Sky Cities

RPG/Game Master’s Guide/The Home World

As the Earth’s resources were exhausted, life became harder. By the end of the 21st century, the population peaked and so did the middle class. By the dawn of the 22nd century, wealth was fully concentrated into the hands of a tiny elite, while a long sunset of poverty set in for the billions who toiled and starved beneath them. The story of the next two centuries is one of extreme stratification, decline and violence.

The elite quickly discovered they were not safe in their remote mansions. Those who gathered together behind the protective walls of gated communities found some solace. But these were often attacked and when they were breached, the horrific consequences were captured on video for other elites to digest.

In response to this security threat, the elites of New York took over Manhattan Island and turned it into a fortress. Everyone who wasn’t an elite or who worked for the elite were expelled. All bridges were blockaded and the island militarized against the mob outside. Believing themselves safe on their island, the elites used their immense wealth to build huge luxury palaces, mile high skyscrapers, each tower a symbol of prestige to outdo their neighbours. In 2273, a startling rocket attack by rebels destroyed some of these towers. The elites were shaken. They pooled their resources and created a massive impenitrable fortress. A huge five mile high pyramid was constructed in the centre of Manhattan Island. It’s subterranean floors were even more vast than the superstructure and were deep enough to house over a million support staff. Beyond the pyramid, the lands were cleared. An awe-inspiring array of military ordanance was distributed at choke points. Great towers bristling with huge artillery pieces, rail guns and laser canons were peppered throughout the dead zone. Huge steal and concrete walls were reinforced around the island and swarms of autonous jets filled the sky.

The New York Sky City was the greatest fortress ever built. Freightened elites around the world took notice. Soon, every city had its own Sky City.

Sky Cities

Sky Cities dominate the skyline of all the major cities. Each Sky City is named after the city where it’s erected. There is a London Sky City, a Singapore Sky City, etc.

The smallest of the Sky Cities are over a mile high and the tallest can tower over five miles. While some are a conglomerate of various tall buildings that rise like spires, the larger Sky Cities are huge mountain-like pyramids gobbling up vast tracts of land and air.

By the year 2317, the elites are no longer known as elites, but are called Sky Lords. They are powerful post-humans who live in the upper floors among the clouds. Their bodies have been completely replaced by synthetics, and because their brains are in a dry state, they are able to inhabit different bodies. Despite this, the Sky Lords rarely use their physical bodies and spend most of their time in the Virtual World where they live like gods.

It’s not just the Sky Lords who live in Sky Cities. The great fortresses are home to all their support staff called citizens who make a life of leisure possible for the Sky Lords. On the higher floors are the executives who manage the companies. Here you can also find citizens who have obtained great wealth but are not allowed into the well protected realms of the Sky Lords. There are incredible restaurants and pleasure facilities in the upper levels. Below can be found floors with sprawling universities and research centres that help keep the Sky City competitive. There are military and security command centres below these. Closer to the ground are highly trained staff who help create the virtual worlds where the Sky Lords live. 

But underground is where most of the citizens live. Maintenance workers, barbers, repair and construction workers, security staff… In the larger Sky Cities, hundreds of thousands of people can be found milling about the labyrinth of halls and rooms in a city beneath the city. Many of these pale-skinned workers have never seen the sun.

Around each Sky City is the perimeter. This is often composed of a wall or a series of walls with a huge dead zone filled with barbed wire, mines, railguns and wandering robots. Huge howitzers point their muzzles out from battlements on the walls towards the vast slums beyond, while others train to the skies above which swarm with autonomous robots ladden with armaments.

The Sky Lords do not care much for the world beyond their domains. They hardly care about the Sky Cities themselves as most of their time is spent in the virtual world, a metaverse of vast proportions and imagination. 

Large companies with their headquarters nestled safely in the Sky Cities will, of course, work in the world beyond the perimeter. They have little need for labour, as robots do most of the work. But they do need resources. They’ll mine or harvest the world around them under the watchful protection of soldiers and swarm bots. But the resources of the Earth have been exhausted so there’s little interest and resources can be more cheaply and safely imported from space. The lands beyond the perimeter are mostly left to the poor masses who try to scrape whatever they can from the depleted soil and survive another day.

The Bond System

While the Sky City may seem like one great integrated society, it is in fact extremely fractured according to what are known as bonds or alliegiances. Bonds are similar to a ponzy scheme, network marketing or a pyramid scheme. It’s a bit like the Roman patron/client relationship, except that it permiates multiple strata of society. Maintenance workers are bonded to their supervisor, who are bonded to their director, who are bonded to a vice president of operations and so on. Executives and generals are bonded to their Sky Lords. When an individual dies, their bonds are inherited. And when a baby is born, it is bonded according to its parents. Things can get confusing for the child when two parents have different bonds.

A bond can be very useful or very taxing, depending on the situation. For instance, if a maintenance worker wanders off beyond the permimeter and gets into trouble, they could call in a favour from their bond who would then be obligated to do what they could to help. If the maintenance worker felt the favour was not adequate, it could be brought before the tribunal which would weigh the evidence and offer a verdict, which might involve compensation of some sort.

On the other side, those beneath the bond are treated almost like property. The same maintenance worker might find herself toiling her whole life for her bond, without ever asking for a favour. Favours are rarely asked of a bond. But obedience and loyalty are always expected from those beneath a bond.

The Virtual World

The virtual world was once a very democratic and expansive place open for all to explore. This was a welcome relief in a troubled world. But as wealth concentrated, the power of the Sky Lords became so great that they simply took over. Regular people were swept aside. 

Within their firewall, the Sky Lords are gods. They look and act like gods and have immense power, commanding armies and weilding unnatural weapons. They create palaces as large as planets which they share with each other to explore.

It is possible for people who are not Sky Lords to explore the inner sactums of the virtual world, but it’s extremely difficult to go undetected and being caught could have real world consequences. The virtual world is the playground of the Sky Lords. It is where they spend their time, meet their peers, relax, explore, play and create. It’s also where they argue, debate and plot, fight and kill. To have anyone below their caste peer into this very private world is a blasphomy beyond contemplation and is punishably by death, with a healthy dose of torture to sweeten the insult.

That said, a simplified virtual world is available to all citizens of each Sky City. These worlds are not as interesting to explore as those available to the Sky Lords, and citizens are denied any enhanced powers that could potentially wet an appetite for revolution. They aren’t allowed weapons and violence is not permitted. Citizens can simply explore the safe green fields where they will encounter fuzzy animals and flowers that smile and say nonsense.