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Empire City

Antaus

Minstrel
Okay, with the following story setting I'm just really looking for opinions more than anything. I have enough to finish a basic outline, character profiles, and so on. I'd just like to hear from other people, what they think of the story ideas, the characters, setting, ect. I know this isn't 100% original, this is just how the story developed so I went with it.

Empire City

Set in the 24th century Empire City is a story about one of the last bastions of human civilization. After the third world war and a nuclear holocaust that's rendered most of the world uninhabitable, people now live in a single massive city that rises over a mile into the air.

Upper Levels — Commonly referred to as the Up Levels, the city is constructed of domes and tubes that transport people everywhere they need to go. With neatly manicured green lawns people have access to cheap and healthy food, free medical care, and top notch education. While a person does have to work for a living, on average they do so six hours a day and few jobs are physically demanding. Life on the Upper Levels is good, the air is clean, and the sun shines bright. The government is a democratically run organization with elected officials and fairly little corruption compared to governments of the past.

Lower Levels — Or the Down Levels as most call it. The lower levels are the exact opposite of the upper levels. With a world still blanketed by a nuclear winter the sun never shines down here. Were it not for the massive factories that churn out smoke all day and geothermal heat vents, the city would have already frozen. On the Down Levels everything is controlled by an organization known a as the Syndicate. They started out as a powerful criminal empire and now they run the Down Levels from cloud cover to ground.

Political Set-up — The Syndicate controls the Down Levels and is really the only form of functional government they have left. In the past as the Syndicate grew in power the Empire City government tried to fight back but the corruption within the police department combined with the problems of over-population (a city meant to house five-million now with a population of eight million), made this almost impossible. The war between the two sides was sprawling into the street in running firefights. The police were losing and law enforcement was facing staggering loses while the Syndicate just kept sending more and more people.

Now around one-hundred years ago, the Empire City government completely abandon the lower levels of the city, sealing off any access points to the upper levels and left the people to the mercy of the Syndicate. The government manages the pristine portions of the city above the clouds where people live good and easy lives, while the Syndicate controls the city below. Inside a pollution and crime choked city where the average lifespan is only forty years, gangs run the streets in a living hell and the Syndicate running everything, including the gangs, from their fortress in Sector 01.

There's an uneasy peace between the two sides with the Syndicate staying below the clouds and the government remaining above. They rarely venture into the others territory because after losing control of the lower levels, the government has come up with policies and technologies to help root out Syndicate infiltrators with surprising efficiency. Both sides have fortified their positions and short of an all out war that would destroy the city, that's not likely to change any time soon.

Main Cast — The following section is meant to give an overview of the main cost, not spell out everything about them. That stuff can be found out after I finish the story.

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Edgar Riley — Edgar lives in the Down Levels of the city and is an enforcer for the Syndicate. While it's not the ideal job and Edgar dreams of one day making it to the Up Levels, being a borderline sociopath the job description doesn't really bothers him. In Edgar's eyes the Syndicate is the government on the Down Levels so he's just enforcing the law, much like an Up Levels police officer.

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Rachel Donovan — A young woman who lives with Edgar, Rachel has the job of being his observer. As it's the duty of all enforcers to make sure people play by the Syndicate's rules, someone has to make sure they play by the rules as well. Having been Edgar's observer for the past six years, after the previous one was killed in a hovercar accident, Rachel is probably the closest thing to a friend he has.

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Sarah Sinclair — Sarah is a police officer in the upper levels (ECPD) of the city and lives a fairly peaceful life. In just over a decade on the force she's only been in one firefight, and that didn't last long. With a genuine desire to help people and keep the peace, Sarah became a police officer to do her part in making sure the upper levels were kept safe. Both from the criminals in their society, as well as those from the lower levels.

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Jason Vandal — As a young upstart senator for the Up Level government Jason has long been a proponent of taking back the Down Levels of Empire City. He often speaks about the harsh conditions the people live in and the brutality of Syndicate rule. Naturally this has made him quite unpopular both above and below the clouds, however in recent times it would seem that people are starting to listen.
 

Antaus

Minstrel
Why would it belong in world building, I don't need anything built or worked on. I'm just showcasing a promo for a story I plan to write. I'd also like to know why this was moved to world building, as stated above, I'm not BUILDING anything.
 
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T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
Why would it belong in world building, I don't need anything built or worked on. I'm just showcasing a promo for a story I plan to write. I'd also like to know why this was moved to world building, as stated above, I'm not BUILDING anything.
I moved it to World Building because you're asking for opinions on your world, characters, events, etc.

Okay, with the following story setting I'm just really looking for opinions more than anything. I have enough to finish a basic outline, character profiles, and so on. I'd just like to hear from other people, what they think of the story ideas, the characters, setting, ect.

What you're asking for is one of the functions of the World Building forum. The Showcase is typically reserved for showing your actual writing, not outlines, character sketches, & story ideas. When you have an excerpt of prose, narrative, or dialogue you can post that in the Showcase for readers.
 
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I have as few casual observations based on what is here and I'll need to make a few assumptions which may not be accurate.
Population: Originally the city was designed to have a max population of 5 million. I'm assuming that since most of the manual labor was designed to be in the down levels, they were meant to have a slightly larger population that the up levels. I'll estimate 3 million to 2 million respectively. I'll also assume that originally, the birth rate was designed to be tightly regulated by the government. I'll also assume that this is still the case in the up levels. Taking all of that into consideration, the up levels should be maintaining their original 2 million population limit. This means that the down levels population is 6 million. 3x greater than the up levels. Something I'm sure the Syndicate is aware of. At a certain point, sheer numbers will be enough for the down levels to seize control of the up levels. I'm sure they are willing, and would actually prefer, to sacrifice millions to accomplish this.

A second observation would be that you state, "With a world still blanketed by a nuclear winter the sun never shines down here. Were it not for the massive factories that churn out smoke all day and geothermal heat vents, the city would have already frozen." This would appear to give a distinct advantage to the down levels. Turn off the heat to the up levels, let everyone freeze, turn the heat back on and move in. Also, what do those factories produce and where do they get their raw materials? Does trade exist between the up and down levels? If not, how do the up levels sustain themselves?

This leads to a question, what is the system of value? Currency wouldn't be much use in a closed environment. I assume barter and trade or theft and intimidation are standard practices. I assume that the up levels have superior food, living conditions and medical treatments. But what else? These factors don't seem to be affecting the down levels since their population was able to grow to twice what is was supposed to be.

Just some observations and perhaps food for thought.
 

Antaus

Minstrel
Thanks for the comments, it does give good food for thought. Although I've pretty much got things worked out this will help me smooth the edges and get those last tiny details in place.

Population: Both levels of the city do have birth control laws because of limited space, but there is also different reasoning with both sides. The Down Levels limit the population because of the fact the Syndicate rules through fear, intimidation, and brutality. They don't want the population raging out of control to the point they can't keep an iron grip on things. It's also partly why they allow limit warfare between city sectors. Keep the people focused on one another and not their Syndicate masters. The population divide is actually closer to 4.5 and 3.5.

The Up Levels limit population because they can produce things on their own but not nearly to the same degree as the Down Levels. Their reasoning for birth control is so their half of the city doesn't become overcrowded to the point they can't provide the needed goods and services to the people they care for.

Heating: The Up Level heat themselves because of the fact they live above the cloud layer. Their section of the city is domed and exposed to direct sunlight. Using solar and wind power considerably more advanced than what we have now they produce heat and power just fine.

Economy: You're right about one thing, there is a barter and trade system that exists, however there is money too in the form of their electronic currency or physical credit chits. The barter and trade system is used by the governments because there are goods each side produces that the other needs. The actual money system is largely for the everyday person so they can buy, sell, and acquire what they need to survive. Electronic money is the most common form on the Up Levels, while people on the Down Levels tend to use credit chits.

Other: Also about the factories, the reason they don't require a larger population to run is because of automation, however there is also a reason they aren't fully automated. The Syndicate realizes they need some way for the people to make a living and a way to keep them busy so the factories are only automated so far as they need to be. And yes they do mine for resources, but not directly under the city as it would obviously compromise the foundation and that would be bad all the way around.

If someone were to see a side view of the entire city it would actually look like a large tree. The Down Levels would be the trunk rising up toward the clouds, and above the Up Levels branch out into a large series of domes and tubes.
 
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