Technotropolis

Situated in the Black Sea, north west of the Draykhan Wastes lies a small island. In a canyon within this island is Technotropolis, a city built by a group of mercenary and bounter hunters who were rejected from their former societies and seeked a new home where magic was not the main source of power or governing factor. It is home to Power &amp; Tech, a company owned mercenary army which operates in small numbers around the world to collect resources and money to further the city.

History and Development
Technotropolis was formed by the founding families of Power & Tech (PT). When the mercenaries and bounty hunters that were rejected from their former societies banded together to fund themselves a new home, they ended up making a private military called PT. As PT expanded it rallied others who were also interested in the prospects of a home without magic which caused PT to expand further. As members and finance increased, nuclear families were beginning to form within PT ranks. Eventually, as the number of families expanded, it was decided that they should commence making their utopian home to house these families. From this, Technotropolis was born. It started as an isolated village but gradually grew from that to a town and then to a city. Although it is the only city on the island it now fills most of the canyon that it was built in and continues to expand as PT finds more work and rallies more people. The canyon it is situated in spans 300 miles and 75 miles wide at its widest point.

Lifestyle
People in Technotropolis live an incredibly modern industrialised lifestyle. Desk jobs using highly sophisticated computers are amongst the most common in the city. Many people work and actively support PT since they owe their lively hood to this company. Many other companies exist simply to support PT's cause by manufacturing their equipment, vehicles and weapons. With the modernity that came with PT and Technotropolis, modernity is celebrated at every opportunity. The things people do, the things people wear and the items that people buy all have modern influences which reflect the ideology of Technotropolis and its founders.

Sophisticated robotic production lines and robots in general have long since eliminated an underpaid working class of any kind and people prosper from this. The remaining manual labourers are well paid like the rest of society since their work is considered complicated and highly valued by the rest of society. Although an underpaid working class has vanished, as a result of mechanisation, certain former workers who were not able to adapt to the change were left without work. These people are the underclass and dwell in the lower levels of the city in areas like the sewage system, out of site from the rest of society. The underclass relies on crime to get its food and any material items that they might want. As such the Technotropolis Metropolitan Police (TMP) are constantly patrolling the lower levels to eliminate the criminals. The TMP are under strict orders from the government to eliminate the underclass rather than re-integrate them into society.

Because of the work layout, the city is very much built on an entertainment industry which is the third most crucial industry after pharmaceuticals and weapons manufacturing respectively.

Water around the city has become so polluted that it is now coloured a glowing bright green/yellow colour. Since most citizens refuse to drink it, and rightly so, fresh untainted water is pumped in from outside sources.

Architecture
Although a largely prosperous society, it puts very little thought into its architecture which is almost entirely functional with very little consideration for asthetics. Buildings typically have a polished metallic or concrete finish with bare metals and grey being something of a theme. Most buildings are high rising sky scrapers. In an effort to celebrate the city's mechanical heritage, most sky risers have their mechanics and workings left exposed. Lift cables/mechanics and ventilation shafts amongst other things are all visible on the outside of the building. Because of this mechanical environment black and yellow warning stripes are a common sight along with warning signs telling people to be careful around machinery. Where nessecary, brightly coloured pads are put in place around low mechanics to keep children safe from harmful working mechanics.

Although perhaps boring to look at without unusual lighting, the poisoned water around the city has an illuminous quality that glows and reflects of the metal components on the buildings. This makes them quite an interesting site however the effect is enhanced at night when the water is the only source of light. This is complimented further in the evenings and mornings when the bottom of the buildings are illuminated by the water whilst the upper parts of the high risers are illuminated by the red morning/evening sun creeping over the canyon walls.

Fashion
Because of the large media industry in Technotropolis, people are constantly subject to images of how they should appear. The fashion industry provides for citizens from all walks of life and offers an ideal image for any social group or occasion. Although there is not really an incorrect way to dress in Technotropolis, the way people dress is typically an indication of either their work or personality. As such; fashion slightly divides society into smaller social groups although this is not a huge issue since the whole of society has a general consensus that furthering technology is good, which reintegrates everyone and unites everyone with a common goal.

Day to day dress sense in Technotropolis has some elements which slightly resemble real world fashion from the 80's and 90's although the look is not entirely similar to this. Most people in the city choose to wear sunglasses or some description of eye protection since constantly being exposed to the glow from the water is said to be bad. Utilitarian clothing is rather popular for all people of all ages since it is usually relatively easy to maintain and wear whilst also reflecting the mechanical mindset of society.

High quality suits are a must for people working in business and office jobs. A good suit is typically thought to be a reflection of your place within the hierachy at work.

Fashion in Technotropolis is not just about clothing. Cosmetics and make up are considered important for an image too and is, as such, promoted for both men and women.

Technology
As mentioned frequently throughout this article, the people of Technotropolis are very mechanically and technologically minded. Having the latest gadget is an absolute must in their society.

Things like mobile communication devices are an obvious must. They range from items like real world mobile phones to hands free units and headsets. Rather interestingly, the hand held units remain the most popular since they can be more than just a communication device. The headsets and hands free items tend to be used by people in business who do not have a great deal of time for the extras afforded by the hand held units.

Technotropolis equivilents to MP3 players also exist and, like the communicators, are pretty mandatory if a person wants to fit in. All portable music players in the city have more memory for storing songs than there are songs to aquire.

Despite the fact that the technology is more than at a level where all of the accesories can be integrated into one item, people prefer to have them all as seperate items since it is an opportunity to have more technology on/with them.

Most citizens have pretty stylish cars. There isn't really a market for "affordable cars" since most people are in a financial position to get something flashy. Matte paintjobs, shiny wheel rims, spoilers, splitters and gullwing doors are all the craze in Technotropolis with electronic instruments and, in some cases, even head up displays for the wealthiest. Car manufacturers in Technotropolis spend alot of time trying to get their vehicles to feel like aircraft rather than cars and, more often than not, they do a pretty good job of it. Ground handling is still considered important though but this is quite easy for manufacturers to tackle since Technotropolis has a thriving motor racing industry and many racing components are simply transfered onto normal cars.

For the really wealthy, owning your own helicopter is the next option. Like the military machines operated by PT; the civilian helicopter market offers machines of all shapes and most sizes but unlike their military counterparts, which are built in a very angular manner for stealthiness and entirely with function in mind, civilian helicopters are very sleek and clean looking.

For private owners, helicopters offer a fast and convinient form of commuting and entertainment. For commercial users, they are used as camera ships, police surveillence, transport and cargo hauling, advertisement and medivac amongst other things.

The absolute elite of society however still find helicopters too slow. For these individuals, who typically own more money than they could ever possibly need, a private jet is a must have.

Household products are also a status symbol. A good TV and more appliances than the owner could possibly need are a regular sight in most houses. Since most appliances, especially white goods, create as much work as they eliminate; most households own one or more robots to ensure that home time is completely free of chores. These robots also had the unexpected but quite pleasant effect of eliminating gender division since robots do most or all of the housework, leaving men and women to simply do their paid job and care for their children.