Three weeks to go until the release. Here’s a sample of the first setting from the full game, the City of Lamina.
Lamina
The city of Lamina sits along the eastern coast of a vast continent known as Turth. The city is vast and sprawling, housing close to seven million people. Its streets are full of cars and skyscrapers, and its vast western stretch is a continuous stretch of beaches and luxury homes. Surrounding Lamina on all other sides is a vast stretch of farmland responsible for supplying the city’s population with food.
Lamina is among the only place in the world that has reached the level of technology it currently possesses. The rest of the continent is mostly feudal lords and small kingdoms. These lords employ knights armed with rifles who ride motorcycles. Battles between these knights are furious but brief, as each side guns down their opponents. Only the wealthiest among the kingdoms can afford to buy such devices from Lamina and the other nations, and so knighthood is reserved exclusively for the nobility. As a sign of their noble ancestry, these knights still employ finely crafted metal armour covered with heraldic symbols.
There are only two other places in the world as advanced as Lamina. The city-state of Veil sits far to the north, and is ruled by a union of powerful priests. Its culture prizes religion and spiritual pursuits, and often melds them with the sexual in strange erotic rituals. Its leadership is also its priesthood, who lead the people in their collective worship
The sprawling nation of Westerth sits to the far west of the continent. This nation is far larger than Lamina and its surrounding lands, with a dozen or so major cities, but it is ruled by a powerful conglomerate of large corporations. These corporations manipulate and experiment on their citizens frequently, spreading propaganda and controlling the media to influence people’s minds. Almost every TV program is sexual in nature, and news shows are completely unheard of. Their goal is to create a society so addicted to pleasure and sexuality that it doesn’t care what its leadership is doing. So far, it seems to be working.
Air and sea travel are the preferred method of travelling between these disparate regions, as there are no major roads connecting them. A trip to Veil takes a day by sea and four hours by air, while Westerth takes a week by sea, going around the bottom of the continent, and a day by air.
Climate
Lamina sits near the equator of its world, and has a warm climate. Summers are hot, although rarely humid, and winters are cool. Snow is rare, although when it happens it is a cause of considerable disruption. The predominant wind is from the sea to the east, and the city is occasionally buffeted by strong sea-born storms from the ocean.
Regions of Lamina
Lamina is a sprawling city, and contains many regions and unique neighbourhoods.
The Seaboard
Stretching along the city’s eastern edge is the seaboard. This is a continuous strip of beaches bounded by surf shops and luxury homes. A bit in from the beaches themselves are vast market streets full of foot traffic and food vendors. The seaboard is home to a thriving surf culture, with its own unique views on the world. To the surfers, life shouldn’t be taken too seriously, relaxation and fun are the only goals worth pursuing, and sex can easily be traded for other goods and services. There are many movies and other stories about newcomers to the seaboard being taken in by surf culture and taught how to relax and enjoy life, often with many sex scenes on the city’s beaches.
Lower Side
The city’s southern tip, past the Overpass, is the region formally called Rockpass, but commonly known as Lower Side. The houses here are small and poorly maintained, and crime is rampant. At least two crime syndicates operate out of the region, running illegal prostitution and gambling dens. Despite the harsh circumstances, some of the city’s most famous artists and performers have come from Lower Side, and the region has a thriving artistic culture that struggles to make a name for itself in the broader city.
High Side
In the city’s northern end, the land slopes up and becomes a high ridge. Along this ridge are built the mansions of the extremely wealthy. The region is full of tree-shaded parks and luxurious private estates. The people here rarely interact with those who live in the city below, preferring to form their own close-knit community. There, amid lavish splendour, the rich throw their private orgies and sorties. The families that own property here have owned it for decades, and outsiders have little hope of breaking into their insular society.
The Clusters
Stretching out from the north and west sides of the city are vast residential neighbourhoods known as the Clusters. This region houses fifty percent of the city’s population, who must commute to and from work each day via the city’s many internal highways. There is something of a cultural split between residents of the Clusters and people from the city’s core. The core-dwellers view Cluster folk as complacent and overly conservative, while Cluster people view inner city residents as rebellious and uncouth.
Thats all for now. See you all next week. Happy hunting,
Zed.
