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“I've seen things you peoplewoul-dn't believe. Attack ships on fire of the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those momen-ts will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”—Roy Batty
Blade Runner was undoubtedly the
movie which started the cyberpunk
era, even without reference to any cyber-hacking or anything of that sorts, only because of its sheer noir streetwise look and depiction of the future urban life style in a overpop-ulated megalopolis, Los Angeles in 2019. William Gibson’s debut novel
Neuromancer, which properly
out in 1984, two years following the premiere of Ridley Scott’s ma-sterpiece, a book in which the con-cept of cyberspace found its medi-um.
But the movie obviously doesn’t take the Twilight Wars, the apoca-lyptic World War III, into conside-ration. The referee should compen-sate for this, projecting the occur-rences as depicted in Blade Runner
into the 23rd century––the year
2294 rather than 2019––as human off-world colonization is fairly com-monplace in the movie and in the game not prior to the latter half of
the 22nd century. (The world of the
cinemas often falls into that overly optimistic prediction of man’s tech-nological advancement.)
This section deals with the Los Angeles metropolitan urban envi-ronment in particular but may be extended for use with Terran urban life in general, taking off-world con-siderations as well.
GAME WORLD
DEVLOPMENT
Pris – “How old are you?” J. F.– “Twenty-five.”Pris – “What's your problem?” J. F.– “Methuselah’s syndrome.” Pris – “What's that?”
J. F.– “My glands. They grow old too fast.”
Pris – “Is that why you're still on earth?”
J. F.– “Yeah, I couldn't pass the me-dical. Anyway, I kind of like it here.”
Blade Runner introduces a lot of
interesting (and by now classical) and often dystopian science-fiction concepts which could be
incorpora-ted into a future noir 2300AD
cam-paign. The novel upon which the movie was loosely based—Do
An-droids Dream of Electric Sheep?
(1968)—by Philip K. Dick, may also serve as a well of inspiration, as well as the three follow up novels
Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Hum-an (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replic-ant Night (1996), and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon (2000), written by
his close friend K. W. Jeter.
Off-World
It was the movie Blade Runner wh-ich coined the term “off-world” des-ignating anything outside of Earth, probably outside our solar system as well. It signifies the colonies and the proper termed used is the “off-world colonies”.
Even if off-world colonization ev-entually may have created a “seco-nd Earth” or a concept of yet ano-ther “core world” besides Earth, i.e. Tirane, this latter should also be considered to constitute an
off-world colony in game terms. How-ever, because large portions of the population on that off-world core world were born there, and some never even have set their foot on Earth, the rules on Earth for off-word travel also apply somewhat to that world. But Earth do have a special position, for better or for worse, and the population on Tira-ne consider themselves to live
“off-world”, i.e. off-Earth, Terra being
re-garded as the “home world” (legen-dary for those who have never set their foot on it).
There is a species of elitism con-cerning the division between “on-world” Earth and the off-world
col-onies(includingTirane).Leaving
Ea-rth is not open for all or even the majority (although Great Britain has succeeded in emigrating half of its population). First of all, one has to be a citizen of one of the space-faring nations, which are the follo-wing: America, Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Azania, Brazil, Canada, Canton, France (and those nations referred to as “departments” that are considered being part of the
FrenchEmpire),Germany,Great
Br-itain (and its Commonwealth), Inca Republic, Indonesia, Japan, Manc-huria, Mexico, Texas, United Arab Republic, and Ukraine. So, citizen-ship still counts in 2300. Citizens of other nations have to formally apply for a special visa at the em-bassy or consulate of any of these above mentioned nations. And tho-se visas are only temporary; to be-come a colonist is largely the prero-gative of a citizen of a space faring
nation and requires a specially and properly issued certificate in the fo-rm of a plastic card passport which you have to show to the customs at any spaceport or at the beanstalk.
One viable solution to come aro-und this first requirement is to im-migrate to such a nation, apply for citizenship after a few years and then to apply for a certificate of im-migration to the off-world colonies. The other solution is to gain access to the stars through the Life Foun-dation, which is endowed with a good reputation and standing in all of the space faring nations. The Life Foundation recruits its contra-ctors and members from all coun-tries, not only space faring nations, and has been granted a official dis-pensation to have off-world certify-cates issued by any of the space faring state agencies in which the contractor or member sends his or hers application to. For practical and administrative reasons, a spe-cial agreement has been made with the French authorities at Libreville to grant these valuable certificates to individuals associated with the Foundation, to be able to pass the beanstalk customs. To this end, a special warrant is issued by the Life Foundation to each individual who has signed up as a member or signed a contract for a specific mis-sion off-world.
As has been noted in the pre-vious paragraphs, the second and most important requirement is that one has to apply for a special cer-tificate for leaving Earth. To be able to go off-world you have to go thro-ugh a thorothro-ugh and rigid medical examination and be physically and mentally fit, with no permanent or chronic diseases or genetic degen-eration. Any severe chronic diagno-sis and the application is turned down. Also, you have to be a qualified skilled worker and posse-ss a certain level of education and experience in your profession. A positively written letter of recom-mendation from your employer or any other good references also hel-ps in the application process. (A Li-fe Foundation Warrant meets this professional requirement; only the medical examination is required at Libreville.) Entire families may of course go off-world and emigrate to the colonies, if the children’s pare-nts meet the professional expecta-tions and all of the members of the family meet the mental and
physic-cal requirements. Thus, only a sel-ected elite can receive a certificate to go off-world.
Of course, this rule applies to all worlds, not only residents on
Earth; anyone who sets himself or
herself out to travel in space has to go through a medical examination. But that examination is much easier and ro-utine on the off-world colonies. The populat-ion living
off-world ha-ve a generally better
health situation beca-use of them already having passed a severe examination on Earth. Th-ese in turn often produce healthier children who in the future will pass these kinds of tests with greater ease. Therefore, as the population off-world is much more educated and trained for survival, a colonist is only required to make a simple medical examination on an off-world colony to be able to travel to another one.
On the core off-world Tirane the situation starts to resemble that on Earth, at least in the urban areas
(even if it hasn’t degenerated to
Ea-rth), which necessitates a more se-vere examination. However, becau-se of the same reasons as on other colonies, it is only a minority on Tirane that wouldn’t pass such a test. Colonizers are generally heal-thy, physically strong and fit, men-tally stable and cool-headed, mora-lly motivated and integrated, hard-working as well as diligent, dedica-ted as well as industrious, soluti-on-focused, goal-oriented and amb-itious. They are naturally born sur-vivors and fighters. Their culture and norms of society cer-tainly helps to produce a fine stock of men and women, and the best pla-yer characters possible.
The result of all of this is that the genome of the colonizers is in a lot bet-ter shape compared to the general population on Earth. The situation on Tirane resembles that of other off-world colonists but has also started to deviate from the minim-um criteria during the last half of the century. (Although the old col-onies at Beta Canum-4 represents the hub of the French Arm, the living conditions there, even in the urban areas, reflect a frontier wo-rld more than that of a core world.) Sickness, disease and diagnoses, temporary or chronic (both somatic and mental) on Earth is abundant while it is less common so on the other core off-world (and lesser on Beta Canum) and even lesser on the frontier off-world colonies.
It is implied in game terms that all of the player characters are co-nsidered to meet any such criteria
to go off-world, and that they al-ready have such a certificate at the outset of the game if either born on Earth (being citizens of a space faring nation) or on off-world Tira-ne, and that they would pass a simple physical examination on a colony with ease. Thus, this “rule” doesn’t affect the game directly but creates a backdrop that may actu-ally affect the campaign or adven-ture indirectly through interaction with non-playing characters.
It affects society in general that yet another type of social segre-gation (besides the socio-economic) has been made between lesser suited persons (because of psycho-logical and somatic shortcomings) and that of the physically and me-ntally fit. A meme-ntally and physically degenerate stock has thus been created on Earth which will conti-nue to perpetuate its weak genome, and segregate it further, while a converse beneficial and positive re-generation of the human genome
will produceitselfoff-worldand
per-petuate its elite status. Thus, a new kind of natural selection has occurred because of off-world colo-nization.
This state of affairs is somewhat reflected in the movie Elysium, wh-ere the wealthy live off-world in a spinning orbital while the poor live on Earth which has turned itself into a large slum and ghetto, which is aptly descriptive of the life sit-uation for the majority in French Central Africa, and in particular of the existential contrast between Li-breville and its jewel pendant
Gate-way, as described in the 2300AD
canon.
In the year of 2300 the certifi-cate is administered on a state or governmental level, following the standard that originally was crea-ted by ESA (European Space Age-ncy). Each space faring state issu-es its own certificatissu-es, attached to its citizenship, but a certain stan-dard has been agreed upon which makes certificates between states interchangeable (as passports were
in the 20th century and continues
to be in the 24th); it is best
descri-bed as a space passport.
Formally such a state agency do-es
not take any socio-economic
con-siderations in its selection process. However, this system has been cor-rupted and large bribes may pro-vide you with a certificate, alth-ough it is dangerous for both par-ties, the applicant and the officer in charge of the examination, if caught. But the rich have other means in coming around this
res-triction imposed up-on the citizenship.
Modern medicine may provide you wi-th a body which is greatly
enhanced, bo-th in health and in
function, using cell-growth or
bioengine-ered i m p l a n t s, or
bionic ones. The 2300AD core rul
es specifically state that genetic en
gineering has eliminated most inhe
rited diseases and rendered it
pos-sible for parental selection of phys-ical characteristics. However, mod-ern and costly genetically engineer-ed psychopharmicals, using tailor-ed viruses and even bio-engineertailor-ed brain regeneration, may also create alterations in the brain or modific-ations to it, curing severe and chr-onic mental disease such as schiz-ophrenia or bipolar disorder. All of this is of course only accessible for those who can pay up in front for these types of remedies. Few can afford this.
The 2300AD core rules do not
segregate between the rich and the poor when it comes to the avail-ability in the sharing of the fruits of any advanced biological science. The referee is advised to create such a division between the clas-ses. The upper class enjoys all of these benefits, while the relatively large and rich middle class enjoys much of it. The working class only enjoy parts of it, if the worker can afford the expensive insurances. Only qualified workmen, which ea-rn good wages, are able to.
The well-fare state and the old
social order of the 20th century
we-nt down the drain because of the Twilight War and have never reco-vered since. Instead, the free mar-ket type of health care system, in-volving insurance companies (such as was seen in the health care
system of 20th century USA), is
universal throughout the Earth and off-world. On certain affected
parts of the E a r t h, a pitifully
marginalized type of
lum-penproletariat or a “gutter people”
has emerged whi-ch is wholly cut
off from this high-tech enhanced
type of life style. These poor people “enjoy” a per-manent low-tech existen-ce which mirrors that of
the 20th century prior to the
Twilight War, regard-ing genetic engineering (i.e. non-existant), classical medicine, and technology. However all citizens, also the least blessed, do have access to workable and quite advanced com-puters (as they are so common-place and produced so cheaply in 2300). The economically displaced citizenship are in the habit of
mo-difying and greatly enhancing
vint-age 20th century technology
appro-ximating 23rd century standards in
recycling it, such as firearms (with enhanced sights and ammunition), machines, vehicles, etc. Also, bion-ic implants are commonplace, even somewhat amongst the displaced gutter pleople, because of the em-ergence of the black clinics which does a species of illegal help relief or philanthropy (cyberpunk-style) for the poor and dispossessed.
In applying for a temporary tra-vel permit (visa) or a certificate for off-world immigration, all bionic
and bioengineered implants and
re-placements must be accounted for by medical certificates. Any such will be spotted through the medical examination. Although such impla-nts and replacemeimpla-nts aren’t illegal
per se in 2300 and in fact allowed
off-word, illegal implants and
repl-acements transplanted by black
cli-nics are considered to be the equi-valent of acts of terrorism, effect-ively barring any off-world travel, as bionics immediately will be spot-ted through space port customs. Of course, a flawless fake medical cer-tificate may take the character off-world.
Gutter people
In the GDW game module Earth/
Cybertech Sourcebook the average
quality of life of a citizen on Earth is described as being dramatically
improved since the 20th century,
with a life expectancy approxi-mating 100 years, with plenty of nourishing food, and industrializa-tion of the Third World and raising
its living standards compareable to that of the wealthy western civi-lization. This has also resulted in a remarkably dropped infant (and mother) mortality rate, as well as in less disease. People are well ed-ucated across the Terran globe with a literacy rate of 90%, and a large portion reaching collage level. Most people speak several langu-ages besides their own native lingo. This is true, when considering the upper, middle and qualified working class denizens, who toge-ther constitute the greater majority of the human population. However, although wealth amongst nations are nowadays more or less equally distributed between industrialized contemporaries across the globe, it seems that wealth thrives on pov-erty, and if you eradicate inequality between nations, a new kind of ex-treme form of inequality will arise somewhere in another form and from the inside of society.
As a consequence, a new kind of “third world” has emerged across parts of the globe, in the majority of the industrialized and urbanized
nations, in the traditionally deve-loped countries (i.e. Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Ze-eland) to a lesser degree and in the development (former Third World) countries (i.e. The Middle East, As-ia, Africa and South America) whi-ch has risen out from their former rural state. It has emerged in the form of a “lumpenproletariat”, “gut-ter-folk” or “gutter people”, strictly speaking an urban phenomenon, the downside of the emerging meg-alopolis. Being unable to subsist in the rural areas, they were origin-nally drawn to the megalopolices, and have since constituted a con-stant part of its makeup, perpetu-ating itself and in certain areas
ev-en multiplied ona larger scale
com-pared to the rest of the urban pop-ulations.
This is a new kind of working class or proletariat which is ex-ploited by the rest of the society, which has a low or non-existent level of education, which has no access to any well-fare system (as it can’t afford to pay the insurance bills) or is restricted from a state of the art health care system, being
deprived from modern 23rd century
technology, etc.
If a lumpenproletarian has the benefit of being employed, he or she receives a salary which is far below the existential level. Some work at large and legal factories, under severe conditions and long working hours (12 hours in an average). Others work in illegal or black factories, hidden in the mur-ky parts of the city, in cramped
cel-lars or abandoned storehouses un-der even more severe and hazard-ous working conditions, and longer working hours. Some of them have two or three different jobs, with no rest other than a few hours of sleep. The death rate is high amo-ngst these gutter people workmen.
Thus, the gutter people live in abandoned and scrapped parts of the old city––the ghettos––with ho-usings that suffers from extreme
wear,partlyruined,leakingwith
wa-ter, damp, cold, drafty, etc., in ov-er-cramped living conditions. Many gutter people occupy deserted resi-dents that have been commissio-ned for demolition. Other gutter-folk live in houses owned by un-scrupulous landlords with no acc-ess to services. Yet many more live in shantytowns, assembled by the gutter people themselves.
The crime rate is galloping and the police seldom enter these ghet-to and slum districts. The rich and wealthy middle and upper class liv-ing in urban areas guard their pri-vileges from the gutter people, and the environmental hazards, diseas-es and crimdiseas-es of the ghettos, by gated city blocks, maintained by contracted security guard and mer-cenary companies. Also the quail-fied working class guard themselv-es in gated city blocks, but there is lot of arenas on the streets for
interminglingbetween thepoor
gut-ter-folk and the citizens of the me-galopolis.
Perpetuating a degenerating gen-ome, starting off with the nuclear fall-out during the Twilight War,
and being constantly exposed to environmental hazards since then, many of the gutter people have developed handicaps, disabilities, disfigurations, which are carried to their children, etc. Many of the gutter people suffer from the mid-get synonym, or other genetically degenerate genetic diseases.
On Earth, this problem is not particularly addressed. There se-ems to exist a silent and mutual consent amongst the citizens of the qualified workforce and the middle class, all over the Terran globe. The major ruling ideologies are con-servative and liberal, preventing any major state intervention; soci-alism is a thing of the past and the establishment frightens their citi-zens from anything leftist with the Twilight War as a warning example in their propaganda. Ordinary citi-zens are terrified by socialism and regard communists as outcasts of society.
Gutter people are not even gran-ted citizenship, as they live outside and on the fringe of society, and they are not being registered by the authorities of any nation as they are not easily caught, being highly suspicious of any authorities beca-use of past experiences in dealing with them. Whenever general surv-eys or a census is conducted, the gutter people are never counted as they either shy away from govern-ment officials or are consciously ig-nored by them. They are stateless, paperless, classless, deprived of any human rights and dignity–– forgotten.
Although this is largely a global phenomenon, as much of the foun-dations of Western well fare society was destroyed through the Twilight War (meaning that if you don’t wo-rk as an employee and earn your own honest money and pay your taxes, the state doesn’t provide for you), the ratio between actual citi-zens and unregistered gutter peo-ple differs much in different parts of the Terran homeworld.
The largest predominance of gut-ter people, based on statements
made in the GDW module Earth
/Cybertech Sourcebook, obviously
is in Mexico (particularly in Los
An-geles and Mexico City, and in their
metropolitanvicinities)and in
Fren-ch Central Africa (with a large
pre-dominanceinthemetropolitan
com-plexes of Libreville, Kinshasa and Brazzaville), where they mostly live in slums and self-made shantytow-ns. The ratio of gutter people is the least in North America, Europe (in-cluding the former Warsaw Bloc countries and the former territories of the Soviet Union), and virtually non-existent in Scandinavia, main-ly comprising homeless people livi-ng on the streets, under bridges, in cellars, old warehouses, subterran-ean complexes (such as sewers and subways). But they are quite sub-stantial in the majority of the for-mer third world nations, who have never had a tradition of creating a well fare system, mostly livi-ng in ghettos of old wearied down or discarded buildin-gs, or as homeless in the streets or whatever sporadic shelters they may find for the night, etc.
Thus when one reads ab-out 90 percent literacy, and other claims of welfare and high living
standards on Ea-rth in a 2300AD,
the paper-less gutter people and the homeless have never been taken into account or been given any serious consideration. (And th-is solution nicely and tidily circum-vents the apparent incongruencies
between the 2300AD canon and the
Offworld expansion module.) Only
2300AD, and especially so in
Mex-ico which lives under the oppress-sion of a particularly severe and cynical governmental culture, whe-re census’ never enter the slums.
This explains for the low count of the populations in Los Angeles and Mexico City found in GDW’s richly sourced module Earth /
Cyb-ertech Sourcebook (3,430,000
and 5,344, 000 respectively); only
theci-tizens are taken into account
there, where in actuality estimations sug-gest that these Mexican metrople-xes has swelled into twice as much in 2300, counting also the gutter-folk living in the uptown sectors.
The French government, being guided by the traditional spirit of the French tricolore (liberté, égalité,
fraternité), by the revolutionary
enl-ightenment philosophy, which tries to emulate a humanitarian pathos of a sorts, at least tries to register the populations living in the Cent-ral African slums and officially con-siders them to be citizens of the Fr-ench Empire, although the ambi-tion dead-stops there; only non-profit and non-governmental orga-nizations, and any volunteer work-ers are actually trying to improve the living conditions for the gutter-folk in Africa.
All practical considerations tak-en, the gutter people are no citi-zens, not even in French Central Africa, whatever is stated in pro-paganda. The gutter-folk don’t feel that they belong to any nation, nor do they acknowledge any; instead they create their own spontaneous
anarchistic socialist communities,
permanent low-tech autonomous
zones, with alternative and indep-endent economies, in which they take care of their own, without any reliance on the state and solely based on spontaneous action. They even create their own local curren-cies. Considering the general scare of socialism amongst the ordinary citizens, this fact of course have segregated the gutter-folk even fur-ther from society, as they are re-garded as not only as physically but also as spiritually leprous deg-enerates.
The various political and revolut-ionary anarchist wings and move-ments, who wage a urban guerrilla war on all state nations, governm-ental institutions, authorities, and corporations, of course capitalize on the gutter people and tries the very best to create a true class con-sciousness in them through cland-estine educational projects, secret rallies, etc., and incite them into revolution, to no greater avail, at least not in Mexico, and to some partial success in French Central Africa. What these anarchist en-thusiasts have succeeded in doing though is to help the gutter people to organize their society into small
independentcommunities,after
tra-ditional federative principles creat-ing power structures from the
bot-tom up, following the classical 19th
and 20th century anarchist
think-ers, such as Pierre-Joseph Proud-hon, Michail Bakunin, Pjotr Krop-otkin, Emma Goldman, etc.
That the gutter people also have a notorious reputation of being vio-lent towards ordinary citizens (whi-ch is true), nothing more than a aggressive scavenging mob with no respect for property––thieves and burglars––doesn’t help much to im-prove their standing in society. But that is how they live and subsist in a world that have rejected them as degenerates and leprous; they sca-venge our world and make use of everything valuable made by our society and industry for their own survival. They may be liked to the old Hindu untouchables––the
chas-teless out–casts––who cleans up
the streets and recy-cles all of the spoils and mess created by the other chastes.
One essential side effect that this has created, is that a self-sufficient and a self-providing type of low-tech society has been created, wholly and utterly divorced from established society (to which the
player cha-racters b e l o n g), but
nonetheless interacting with it.
And although crime is a large fac-tor in these communities, there is still relative peace and security, es-pecially amongst the Mexican gut-ter-folk communities. There exists a mutual understanding between the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Dep-artment) and the SSP (Secretaría
de Seguridad Pública del Distrito Federal––the Federal District Police
of Mexico City), and the gutter peo-ple communities; they are largely left to their own devices and the authorities do not interfere with their self-administration and inde-pendence from the Mexican state government, a tradition that have had two full centuries to develop into a fully fledged communal soci-ety without any official law.
Another one and quite interes-ting side effect that all of this has
lead to, albeit perhaps not with as much enthusiastic endorsement by the state government as the pre-vious one, in light of the emergence of a fully functioning society amo-ngst the gutter-folk communities, is that it has generated a strong attraction in the Americas or amo-ngst the gutter people across the Western Hemisphere. This lead to a species of migration from South America to Mexico City and from North America to Los Angeles,
whi-ch during the late 22nd and early
23rd centuries lead to a enormous
increase of the slums of respective cities, two-folding their populations
beforethe governmental forces
suc-ceeded in filling all of the loopholes
through its northern and southern borders.
For all practical concerns a large majority of the gutter people from the Americas are gathered in L.A. and D.F. (Mexico City) in 2300. A similar phenomenon has occurred also in the megalopolices of French Central Africa and the slums of Libreville, Kinshasa and Brazzavil-le, which have created similar free and proud anarchistic communiti-es following the Mexican model, but with a much more uneasy rel-ationship with the French author-ities and thus the gendarmerie and police forces, with often erupted clashes between police and rioting gutter people. Nevertheless, a large majority of the gutter-folk in Africa
have migrated to Libreville, Kinsha-sa and Brazzaville, to find a new life in relative dignity, freedom and prosperity.
It goes without saying that no player characters can ever be gen-erated as being members of the actual stateless gutter people. The-ir life-style is extremely limited and no member of this chasteless po-pulation will ever be allowed to pass spaceport customs, let alone to enter a starship heading off-world. The gutter-folk of Libreville look upon the beanstalk and its attached city in the skies, Gateway, which is visible to the naked eye during days with a clear sky, with envy and resentment. To them it represents all that is abominable, the system which oppresses them, but at the same time all that which
they themselves desire, longevity, health, luxury and freedom. All of that which is at the reach of the player characters.
Megalopolices
A megalopolis, mega-city or metro-plex is a large metropolitan area
which often constitutes a
conglo-meration of several cities which ha-ve grown independently until they have reached each other’s borders and entagled, creating one giant ci-ty area, hence the name “megalo-polis” or “mega-city”.
It consists of a continuous urb-an urb-and city lurb-andscape which fluc-tuates in density and at its city-line. Parts of the metroplex is very modern, up-to-date, and of a high standard and fashion, contrasted with older districts or sect-ors, with sometimes centur-ies old buildings, or at least older
structures, quite worn-down. Sometimes (somewh-at common in parts of No-rth America, Europe, Japan and Oceania, but much
mo-re elsewhere) these city com-plexes
are surrounded by gh-ettos of low
quality housin-gs, old, worn-down and to-rn asunder because of low or non-existent maintenan-ce, vicious turf wars, criminal acti-vities, etc.
In the farthest outskirts of the Mexican and French Central Afric-an city complexes, enormous slu-ms are gathering surrounding th-em, being composed of shantytow-ns built by the initiative of the ec-onomically depraved and poor pop-ulations themselves. However, all
parts of this metroplex are wholly mixed together and interconnected.
The neat and tidy, scrupulously
maintained,newly designed and
hi-ghly f a sh io na b le districts or
sectors of the Asian, Mid-dle East,
African and South American megalopolices or metroplexes, containing th-eir gated and guarded hou-sings of the privileged high-er middle and upper class-es, these city centers that also houses the governme-ntal, judicial, official,
admi-nistrative, and corporate
bu-ildings, are often surround-ed by the older, more worn and less maintained secto-rs, belonging to the lower middle class and the qualified working for-ce, the under-class citizens, living in more or less gated communities.
These again are surrounded by the ghettos of the even older distri-cts which contain severally worn-down buildings, sometimes
sudde-nly collapsing because of the total lack of maintenance or “accident-ally” going up in a blaze, containi-ng the poorest citizens and the sta-teless gutter people. When the city wants to expand, it is often the gh-ettos that are targeted, being level-led to the ground to be rebuilt as a new city center. This process has always been known as “gentrifi-cation”, when these poor bastards, who have lost their housings, are forced to go to other already over-cramped ghettos or to the even wo-rse shantytowns of the slum dist-ricts.
The difference between a North American, European, Japanese or Ocianian megalopolis and one in South America, Africa or Asia, is simply the extent and prevalence of these ghettos. The difference bet-ween Mexico and the French Cen-tral Africa, and the rest, is the pre-valence of the slum districts and shantytowns, which are virtually non-existent outside of these areas. However, slums are only providing somewhat better living conditions, and are often inhabited by the gutter people, the lumpenproletari-at without any proper documentlumpenproletari-at- documentat-ion and who are not accounted for by their own governments. In North
America, Europe and Ocieania,
the-se occupy the streets, sewers, sub-ways and warehouses as regular homeless beggars.
Thus, the megalopolis is a place of great contrasts and paradoxes. On its overpopulated and often cra-mped narrow streets, the mixture of people are between the rich and
the beautiful, wearing furs and fa-shionable retrostyled hats, punks, goths, rastafarians, workers, suits and black ties, Asians and Arabi-ans wearing traditional garbs, or not, as well as Latins, Caucasians, and blacks running about, often carrying LED-lit umbrellas to prot-ect them from the constant rain-falls, stumbling into Hare Krishnas
doing their cha nts, against the
back-drop of half-nude go-go dan-cers locked up in raised Plexiglas tubes, sales men selling their gro-ceries or what have you, cramping the streets even more, all gathered
upintoonehecticmulticultural
pot-pourri.
Add to this picture constant traf-fic jams with cars of all types on wheat streets, some of them new, very expensive and highly fashion-able, blended with recycled and re-trofitted old cars, some even from
the 20th century, converted to
mod-ern hydrogen fuels and heavily mo-dified, thrown together with public busses and yellow metrokabs. And if you look further up, you will spot aerodyne spinners and hovercrafts circling and flying between skysc-rapers, large blimps covered with neon and large video screens show-casing flickering commercials, illu-minating a constantly murky city-scape.
Environmental disaster
On 24th century Earth organic life
is on a negative spiral of dwindle, partly because of the ecological and environmental disasters following the Twillight War and its subseq-uent aftermath anarchy, but most-ly because of the continuing exp-loitation of the natural resources, industrial pollution and overcrop-ping, not the least because of a ra-pid development of the former “thi-rd world” countries to a western level of industrialization accompan-ied by corresponding and intensely resource demanding living standa-rds and welfare. In part this clear environmental consequence and fa-ct is one of the mo-tivators behind spa-ce exploration and off-world colonizati-on.
The world suffers as entire species of wild flora and fauna are becoming or ha-ve become extinct.
Many species com-mon in the 20th
ce-ntury can only be seen in holographic images or as artifi-cially reconstructed copies. The
forests and the seas are more or less pol-luted. The Amazon rainforest––the “lungs of the world”––has also been affected somewhat, and exploited to a certain extent, but world opin-ion has prevented its total desola-tion. Nonetheless, permanent dam-ages has been made on a global scale because of heavy industrial-ization of the Third World nations who care less about environmental issues compared to the Western powers, preventing the full recupe-ration of the air content in the Ter-ran atmosphere.
To compensate for this fact and to create enough breathable air for human and animal life, new terra-forming technology, originally deve-loped for off-world colonies to make them habitable for humans, has been applied on Earth as well
du-ring the past 23rd century, to purge
the polluted atmosphere and thus to create a domino effect and a ge-neral, global and gradual environ-mental improvement to the flora.
Through the emergence of a spa-ce launch capacity on a global sca-le, with a safety standard profoun-dly
improved compared to the 20th
century’s perilous space program
s, radioactive and other toxic
bioha-zardous w a s t e s are
nowadays la-unched into orbit and projected out from the solar sy-stem and left to its own devices in
the vastness of deep space. Oth-er
environmental projects have also b
een launched, such as the
trans-formation of the North African and parts of the Middle Eastern deserts into lush plains of crops and
vege-tables, with modern
“cloud-bust-ing” techniques. But all of these projects and improvements consti-tute but “tears in rain”.
In particular the wild fauna has by now become severely and
irre-vocably affected. Many different
ki-nds of animals are now very rare or have become extinct, with little ho-pe for restoration as the genome in many cases has been lost. The ru-ral areas are also dwindling and
ci-ties are expanding and increasing in population. Most megalopolices are severally overpopulated in 2300 because of the rural population fle-eing the desolate and fruitless are-as of the countryside which in turn creates an environmental and sani-tarian disaster in its own right.
Despite the wonders made to the Saharan desert, most other deserts are naturally expanding on all con-tinents and forests are slowly retre-ating ground and dying on a global scale. The air and atmosphere is severely polluted and rains are qu-ite acidic, especially near or at the urban areas. City-lines are tower-ing with tall skyscrapers maktower-ing acidic rain a common feature in
mostmegalopolices. Raincoats,
pla-stic covers, impregnated trenchco-ats and umbrellas, etc., are com-mon features in most megalopolic-es because of daily rain showers.
Although the ozone layer is sev-erely damaged because of the pol-lution, the industrially emitted gas-es and smog creatgas-es cloudy and gr-ey skies over the urban areas, ob-structing the sun through global dimming, which actually protects people from the dangerous solar radiation. However, these high lev-els of carbon dioxide gas in the at-mosphere initially accelerated the
greenhouse effect during the 22nd
century, resulting in a raised ave-rage temperature. As a consequen-ce of the global warming, the water level rose somewhat as the polar ice started to melt. But the im-manent catastrophe was halted; as the global dimming worsened it
co-mpensated for the greenhouse eff-ect, reversing it during the last ce-ntury, as the sun rays started to reflect back into space, lowering the temperature. In 2300 the ave-rage global temperature has been reverted back to a level a little bit higher than pre-Twilight War
leve-ls.However,scientistspredicta
con-tinuous lowering of the tempera-tures during the coming century, resulting in colder and longer wint-ers in the not so distant future.
Fashion and sub-culture
The multicultural environment of the Terran megalopolis provides for a multitude of sub-cultures, cult-ural or personal styles, and fash-ions, thrown together into one big urban mix. Most of them could be more or less recognized by any common westerner of the middle
and late 20th century, as Terran
culture and fashion of the 23rd
cen-tury is very much retrofitted onto a
20th century template, which is
ve-ry popular in the mindset of the
23rd century Man on Earth; there
is a kind of romantic nostalgia and idealization of the world untouched and undefiled by the Twilight War and the subsequent ages of reco-very, and off-world exploration and commerce.
There is a general and widesp-read disillusionment and defatism amongst those Terrans who have
stayed behind on Ear-th, either out
of fear, scepticism, inaptitude or
unfitness for off-world colonization.
The contrast, division and segrega
tion betweenthe cultures of Earth
and that of the off-world colonies
is huge, although some of these tre
nds have affected the urban
lifestyles of the Tiranians as well. Thus, one may constr-ue that the
sub-cultur-es and fashions of the
23rd century represent a reconstru
c t i o n of the late 20th century
cultures blended with
contemporary inventions whi-ch follows naturally from the origi-nal historical style.
The most common and easily
spotted sub-cultural lifestyles and fashions encountered by any off-world colonist arriving on Earth is the following:
Cyberpunks: Although not all
cyberpunks have bionic implants or replacements, a common feature amongst their lot, and thus repre-sent nostalgia for
late 20th century punk and goth
culture and music, they all hang around at the same places and joints downtown and go to the same clubs. The style and outfit is quite spectacular and so-metimes bizarre. Hairstyles are of the typical spiked punk style, in-cluding Mohawks, with a large var-iety of colors, from plain black to very colourful, reds, greens, pinks, blues, oranges, etc.
Some lean more to the gothic style of aesthetics, dying their hair pitch black or white, or in combi-nations, as well as their clothes, in different and often outrageous sty-les, resembling that of the more crude styled punks, but with their faces painted pale or white with ex-aggerated black eye make-up. So-me have shaved heads. Black
sun-glasses are common. Rastafarian
dreads are also common blending with the black cyberpunk style, oft-en with quite long and decorated locks. Some lean more towards a
rockabilly and cowboy glam style
as an homage to the 1980’s.
Cyberpunks are often (but not always are dressed in black, tightly fitted jeans or leather trousers, and leather jackets and sometimes long leather coats. They often wear mili-tary type boots or shoes with large
soles, or cowboy or winkle-picker
boots depending on the rest of the outfit. The goths are often of the more vain type and care more about looking good and sharp, as compared to the ordinary punks.
Cyberpunks of all varieties often have visible piercings, scarrings and other similar types of aesthe-tical enhancements and modify-cations, often reaching bizarre and sometimes even monstrous propor-tions. This is often combined with
different types of quite well spotted bionic implants and replacements.
Cyberpunks prefer to listen to
hardcore type of music, such as punk rock, heavy rock, techno, no-ise, etc., or more ambient and got-hic type of rock and electronic mu-sic. Drug abuse is quite common, and preferable drugs are Cannabis, Opium, Amphetamines, and Psych-otropics.
The cyberpunk sub-cultural
phe-nomenon in general, and the gothic fashion in particular have had a great impact on a large part of the population across the social spect-rum, as many dress in gothic influ-enced cloths and hairstyles, how-ever not as radical as the true cy-berpunks themselves.
Noire Dandyism/Romanticism:
This is the fashion style of the mid-dle class and of the elite, the most vogue and fashionable. As with the Cyberpunks, the Noire Dandyism or Noire Romanticism draws
heavi-ly on 20th century culture, but
pri-marily from the fashions of the
1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s, with an emphasis on the 40’s and with an emphasis on the noir culture from
that era, especially influenced by
film noir. As with most fashions of
the 23rd century, everything is over
the top and exaggerated.
The “dandies” are generally a re-ference to the males and “romanti-cs” to the ladies of the Noire cult-ure. Whereas the Cyberpunks lean towards a more unisex or andro-gynous look, the Noire culture is
quite heavily gender segregated,
wi-th wi-the ladies wearing tight dresses or tight skirts, with large fur coats,
hair ups and updos, stylish hats, sometimes with veils hanging over their faces, wearing high heels, etc. reflecting the stereotypes of the er-as that they are trying to reconst-ruct.
Although smoking is almost
non-existent amongst the majority of the human population, the noire culture has made smoking highly fashionable. The romantics, i.e. the “femme fatale” ladies, often smoke
elongated pipes reminiscent of 17th
century clay pipes, or cigarettes at-tached to elongated smoking holder tubes, while the dandies or males smoke cigarettes ordinary, in the corner of the mouth like Humphrey Bogart.
The dandies also wear trench-coats, jackets, matching trousers, shirts (tucked into the trousers) with ties or flies, and sometimes vests, often with decorated patte-rns rather than plain. They wear low flat shoes, often which nice
de-corated patterns which airs the
1940’s. Some wear sneakers. Men often wear braided hats with brims of the retro-style time period as well, and if not they often have quiff hair styles.
The colours often goes in dark hues, not seldom black with some gothic influences, often dark brown
contrasted with lighter shades,
such as khaki or yellow, sometimes white. The individual variety is qu-ite large within this category, whith lots of room to develop one’s own style and eccentricity. And althou-gh there exists some inter-mixing between the gothic trend of Cyber-punk and Noire Dandyism/Roman-ticism, these two cultural phenom-ena represent two opposite ends on a spectrum, the Noir Dandies and Romantics being very much an expression of high fashion and a desire to look impressive, sharp and good whereas the Cyberpunks exhibit a markedly anti-fashion st-ance. The latter also represents the fashion of the gutter, the lumpen-proletariat, whereas the former are part of the highest establishments of society.
Hare Krishnas: These are not so
much a representation of a fashion as being part of a sectarian group which moulds its members into assuming a strict dress code and
behaviour patterns. Living in an
age which by many spiritually in-clined individuals may be constru-ed as representing the apocalyptic end-times, large groups of the pop-ulation are attracted to different re-ligious cults, many drawing on the ancient traditions of the Hindu
In-dians. The Hare Krishna movement has grown into becoming one of the largest and their members are often seen on the streets doing their repetitive chantings (such as
“Hare Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare
Rama”, etc.), sitting on the pavem-ents and drumming to their chan-ts, trying to proselyte new memb-ers into their fold and their detach-ed life style. They live in closely kn-it communkn-ities, leading a life which closely resembles that of medieval monks and nuns, eating vegetarian
food and propagating pacifism,
non-violence, etc.
The Hare Krishnas are quite po-pular amongst the gutter people or the homeless, and they recruit ma-ny members from that chaste-less communities, with the hope of fin-ding a more decent life, but mem-bers come from a different walks of life, sometimes from the highest, youngsters as well as adults, who have become disillusioned with th-eir privileges while the poor are liv-ing like rats on the streets. The
movement, although highly centra-lized and working on a global scale, is harmless and do not incite rev-olution (like the anarchists do), th-us avoiding any attention from the government and police departmen-ts.
Ethnics: This is basically people
from traditional cultures and raci-ally conscious and proud
ethniciti-es, such as the Chinese, Arabic,
Japanese, African, Indian, who
dress up in their traditional garbs and gowns, such as robes, kaftans,
dashikis, burqas, kimonos, etc.
Some of these garbs are elaborate and ornamented, in multiple colors on silk or linen, while others are quite plain and made of simple but
robust materials, such as wool,
etc., to withstand harsh weathers.
Ethnic populations often live in parts of the city which has attract-ed a large group of the same ethni-city, racial communities that try to uphold their cultural habits and traditions in a multicultural world, creating an aesthetics of the com-munity and neighbourhood which creates a sense of “home”.
The most common of the ethni-cal groups seen in the streets, dr-essed in their beautiful long garbs or plain ones, is undoubtedly the Asiatic peoples in general and the Chinese in particular, who mostly live in their beloved Chinatown (se-rving as a safe haven for most Asi-atics). Already constituting the sin-gle largest ethnic group in the wo-rld prior to the Twilight War, follo-wing the aftermath and nuclear de-vastation of the Chinese nation, th-ey have emigrated to most parts of the world. Thus, the Asian rice hat
is a common feature on most Ter-ran steets, being a quite adequate traditional design to deal with the constant rains induced by the meg-alopolis. Asiatics also smoke more tobacco compared to the average population, preferably by smoking pipe.
Metrofits: This is the term used
for the general look most megalo-polis inhabitants prefer to their
clo-thes, adapted to the 24th century
urban life style of Earth. This is fo-remost a pragmatic and rough fas-hion style that is geared towards the wearer withstanding the harsh weather of the megalopolis, such
as rain (created by the towering
city-line) and winds (from the wind tunnel effect created by the endless corridors along the streets).
This is also the fashion of choice amongst the common urban popu-lation, including the poor and the gutter people, although the latter’s clothing is much more rugged,
ha-phazardly assembled from differe-nt clothing items found by chance on the streets or in the alleys), and exhibits a lot more wear. Thus, the metrofit style ranges from more co-lourful and quite beautifully
orna-mented renditions to more bleak
and simple ones. But it almost al-ways includes some form of head gear, often with earflaps, to protect the head from rain and cold winds. Jackets are commonly made of thi-ck materials, quite often fake lea-ther. Rain coats are very common. Thus, metrofit clothing design thi-nks practically first and aestheti-cally second, if there is any room left for the latter.
The metrofit style often mixes well with the ethnic styles, to a greater or lesser extent. This is in particular true concerning the Asi-atic races, which often blend futu-rism with tradition into one mix. One common feature amongst the metrofitted is the use of umbrellas
using LED-lit shafts. The megalo-polis often creating a dusky or even dark environment, these “lamprel-las” come very handy in the stre-ets.
In spite of the perpetual gloom, googles and sunglasses are very common amongst the city dwellers as they are highly fashionable. But they do have a function as well, as they protect the eyes from the aci-dic rains and also from the con-stant light pollution coming from the billboards, neon signs and LED
lights that perpetually illuminate
the city streets.
Retrostyle&RetrofitTechnology
Although there are impressive ex-amples of highly advanced techno-logy, such as the aerodyne
spin-ners (hovering car-like vehicles)
and bio-engineered replicants (bio-logical or carbon based androids), much of the contemporary techno-logy that would be encountered th-rough the game should remind the player characters of the state of
de-velopment of the 1980’s, such as
domestic stationary video phones
that take considerable table space, computer hardware with the size of
small dishwashers, cathode ray
(CRT) television screens, old styled 4-wheeled cars, etc., which on the
other hand can provide functions
and has a capacity that greatly
ex-ceeds that of the late 20th century
(CRT-television sets, to take but
one example, work with superior
scanning frequencies compared to
anything from the 20th century).
One major reason behind this is the technological dark age that the world experienced during the first century following the Twilight War
(which destroyed 20th century
elec-tronics and much common know-how about it), where much had to be restarted from scratch using the knowledge possessed by some few surviving engineers and scientists,
plus enough preserved blueprints of past designs. When technology was being developed for the new post Twilight War age, the old (late
20th century) philosophy of cheap,
plastic, easily disposable,
commer-cialised, mass
produced kind of pro-ducts,
that wasn’t made to last be-yond a few years, became a thing of the past as the old economies (and their philosophies) were dest-royed. The new wave of technology that followed was built more
rigid, stur-dy, solid, bulky and
made to last longer. In 2300
computers and el-ectronics are no
t made to be as small as possible
(a l t h o u g h t h e y can reach
miniscule sizes if the ne-ed arises) but rather highly upgra-deable and utilitarian for the gen-eral market, including the off-world frontier, to withstand wear, rough handling and unexpected use. The harsh and simple life-style at the frontiers has made this an absolute necessity.
Large flatscreen monitors are sometimes used for public spaces, who do not require much of a
pic-ture quality, while CRT television
screens are used for domestic and in particular professional use, such as in space ships and other kind of
vehicles, where high picture quality is required (CRT technology wasn’t
discarded during the late 20th
cen-tury because of better picture qua-lity in flatscreens, but rather
beca-use they were less bulky and che-aper to produce).
Computer electronics are placed in large sturdy sta-tionary housings to provide the unit wi-th ample and neces-sary protection
and ventilation, etc., as well as
being prepa-red for future modi-fications and upgra-des. Portable perso-nal computers (i.e. “laptops”)
of the 24th century are made
sturdier and thicker as well, resem
bling nothing of the slim designs
encountered in early 21th century
of the alternative timeline (that didn’t come to pass because of the Twilight War); in that respect they reflect military designs of that early
Those practical considerations ta-ken, the new type of philosophy of construction that has taken West-ern civilization out from the Twil-ight aftermath, it has also become popular and quite “modern” to ma-ke products, electronics and other machinery
bulky, as there is a pro-found wav
e going on in retro-styling, to
make products look like they were made in the 1980’s, fol-lowing the
general public craze for the 20th
century. The public craves for bulky and sturdy designs who can withstand rough handling and sudden accidents.
Also, frontier news, shows and
documentaries being such popular on Earth, this fact has also cem-ented the utilitarian, robust, indes-tructible and bulky designs which are favoured amongst the coloniz-ers. The “beautiful people”, those
who follow the modern trends in
vogue, also want TV-sets to look
like large furniture, in the same
manner as they did in the 1980’s–– it is the signs of the times and of high fashion.
Of course, it also has to be
re-membered that all technological
and cultural progress stopped dead in 1995 when WWIII broke out, i.e. long before flat screens, high
defin-itiontelevision,cellularphones,
sm-art phones, touch pads, and slim laptops, as we came to know it in
the early 21st century (in the
hist-orical timeline that never came to
pass), had entered the market, or
become popular, and before
Inter-net, web surfing and the home
computer revolution, etc., had pro-perly left the ground and revolut-ionized the post-modern way of liv-ing and thinkliv-ing, spawnliv-ing the age of information, etc. All that would eventually happen, but much later and in a somewhat different way. Cyberspace and the Net would de-velop eventually but in a quite dif-ferent form known as the “Matrix”. In a similar way, “cellular phones” would resurface in the form of Vid-Phōns, etc.
Although cars (and motorbikes) may look very “futuristic”,
aerodyn-amic, and sportscaresque, many
models that were produced in the
23rd century resemble cars from
the late 20th century, even from the
1950’s and 60’s for those that are very fashionable.
However, amongst the large number of dispowered if the mega-lopolices, the poor population living a low-tech lifestyle, recycling is a necessity for survival. Much of
the actual remnants of the 20th
cent-ury that did survive the Twillight War and its aftermath have been put to use in so-me form
or the other. Naturally, retrofittin
g is
commonplace, and not only
amongst people living in the
gut-ter but the lower class
workingfor-ce as well. Now, what really separates the gutter pe-ople from ordinary citizen workmen is that they have developed a keen sense of recycling and retrofitting past vintage technology and hard-ware,
such as 20th century vehicles and
weapons, upgrading it to a workable contemporary standard.
Although living out a low–tech
existence, the gutter people and
the lesser affluent segments of the population house considerably able
engineerswho create inventions
th-at are compth-atible with the
techno-logy of the past and usable in
2300, making surprisingly succes-sful but retrofitted designs. Thus,
in the streets of megalopolices su-ch as Los Angeles, you will
see vin-tage cars from the 1950’s
and 1960’s, refurbished and retrofitted with hydrogen-driven engines and modern electronics, driving side by side, on equal terms with futuristic contemporary designs.
Urban Architecture
There have been two great global architectural currents that have had a profound impact on post-Twilight War Earth. Following the aftermath, the initial wave was the
so-called neo–classicistic or
neo-imperial style, which drew heavily
on late 19th century and early 20th
century architecture, such as art-deco and early modernism, with large and tall cubical or cylindrical
stone and brick skyscraper-like
bu-ildings and city blocks, solid con-structions with salient or marked features, ornamentations, and nor-mal sized framed windows. The gr-ound level and fgr-oundation was of-ten built with large-sized ledges or overhangings with were held up by long arrays of large and fat cubical or circular pillars, highly decorated with repeated and geometrical pat-terns.
This architonic style reflected
the influence of the resurrected
French super–power and its pax
francorum. It underlined a newly gained hope for mankind and for a resurging Western civilization, try-ing to emulate past victories of the
20th century. However, Latin
natio-ns, such as Mexico, Brazil or Arg-entina, often made somewhat less tall buildings reflecting their cultu-ral traditions, as well as that of Spain, Italy and the Balkans, etc.,
still expressing the neo–imperial
style, the hope for the future and growing confidence of the newly resurrected nation-states.
Then, during the 23rd century, a
neo-futuristic style resurged with towering, phallic and pointed feat-ures, built with giant steel
struct-ures with large window panels,
somewhat resembling late 20th
cen-tury architecture of North America and Asia, but even more abstract
than ever before. These often took
and still take quite bizarre and
extravagant features, straying away from the previous cubical style, be-ing works of art in themselves. This again reflected the optimism and victories gained through off-world colonization, the ushering of man into a new era of development and new scientific breakthroughs.
Latin nations, such as Mexico, often lent these new constructs an
Aztec and Mayan flavour, in the
form of large staircase-like temple pyramids, such as shown in the famous Tyrell Corporation building in Mexican Los Angeles, one of the
architectonic wonders of the 23rd
century, situated in and overseeing the large industrial complex of the city known as “Hades”. The build-ing complex consists of twin pyra-mids towering within the city land-scape. All of this reflects the divine
nature of the Tyrell legacy, the
means of creating life and taking it, aptly expressed through the shape of the building.
The downtowns of the megalo-polices or metroplexes where partly reserved for the new futuristic and
almost otherworldly extravagant
skyscrapers, while the older and now centuries old stone buildings of the classical neo-imperial style became retrofitted and upgraded
into 23rd century standards. As a
consequence, new plummings and tubings, electrical conduits and air conditioning ducts were fitted onto the old withering facades almost like organic vines. The state of the roofs and facades deteriorated as the constant acid rains created severe corrosion on the materials. As a consequence, many rooftops in the older sections suffer from se-vere leakage of water.
To power these vintage
housin-gs, large generators where mount-ed directly onto the street, lending power through thick cables cros-sing the pavements, strapped all over the worn down facades. Large screens and neon signs were also retrofitted onto them which cons-tantly broadcasted flickering
com-mercialsandadvertisements.On
gr-ound level, the pillared ledges were fitted with illuminated business si-gns and brand advertisements, wh-ile on top of the ledges, new arrays of backlit commercial store-fronts where mounted thereupon.
In many instances, at least with particularly strong structures, old
buildings and entire city block
complexes would be transformed
into foundations for new futuristic skyscrapers. In some cases they would be hollowed out and used as service accesses or plenum cham-bers for the really big megastruc-tures above and on top of them. In other cases the building would be left where it was, but with a wholly reinforced giant column built insi-de to hold a brand new
superstruc-ture; an entire district of older buil-dings and city blocks could be con-ceived to individually serve as pilla-rs for a giant supepilla-rstructure, crea-ting dusky streets and dark alleys underneath the new roofs.
So, out of the top of a normal five or fifty-story building there wo-uld now be a giant pylon or pede-stal with a huge platform that wo-uld go up a hundreds stories to the underside of another towering and futuristic building. Henceforth, the older sections of the city, those at the street level, would be the least desirable for living and working. Class society was now creating str-uctural segregation at city levels, reserving the highest stores to the privileged, powerful and wealthy.
A network of high–level roads
was to be strung between the new
and towering mega–blocks. And
this was to merely be the lover level of a free-way type of intersection for
spinners, located at the entran-ce level of one of these tall
skyscra-pers. Each skyscraper or taller
building, either of the aging neo-imperial or new neo-futurist style, both in private and governmental use, where fitted with its own lan-ding pad used for areodyne spin-ners and other vertical landing and take-off vehicles taxing on and off from each building roof.
Down at the street level, evenly spread along the pavements, street lights are placed out to provide a basic and minimal illumination for the pedestrian or vehicle, requiring its own lights turned on. Being a blend of futurism and art deco, they provide illumination through triple LED-lights, standing on a fi-rm base made out of concrete pain-ted yellow and black. Some of these lights, placed at crossings, double as stop signs, showing either a bla-ck palm of the hand against a red backlight (while emitting a high pi-tch rapidly pulsating signal toge-ther with a male computerized vo-ice repeatedly stating: “Don’t Walk! Don’t Walk!”), or presenting a shoe and arrow sign against a green lig-ht (stating “Cross Now! Cross Now!” while giving out a contrasted lower pitch and calmer signal).
Most of these street lamp poles are of the simple variety, with the single pole which carries a triple frame of LED-lights. Some lamp pole units that are placed at cross-sections or squares are provided with an array of CRT monitors, giving information necessary for the common pedestrian to guide himself in the street, such as rece-iving directions, looking up sche-dules for busses, ordering metro-kabs, etc. Some of these informat-ion centers, placed at various cros-sings, also double as stop signs. A common sight along the kerbstones is a series of parking meters (with slots for inserting Credcards) that are placed there for parking cars, with an attached parking space.
Large parts of the city basement and subterranean levels were also gradually hollowed out to provide with several levels of freeway fly-overs beneath a ground level res-ting on huge beams. On the out-skirts of the new and older cores, there are also the industry districts and the eerie landscape of the che-mical refineries, extracting fuel and
energy to power the megalopolis
and its many types of vehicles. This is sometimes referred to as the “Hades landscape” because of its sinister and twisted looking ske-letonic steel and metal features.
Off-world architecture does not endorse any of the initial wave of