NEMOPEDIA
Chaotic Lawful
GOLDEN CITY
THE SKY, THE LAND & THE UNDERGROUND
Located in the depths of the mountains, Golden City was originally a town of miners. Hidden in height, surrounded by rocks, and covered in smog, Golden City is a place where dreams are said to come true despite its barren land. It is a city built upon the dreams and creativity of scientists and entrepreneurs, of the runaways and the hopefuls. From afar, the forever smoking factories seemingly gleam golden, which is what earned its name. However, it is far more famous for its intricate streets that smooth into each other like clockwork, and the floating part of the city The Sky.
Welcome to the city of the dreamers, the thieves, and the forgotten.
Hanging above the city centre is the upper part of Golden City commonly called ‘The Sky’. It is the science behind the floating layer that made Golden City as prosperous as it is today. Pieces of land that are connected with bridges float high above the city center. Floaters underneath these pieces of land are what keeps The Sky in the air, strengthened with cables at the outer parts to the mountain side to stabilise the floating city. A tube in the centre is what connects The Sky with the rest of the city. It transports several elevators that brings people up and down from The Sky as needed. Citizens also have crudely named the tube ‘Placenta’ to fit the theme of the rest of the nicknames.
Oxygen is sparse in The Sky because of the high altitude, but that is fixed by a thin layer surrounding it. The bubble, lovingly called ‘The Embryo’, filters the smog out of the air and adds in oxygen so that all can live comfortably in The Sky. There is another addition to the air of The Sky, which is called The Medicine. This chemical is what keeps the inhabitants of The Sky from feeling motion sick because of the ever-swaying roads.
Life in The Sky is generally peaceful and luxurious. With its clean air and slightly swaying road, there are plenty of gardening plots found amongst the carved mansions and the fancy boutiques. Unlike the rest of the city, The Sky has made room for flowers and plants to be enjoyed, resulting in an image of serenity and cleanliness that Golden City is not known for.
The people who live in The Sky are usually the richest amongst the citizens of Golden City. They are nicknamed the Floaters -or more crudely, ‘Fetuses’- referring to The Embryo protecting them. The Floaters are the example of what Golden City can give once dreams become truth. However, many of the Floaters are born into this privilege and are said to have never worked a day in their lives, as automatons surround them to serve them on their whims.
The place everyone sets foot in when they arrive in Golden City. Where The Sky is what Golden City advertises with, The Land is the place where everything truly happens. Dreams come true here, just as they are shattered. It is in the Land where the science happened that made The Sky possible, along with the forever running factories, and the competition between tinkershops.
Unlike The Sky, The Land is always covered in a layer of smog coming from the factories that never shut down. Depending on the weather, the smog can be worse, or the air is clearer for the citizens. This makes for little sight in The Land on most days, which makes streets and turns hard to see. This can lead to dangerous situations on the road, especially with Golden City’s trademark of intricate streets. As such, it is not recommended to go over the streets in a high speed, which, in turn, is one of the reasons why cars and carriages are mostly banned asides from the main roads.
The most notable trait in The Land’s appearance are the cables. Hanging over the city are cables going high and low, over which packages and mail are delivered. It is not meant for human transport, as the cables aren’t designed to carry such weights, and to prevent them from falling. Yet, many try, resulting in illegal cable racing happening all throughout the town.
The Land is more diverse in its people than The Sky, existing out of scientists who seek creative and intellectual freedom for their projects, but also out of entrepreneurs and merchants that see money in the city and its freedom.
The majority of the people in Golden City are miners or factory workers. They either work long hours in one of the many factories that Golden City is rich of, or they go to the Underground everyday to mine coal--the most important resource of the city. The pay is generally low for these jobs, which makes it hard for the workers to survive in the city when they have a family to feed. However, as labour laws in Golden City are flexible, and there is a constant demand for more help, even children can work in these dangerous environments. Ultimately, as the cost of life in Golden City is high because of a lack of natural resources, the workers are usually forced to take on ‘odd’ jobs at the side.
Most of the shops that can be found on The Land are small tinkershops. They are often run by self-employed scientists who earn a living by creating trinkets and offering repairs on automatons or mechanical limbs. They live and work within the shops, just as they pursue their own personal projects and goals in the spare time they have. More influential tinkershops can afford themselves to take in proteges who do the small jobs for them, but most of the shops are barely scraping by as it is because of the sheer amount of competition there is in the city.
The third and lowest layer of the city. It is the part of the city that takes place within the mines and former mines, but also where the ovens of Golden City are located. The waste of the city is burnt in large ovens, from which heat is generated and directed through pipes to warm up the houses in both The Sky and The Land. As such, The Underground is also called the Sewers by many, or otherwise known as the garbage bin.
The Underground is generally considered uninhabitable, because of the lack of fresh air, the high temperatures, and the toxic fumes that surround the place, it is indeed a bad place to live in. However, it is general knowledge to the citizens that there are people who have settled down in the Underground. It is because of a lack of law enforcement in The Underground that criminality in the Sewers is the highest. At the highest rings, along the walls of the mines, a black market can be found selling all that one can imagine for much cheaper than on The Land. Pleasure can be bought, as well as trinkets, weapons, and even body parts. Even oxygen tanks, which are stolen from the sky, can be found there.
The citizens call those who live in The Underground, Rats. They are those who can’t afford to live up in The Land, or are in hiding from the public eye.
COMPASS
Navigate through the city.
