(This is an original roleplay setting but it is inspired by Mirrors Edge Catalyst)
(WORK IN PROGRESS! THIS IS NOT DONE YET!) NOTE: (Graylands is just an other word for wasteland, just alternating between terms)
The idea:
The world of Aurena is a planet the size of our Earth, that's where we start. It is an alternate dimension to ours Earth, note that the landscape could be different from Earth.
The planet had a world war many years ago because of power struggles, the world tension at the time was very dangerous because of the possession of nuclear weapons. Nations could not be able to get along because of constant imperialism and false promises and even propaganda that was constantly being put out. After the massive war that broke out, most of the entire world was obliterated and most polluted which contributed to everything from being green and lush, now all converted to dangerous wastelands, and the radiation is awful.
There are also a bunch of food-domes and those are basically people who are forced to work there, we can call em factories to produce toothpicks for a million people. It's kinda similar to the setting of the Mirrors Edge, except it's not all about parkour but it's also about beating up a bunch of security and so on. Those food domes are located in the wastelands, far away from human recognition.
The setting is actually about a very beautiful city, there are more cities too but between those is where these: "Graylands." are called. Could be just be called a bunch of wastelands pretty much. A tyrannical conglomerate has taken over power because they took advantage of the situation, now everyone is connected via a "Grid." where the government tracks them. There are classes, and people who are in the cities are deemed as employees and are forced to work at all hours of the day, otherwise, they'd be downgraded.
Where we are: (Snippet of the Australian coast)
Green: Where Aurna is (In this area.) White and black stripes: The mountains and especially the ones we were talking about.(If you read the entire thing)
Gray: Graylands Light-gray: Grayland deserts or something between those two.
Information about the world:
The city: The city is called Aurna which is located on the southwest coast of Australia which borders the pacific ocean. It's ruled by a tyrannical conglomerate that consists of 1 massive cooperation. It meant that the companies had equal influence of the state, thus policies to keep the employees safe from themselves and other rules that were put to action by the conglomerate. There are high residential zones in the middle of the city while there are mid/low residential zones around the city, divided by a river that borders the high residential zones.
It's a very beautiful city, with high skyscrapers that stretch far into the skies and what seems to be a luxury to live there compared to the abandoned cities beyond the Conglomerate's fold and the dangerous wastelands that stretched beyond reach from prying human eyes. The border is heavily guarded by security for employees to not get out but also not get in, if caught trespassing then there will be serious consequences.
The map:
They always emphasise that outside of the borders are very dangerous, there is nothing left and that it is the only city alive on the entire planet. Space travel is banned on a commercial level and only allowed on a governmental, (obvious reasons) and instead they cover things up while in space so that employees won't be able to see the other cities. Which 5 of them are left, including the food-domes because if recognised, it has serious consequences for their rule. They use the grid to constantly feed propaganda, through advertisement posters that only employees in the grid can see. By controlling the flow of information, they control the past and might as well do so with the future. In History classes, they've thought that Earth has always been this way, and the city is the only home they have. This is effective as it makes it more prominent that employees live by the rules.
Hi-caste is an extremely hard-working employee that has climbed the ranks. They gain the most luxury by less worker hours in special days but also a higher income to rent a good house for themselves. Most high-caste are businessmen but there are reports of workers being upgraded one rank.
Mid-caste: The average employee that has continued the same pace and hasn't really climbed the ranks, but they may have climbed from low-caste due to a lot of work. They gain some rights but still gain a bit of luxury as well. This is the middle class basically. Mid would be the "thinkers" where they run the systems, and computer side of things, smart, but not smart enough to cause problems
Low-caste: They are the under-educated workers that live in the city but they could also work in the wastelands depending on what degree of low-class they are. They have a low degree and has barely been able to find employment. Though with hard work they could scale the ranks and higher education as well. If they get down a rank it's all over, their contract is permanently terminated while low-caste serves as a line between being sent to the graylands and stay in the city.
Outcaste/Offgrids: Their contracts permanently terminated, either live in the smaller villages to starve to death or work in the factories and food-domes. However, some of them managed to go undetected and stay in the city and they are considered criminals by that. Most of them join resistance movements. Some even decided to quit being an employee and become an off-grid.
In Aruna people are treated depending on solely their class and their behaviour as an employee, people think that lower-class employees are less well behaved and less hard-working employees. Usually, your class means you are more skilled and educated which is in their law, so one would need more skill and use this skill to their advantage to get to higher classes. Behaviour also counts and policy obedience that is a requirement to get to higher classes. Discrimination is not allowed and is strictly forbidden, but people are treated differently solely on their behaviour and their class and that might contribute to lower/raising the class of a person.
Due to propaganda people are treated less nice if they are lower classes, individuals with lower education and bad behaviour is treated with more disgust than a polite - well-behaved employee but if they are uneducated they may get a re-education if they have potential. People with disabilities are helped too but only their class and behaviour matters. Their culture is that scaling the ranks is extremely important and higher class employees to be treated with respect and honour.
It's a network where employees are able to communicate with each other but also consists of more private and secluded channels. All of those are still monitored by the government but secluded channels include; the wasteland factories, the conglomerate families and so on. However, people are connected to this via grid by a bracelet they have on their wrists which interferes with the neural network to create images in their head, which includes the augmented reality. You are not allowed to take it off, this results in either downgraded or slavery if caught. Unless if it was an accident, it is very uncommon for so to happen. However, there are secret channels and dark-"Webs." so-called where you are not monitored and therefore can communicate with employees or off-grids. This is illegal and has harsh punishment but it is very hard to avoid the advanced security in their grid so therefore it's very expensive to run and requires a lot of maintenance. A few has managed to pull it off, but there are sure massive networks that allow people to do criminal acts.
The city has water desalination plants that allow for fresh and clean water to be used and the factories in the wasteland that supply the people in the city. This city is basically a slave-labour ran city that is ruled by a conglomerate but the positive results are that everyone can eat themselves fully, get paid depending on their class. With 0 knowledge of who made this food, most of it is turned a blind eye. They use nuclear and fusion reactors to power their city of 40 million people. People are very healthy there as the fatality rate is close to 1 per year, and that's the extent of their health and thus the propaganda uses this to their advantage.
--Notable places:--
The government building:
The building was built done 100 years ago, about 50 years before the war started. During that time a democratic government was in control. However, the massive war that raged on, causing massive pollution and extreme acid rains destroyed nature and everything dear to the world as well but also severe nuclear winters that killed billions. Years later, there was nothing left, except everyone was safer in the urbanites and the situation was taken advantage of by a select group of people and they rose to power because of it, and little remains as to why they got to power, overthrowing the democratic government. Riots and chaos on the streets and the corrupt security had to obey the governments every command. The building is very large, it is a gargantuan building where the conglomerate families reside.
Rules became more strict and even the tiniest policy infractions could get you into trouble and is a factor that forged the unrest. The riots began because people were tired of corporations that ruled their lives but it was to no avail. No official names have been released, data was erased after the riots. The first year, there were mass deportations to new Grayland/Wastelands facilities that were created outside of the city, sending them to work for a certain amount of time. What happened to these employees that were deported? Due to a policy breach, nobody knows for sure. But, there were a group of people that knew and including those who still are trying to liberate the government, as of now the observations are unsure.
There is also the security HQ in the building too, and they have the name: "AurnSec." Aurna-security.
Aurna Security:
It is a massive weapons manufacturer and it also houses the leader of the conglomerate, one and the only one and also manages the grid as well. (More in roleplay)
The mall:
The mall is a shopping centre in the middle of the city but it is about 3 districts away from the actual government building, it was created after the conglomerate's rise and during the mass deportation era. There are a lot of things you could buy from there, perfumes and everyday items that belong to everyone in the city. Except, the mall is owned by the state and thus counts as a public company. It is not the only mall in the city but this is the largest one as they have a lot to offer and give. It is surrounded by highly populated commercial zones that also try to compete with others.
The transit hub:
The transit hub has a massive complex of underground and above ground hyperloops that take you around the city in the fast possible way. It was created because to minimise environmental pollution because the conglomerate was very strict when it came to eco-solutions within the city. They cared very little about outside the city. However, you can also travel by bus or even taxi for that matter if employees do not prefer the hyperloop. There are also smaller transit hubs and checkpoints for you to stop at and employees may roam around in the city and explore if they so wish but within the walls only. The transit hub is actually next to the mall, it's technically a part of it but they are still very separate buildings.
Zettastat is a company specialised to send people to the facilities, basically in the factories in the wastelands. They were created as a manager of all Grayland facilities and is owned by AurnaSec. However, what they do have compared to AurnaSec is that they can experiment on people who are in the wastelands who are either captured or selected especially dead people but for what shady reasons is unknown. Mainly to study the human brain and how to make lives immortal perhaps, but an answer is not given...yet. This is basically the whole slavery company you could say. They rose the same way the other special and notable buildings in this list. However, they are also the leaders in terms of science and research.
High-density areas look like this:
Low-Med density areas look like this usually.
-- Outside of the city --
Marked in red on the map.
This border is used to keep employees in but also make sure they don't get out, for security reasons and integrity because if they know the government lied to them then their conglomerate's integrity will surely be damaged, just like North Korea, they do the same thing here. Only people with very special permission may exit the border. However, as a secondary line of defence, there is a second border near the mountain region, (which will be said later through here).
The last security checkpoint:
This is basically the final border towards the mountains, it encircles the entire mountain range but even there are controls in the coastline to make sure nobody goes too far out. There is an invisible barrier around the entire region because that's what's keeping it safe from the dangerous, toxic winds from the wasteland. Basically, they work as weather diverters because they manipulate the dangerous chemicals that come from the wasteland itself. The mountains also serve as the same protection but the invisible barrier around the city does the job, it is powered by the backup fusion reactor from the city itself, only reserved for security.
-- The wasteland and the Foodomes --
The entire planet is now a wasteland which was a result of pollution and war that ramped across the globe, little is known what caused the war but it was a power struggle of some sorts but this struggle cost many lives, and thus the nations themselves. Now there is nothing left but barren landscapes and barren cities and very tiny villages that have the outcastes, life there is infinitely harder but the food-domes are also. Many believed it was the remains of the previous era. The air there is extremely toxic, concentrated with Lead most of all and therefore people get very ill around here due to the high concentration of that element present. Yes, due to the pollution changed the acidity pretty much, even the fact that dangerous metals are present on the ground which inhibits growing and therefore the soil needs a lot of cleaning and extracting before it can be used. The water is extremely toxic and filled with uranium deposits from the other wars and many other dangerous chemicals.
Famines are widespread and hunger is rampant. They are left outside from the conglomerate's fold and will probably never see the light of day again, or the blue skies. People are forced to eat soil and dirt in the Grayland villages, with little to no hope of survival but some form clans and establish very good resistance movements there. These clans can raid cargo that are being guarded by security and sentry drones along the wasteland roads, perhaps even free-food domes and liberate the employees is what they do. The cargo actually has its destination, which is the city(Aurna) and therefore weapons, vehicles and food but also everyday items are transported through these terrible conditions but they are well packaged.
In the day, it is very hot and warm but in the evening there are many storms. The environment is very foggy, barely any blue skies as everything appears grey due to the high presence of lead and other toxic heavy metals, oddly enough due to the high presence of lead and other toxic material flung with the air, it's very windy so, therefore, storms are very common. That's why people turn towards the food domes, even if it's a lifetime of labour...Or worse.
Images of the wasteland: (What you usually see, for 80% of the time) -- grayed lands and dead bushes, but also dead trees of what's left. (What you usually see in the desert biomes because they are a bit uncommon, but not hard to find)
What are the food-domes?
The food-domes are gargantuan domes that house people that grow vegetables and crops, the entire dome is for protecting people from UV radiation and the harmful Lead metal present in the air outside. While it is better inside of the domes, this would be the cost of their freedom and therefore risk losing everything they've got. Around the dome, there are facilities connected to it which are divided into many parts. For example to house prisoners, or the miners but it's mainly to keep production going as prisoners are a source of labour. They're forced to work for long periods of time without rest and are subject to massive psychological torture from being inside of the domes. It's basically like a prison but the prisons surround the food-dome. Pretty spooky right?
The prison cells:
Inside of the food dome: (Except the food-dome is about 200 meters in radius and 400 meters in diameter, basically stretching farm fields and crops as far as the eye could see.)
In the factories, people produce toothpicks, everyday objects in manufacturing facilities and even vehicles. This is what keeps their economy going, slave labour is extremely prominent which houses outcaste and lower-class people that have committed policy breaches. It is awful there because the pollution outside is a literal nightmare and workers are forced to cope in conditions that make them sick commonly. The factories are fenced off in order to make sure nobody escapes.
Outside: Inside:
-- Well if you have any other ideas! I am very open to them. Thanks for reading! --
Bump! Yes, this is a very old setting. However, I would like to play it! The way it is written is also weird, but note this is an old project from like a year ago. My way of writing is not the same!
