Working on Eclipse City, the City out of nowhere

[Hermit]

Welcome to Eclipse City!

 

August 21, 2017, the day of "The Great American Eclipse", where a total eclipse could be viewed in the states of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. In the real world, it was a glorious astronomical treat that had folks all over the country putting on special glasses and gazing up in wonder.

In the champions universe (or at least this version of it), it left a gift and a problem in the form of an entire city that just materialized out of nowhere. It hugged the existing topography as if it had been molded to it, streets and buildlings galore- and no one living in them. It was a ghost city, with fully furnished homes, businesses, hospitals, police stations and more.
Well, human nature being what it is, even before the United States government could really react (And indeed, some higher up dismissed it as a hoax right off), what happened as the biggest rush to 'free land' since the Sooners of Oklahoma. Squatters of all economic strata swooped in to call dibs on a spot (sometimes more than one) and con men flourished as they sold 'deeds and titles' to the gullible and/or the desperate. With zero employment opportunities at first, you would think that would discourage people, but some folks took to the challenge and set up shop even quicker than they set up homes. After all, if you stumble onto an empty restaurant and happen to know how to cook, suddenly you can be your own boss- and the other new comers had to eat too.

With a few neighborhood exceptions, the transition was pretty chaotic, and where there is chaos, there is often crime and violence. Some say that this was encouraged by folks behind the scenes. When the first supervillain tried to claim it as personal fief? It became a Primus matter. Primus came in along with scientific experts and the National Guard's assistance. Order was restored (Some say with the help of certain superheroes), though no politician wanted to call that order 'Martial Law', a few others certainly did. There was talk of evacuating the entire city of all civilians period, but the genie was out of the bottle and for every politician wanting to play this cautiously there seemed to be another talking about how the great American Pioneer spirit had a new outlet.

Eclipse City was open and here to stay, or so it seems. It's been nearly a year since then, a rather generous land grant situation arose out of it, and the population is indeed city worthy. After the neglect to Puerto Rico, many Puerto RIcans flooded in creating an almost instant ethnic community. Several corporations flexed their muscle trying to seize territory, only to be stymied when several court rulings went to the original owners of the land (Even if nothing was on it before) and the earliest squatters who could prove their residency. The State governor had assigned a Mayor Pro Tem, but already there are cries for official elections.
And, that, folks, if you've been so kind as to read that wall of text, is what I've got so far. I've been missing the old me lately, the polling me, the creative but not so creative I won't milk other forumites for ideas and opinions me. So help me make Eclipse City by voting, and then posting some reasons for why you voted the way you did.

 

 

 

[Hermit]

Thanks to the two of you that voted so far

 

And input welcome

[Starlord]

The people who originally owned the land it appeared on must be a bit peeved.

[death tribble]

I went with Mad Scientist because we have a few of those.

Kentucky, to show I am crawling to Dave.

And Toronto because then you can film in the real Toronto for the film/miniseries/TV season that comes along as a result.

[Cancer]

Voted.

 

I chose a location not far from where I did, in fact, watch last August's eclipse, in Idaho.  I think there's plenty of places there along the totality track which are on federal land (so no prior private owners to mess up discussions of property rights, etc.).  Maybe they've been logged, but not owned.  Depending on where you plunk it down, there could be mineral extraction that's going on, though.  And it could easily have come down in an Indian reservation if you put it down in Wyoming, too, which would make for all kinds of nice legal chaos; e.g. the Arapahoe Nation might declare their sovereignty and jurisdiction over the new site, an interesting situation.  

 

Road access could well be a real problem if you put down somewhere in the Mountain States.

 

Question for you: Are there places in the city whose only plausible interpretation is as a religious site (cathedral, church, shrine, ...)?  And what are those like?  Given the likely religious interpretations of the event, and the mix of denominations around the drop site, the ecclesiastical influences may have lots to say.

[death tribble]

25 minutes ago, Hermit said:

And input welcome

And I posted three Muse videos in The Thread for Random Videos after you called out for Muse three times in the Thread for Random Musings.

[Hermit]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

The people who originally owned the land it appeared on must be a bit peeved.

 

An excellent point but, hey, there are ways around them. mwhhaha

[Pariah]

I’ve voted, with the following outcomes:

 

1) Wyoming just gained a couple more votes in the Electoral College.

 

2) The streets look like the shots of Minbar from Babylon 5. Crystals, that is.

 

3) Obviously some mad scientist is responsible for it all. (Like I’d vote any other way.  )

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

[Hermit]

2 hours ago, Cancer said:

 

Question for you: Are there places in the city whose only plausible interpretation is as a religious site (cathedral, church, shrine, ...)?  And what are those like?  Given the likely religious interpretations of the event, and the mix of denominations around the drop site, the ecclesiastical influences may have lots to say.

 

I'm pretty sure that there would be churches and other sites of worship. As for what they are like, that may depend on how some of the polls turn out. Obviously Pompeii recreated would be more likely to have a temple to Jupiter or something . Mmm and yes, this whole thing is sure to be causing a stir among  many circles, religious among them.

[dsatow]

Rather than instant city creator I was thinking the Mad Scientist had a instant city theft device.  He doesn't know it stole the city nor does he care.  His device worked the way it should have.

 

This leads into:

1. What weird culture did he steal it from?
2. Are the cathedrals worshipping God or a known religion, or are they worshiping something like Cthulhu with Christians/Jews/Muslems the underground cults?
3. Are the original occupants wanting their city back?  Are they out for revenge?  I can see hundreds of people in those skyscrapers when their building disappears and they are forced to learn to fly or die.  Are they going to believe one mad man stole their city?
4. Perhaps the original denizens have come to see what happened to their city but they are very strongly telepathic.  All the people they talk to, their heads explode and die.  It doesn't help that they look like Illithids.

[Ninja-Bear]

Eclipse City? No the name should be Atlantis! Look at the shiny crystal structures! Look how futuristic it is! Why in Idaho? Well when it was about to sink, the magicians casted a powerful spell. When the water rises, the earth moved and the Eclipse unlocked the spell. The city didn’t move, the earth beneath it did!

[Starlord]

Did it also create it's own underground plumbing and water access?

 

PS - I suppose that question is probably a bit too tedious.

[Hermit]

4 minutes ago, Starlord said:

Did it also create it's own underground plumbing and water access?

 

PS - I suppose that question is probably a bit too tedious.

 

Seems to have a working infrastructure more or less in place and ready to be turned on, water, electricity, etc. Though details will depend on the votes

[Lawnmower Boy]

The problem right now is that America has a lot of surplus landscape, including some with cities on it. But have no fear! My chosen location (somewhere in Idaho) solves that problem, if you just assume that a road-rail line is blasted through the mountains, too and from. Also, there's an Eiffel Tower downtown, and also the Museum of Cat Statues, Jester-Themed Art and Cursed Egyptian Mummies, just like in that real city that actually exists. You know . . . that one. 

[Ninja-Bear]

Funny thing is, when I saw the survey, I had no ideas. After reading a few posts upthread, inspiration struck!.

[lemming]

I was going to go with an Oregon Coastal Island version and then noted it wasn't available!  So South Carolina then, grrrr.

 

I like the mixing of stuff from other cities and while going with the dimensional escape plan, we could also go with a mad scientist wanting to steal landmarks and messing up a bit.  Hmm, maybe a mad scientist in another dimension and he actually sent it all here?

 

[DShomshak]

I'll have to think a bit longer before I vote. But some options (including the origins) are not exclusive: It could be, for instance, a mad scientist who is being influenced by Marduk.

 

Speaking of Marduk: The mixed-up city look suggests an obvious connection to Babylon, the City of Man. But I'm not necessarily going there with my vote.

 

Dean Shomshak

[assault]

It's pretty simple: a Brainiac equivalent has been collecting cities and has been forced to drop one in an empty space on "our" Earth.

 

It's not clear where the people are. They might still arrive. And then the hilarity starts.

 

That's not how I voted. I stayed within the offered parameters.

 

I think a combination of the two is best. The local Native American population owns the land. The "alien" population owns the city. The squatters "own" whatever they own.

 

But when did Brainiac steal Toronto? Does Canada really want it back? What if it was Ottawa? In that case it might not have been Brainiac that stole it. I certainly can think of Australians that would like Canberra dumped in a random spot in the US....

[Cancer]

On May 31, 2018 at 1:45 PM, Hermit said:

 

I'm pretty sure that there would be churches and other sites of worship. As for what they are like, that may depend on how some of the polls turn out. Obviously Pompeii recreated would be more likely to have a temple to Jupiter or something . Mmm and yes, this whole thing is sure to be causing a stir among  many circles, religious among them.

 

Gimme that old time religion

Gimme that old time religion

Gimme that old time religion

It's good enough for me

 

It was good enough for Marduk

It was good enough for Marduk

It was good enough for Marduk

It's good enough for me

[Hermit]

On 5/31/2018 at 10:11 PM, lemming said:

I was going to go with an Oregon Coastal Island version and then noted it wasn't available!  So South Carolina then, grrrr.

 

 

 

I should explain with apologies to any fine folks from Oregon why I left that option out.

 

I already have my Northwestern Fictional City in the form of New Constantinople, so I thought I'd edge this one further east and south along the eclipse's path.

 

 

 

 

[Pariah]

I'm pretty sure that Oregon is fictional in the first place.

[winterhawk]

I went South Carolina because it's interesting, Art Deco because you can't do enough retro in IMHO, and Marduuk because I've always like the concept.

[Hermit]

Twenty two votes? WOW, that is... actually more than I hoped for. Thank you folks. I may actually close the voting a day or two sooner than I was originally going to as I don't think we're going to get too many more.

[BoloOfEarth]

On 6/1/2018 at 5:22 AM, assault said:

It's pretty simple: a Brainiac equivalent has been collecting cities and has been forced to drop one in an empty space on "our" Earth.

 

When you're collecting cities, you have to store them *somewhere*.  Why not in the middle of Nebraska?  What are you evicting - corn?

 

And isn't Marduk that big dog from the comic strip? 

[steriaca]

 

 

When you're collecting cities, you have to store them *somewhere*.  Why not in the middle of Nebraska?  What are you evicting - corn?

 

And isn't Marduk that big dog from the comic strip? 

No. That would be Marmaduk, god of slobering Great Danes.