The City Beneath Part 2: The Novel and Characters

Last time, I shared some insight on the world of The City Beneath. The setting is a near-future post-apocalyptic steampunk Earth. (That's a lot of compound words) A devastating war has left the Earth damaged and reeling. In the power vacuum, a new society rises up that rejects technology and undoes centuries of progress. The action of the story takes place in a large city that was once filled with skyscrapers and subways, and is now in the process of being re-tooled for the new world order.

The novel The City Beneath is where I created the world. Worldbuilding is much easier in a novel than it is in a game or short story. Most players of a game do not take the time to learn about the history of a world and absorb the setting before playing a game. A short story does not provide an author with very many words to describe a world. In a game or short story, any worldbuilding needs to be condensed and simplified. A novel, however, provides the perfect length for introducing a world, and if the plot is engaging, a reader will be happy to stick around to learn about the world.The approach I took with The City Beneath was the weave information about the world into the plot. Rather than spend the first 50 pages describing the world, I just jumped right into the story.

As I mentioned before, this novel was part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The challenge is to write a 50,000+ word novel during the month of November. This meant that I had to write at least 1,700 words each day to keep on pace. The story is modeled after classic heist movies or books. Specifically, I was inspired by The Asphalt Jungle, an older film noir heist movie. In that movie, you spend the first half cheering for the thieves to pull off the heist, and the second half wondering why you were cheering for the bad guys, and watching the team collapse. I was trying to capture this sort of feeling in the novel.

The story opens with Thurmond Higgs (the story's version of Danny Ocean), working on a team of amateur criminals. They are fumbling their way through a bank robbery, much to Higgs's chagrin. They set off alarms and scramble to get away. On his way out of the bank, Higgs splits away from his team. He runs into a stranger in an alley that offers him an opportunity to pull off a train heist big enough that he could retire comfortably. The stranger offers to bankroll everything. All he asks in return is a certain book that will be on the train along with a great deal of valuables. Higgs and his team can keep anything else they find. Higgs sets out to assemble the best team he can find.

The plot is about the heist, but it's also about the world and its struggles. There are several layers of complexity beyond just a heist and a getaway. Hopefully, there are a few twists that surprise readers when they find out.

More than anything, I tried to focus on characters. Readers connect to characters. A reader will enjoy a book much better when there are relateable, interesting, and well-developed characters. A good plot is important, but good characters are more important. Nobody wants to read an amazing plot if the characters are terrible.

The Team:
As I was writing the novel, I was collaborating with some friends who were simultaneously designing a game that would complement the novel. We discussed the types of people that would make up the team. These would be the characters that players would be acting as, so it was important to make them unique and interesting. We decided that 6 was a good number of players/characters, and decided on the main skills that would be needed to pull off the heist.

Thurmond Higgs
As I mentioned above, Higgs is the group's leader. He brings Strategy to the team. He is responsible for planning the heist and making sure everybody is where they need to be. He is also the only character that has contact with The Stranger who is bankrolling the team. Higgs is not a risk taker, he likes to plan everything and be sure that everything goes as planned. He values his freedom more than anything else, and is not willing to risk that for any take, no matter how big.

Phineas Derbyshire
Phineas is the Rusty Ryan to Higgs's Danny Ocean. He is a natural at Negotiation. Phineas Derbyshire is a true Renaissance Man. Equally at home in a boardroom meeting or backroom deal, he’s not above a little coercion if it gets him what he wants. Each moment, he’s got his hand in any number of cons. He believes he can talk himself out of any bind; usually, he’s right. His true value to the team is in his access to the movers and shakers. His exclusive sportsbook claims most of the city’s most important people as clients. Ironically, it is that very business that has put him in desperate need of a big payout. In the end, there is only one person he truly cares for, and his name is Phineas Derbyshire.

“I trust that you are going to do what’s best for you. It’s what I’m going to do. So long as your best interest aligns with mine, I would trust you with my life. I have no illusion that anybody on this team has any other interest besides his own. We will all be cheering for each other just as long as we have to. But don’t tell me for a second that you won’t sell me out first chance you get if it saves your own skin. I don’t buy altruism. Be careful whom you trust, Anabelle. Everybody’s looking out for himself, I suggest you do the same.”

Anabelle Devereaux
Anabelle's strength is Charm. Anabelle Devereaux is beautiful, and she knows it. In fact, she embraces it, even uses it to her advantage. Graceful and friendly, she’s quick to flirt with any man who’s her type--that is, any man with a pocketbook. She is rarely seen in public without several men in orbit, ready to pick up the tab or pay the bill. Each hopes to be the lucky man to win her heart. Don’t call her a prostitute, a lady has her limits. “If I give away the ending, nobody will pay to see the show.” Yet, anyone who truly knows her (which is a very short list) knows that Miss Devereaux is much more than she appears.

Dr. Everton L. Montebanque
Dr. Everton L. Montebanque believes he is a genius, and he’s right. His strength is Gadgetry. He is at the leading edge of technology in a world that rejects the very concept of progress. At times, it seems that nothing matters to him but his gadgets, not money, not people, not even his own life. His “creations” (as he insists on calling them) consistently walk the line between invention and treason. That he’s never fallen on the wrong side of that line is a point of pride (and a good bit of luck).

Charlotte Avalon
Charlotte's skill is Dexterity. Charlotte Avalon never met a risk she wouldn’t take. If it was fast, dangerous, and foolish, you could count her in. A fighter for the equality of women, she takes any chance she gets to compete against men, and usually eats their lunch. She’s a safe bet any time she’s allowed to enter an airbike race. Unwilling to conform to the idea of what a Post-war lady is supposed to be, she is frowned upon by most of the respectable in society. She doesn’t particularly care what anybody else thinks, as long as she can keep getting a thrill. The same reckless abandon with which she races an airbike is certain to be her undoing one day. Until then, she lives life at 100 mph.

Kostas Stavraki

Kostas's strength is Burglary. If you’re looking for the best safecracker in the business, you’re looking for Kostas Stavraki. If you’re looking for a dependable, trustworthy partner, you’d better look elsewhere. Kostas isn’t much for conversation, but give him something to explode and he’ll jump at the opportunity. A bit of a loose cannon (literally at times), it’s best to give him some space and let him work. He’s never met a lock he couldn't pick or a door he couldn't blast open. If he’s on your team, there’s no such thing as a locked door.

Aside from the team, there are a handful of characters that play varying roles in the story. The two other characters that are most prominent are The Stranger and Montgomery Lester. The Stranger is the bankroll for the heist. He is mysterious, never willing to divulge what he wants out of the heist. He is very hands off, only providing money and resources when Higgs asks. Higgs is confused about why this book is so valuable to him, but not too concerned, since he's providing the funds to pull the heist off.

Montgomery Lester is the scion of one of the most powerful families in the current society. He is a true believer in the Traditionalist values. He runs the family conglomerate. Their business spans everything from railroads to newspapers to mining and materials, and everything in between. He's not a politician, but he controls enough of them to get everything he wants. He is ruthless in business, doing whatever it takes to make a profit.  

Thanks for reading!

The City Beneath: Part 1- The world

This is my first post about The City Beneath. This is a short novel I wrote and a board game based in the world of the novel. I'd like to write a few posts about the project:

• The world
• The novel
• The game

Today I'm going to give some information about the world where the novel and the game are set. In the future, I'll talk about how the novel and the game fit within that framework.

Background

The City Beneath was born at Gen Con 2012. This was my first geeky convention, and I had the good fortune to attend with some level 1 friends. Needless to say, Gen Con was eye-opening to the world of Geekdom. Let me say that I've always been pretty geeky, but I was privately geeky. I'm a board gamer and avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, and have some good friends who share those interests. But Gen Con was my first dive into greater geek culture.

One of the things discovered at Gen Con was just how much geek culture loves steampunk. One of my friends, we'll call him "Ben," took to steampunk like hairspring to a worm gear. By the end of the convention, he had taken on the persona of Phineas Derbyshire, steampunk gentleman. I wouldn't call myself a steampunk enthusiast, but I do think it's pretty cool. I decided, at Ben's urging that it would be fun to write a story in a steampunk setting.

The world and its history

The City Beneath takes place in a near-future Earth. The world has experienced a destructive war that has left most of the planet crumbling and radioactive. Only Europe and North America remain habitable, spared the destruction seen elsewhere. In the wake of this war, a leadership void is left. A group made up of some of the world's wealthiest families form a movement to preserve the "Traditional Values" of humanity. They blame technology for the destruction, and seek its destruction. They are swept into power by a frightened population. 

Once in power, the Traditionalists launch a war on technology. All technology developed after the turn of the 20th century is outlawed. A rogue group of Technologists fought back but were soundly defeated by the better-funded Traditionalists. The remnant of Technologists were forced underground and the world celebrated a new unity and peace.

The city where the characters live is an unnamed city somewhere in the heartland of America. I didn't want to specify the city, because I didn't want people to come into the story with an idea of a specific city with its layout and landmarks. So the city remains nameless, always referred to simply as "The City."

The city itself is a remnant of the pre-war world. There are numerous skyscrapers and an old subway system in the city. With the outlawing of electricity, both become impractical, and are abandoned. Great glass skyscrapers sit empty and dark, with ventilation, water, and transport systems no longer capable of sustaining such a structure. The subways are mostly abandoned, with the exception of a few key lines that have been converted for steam trains. The abandoned subways and skyscrapers provide the setting for the city's underbelly to develop away from the watchful eye of the authorities.

Local transportation consists mainly of foot traffic, horse-drawn vehicles, and the occasional steamcar. Long distances are traveled quickly by train, or more leisurely by airship or riverboats. The population's penchant for airships is further displayed in a favorite sport: Airbike racing. The racing bikes consist of a bicycle mounted to the underside of a small helium balloon. The balloon is not quite large enough to float the vehicle and driver on its own. A series of solid fuel rockets are mounted at the rear of the bikes, with a slightly downward-angled thrust vector. These provide the extra lift required to get airborn, resulting in a swooping motion from the vehicle as it rises under power and falls after the rocket's fuel is spent. These rockets are fired in series throughout the race.

The Atmosphere
I tried to capture an atmosphere of contrasts in the setting. The city is the center of society and industry, populated by the nation's elite. At the same time, it draws the nation's downtrodden as well. The city is set on a lake, where the wealthy build their houses, while the edges of the city are filled with factories, spewing black smoke into the air. The city sits in near constant smog and pollution, but most of the wealthy ignore that fact and pretend that everything is perfect. The slums and underground are dark and seedy, full of the types of people that you don't want to run into on the street. The elite clubs and corporate office buildings are pristine and well appointed, offering all manner of luxuries. Overall, the society is one of extremes: Rich or poor, but nothing in-between.

So that's the world of The City Beneath. It was fun to create a world that is a combination of the classic post-apocalyptic sci-fi genre with Victorian technologies and sensibilities.

Here's a snippet from the novel that gives some description of the world.

Higgs climbed through the barricades and out into the street. The sun was going down, and he reflected on the strange beauty it cast on the city’s architecture. The area where he stood had once been a financial center of the city. After the Traditionalist revolution, this area had been abandoned, rather than reformed. The cost to tear down the old office buildings in favor of smaller, more manageable alternatives wasn’t worth it. The city expanded into other areas, where smaller buildings now housed the businesses that once were here. Walking through streets bereft of the activity that marks a vital city, Higgs felt as if he was transported to some other world.

The desolate surface hid the city beneath, where criminals, vagrants, and Technologist rebels hid away. Whether it was oversight or willful ignorance, the Vickies that controlled the city rarely ventured near this neighborhood. The Technologist movement was crushed decades ago, but lived on in the margins between old and new. Higgs, no stranger to the city’s literal and figurative underworld, knew that the rebels were there, but he tended to avoid them. He wasn’t a crusader, no cause could be  so great that he would give his life.

...

Evenings in the city accentuated the already stark contrast between the classes. Here in the lower-class neighborhoods, the workers crowded into taverns and restaurants. They wasted their hard-earned pay on low-grade liquor, trying to numb the pain of a meaningless existence. Higgs walked along the street, lined on either side by low apartment buildings, stuffed with workers and clerks. The cogs of the city’s industrial machinery saw very little reward for the smooth functioning of the economy. The buildings where they lived were barely adequate. The slum lords who owned the buildings were typically the same men who ran the factories. Very little opportunity existed to break out of the cycle. Opportunity was lacking and ambition even more so.

...

He took a cab to the North Shore. Most of the homes here were better secured than prisons, but he walked the street anyway. The glow of gaslights lit his way past mansions and compounds. All the considerable wealth of the city was concentrated among a few wealthy families here. The houses were lit like Christmas morning in a show of opulent waste and lack of concern for the preservation of the expensive fuel they required. It was ostentatious and gaudy, yet Higgs envied their wealth.