Background to the Adventures and Settings.
Centennial City and the Local Environment.
The following scenario is based loosely around the DPI adventure/source book Sin City: Volume One.
The NCC Land Grant is for an area of land 100 miles (along the coastline) by 50 miles. This extends 10 miles out to sea and 40 miles inland. Extra land has been leased from the Australia Government for various projects but these are not part of the extra-territorial agreement. A perimeter electric fence marks the boundry, with periodic patrols. As most of the surrounding lands are rocky desert with little vegetation (despite the increase rains, the rain does not penetrate far inland and quickly bleeds off the rocky land into several seasonal rivers) little effort is made to prevent passage one way of the other. Check points at major transport lines are heavily guarded however by both the NCC and the Australian Government.
New Centennial City was raised from the sea floor. The original coastline was established as an international waste dump for "environmentally safe" waste. Many third world countries dumped massive amounts of material (including hidden deposits of toxic waste) before the depression. With the depression they did not bother to continue payments owed for the scheme and stopped dumping there. Several western countries continue dumping but on a much lower level.
The dump was sold by the Australian Government to a conglomerate of International Corps, along with an extra territorial agreement similar to that of Hong Kong. The land was leased for 99 years but outside the control of the Australian Government (with a few restrictions). The New Centennial Corporation decided it was unsafe to build ontop of the dump so instead leveled the surrounding hills, covering the dump and reclaiming the coastal seabed. On top of this reclaimed land they raised the new city.
The dump was treated with a controversial method to accelerate decomposition of the organic components. Although this worked better than many expected it caused one major problem - methane gas. Large amounts of gas began to be created under the covered dump and began erupting to the surface. To solve this problme the NCC laid down a network of release towers to vent the gas and burn it off. Recently turbine generators have been added to the towers to make use of this natural resource (although it is also having an effect on the local environment due to temperature increases.
The modern dump has been moved further inland and is now carefully monitored as part of the NCC Lease. A series of converor belts carries waste from the port to the dump, whilst others carry landfill from the local mines. Workers quite often use the belts as a cheap method to get to work, although it can be dangerous if you are not careful.
Stage One of NCC was built around the docks and industrial area on the south of the city. These buildings were mainly 3 story prefabricated structures to provide accomodation. Adaptions of this same prefabricated structure were made to create wharehouse, malls and public buildings. It was never intended for them to stand more than 10 years (2009-2019) but the cost of replacing them has now delayed redevelopement, not to mention the cost of rehousing the indigenous population. The buildings were not sealed from the environment and with the introduction of the heavy industries to the south they have suffered from corrosive rain damage. This has shortened their life span considerably. In March 2014 one of the buildings collapsed and 250 people were killed and many more injured. A rush program of inspections and jury rigged fixes followed, but the basic problems still exist. Some buidlings were abandoned and flagged for demolition but within a few weeks were repopulated by the poor and homeless.
Stage Two of NCC was the construction of a more permenent residential sector, the business centre and the opening of the Strip for development by interested parties. This came in 2011.
At the same time a large area inland from the city (called the Project) was opened up to external developers to provide suburban environments to attract large numbers of menial labour. This was very successful due to the poor employment environment in the rest of the world and the area filled quickly. The buildings provided however were of substandard quality and as the local weather got worse they have become of questionable value. The company licensed to develop the area has since gone bankrupt and legal arguments are pending as to who is responsible for maintaining the area. In the meantime the area slowly falls apart.
The final stage was the construction of the Corporate Domain. Here no expense was spared and tall buidlings of magnificent appearance dominate the centre. Surrounding these are the living quarters of the corporate elite. Stylish condominiums and apartments overlooking lush gardens, along with excellent security.
Imagine a city that is something like BladeRunner.
It rains more than it should, especially at night, due to the pollutants and changing of the weather patterns. The monsoon season is longer and nastier (October to Apr) but strange breaks of fine weather occur now and then. The rain is often polluted with industrial waste, causing corrosive and acid rains, as well as toxic rains. Even when it is fine the smog is often bad. To top this off the substantial increase in ground temperature behind the city (due to waste dumps) has caused a severe fog problem when it isnt raining. The fogs can combine with smog to bring toxic fogs and acid fogs. Not to mention the rarer toxic frogs.
The first buildings raised were made from prefabricated materials and were not suitabled sealed against this type of environment. Accordingly they have sepage and corrosion problems and many should be declared derelict (not that this would stop people living in them). The second stage buildings were sealed against the increasing rainfall but not against corrosion. Attempts were made to improve these with some success. Unfortunately the failures usually remain well concealed now until something dramatic occurs. Third stage buildings and the corporate sector buildings are all hermetically sealed with fully controlled internal environments.
Infrastructure
Electrical power is supplied from four sources: Nuclear Power Plant north of the city, West Australian electricity grid, experimental Solar Energy Station, methane gas towers within the Project.
Sewage is pumped for primary treatment to a plant north of the city. Treated sewage is then pumped to the experimental solar sewage plant further north, with excess being dumped into the Indian Ocean or tankered to the Farmlands project. The treated sewage from the experimental station is pumped inland to the Farmland project.
As the city was built from the bottom up (literally) a substantial underground transport system exists. Two major rail lines exist - Broadway Line and Marley Rd Line. East and West crossovers link these lines at their wide ends (see map - 16th St and Dogwood St). A spur line runs down Main St.
On top of this a number of pedestrian conveyor belts exist to move people from the subway stations to important sites within the city.
Originally there were also a number of undergound belts feeding to and from the port. These are still used to a lesser degree but are now more commonly used by low wage workers to get to the Mines and Smelter to work. They emerge above ground just south of the city where most people "board" them.
Taxis are available within the safe areas of the city, they are driven by robots and only follow predefined paths. For other areas their are special "courier" cars. These are armed and armoured to ensure driver safety.
Buses are available on major streets, robot controlled.
A railroad goes from the old port south to the smelter and new port, eventually to link into the West Australian system. The only way north to Darwin is by road.
A small airport exists west of the city. This only accepts small passenger planes and corporate planes. There is no plan to enlarge this facility at this time (mainly because not many can afford the service without corporate subsidy).
The Old Port is now mainly used to ship in and out consumer goods, and waste products from those still using the dump facility. Some mine traffic occassionaly goes through when the new southern port is busy.
A multi-purpose smelter has been constructed south of the city. This produces iron primarily, but also gold and platinum and titantium.
Diamonds have been found to the north in small deposits.
Food is shipped or trained in mostly. Due to the corporate cost of this experimental farms have been built to the east using treated sewage to grow basic crops. This has been most successful if you can believe the corporate news, now providing 50% of the cities primary goods.
The Waste Dump has been moved further inland, some 20 miles past the end of the Project. A slum community has developed nearby to scrounge a living from the waste, but a lack of water restricts this to the most resourceful (This is primarily desert land we are dealing with here).
Other Local Features:
The American Military Base at Exmouth lies south of the city some 100 miles.
The Economics.
The NC Corp has a primary interest in the mineral and oil wealth of the area. They see an opportunity to control their workforce and keep costs within strict managed limits. The development of the city is expected to be recouped from rights and licenses sold to third parties to establish themselves in the zone.
The Strip and the Business areas of the city are leased to other corporations who wish to provide services or have an industrial presence in the region.
The NCC is a tax haven! There are no taxes on corporations once they have paid their fees (ha).
There are no unions or bodies representing the common work force. There is a very weak city council which is severely underbudgetted. Councillors are elected every four years, but essentially the corporations control the votes through proxies. The charter establishing the lease requires democratic elections, but the proxy system means that the major corporations fight each other for voting rights. Upto the present this has seen the average prole getting a reasonable standard of living (natural competition), but this may quickly change if one corp were to gain a strangle hold on a majority.
Most workers within the territory are on contract basis, usually three years. Costs of supporting the worker are automatically deducted from their contract wages. Accomodation and minimum services are discounted but still reduce the workers take home pay. Workers under contract are entitled to buy from Corporate Discount stores. Workers not under contract may leave the territory or pay full prices. Quite often a contract will leave very little for a worker to save, and they become locked into the local workforce. As a further incentive most contract renewals will include a "go home" bonus, but that means 6 years of work.
Law enforcement is by contracted security forces. Punishment for first offences are usually fines, which is a very effective discouragement for the lowly paid, but highly abused by the wealthy. Second and third offences are fines or prison terms, at the choice of the offender. Of course this again favours the wealthy. Those too poor to pay their fines can work it off under a Bond Contract. Capital punishment is not permitted. Habitual criminals are sent to prison, not a very nice prospect.
The Australian Government treats refugees from the territory exactly the same as it does other refugees from nearby countries, it sends them back.