The Sky City

[DragonHeart]

The Sky City RP

Time: 40-50 years in the future, year unspecified.

Place: Sky City Arcelis

Arcelis is a self-contained, self-supporting city in the form of a tower. It is the third of its kind and though the shortest of the three in height, it is the most refined, complete form of the original sky city concept. It is 1,000 metres (3,281 feet) tall and 400 metres (1,312 feet) wide at its base. The tower itself is made of 14 levels stacked one on top of the other.

The interior of each level is open greenspace, reserved for massive gardens mainly used for growing food and even collecting water in ponds and small streams. The outer sides are the buildings, each level having one several story complex wrapped about the side. Apartments, offices, laboratories, shops, even schools and theatres can be found within. Traversing from one level to the next is facilitated by many elevators in each level's building and maglev trains on the roof shuttling passengers and goods to and from the main lift elevators located in each of the tower's six main support columns.

At full capacity, Arcelis can support 140,000 people. Only about 35,000 are full-time residents; the rest either work in the tower or help maintain it. Currently Arcelis is at about half its worker capacity and about a quarter of its residents; now that it has been verified as fully operational and capable of supporting a full population, people are being encouraged to move in via a massive media campaign, not that they need much encouragement.

Arcelis has its own mayor, Leon Arden, who is also the CEO of the Arcelis Corporation which proposed and built the tower.

Setting:

Outside of the Sky Cities and their support districts, life is hard and getting harder. Wars and a number of natural disasters have reduced much of the world to barren, barely hospitable land. Many third world countries have collapsed. Even the world's superpowers are struggling. The Sky Cities were built to be beacons of hope. They run on a range of renewable power sources and do not use oil to function. They are totally self-sufficient, requiring nothing from the outside world.

Two of these towers are in Japan. Arcelis is the only one in the United States, built near the California coast as a test to see if they would be viable. This is the fifth year of operation for Sky City Arcelis and its first year out of the testing phase. The results were better than anyone could have wished for; construction of several more towers is underway all over the country and around the world.

Characters:

No limits as to who your character is or what they do. This is intended to be realistic though so no fantasy/science fiction elements. Guns are allowed, as are multiple characters if you so choose. I'd prefer all characters to have something to do with Arcelis but your character(s) do not have to live in or near the tower if you don't want them to. If you want to base your character elsewhere though, see if you can get another person to have a character near yours. I don't mind branching stories as long as you're not just off doing your own thing and ignoring everyone else.

Bios are optional for this RP. Jump in whenever you want.

Inspiration:

The original inspiration for this RP was the Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering show, the pilot of which was for the Sky City 1000. Arcelis essentially is the exact same tower featured in the program, only after it's been built and not just a concept design. There's a wiki article that doesn't tell you much but you can watch the Extreme Engineering episode on Youtube easily enough, if you're so inclined. If nothing else it makes it easier to visualize. Googling Sky City 1000 will give you some decent images for reference as well.

Reference Lists:

I. Characters in order of appearance

SkyNet - short for Sky City News Network, it's a combination alert/news/security bulletin system with the ability to override and broadcast on every screen in Arcelis and its support district. Each Sky City has their own version of this network. It is run by a media team with representatives from various offices around the tower to coordinate bulletins and ensure all pertinent information is released in the case of multiple e-bulls, emergency bulletins. I will be running SkyNet bulletins periodically.

Andrew Jackson, Chief Systems Inspector, Arcelis - Magi of Worlds' character.

Zach, Merchant of Death, Arcelis - Heartless Angel's character.

Lan, Militia, Kisho District outside Taneka - CloudTide's character.

Kolt, Taneka Resident - Xithor's character.

Ewan, Botanist, Arcelis (recent immigrant) - Storm's character.

Leon Arden, Mayor of Arcelis and CEO of Arcelis Corp., my character.

Karen, mom, Arcelis - Andromeda's character.

Technology -

SkyNet--see above, I'm using it as a sort of autonomous narrator.

Camera Drone - Unmanned aerial drones are often used in place of reporters in volatile situations to reduce the chances of them being killed or used as hostages/human shields. It's the result of an international incident about ten years before the RP when reporters covering a riot were taken as hostages and eventually killed on live TV.

FlexiScreens - a relatively new technology, Sky Cities use paper-thin screens with touch- and voice-activation as TVs. Many offices in the city have also converted to using a brand new type of ultra-thin screen as computer monitors. Unfortunately even the older TV screens are glitchy and prone to freezing, leading to many headaches and frustration for the technical support team. They often refer to them as FlexiScreams. Everyone else just calls them screens.

Holos - an experimental next-stage development from the company who manufactures the ultra-thin screens. Installed in every maintenance and support office in the City and support district, it's supposed to improve productivity by reducing the need to travel and make coordination easier. Mostly it's just an inconvenience for the mayor and his secretary.

Feel free to ask any questions here or just mention if you're interested in joining or not. First post isn't going up for a couple of days anyway.

~DragonHeart~

[Andromeda]

The opening reminded me a little of Resonance of Fate and then I saw what it looked like and knew it wasn't. Even still, it seems like a fun concept that in time should be plausible for construction. Going for a little more realistic science fiction.

Most of my questions would be directed at what direction you want to take with this. So I'll wait until you provide more details on where it is heading as a story. It is certainly a fun setting I think.

Just off the top of my head I'm thinking an engineer or some low level grunt guy that is testing systems would be a fun character to play for something like this. Consider me interested. ^^

[Magi of Worlds]

Wow DragonHeart! This is quite an interesting RP you've got going on here. Like Andromeda, my questions have to do with the direction you are going. I also like Andromeda's idea of being a low-position grunt. I may copy her on that...

[DragonHeart]

Currently, there is no direction story-wise. I don't want to box anyone in as far as creativity goes and I want it to be more...organic, I suppose. I'll probably start the RP with a major event of some sort and have other events happening as we go along but aside from that I'm not really going to direct the story much, if at all.

In fact, I'm going to compare it to Babylon 5. The show was the story of the station itself told through the stories of many characters. This RP will run much the same way. Arcelis is the main character as much as it is the setting. Any storyline events I do include will be done with this in mind.

Actually, that gives me an idea. I may have a 'character' in the form of the Sky City's news network, releasing bulletins on current situations and updates on the city itself.

The only character who's off limits right now is Leon Arden, simply because I haven't decided if he's going to be an NPC or what. Aside from that there really are no limitations on characters. That's also why it would be difficult to really plan any kind of story.

If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to provide an answer.

~DragonHeart~

[Storm]

This is a really interesting concept, so I am definatly interested.

I have ideas for a botanist character who has immigrated to Arcelis to live and work. I think the whole "immigration" subject would be quite a significant issue to civilians when the world is struggling.

[DragonHeart]

It would indeed, especially since space in Arcelis is limited. I'm thinking that the richer someone is, the better their chances of buying a residency in the actual tower. Those who aren't rich or don't have connections would probably end up in the support district surrounding it. So there will definitely be some class conflict going on.

Botanists will be valuable to the city though so your character would more than likely have a tower apartment if you wanted him/her to.

~DragonHeart~

[Magi of Worlds]

Well my character might as well be maintenance. I think that would be a fun role to play. I just want to know if a few maintenance people are considered important to the tower or not.

[DragonHeart]

Of course, it would take a huge support staff to maintain a structure of such size, especially considering that it is self-sufficient. Depending on what kind of maintenance your character does they may well live in the tower. Critical systems maintenance, for example, or building maintenance. Things that only need to be checked say once a week or less would probably not require a live-in worker.

~DragonHeart~

[Merlin]

This sounds pretty interesting. Watching the vids on YouTube actually brings up a number of possible scenarios. Of course, we could probably come up with better ones... A helicopter in 21XX seems a bit silly. Also, they forgot one key problem with fires... wind might blow the smoke out but wind also causes fire to spread at exponential rates. The forest fires in California are a fine example of that. Even when contained, a single ember blown from a fire into an adjacent area creates a chain reaction. Woo. The exception would be if the current was strong enough to put it out. That of course brings up the question, if the wind current coming into the slots was that strong, wouldn't it be noisy as hell living there? ^_^

In my case I would probably be in the security business perhaps. That seems to strike my fancy at this particular moment in time.

[DragonHeart]

Well, I imagine by that point in the future there will be some sort of vastly improved way to deal with a super-highrise fire. Same thing with the wind, though since the interior of each level is kind of bowl-shaped, I imagine most of the wind would be passing over it, with the buildings acting as a windbreak. There might be a sort of shield for the trains and elevators to minimize it as well. A clear glass or plexiglass tube for the maglevs, for example.

ETA: And on that note, the wind shear alone would make a helicopter impractical anyways.

~DragonHeart~

[Hyzenthlay]

I think I may join as well. I have an idea for a good character.

Is there any limits on jobs and such you can have within the city? I'm thinking maybe being the mayors aid/ PA. Maybe in charge of the advertising for people moving to the city? Or perhaps just a character that looks at peoples applications to live there or something.

Hyz.

[Magi of Worlds]

A Critical-Systems maintenance worker does strike my fancy. But so does living quarters and regular building maintenance. Hmm. Those are some tough ones to decide from. I may even decide to be a Systems or Safety Inspector.

[Aerif]

I love this concept. Since it's not a fantasy RP and there are few restrictions I can see this being a real showcase of creativity.

I really want this to start ASAP, since I have a feeling it'll have more activity than some of the recent ventures here on TFF.

On a side note, due to reflex I just noticed that there are no signature checkboxes anymore. GAH, I must be ignorant to miss that!

[Heartless Angel]

Interesting idea, count me in.

I'd like to submit some for of bio, I feel odd entering an RP without one, so I'll attempt to create a very basic character template here, please don't feel that you have to use it for my sake, I do this only for myself.

Name: Zachary Smith, goes by Zach
Age: 39
Occupation: Nuclear engineer, Energy R&D, Politician
Skills: Public speaking, mathematics and science
Backstory: His childhood was nothing unusual or interesting, he always showed interst in science, particularly physics and energy. Having made significant advances in multiple forms of energy technologies, he has become quite wealthy, and was a major investor in the United States' own Sky City, having seen the potential the place had. He continues his work within the city, maintaining energy systems, and working to develop new and better ones. He also takes an interest in public speaking, and has a fair bit of political influence, he is a member of the City council.

[Imposter]

Well it would appear this may be the much needed spark here eh?

I'm also interested but I would venture that such a thing as the Sky tower and all its glory has brought opposition into the mix right? I mean some sort of caste system must be erect for the rich to have a better place.

So perhaps a terrorist would suit my fancy.

[Andromeda]

Comparing to Babylon 5, that can make one excited. Always loved Babylon 5, making the structure itself a bit of the character of the story will be interesting. Though I will have to admit at having a character focused RP might be a little challenging, it'll end up meaning having less direct goals and more individual goals. The tendency for individual to be alone or in small groups is quite high. This could be something really unique if we pull it off right.

There are some other character ideas I could play around with as well. A corporate spy could be interesting since you said Japan already had two established towers and only three exist in the world. There'll be a lot of people interested in the technology.

An extremist or terrorist could be fun as well. Either someone from the collapsing third world countries or a group that is against the construction on some fundamental level.

[DragonHeart]

@Hyz: The sky's the limit. Having a really diverse cast will be fun, I think.

@Magi: You could always play as multiple characters if you wanted to as well. Since there's so many different ways characters will be able to cross paths in here you could also switch characters later if you don't like the one you start with.

@Aerif: No worries, I will start the thread soon. I honestly didn't expect so much interest so quickly. I'll aim for tomorrow since I'm still mulling a few things over right now.

@Heartless Angel: Looks good to me. Thanks for joining!

@Atma: I guess so, lol. Maybe we're all just tired of seeing the same fantasy stories over and over again? And yes, I imagine there is a lot of opposition and lots of tension surrounding the Sky City projects. Terrorize away! XD

Andro: I love Babylon 5, great show. Yeah, it might be a little tougher to start off but there's a lot of opportunity too, imo. Besides, I'll be the first to admit I didn't have a particular story in mind for this, I just loved the setting.

~DragonHeart~

[Merlin]

Well I'll go against the grain and say that I thought Babylon 5 was lame. I watched it because my father had it on that channel, but gawd was it lame. Of course, I'm a Trekker, so ST: DS9 starting at the same time was a lot more interesting to me. And yes I know about the controversy between the shows... whatever. Babylon 5 just came off as corny as hell to me.

Anywho, since multi-character support is available, I will most likely have 2 characters. I won't go nuts and have 5 or something.

edit: oddly enough, Andro's name is bringing up memories of another space drama I'd like not to think about. Sorry...I'm such a hater. ^_^

[Andromeda]

Don't worry, Andromeda is a pretty bad show, after the first season or so. It just got really lame. As for Babylon 5, depends on when you watched. The second season really picked up from the first season and the fifth season wasn't so good.

Anyway, I'm still tossing the ideas around for characters. Being a normal housewife with a kids to take care had an interesting thought for me. Though does make me wonder how I'll end up crossing paths with the rest, but accidents happen. So it would probably be pretty easy to bump into someone. The city might be big, but it is still going to be easy enough to run into someone in a relatively confined space.

The thought of something mundane to me for a character seems interesting since things in RPs can easily be bigger than life or just someone that isn't average. Being average or less than average sounds like fun.

[Merlin]

I'm thinking of some sort of counter terrorism analyst position... which is a nice way of saying "well-payed hacker". Think of Chloe O'Brian's job from 24. As for the other character, perhaps a bar owner. Think of Quark from Deep Space Nine.

Obviously these two chars aren't cookie-cutters of those. I'm just giving you something to go by as to what their jobs entail. The actual personalities of the examples are irrelevant. I find both annoying. XD

On the other hand, an annoying character would be an interesting element. The character you love to hate... Not saying I'll do that. It would be a challenge as I typically create characters I actually like. Creating something I hate would make writing a bit hard.

[Heartless Angel]

Well, just because any good story needs an antagonist, I' thinking of being a traitor, like maybe reveal eventually that I'm selling energy systems to the terrorists, or even funding them.

[DragonHeart]

Merlin: You could do five if you wanted to. Might be best to start with only one or two, then see how it goes from there. And yeah, shows like B5 are an acquired taste. I used to watch B5 and Farscape a lot when they were on Sci-Fi.

Andro: Well, there's lots of places a 'mundane' character could run into others. Living in an apartment near someone else, or if someone else has kids of a similar age, or someone could make a mistake and bust down her door in a raid... I think it would be pretty neat having a normal character or two around.

Heartless: Well, that's the fun part of this, you can go in any direction you want. Don't even have to be a clear-cut badguy either, perhaps just morally ambiguous. Or in league with Atma's terrorist. Whatever works. XD

~DragonHeart~

[Heartless Angel]

Heartless: Well, that's the fun part of this, you can go in any direction you want. Don't even have to be a clear-cut badguy either, perhaps just morally ambiguous. Or in league with Atma's terrorist. Whatever works. XD

I was thinking more along the lines of obscenely greedy without a thread of moral fiber. For example, only investing in the project to make developments come faster, so I can secretly sell them to Japan faster. Meanwhile, selling my own city technology Japan's city is inventing, whilst investing in both making outrageous profits.

[Magi of Worlds]

The idea of Systems Inspector keeps ringing in my head all the time. I think that is what I shall be.

[Andromeda]

Alright, I think it is settled for me. An ordinary, normal person will be a nice change of pace. It should be interesting. Running with an older character will also be good since I far too often stick with younger characters. And a housewife does sound like fun, figuring out a family and what not. Should be fun to play around with.

[Merlin]

I won't confirm nor deny that one of my characters might be or become a mole.

[DragonHeart]

Apologies for the slight delay, but the RP is now officially up. Had a last minute change of ideas for the beginning; because we have such a diverse group I wanted to do something that would affect the majority of characters in some way.

~DragonHeart~

[Magi of Worlds]

Alright. I'm just going to go ahead and post a quick Char profile since I'm up next in the RP. Please bear with me all.

Name: Andrew Jackson
Age: 26
Occupation: Systems Inspector of Acrelis, A.K.A. Sky City
Education: Andrew went to the University of Pheonix for ten years in Oklahoma to get to the position he is in today. He took several high level computer tech classes along with geometry, and other high level math. He also took biology and several high level science classes. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Programming in 2060.
Appearance: He wears plain casual clothes except for the ID badge pinned to his jacket. The business suite is black while his shirt is white. His shoes are black and polished to perfection. He also wears a black tie with a gold pin. He is quite muscular and appears to be over six foot tall. He has short, blonde hair that he uses gel on to spike up. His eyes are emerald green and set many women off.
Bio: Andrew grew up in Arkansas and moved to Oklahoma at the age of 18 to join the University of Pheonix. He got good grades in grade school and had an average life. His parents weren't overly cruel and he learned discipline early. That didn't stop him from being a partying bachelor who considered himself to be a ladiesman while off the job. He was offered the job of Systems Inspector for Sky City in 2063.

[DragonHeart]

I'm a little confused here, Magi. You say your character is a Systems Inspector, yet he's acting like a combination between an operator and a media liaison/secretary.

Looks like we're off to a decent start. Feel free to jump in at any time. I'll be editing the first post of this OOC thread periodically with (hopefully) useful reference information.

~DragonHeart~

[Merlin]

I am confused as well as to what your job description is, Magi. What kind of systems do you inspect? What exactly are you the chief inspector of? Your bio says he has a programming degree, but he seems to be handling media relations. Really, I just need to know what he does to see if it will tie into my character's job somehow. Thanks. ^_^

As for me, I just got back from my mini vacation so I'm in the process of fleshing out my character the rest of the way.