the cargo cage and instead have increased seating to move VIPs or squads of officers around, and may serve as something like a smaller version of the SWAT truck.
Purpose built designs borrow heavily from their larger helicopter cousins. Like the helicopters, they are built in two styles: sleek attack craft and wider transport/gunships.
Where they differ most from their larger cousins, is in the rotor configuration. They have the aircar's multiple rotor design instead of a helicopter's one or two larger larger rotors. Unlike standard aircars typical two to four rotors, they can have six to eight ducted rotors along the length of the craft to provide redundancy and spread the load without making them as wide as traditional VTOL's. Even so the rotor fans are typically quite large to keep the noise down while carrying the heavy weight of armor and firepower. Like their larger cousins, though, the engines and fans are mounted on top to protect them from hostile ground fire.
The attack aircars have a single narrow cockpit with a single pilot, or two seating in a tandem configuration. They are designed to be super agile and fast, with a narrow body and the firepower of a well armed scout helicopter. They are fast first responders, able to engage both ground and air targets within the city with equal ease.
They are generally armed with one turreted machine gun or two fixed medium machine guns, but can be easily armed with a light weight cannon instead. They can carry small a payload of rockets, missiles, or bombs on their wing hard points. The beefier models can carry a turreted auto-cannon and a heavy mix of wing mounted ordnance. With the right mix of armaments they can pose a serious threat to anything they are sent against.
The transport models are designed to carry 4 to 8 passengers as well as a crew of two. The flying vans are the main rapid response vehicle of the city's security forces for delivering personnel to the scene of the emergency. The can carry an armed squad of security or fully equipped team of first responders quickly to any point within the city. When armed with door guns and even wing hard points, they can perform as a flying APC.
The larger transport models are commonly referred to as flying buses do to its large size and carrying capacity. They also stretch the definition of aircar with a size on par with medium VTOLs. They still use large nacelles with multiple powerful ducted fans like other aircars. Their size generally restricts them to landing at airfields and heavy duty pads. They are large enough that they typically need to settle down across multiple landing pads to spread out the weight, or just hover over a pad with their loading ramps down when responding to an emergency.
They primary operate as heavy transports for moving large numbers of security around or evacuating large numbers wounded from the upper stories to a safe staging point, until larger transports can arrive. They can move over a dozen passengers at a time comfortably and are able to drop in closer to the sites of emergencies. The largest models can carry upwards of 50 passengers, and even more in the role of a short distance evacuation boat.
This heavy passenger and cargo capacity allows them to be equipped with a overwhelming load of armor, guns, bombs, and missiles to deal with serious threats in the towers and on the ground. The slow speed and low maneuverability makes them ill suited for taking down air targets. Though if equipped with air-to-air missiles they can serve as a flying missile boat. C-RAM style active defenses are a must on these gunboats as it would be impossible for them to evade incoming missiles and rockets.
The transports also can be configured as a flying ambulance and the larger ones can carry enough equipment to unpack into a small field hospital at the staging area.
The large flying trucks are suitable for conversion into a powerful firefighting vehicle with enough firefighting equipment and ordinance to deal with high rise fires. The can be equipped with traditional pumps and tanks for foam or water, as well as specialty equipment design to safely blow out windows to provide access to the fires. They are design to hover as close to the fire as possible and use there turreted water cannon to spray a mixture of water and chemicals through the windows of the burning floor to battle the fire.
While others can be armed with more advance firefighting equipment in the form of a large breech-loading semi-automatic mortar firing armor-piercing air-burst shells filled with powerful chemical fire-suppressants. The traditional firefighters battle the fire, these assassinate infernos with a potent fire poison delivered right where it would be most effective. The dry chemicals can suppress and even extinguish raging infernos with in a room buy dosing the fire and room with the potent chemical powder that puts out fires and serves as a lingering fire-retardant barrier against re-ignition. In the event of the failure of local fire suppression methods within the tower, these shells can punch through the tough armor like windows and walls of the mega towers, allowing them to precision target the hottest parts of the inferno or open a route for firefighters to rescue trapped victims. The can also be armed with precision glide bombs to deliver a large fire-suppression warhead or cluster bomb exactly into the heart of a fire.
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Post by Ravished Improbability on Jun 3, 2020 18:10:55 GMT
Standards of Living in the City of Lights
The Top Percenters
In a form of a plutocratic-oligarchy the Top Percenters rule the city from the shadows. Lords of their territory with in the city, they exert a rather strong influence on the official government. Only competing interests between the Percenters keeps any one group or individual from fully dominating the City of Lights and its citizens. They work through back-room deals, trade agreements, advertising and PR campaigns. They influence the city's 'elected' government and its laws and regulations with bribes, gifts, contributions, and even threats.
They own the mega towers in the center of the city and control large patches of the city with their influence, wealth, and businesses. They are pretty much gods of their patch of the city. Their power allows them to practically do what ever they want. They can acquire anything locally or from around the world with just a word to their supporters, a few bribes to get some people to look the other way, or even just out bidding the opposition. They can even 'own' people by buying up their debts, manipulating their interactions with others, and playing to their addictions and other vices to keep them at their side.
The Rich
Just a step below the Top Percenters are the merely extremely rich. While they don't have the god like wealth and influence of the Percenters, they are still quite powerful within the city. They are directors, vice-presidents, and other high level positions with employees, followers, and money to burn they exert influence across a small domain. With their wealth some own there own lesser towers or other properties and businesses. Others are born into wealth but don't have the power or followers to really have much sway on the larger scale. They are heirs to a business empire, or given an generous allowance from their wealthy parents.
They aren't kings, but they can still 'nobility' within the city. They swing in the same social circles as the Percenters. And when they group together behind a common interest, they can have a similar swath of influence in the city as one of the Percenters.
The Upper-Class
The lowest of the upper stratum of society. Their influence within the city is negligible for the most part. They are upper management, wealthy doctors, and powerful lawyers. They are business owners or successful actors and singers. If they swing in the upper social circles they are likely to be slightly less ignored as the waiters serving drinks at the function or party, another bit of set dressing. The main exception is if they built a name for themselves in their careers. Be it popular with the people or even feared by their adversaries.
While they can't buy everything they wish at a whim, they are not wanting for luxury and comfort. They live a wealthy and lavish life anywhere they want in the city.
The Middle-Class
Pretty much your average citizens within the city. They earn enough to have a comfortable life with a good apartment and quality food within the mega towers. If they choose to live further out from the city's core where the cost of living is lower they can even manage a luxurious life.
Some individuals through inheritance or investment of personal wealth have manage to secure there own small piece of property within the city, elevating their status a little above the pack. They can be their own landlord, as well as renting out the extra space to others to live or work. They run the place as a business usually a shop, restaurant, or bar. Though sometimes they can swing some kind of office work like doing consulting or managing accounts or employees.
The Lower-Class
The low income groups don't make enough to live comfortably in the core without support from their employers, be it because of small pay-checks, to many in the family to support, or a heavy debt. They do earn enough to make a comfortable life in the outer rings of the city. Living and working in the smaller and cheaper high-rises and mid-rises. While it is not a life filled with luxury they rarely find themselves without access to sources of food and entertainment. There are plenty of low-end establishments catering to the more cash strapped patronage.
The lower-class living in the mega towers often do so as employees. They are provided dormitories or minimalist apartments within the foundations of the towers. There are also company stores and cafeteria offering discounted products. Some are physical locations, others online delivered through the towers room-service. They work menial tasks within the towers such as basic security, clerks, janitors, waiters or waitresses, or similar jobs.
Gangsters and Criminal Groups
The members of the criminal underworld are spread across all strata of society. Some live two-faced lives with a normal job and income supplemented with some criminal undertakings on the side. Others dive fully into the criminal life, living only on the ill gotten funds of there dark deeds.
Their wealth and influence comes from less savory means. The big money makers are the production and selling of drugs both low and high end; as well as the harvesting and reselling of bio-augmentations. Of course there is the old standby of dealing in firearms in the form of unregistered weapons smuggled into the city or made in a secret production factory; or stolen weapons acquired during other illicit activities. Some well connected groups even sell heavy weapons typically reserved for police and private security. Muggings are still a quick way to get some cash, as well as break-ins and arm robbery, though with the loose rules on conceal carry and the rather aggressive nature of private security the risks are rather heavy. So best the criminal choose their target wisely. Auto theft is an easier way to get some cash, specially from some lower security lots. Many of the security features are easily bypassed by cleaver and savvy criminals.
The gangs continue the 'oldest' job with young men and women selling their bodies for the pleasure of wealthier patrons, and profits of their managers. Though this profession really isn't much of an illegal activity in the city, working for the right group provides a blanket of safety against the competition and your clients. The criminal group are rather more open and aggressive with their activities at their private establishments, specially in the lower class areas of the city where social graces are less important.
The Saved/Uplifted
Uplifted from lower levels of society by the Percenters or rich, the are effectively owned by the upper class to serve them in some means. They are given education and training as required for the role they are lifted into. Some are given education and training well above the basics needed.
The means in which they are elevated within the society are varied. Many are debtors with their debts bought from the banks, and a contract signed that the owner will assist in providing work to pay off the debt. Drugs and other luxuries are sometimes used to increase the debt owed. A few are simply given a high-paying, easy job as a reward. Some are given a life of comfort as companions. Others trained as enforcers or other loyal agents for the boss. Many are only given a marginally better life as employees in roles most wont normally volunteer.
Many of the 'saved' are given some cosmetic modifications to better serve as entertainers or escorts for wealthy guests of the towers, or even the personal interest of their wealthy supporter. Some are even given bio-augmentations to improve their physical abilities.
There are a some that the modifications and augmentations are taken to the extreme, melding their forms into to rather exotic and sometimes horrific bodies more machine than flesh. Chimeras that exceed the normal dimensions and limitation of the anthro-form to serve as performers within a freak show.
Ghost, Drifters, and the Homeless
The homeless live mostly in the city's underground, within the maze of abandoned and lesser tunnels. They mostly occupy an ring between the core and the suburbs. where the mega towers haven't punched basements and foundations deep underground, but the root like tunnels have spread out to feed the interior. Others live inside abandon buildings or work for the less savory gangs and organizations.
Some daring souls make a nomadic life in the tunnels closer to the city's core. These drifters pack light and know the tunnels extremely well. While the risks of being caught are higher so are the rewards. Some sell their knowledge of the underground or even serve as guides through the tunnels. Others hoard their knowledge of spots where they can pilfer the necessities and get the best of the scrap and rubbish from the bins and automated systems.
Not all of the homeless are without means for a more comfortable life. They have chosen to be ghosts in the underground as there skills have made them both allies and enemies. They have secret stashes and 'off the grid' hideouts to avoid their enemies, and protect against double-crosses from their current employers. They put there money into equipment and security, building a secret high-tech nest within the infrastructure. They siphon off networks and water systems. Some tap nearby power supplies, others rely on portable stand-alone aether power-generators.
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