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.
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.
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