Points of Interest

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Local places of interest

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State University Babylon City

 

This cutting edge technical center is located in Greenfield and was one of the first centers rebuilt after the devastation which caused the ruins.  A large majority of the university remote research facilities were affected by the blast and major funding was necessary to rebuild the university.  Luckily, most of the classrooms and dormitories were located on the other side of the campus.  The campus is reknown for it's technology focus in the realms of high energy physics, material sciences, and organic chemistry,  At its height, the campus boasted a student population around 12,000 but today can only support about 7,000 students max.

 

Students are known to have rave parties in the destroyed/deserted sections of town against school policies and despite police banners warning of the dangers.  Several school charity groups also explore the area, handing out supplies and treating the homeless residents.

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The Meatwagon

 

This isn't so much a place as a beaten up RV.  The RV has been converted into a makeshift doctor's office and the owner drives the RV around the Ruins helping those who need help.  The owner is a former doctor who treats people without a license.  Their license was revoked when they saved a known supervillain from death but would not reveal the supervillain's identity citing patient-doctor privilege.  Both heroes and villains who need medical attention but who do not want to be treated officially have been know to see the former doctor.

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Tabletop

 

This is Babylon City's premier FLGS (friendly local game store).  Originally caught in the destruction that created the Ruins, the shop was able to pull itself out of the rubble and rebuild in a new location.  The store is a mom and pop run store.  Pop runs the store portion and carries a large variety of board games, miniatures, RPGs, models, comics and collectibles.  "Mom" runs the coffee shop/deli and hosts the gamer area.  The food is decently priced and popular and mostly consists of burgers, sandwiches, and hot dogs.  Soda and fancy coffees are also available.  It should be noted that "Mom" is a guy.  The couple married in California when same sex marriage was first legalized before opening the shop.  A picture of their court wedding is located in the coffee shop along with photos of them with various geek icons (Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Jackson, Stan Lee,  George Takei, George MacDonald, and some dude name Steve Long).

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Aid Stations #UR86D

 

In the immediate aftermath and widespread devastation, many governments and private foundations have set up aid stations to help victims, provide temporary shelter, etc.  Literally hundreds of stations sprang up, most reputable though some not so much.  Licensing and oversight took care of the fraudulent stations. After a year though, the funds and public interest in helping the victims of Greenfield dried up.  Oversight was shutdown and licensing discontinued.  Many of the aid stations have disappeared but Aid Station #UR86D has continued to work in the Ruins.  Partially funded by those it has already rescued, it is one of the few stations that seem to be continuing to do good work despite long odds and criticism over helping "people who can't even help themselves."
 

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Longest Running HERO Game in Babylon City

 

Currently gaming at Tabletop, the HERO game has been running since 1985 and has expanded and contracted over the years. The main core of the game is run by a Boris DiFonso and he has 4 core players.  At various points in time, the campaign has had more players (up to 16) but has currently settled back down to its core 4 PCs.  Each PC has over 150 XP but Boris has maintained the power level of the characters to around 60 active points.  Boris tries not to write up live villains stats since the Muncie incident in '09 where a supervillain caught wind of a group of gamers who beat up his tabletop representation.  This hasn't stopped his players from creating several of the superheroes for tabletop play.

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SETI Station #08191921

 

Not actually a SETI station, a millionaire engineer and Trekkie bought a satellite dish and a small building near the center of the Ruins and called it SETI station 08191921 (the birthdate of Gene Roddenberry).  The office space contained a lot of used server hardware and some satellite equipment and cooperated with the actual SETI organization in scanning the skies.  When the event which created the Ruins occurred, the station was destroyed.  A kickstarter was launched which ran over double the original cost of the station.  A new station with the same designation was recreated in the less damaged parts of Greenfield and continues to work in the search of extraterrestrial life.

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The Swimming Hole

This location is not a tourist site and not on any map.  After the aftermath, there were several locations which had recessed into the ground and gathered water during the rainier seasons.  One of these locations, deep in the ruins is called by the local kids the swimming hole.  The hole seems to maintain fresh clear water and is about 100 yards in diameter and some 30' deep at the lowest point.  The water maintains a constant temperature of 72 F.  The university students have tested the water and its is clean and not city water (which due to Babylon City's size must be fluoridated and contain trace elements from the process to make it sanitized).  Attempts to drain the pond have failed.  The city has ignored the area after attempting to drain it and posted signs to keep people out which have been ignored by the local populous.  Several city developers are thinking about monetizing the anomaly but the few who have tried have met set back after setback.  These setbacks have been attributed to vandals but no proof exists of there being vandals.