Location:
New Zen City was built as a chartered community in the last decade of the Petroleum Era. It was built with interlocking Gassner Industrial architecture, extensive Ocaslan planning, and a failed prototype arcology. The 1000 meter tall structure was built with a three legged design, with a saucer like top, twenty stories thick and 500 meters across. Two things doomed New Zen City: the collapse of the United States as a federal superstate, and the collapse of the New Zen Arcology. When the US federal state started breaking down, its ability to finance charter communities faltered, and when the arcology literally fell the entire project was abandoned. The city is a half ruin, and populated by a subsistence population of scavengers, wasters, and the general dregs of society's unwanted.
Notable Locations:
Police Citadel #7
The largest remaining structure in New Zen City, Police Citadel #7 is an imposing monolith to profitized law enforcement and the incarceration industry. There were larger structures, but they were damaged or destroyed by the falling bulk of the main arcology. The citadel is 450 meters tall, and is literally a fortress with walls and towers, inner courtyards, and stores. When built this was to serve as green space for the lawyers and judicial branch personnel in the citadel, and barracks for officers, and a literally prison dug into the earth under the city. The leaders of New Zen City have made Citadel Seven into the core of their domination, he who holds the Citadel holds the city.
New Zen Colosseum
The great Colosseum of the city was built in hopes of being a venue for profession sports, political rallies, and concerts. None of these ventures came to bear fruit. The Colosseum is the main hub of the wastelander economy of the city, and is host to its central market. The market is a scavengers bazaar of the strange, lost, and forgotten things.
The Dojo
The Dojo is a complex of residences and small businesses all centered around an Amero-Japanese enclave in the city. The residents of the Dojo represent the 'lawful good' community inside New Zen City.
The Collapse
The Collapse is the name given to the ruins of the arcology and the cleared zone around the remaining two legs. The leaders of the New Zen underworld like to use the Collapse as the stage for most of their duels, executions, and other public functions. The saucer of the arco is partially inhabited, and these are considered the outcasts and criminals among an entire populace that is considered by most to already be that. The criminals among the criminals. The truth is that most of the full time residents of the Collapse represent the mentally ill and violently disturbed.
The Undercity
When New Zen City was built, many of the city functions and municipal features were build in a geofront pattern, and the city proper was built over them. Drains, waste management, essential traffic, and so forth could go on unimpeded by surface traffic, protests, or even warfare. The undercity has since become the most densely populated part of the city, where the residents are protected by meters of street, slum, and debris above them, invisible to satellite and most sensors.
Denizens:
Cord McGavin: McGavin is a scarred and violent man, his head is covered with burn scars and he is never without his signature polarized sunglasses. He is something of a low brow criminal baron, commanding a large section of New Zen City's outer ward. He is known for sponsoring prize fighting, pit fights, and keeps a stable of gladiator type wastelanders. One of the things that keep's McGavin in power is that he retains control of one of the city's regenerative powerplants and considers himself a lightbringer, a patron of technology.
Beautiful Claws Crawley: Crawley is a former bodybuilder and cybernetics enthusiast. His torso and arms are robotic, and rather than hands he has massive hydraulic claws, which he uses to main, murder, and destroy under the pretense of being a performance artist. He is a narcissistic asshole who delights in harming others in front of cheering crowds, and he is the executioner for the lords of the city.
Ben Super-Custom: Super Custom is a self aware auton with a car fetish. The machine has a garage where it is constantly collecting junk, tearing down old machines, and building new ones, or repairing broken ones in exchange for parts. The bot is also constantly swapping out its own parts, building new limbs, and even servicing cyborgs in exchange for junk or scrap.
The Mysterious Hotdog Man: a nameless man who pushes a sausage cart around the city, selling grilled hotdogs. He has a selection of sauces, industrially sourced and packaged. The source of the meat for his dogs is questionable, but his prices are reasonable. Attempts to kill him have all invariably failed, or his would be assassins have come to ill ends or just vanished.
The Keeper of the Aquariums: also known as the Loan Shark, the Keeper of the Aquarium is the cultural head of New Zen City. A BDSM afficianado, a lender and investor, and talent scout, the Keeper is a jovially evil man with a fetish for fish. This being said, the Keeper is a backer, and supports peace and the status quo in New Zen City, or whomever will keep the peace the longest or the best. He is not adverse to lawlessness or violence, its just generally not good for business and fish tanks are fragile.
Not Registered Yet? No problem.
Do you want Strolenati super powers? Registering. That's how you get super powers! These are just a couple powers you receive with more to come as you participate.
- Upvote and give XP to encourage useful comments.
- Work on submissions in private or flag them for assistance.
- Earn XP and gain levels that give you more site abilities (super powers).
- You should register. All your friends are doing it!