The City of ????

[BlueCloud2k2]

Edit: Mark 3 of the City can be found here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/79422-The-City-of?p=2014226#post2014226

 

In 2003, 10 miles off of the coast of New Hampshire, an island appeared over night. On the island was a city complete in every way - except for it was unoccupied What's more, the city was more advanced than anything ever seen by man outside of Super-Level technology. All of the systems needed to operate a city were present: water, heating/cooling, electricity, sewage, public transport, roads, even a working Fusion Power plant whose energy output was 10 times what was needed to power the city.

 

In addition to all of this there were factories filled with configurable machinary to mass-produce nearly anything anybody could want. The health-care facilities were decades beyond what anyone had. And finally, each of the apartments and houses in the city had limited food-produciton systems.

 

After 5 years of research, the US Government had decided to open the city to the public as a Government District (just like Washington DC). An interim civic government was established, and free elections are planned for 2012. The major office buildings and produciton sites were auctioned off to various corporations and the houses were awarded by national lottery.

 

The city has the following amenities:

A Football stadium, Soccer stadium, Hockey stadium, Basket Ball stadium, and a Baseball stadium.

A fusion reactor (fuel source: heavy water)

A Heavy-Water extractor

A Water-treatment plant (to recycle sewage into water with minimal waste)

A De-salinization Plant (to turn sea-water into usable water; also feeds the heavy water extractor)

A fully functional Subway and Monorail system.

An international airport.

A Sea-port

A Zoo

A Museum

A bridge to the mainland (an add-on by the US Gov't)

 

The city itself is the size of New York. An estimated 12 Million Americans already live there, and the city is only ¾ occupied. Just as in Millenium City, self-driving cars are the standard.

 

The primary industries available are:

Reverse Engineering of the Technologies

Manufacturing

Maintenance

Education

Civil Jobs (administrators, trash-men, etc)

Law Enforcement

Corporate Jobs (Multiple start-up firms have their corporate headquarters in the City of ????)

 

 

What I need help figuring out is the following:

- The Name of the City

- The Name of the City's sports teams (I myself am not familiar with the rules/regulations of professional sports, but if someone establishes a new team able to become part of the Pro Leagues?)

- Ideas of where the Island came from (I already have an idea, but haven't decided yet. Additional ideas can be used as conspiracy theories/urban legends)

Any flaws/holes you can think of.

 

Here is the actual origin of the city:

 

A parallel reality developed a Higgs-Boson based super weapon to fight off Istvatha V'han and the weapon caused their version of Earth to no longer exist. As Avalon was ground Zero for the invasion, the entire Island was shunted into CU Earth and everyone living on the Isle was shunted into the reality Istvatha V'han was invading from.

 

Due to the nature of the Isle's spawning, it is a cosmic weakpoint that could allow anything to enter our world (or cause people to suddenly vanish into other worlds).

 

 

Any other comments or sugguestions?

[dmjalund]

Re: The City of ????

 

Some cosmic entity is waiting for it to be filled up, then take the city and put it in his exhibit

[Beast]

Re: The City of ????

 

a city that just appears and is ready to be populated

no body will want to spend money to live there

it begs the thought of a mouse trap for people

you might get people to move in if the housing and buildings go for free(then you tax them)

 

Outtanowhere, New Hampshire

[Lord Liaden]

Re: The City of ????

 

Hmm... twelve million inhabitants immigrated in only seven years? You won't have that level of migration just to fill up empty housing. People will relocate en masse only if they see substantial economic benefit to doing so. They have to have solid-paying jobs that a big city arises as the natural hub of: manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, mineral exploitation, etc. What are the assets of this island city? There's little need for another major port off the east coast of the United States, particularly one without any direct connection to the mainland for easy transport of goods. Neither government nor corporations will shell out the money to fill an entire city with the machinery needed to make it habitable, unless there's something special to be had there that makes it profitable in the long term.

 

IMHO your "instant city" needs some type of exploitable resource that's unique or nearly unique to it, that would justify this concerted drive to habitation. A few suggestions:

 

The city does have all the machinery needed for habitation, just not the inhabitants; and that machinery is advanced beyond anything available in the modern world outside of superhero or supervillain gadgetry. Manufacturing processes, communication and information tech, medical facilities, alloys and plastics with remarkable properties. While some of it can be and has been reverse-engineered after study, other parts are so far irreproducible and exist only in this city;

 

The city is the nexus of some type of spacial folding or warping phenomenon, which probably has something to do with how it appeared. Over years of study scientists have learned a few ways to harness this phenomenon from within the city, including instantaneous physical transportation of goods and people to anywhere in the world, and drawing raw materials out from deep within the planet without need for drilling or mining. Scientists are researching the possibility of using the warp for close observation and study of other stars and solar systems, sending manned spacecraft to neighboring planets, even traveling through time or to other universes;

 

The city is built over some unique and incredibly valuable mineral resource that justifies the expense of filling the city with workers to exploit it. For example, a self-renewing fuel; indestructible metal; totally frictionless lubricant; panacea for all diseases; gravity-negator; or combination of such things.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: The City of ????

 

LL has a point, people go where there's jobs...or a free handout. The machines should be there, because no one's going to move in until someone has invested billions of dollars installing them otherwise. If you want a lower tech level overall, you could probably lure people in with just free energy. Then the only really high tech you would need would be the energy source, preferably distributed, so each building has its own supply. Have the city already set up with wireless, and immigration should take care of itself. The city has factories and free electricity, as soon as the government allows it, someone's going to take advantage of the ready-made facilities and set up shop with extremely low capital outlay costs. They just have to be uninpressed with the possibility that the place is a roach motel for humans. High wages and cheap apartments will get the ball rolling. Oh, and you had better have a bridge built.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: The City of ????

 

Another possibility is free food, the refrigerators and cabinets auto-magically restock themselves. That will draw an entirely different crowd of immigrants, though.

[BlueCloud2k2]

The City of ???? Mk 2

 

In 2003, 10 miles off of the coast of New Hampshire, an island appeared over night. On the island was a city complete in every way - except for it was unoccupied What's more, the city was more advanced than anything ever seen by man outside of Super-Level technology. All of the systems needed to operate a city were present: water, heating/cooling, electricity, sewage, public transport, roads, even a working Fusion Power plant whose energy output was 10 times what was needed to power the city.

 

In addition to all of this there were factories filled with configurable machinary to mass-produce nearly anything anybody could want. The health-care facilities were decades beyond what anyone had. And finally, each of the apartments and houses in the city had limited food-produciton systems.

 

After 5 years of research, the US Government had decided to open the city to the public as a Government District (just like Washington DC). An interim civic government was established, and free elections are planned for 2012. The major office buildings and produciton sites were auctioned off to various corporations and the houses were awarded by national lottery.

 

The city has the following amenities:

A Football stadium, Soccer stadium, Hockey stadium, Basket Ball stadium, and a Baseball stadium.

A fusion reactor (fuel source: heavy water)

A Heavy-Water extractor

A Water-treatment plant (to recycle sewage into water with minimal waste)

A De-salinization Plant (to turn sea-water into usable water; also feeds the heavy water extractor)

A fully functional Subway and Monorail system.

An international airport.

A Sea-port

A Zoo

A Museum

A bridge to the mainland (an add-on by the US Gov't)

 

The city itself is the size of New York. An estimated 12 Million Americans already live there, and the city is only ¾ occupied. Just as in Millenium City, self-driving cars are the standard.

 

The primary industries available are:

Reverse Engineering of the Technologies

Manufacturing

Maintenance

Education

Civil Jobs (administrators, trash-men, etc)

Law Enforcement

Corporate Jobs (Multiple start-up firms have their corporate headquarters in the City of ????)

 

 

What I need help figuring out is the following:

- The Name of the City

- The Name of the City's sports teams (I myself am not familiar with the rules/regulations of professional sports, but if someone establishes a new team able to become part of the Pro Leagues?)

- Ideas of where the Island came from (I kinda-sorta have an idea, but haven't decided yet. Additional ideas can be used as conspiracy theories/urban legends)

Any flaws/holes you can think of.

 

Any other comments or sugguestions?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: The City of ????

 

That's the tack I would have chosen.

 

If I were picking the name of this wondrous island city of the West, I'd go with "Avalon."

[shadowmage87]

Re: The City of ????

 

I really like Avalon...you have no idea. Alternatively, it's a bit overdone but you could go with Atlantis. If it were in the Pacific I would suggest R'lyeh, but no one would EVER name a city that. And even if they did no one would ever go live there....

 

I think I'm swiping this for my campaign, BTW. It adds another mystery on top of the whole, "Why did all these people suddenly become metahumans for no reason?" thing.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: The City of ????

 

I really like Avalon...you have no idea. Alternatively' date=' it's a bit overdone but you could go with Atlantis. If it were in the Pacific I would suggest R'lyeh, but no one would EVER name a city that. And even if they did no one would ever go live there....[/quote']

 

Yeah, R'lyeh is a bit odd (where did you get it?). And there is already an Atlantis in CU. Avalon is one I already thought of, but it brings to mind the whole image of England, King Arthur, the KotRT, Camelot, etc... and I'm pretty sure the Brittish would be pretty pissed at us Yanks for calling our mysterious Isle Avalon.

 

And if there was a Super-Team in Avalon called the Knights or Knights of Avalon, the New KotRT might get a little testy.

 

And my wife just referred to it as Sim-City.

 

Anyhoo, Avalon is on the name block. any other sugguestions?

 

I think I'm swiping this for my campaign, BTW. It adds another mystery on top of the whole, "Why did all these people suddenly become metahumans for no reason?" thing.

 

I'm glad I could inspire you.

[shadowmage87]

Re: The City of ????

 

The sunken city of R'lyeh is the resting place of Cthulhu in H.P. Lovecraft's mythos. It's supposed to rise from the see again when the stars align and pretty much humanity is worthy (read senselessly violent) enough to be worthy of being destroyed by Cthulhu. Problem is it's remote in the Pacific Ocean.

 

Hmm...I'm trying to think of sunken cities...or kingdoms associated with water.... You could name it Aegae, or Aeges, or Aiges after the home of Poseidon in the Odyssey.

ATM that's all I've got.... Will keep thinking on it though.

[dmjalund]

Re: The City of ????

 

New Avalon seems slightly more appropriate

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: The City of ????

 

More and more I'm liking Avalon D.C.

 

*consulting the great god Google...*

 

Okay good. There isn't an Avalon, New Hampshire.

 

Now then. Sports teams. Any thoughts? I may scratch a couple of sports depending on feedback.

[clsage]

Re: The City of ???? Mk 2

 

What I need help figuring out is the following:

- The Name of the City

- The Name of the City's sports teams (I myself am not familiar with the rules/regulations of professional sports, but if someone establishes a new team able to become part of the Pro Leagues?)

- Ideas of where the Island came from (I kinda-sorta have an idea, but haven't decided yet. Additional ideas can be used as conspiracy theories/urban legends)

Any flaws/holes you can think of.

 

Any other comments or sugguestions?

 

As some others have suggested, Avalon (or New Avalon) is potentially a solid name choice for the island/city, IMHO. If it were me, I might go with New Avalon for the name of the city proper, with the island and environs being referred to as Avalon Isle....YMMV.

 

As for sports teams....well, I suspect that some corporate types who come to colonize the city might have the cash to put together an "expansion team" that might let the city join into the league in question...take a gander here ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_team ) for some potential details and issues. As for team names.....I'll need to give it some thought. The only one that comes to mind is "The Excaliburs". Potentially for a football team, as it seems (to me at least) to fit into the seeming one word name pattern that many NFL franchises sport (eg; Bears, Cardinals, Packers, etc...).

 

As far as where the island and the tech came from...well, one thought pops to mind (tho' it could just be an urban myth):

 

 

The island and it's city are, in fact, an organism grown from a "seed" which fell to Earth some time ago. The "seed" was damaged in the event and what survived was what would be in humans the circulatory and skeletal systems (eg: the plumbing and electrical systems and the buildings, etc). However it is lacking a nervous system/brain to make it "whole" again. And the human inhabitants serve that function....So that when crime and unrest raise their heads, the "seed" sends out a pulse, triggering (or causing) various individuals to manifest super abilities so that they can act as the immune system/antibodies for the "seed". Giving a hook on which to hang various origin stories......

 

 

 

-Carl-

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: The City of ???? Mk 2

 

clsage - not a bad idea concerning the orgin of the city. Could be something left behind by the Progenitors or the Empyreans.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of this:

 

 

A parallel reality developed a Higgs-Boson based super weapon to fight off Istvatha V'han and the weapon caused their version of Earth to no longer exist. As Avalon was ground Zero for the invasion, the entire Island was shunted into CU Earth and everyone living on the Isle was shunted into the reality Istvatha V'han was invading from.

 

Due to the nature of the Isle's spawning, it is a cosmic weakpoint that could allow anything to enter our world (or cause people to suddenly vanish into other worlds).

 

[Nuclear Fridge]

Re: The City of ????

 

This sounds a lot like Star City, the setting for Necessary Evil...

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: The City of ????

 

This sounds a lot like Star City' date=' the setting for [i']Necessary Evil[/i]...

 

Color me confused... Never heard of it... what RPG system is it for?

[name_tamer]

Re: The City of ????

 

Necessary Evil is for Savage Worlds (scroll down), and a very interesting setting it is, too.

[Nuclear Fridge]

Re: The City of ????

 

Creating characters for Necessary Evil is easy enough - but the background of Star City gives you a lot to play with. My group is caught between trying to fight the alien occupation forces and figuring out the layers of mystery surrounding the place. They're operating with very limited resources, and enjoying every minute of it.

 

Think of how well Tony Stark might do if his industrial empire was torched by orbital lasers, his 'friends' interned (he doesn't really have friends right now - just people he coerces and condescends to), and his armour tech running on a 14- Activation Roll... and the resources of an auto shop to fix it.

[Dr. Hercules]

Re: The City of ????

 

You know, one way to get the city filled up with inhabitants is to have the government have to relocate a whole population because of a disaster or some such.

Say, hurricane Katrina was even more devastating and completely sunk New Orleans so it is permantly underwater. Maybe the government was better about evacuating the population so 80-90% survived. Now you have a huge homeless population and this huge empty city waiting to be populated. I could see the government offering these people incentives to move there.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: The City of ????

 

Good point, Doctor. With all the unknowns, though, the government would probably have an 'enter at your own risk' policy rather than actively encouraging relocation to The City. The USA takes in thousands of refugees from around the world every year, the sales pitch might go something like: 'You may have heard about the mysterious City that appeared a short while back that has a great infrastructure and resources but no population, well, there are a lot of unanswered questions about it so we really can't recommend you settle there.'

[clsage]

Re: The City of ????

 

Good point' date=' Doctor. With all the unknowns, though, the government would probably have an 'enter at your own risk' policy rather than actively encouraging relocation to The City. The USA takes in thousands of refugees from around the world every year, the sales pitch might go something like: 'You may have heard about the mysterious City that appeared a short while back that has a great infrastructure and resources but no population, well, there are a lot of unanswered questions about it so we really can't recommend you settle there.'[/quote']

 

Hmmm...A neo-noir-ish bent ? A "Casablanca for the new millennium" ? I could see a few possibilities.....Tho' they might not all fit with the possibly "clean and shiny like Millennium City" campaign that I think (tho' I could be incorrect) that the original poster was shooting for. More like an island version of Hudson City.....

 

I'm reminded of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madripoor

 

-Carl-

[Drhoz]

Re: The City of ????

 

My mind boggles at the effort to wire a city for power from scratch. Or if the city came ready equipped with 3-plug 240 volt sockets in the walls (or whatever you Yanks use over there) but no actual generator, then I'd start getting very suspicious....

[Drhoz]

Re: The City of ????

 

also, I'm assuming that one line of the monorail etc runs to the mainland?

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: The City of ????

 

My mind boggles at the effort to wire a city for power from scratch. Or if the city came ready equipped with 3-plug 240 volt sockets in the walls (or whatever you Yanks use over there) but no actual generator' date=' then I'd start getting very suspicious....[/quote']

 

I re-vamped the city concept and background in a later posting... I'll adjust my initial post that started this thread so new-comers don't get confused. Please look it over and let me know what you think.

 

Edit: There, re-did the first post in the thread with the Mark II version of the city, and added a spoiler on where the City itself came from.

 

also' date=' I'm assuming that one line of the monorail etc runs to the mainland?[/quote']

 

No, but a bridge was built leading to Highway 27 (where High St meets Ocean Blvd/New Hampshire 1A). I could replace the Bridge with a Mono-rail... would prolly be easier considering I may want self-driving cars as in Millenium City).