THE UNDERTOW

Like a river rill, a place off the original course where you're dumped without warning. Just like that of a passing undercurrent.

[Placeholder image is of Midgar, illustrations will come later.]

HABITABILITY

The Undertow is not the worst place to live, but in comparison to it's upstairs neighbours it's definitely the less ideal choice of the two. The Undertow is an under-funded, violence-ridden city that was once actually quite a decent place to live despite the darkness. Due to it being the ground level with the Upstairs 900ft built above it, most places remain in darkness even in broad daylight. It's densely populated with buildings that don't help with obscuring the light. It's a mostly industrial zone, looking like it was under construction still in places. Most of the streets are lit with neon signs, warm lights and a few red lights as well for the street lamps, and most streets were in disrepair. It's a heavily populated location, and most sectors know of one another's residents through mindless chatter and gossip. It would less of a nightmare if the Vortexes stopped.

GOVERNING SYSTEM(S)

The Undertow is in fact run by a collective of mayors for each sector. Each sector that's still habitable has one person running it, all of them meeting in the most populated sector, Epsilon. The city's construction crews work around the clock due to the damages caused by the creatures, keeping each mayor very busy.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The city fell to disrepair and ruin when the Vortexes began to appear. The vortexes brought creatures not of this planet, that wrecked havoc on the city and the people, needing a new system to be implemented. The Hunter's Association was created by the ones Upstairs. They run and regulate it, but apply it to the Undertow because if the creatures go unchecked below, they bleed upstairs and they don't want anything to ruin their pristine city.

There are a total of Seven officially recognized sectors within the Undertow. To the North starting with Beta, then heading east with Lambda, Delta, Epsilon, Gamma, Theta and Rho. Each sector contains a Spire, a key construction point but also an access point to the Upstairs. Each sector's spire was named after it, with the exception of the very heart of the city that holds the Grand Spire, which crosses through every sector and is sectioned off as the unofficial "main sector" of Alpha.

Of the sectors, some have fallen to disrepair to the point of being desolate and uninhabited due to the outbreak of the creatures within. Theta is abandoned, no one entering at this point. Rho is currently facing heavy infestation and struggling to keep up with a lack of sufficient hunters. Gamma, where Sachiel is located, seems to be holding its own for the most part. While small outbreaks are known in other sectors it seems to be that Theta is the heart of the problem, as most of them bleed out from its center.

The most heavily populated location, and considered capital of the Undertow, is Epsilon. It was also the first to be constructed before Alpha even existed. All other sectors are well populated, mostly well kept, but the closer you come to Theta the worse conditions get.

THE UPSTAIRS

The rich and lavish city of [REDACTED]. The true name of it is something that no one really knows. It was lost a long time ago to the people of the Undertow, they simply refer to it as the Upstairs, to some- it's the Eternal Eclipse. The simple fact of the matter is that it's not for you or me.

[Placeholder image is of Sin City, featured in Akira (1998) illustrations will come later.]

HABITABILITY

If you were to pick a place to live, and had the money to do so or the prestige, then you'd be going straight to the Upstairs to get yourself any of the open spots left in the city's apartment complexes or lavish mansions. The Upstairs is a beautiful city full of bustling traffic, hot and sunny days, and even man-made pools and lakes. It's the idealized place to live... assuming you can stand the people in it.

GOVERNING SYSTEM(S)

The Upstairs is run by a collective of investors and people with a lot of wealth and power. There's a figurehead 'President', but the simple fact of the matter is that the entire place is run by money, and if you weren't making it then you wouldn't be having any say in how the place is run.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Upstairs resides 900ft above the Undertow, constantly casting a shadow of eternal darkness on the buildings below. The Upstairs was actually a later addition to the Undertow, as the Undertow was the first city built in the region. It was an add on that ended up (due to a construction error of the height originally) as the preferred choice of place to live, and actually expanded over time. Originally it was built above Spire Alpha and as it's population increased, it started to cover all of the Undertow as we know it. The city is rich, full of expensive and pristine, white, soulless buildings that shoot thousands of feet into the skyline. The entire city is lit in golden lights, and at night looks like a sparkling shimmer of jewelry on the edge of the desert.

Most people don't know much about it other than how it appears from afar. Very few people ever ascend the spires to go there, and those who do don't generally return, or go outside of the spires themselves. They're not meant to know.

NOVOS

A land beyond the stars themselves...

[Placeholder image is of the Atacama Desert, Chile. Featured in the following article: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/first-time-in-atacama-desert . Illustrations will come later.]

LANDSCAPE/HABITABILITY

Novos is a lush place, full of a lot of plantlife... in about a couple of places. Most of the planet is in a state of decay, living far longer with it's pesky inhabitants than they were supposed to make it. The entire planet's atmosphere has been poisoned with experimentation. It's habitable if you're a Novian. Anything else and you'd start to suffocate just trying to breathe the heavy air around it. Once teeming with life, the Novians that still remain used it to it's end, sucking it dry of anything that could possibly sustain life in order to sustain their own. It's mostly barren full of dust, sands, rock and crevasses that were once full to the brims with lava that had run completely dry. The place still full of life was only made so due to the innovation of its inhabitants.

The Novians created plantlife that could survive the current harsh environment, and have been slowly working on spreading it through the rocks to bring the dead planet back to life. The oceans of it have all but stagnated, and are part of the reason the air is so hard to breathe. To fix this mess would take a very, very, long time, which most Novians have! The lack of necessities of life have made this difficult, their water systems now relying solely on springwater that hasn't been tainted to keep themselves going. Not many remain.

GOVERNING SYSTEM(S)

Novos is governed by a Novian council. The council consists of nine elite members that control and dictate what goes on in the city. Unfortunately it's on their hands that everything happened to their planet in the first place. There aren't many of the remaining council left, however. Many had gone missing or perished, leaving all but three to the helm, with no one else stepping up due to their fault in the death of their homeland. The council's word is law.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Novos is home to only one sentient species, which is the Novians. Food sources are scarce and primarily they hunt outside of their planet's atmosphere if possible due to the lack of remaining native fauna. Deep space around Novos is the only thing untouched as the vast expanse cannot be changed. Novians do not need to breathe, they edited their genes hundres of thousands of years ago to make it so. The people of the planet are mostly united, striving to bring their home back to its former glory, but a lot are discontent with the way things are going. They've increased their number in recent years to speed up the expansion process of fixing the planet, but have had little success since the new offspring need time to develop into functional Novians.

The planet's current estimated population is about 3000 remaining within the main city, and an unknown remaining amount of Nomads.

THE OUTER WASTES

I don't know what you expect, it's a desert, it's a fucking desert dude its HOT. It's wrought with drought from the city taking the resources on the outskirts, looking more lively the deeper in you go, like c'mon just look out there man... Once teeming with life closer to the city... It's definitely more worth being deeper into the badland area.

[Placeholder image is of Southern Thanalan, featured in FFXIV. Illustrations will come later.]

LANDSCAPE/HABITABILITY

The Outer Wastes are a large area of desert that covers most of the province. It extends outward reaching the edges of the badlands to the northeast, and the Titan mountain range to the south and southeast. The Undertow and Upstairs are both a part of this province and a large railway system extends out and across most of it.

The land closest to the undertow itself is inhospitable desert, void of life and full of only sand, dirt, rock, and the remains of previous plantlife. However, outside of it is an ecosystem teeming with life. Sagebrush are dominant, and as are a plethora of cacti and other plants. There is plenty of fauna, birds, bugs and more.

GOVERNING SYSTEM(S)

The wastes are mostly untouched minus a few small towns hidden around, the most prominent force are the outlaws that overtook the abandoned prison complex, and even then their word isnt law, but they sure seem to act like it is.

THE HOVEL

A smaller scale bar/club nestled deep in the corner of sector Gamma. Generally lit in neon and populated by shady types looking for booze, or favors, it is favored location of Sachiel.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The hovel is a strip club/bar that is nestled in sector Gamma, a ways off from the main road and deep in the sector away from the outer walls of the Undertow. The bar has a stone and cement outer wall, with a small evergreen plant placed in little box out front of it's door. This building also houses an apartment complex built above it, with the apartment entry to the left of the main door.

On the inside is a wide and large space with the bar to the left, the stage to the right, and an assortment of seating options from booths to tables to the loungers in front of the stage itself. The inside is a brick and steel layout with woodenfloorboards, decorated with mostly warm lights that tend to only be on after hours or during the day. The bar when open at night is lit ceiling to floor in Neon, many signs and light fixtures set up to create a blue/pink/purple atmosphere for the dancers on stage, a few select dim yellow lights still on around the booths. It is incredibly well kept, and the wall to the far right from the entrance has a large bullethole crack in it.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The bar is primarily there as a front for Cy's work, not that they tend to go into it. It is, however, also heavily populated staffwise by a mishmash crew of persons mostly looking for a good place to kick back, especially in the case of an attack. It keeps a steady stream of business despite it's Strange Guest (Sachiel). It employs several strippers, sex workers, waitresses, cooks and front end staff, along with two apathetic janitors. Cy is the sole proprietor of the ragtag crew and business, and it's known as a very good place to eat and have some fun.

The bar is also open every day of the week, except for holidays, vacations, or other exceptions, and is open from 4pm to 4am.

THE OUTER WASTELANDS PRISON COMPLEX

Honestly how this entire building is still standing is beyond anyone's knowledge. The fact it's funded or staffed is even more impressive really.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

A large, falling apart prison/detention centre stuck in the middle of the outer wastes. It is made of cracked cement, and is barely held together from its foundation to its current power system. The complex has a barbed wire fence along the outside of its already tall and barbed cement walls, and has its own power supply on sight fuelled by the desert sun. The complex was originally used as an actual detention centre years ago but fell out of use when the Undertow itself expanded, leaving it and the neighbouring small town abandoned for the most part, until it was taken over by a crew of bandits.

GENERAL INFORMATION

'Prison' is a term to be used loosely when referring to this establishment. Run by a gang of wanna be cops, the complex is actually not a legal detention center, but rather is more of a forced slavery work encampment used to earn quick cash while incarcerating innocent persons for no reason other than making them work unpaid. Not much is known about the ones running it, other than the fact they are looking for cash, but to fair no one really wants to bother dealing with them either.