Runehack: New Prista

After several weeks of chipping away inbetween my daily job, I think it's finally ready for publishing. I'm glad that it's now finally ready to be shown. In this series, I wish to show off the various cities of Runehack. I want to write about strange cities that are within this world, mainly because most of the cities all feel kind of same. However, it's hard to describe what's outside of the norm without describing the norm every now and then, which is why I'm starting with the first city I developed within this world: New Prista. While this city is exceptional in some ways, it's close enough to be a good start to ease you into this world before I get to my stranger city ideas. It's the setting of the story I wrote back in November (and haven't rewritten yet), so it could also help out by introducing the potential readers to the city generally, as well as help me out in solidifying it for the purposes of the story. I'll make the next city weirder.

This is likely not the final version of the article. I have yet to settle on naming schemes for my in-world characters, which is why there are so few named characters in the article. After my first attempt at rewriting the initial story, I'll likely find out what parts of this article need updates.

New Prista

After the discovery of a new continent, some of the Old World's people wished for a fresh start. A group of settlers has set sail from their old home in Prista Vista and started their new lives on the coast of the unknown world. To honor their old home beyond the horizon, they've named this place New Prista Vista, which eventually evolved into just New Prista.

Geography

New Prista is a large coastal city surrounded by deciduous forests and a sea, partially built on a hill littered with caverns. Some of it is built on a peninsula, with a gateway that used to protect the inner port from the outside invaders before the seaborne districts were built. Like any city, New Prista expands at all times. Unlike other cities, however, it expanded itself out into the sea as well as the land.

Beyond the standard production of vegetables and tending to chicken and sheeplets, New Prista is known for its fishing industry, retrieval, and production of seaweed and pearls, and production of fruit and wood, both through the expansion of the city, but also with multiple districts that farm trees. A large system of interconnected mines created underneath the city's hill provides materials used for some of the construction of its walls and buildings, some amber for the drawing of runes, and silver for lining the newly made walls.

History

Although the city has been founded 180 years before the era of monsters began, evidence of archeological research suggests that there was a small tribe of elves populating its general vicinity almost two thousand years before its discovery. By the time the settlers from Prista Vista arrived, the ruins have long been buried deep underground, only found well over a century later.

After the discovery of the vast amber, volerite, and silver sources underground, the trend of runemancy began, and people have become obsessed with experimentation using the runes. Multiple companies have started at this time, and branched into other cities too, including New Prista.

When the runic revolution came about, the city has developed a way of creating new walls through an elaborate system, which is even to this day used in expanding the city. Years after Nexuspace acquired New Prista and built the first two new districts, the first groups of Loyalists started to emerge, challenging the corporate rulers of the city due to their mistrust about the way they create the new laws. After an unsuccessful attempt at overthrowing them, many of the original Loyalists have left the city on stolen hovertrains, traveling away to an unknown independent kingdom.

The Acumen have emerged within the city once the Mistweb was developed and commonly used by people all over the world. Unknown to the public, they've found some of the ancient elven ruins buried underneath the city, and use them as a private space for organizing their operations.

Structure

New Prista is divided into 11 main districts, 3 of which are built completely on top of the sea. While districts are traditionally divided by the walls that were former borders of the city-state before expansion, these walls are actively removed in order to be reused for the new expansion.

Fort district is the oldest district, where the old fortress from the era before the monsters was built. This castle-like building surrounds the houses of the Nexuspace's president, ministers, and their families reside. It borders the Miner, North, Portside, Central, and Upper West districts.

Central district used to be the city built outside of the fortress, but within the old city walls along with the Upper West district. It's where the majority of the businesses are located in the present, along with some residential areas. Its neighbors are Fort, Portside, Groven, Red Street, and the Upper West district.

North district was another district that used to be part of the original city before it expanded, though its purpose was more aimed at farming rather than as a residential area. Nowadays, plenty of vertical farms, as well as some ranches, are found here. It borders the Miner, Fort, and Portside districts.

Upper West district is one of the two districts that have access to the mines, and thus also houses many craftsmen, factories, and businesses. Due to being built on the hill, most of its streets are sloped, earning the district half of its name. Its neighbor, Miner district, is relatively flat in comparison and holds the highest population of goblins out of the whole city, but it's very similar otherwise. Both of the districts border the Fort and Central districts, but while Miner district is located next to the North district, Upper West is connected to the Red Street district.

Portside district is the longest district of the city, connecting the waterborne districts to the landlocked parts of the city. The entirety of the inner port, as well as the outer shore of the city, are considered parts of this district, despite some of it historically belonging to the Fort district. The bordering districts are Groven, Central, Fort, North, Fisher, and Backsalt district.

Fisher district, Backsalt district, and Deep Blue district are interconnected districts that float entirely on top of the water, built on underwater pillars. Most of it is dedicated to residential areas and small businesses of people, who specialize in fishing and gathering resources from the sea below. Portside is the only district that borders these, with the exception of the Deep Blue district.

Red Street district is named after the fact, that it used to be a shantytown outside of the city walls when the era of monsters began. Since not everyone made it within the walled-off city when the era started, the many casualties of the terrible times are forever remembered by those who call it their home nowadays. A commonly shared stereotype within New Prista about these people is that they're either dwarves, orcs, or prone to violence. The rumor is based on the fact, that plenty of butchers, hunters, and soldiers of the New Prista are likely to have their roots in this region. Its neighboring districts are Upper West, Central, and Groven district.

Groven district is the newest district within the city that used to be a forest, but nowadays it's a district where many of the plant farms are, as well as a few of the residences. Curiously, it contains within it the closest place to a "fairytown" that the New Prista has, along with a fairly high population of elves. It neighbors the Red Street, Central, and Portside districts.

Culture

The majority of the population in New Prista is composed of humans and elves, and the least represented race within the city is goblins. New Prista's level of technology is on the same level as most of the known cities connected to the Mistweb. Most of the population within the city doesn't practice any religions, and out of the rest majority practices the Žofaism (ž pronounced as zh), with about 5% of people actively scorning the Pantheon of Misfortune.

When it comes to the common political beliefs within the New Prista, it's considered to be a globalist nation that supports the ideals of progress, security, and equality of opportunity. Besides the Nexuspace, the city is also populated with a small branch of Acumen and a significant amount of Loyalists. The Acumen is a secretive but known group attempting to expose the truth about Nexuspace and Lifestock. While their manners of operating range from morally dubious to outright illegal, their goal is a genuine desire for transparency. The Loyalists wish to return the New Prista, as well as all other city-states, back to the monarchies they once were by getting rid of the influence of corporations. Their biggest ideal is returning back from progress and security to traditions and freedom that the citizens of kingdoms once had, at least in comparison to the present day.

The city has sister locations for several of the companies owned by Nexuspace. Nexuspace itself actually began with the production of VR headrings, which have grown in popularity enough to give them enough capital for acquiring other companies that nowadays belong to them. Tomorrowkind is a prominent company that was actually based in New Prista. It was initially focused on the runebots and eventually pivoted to drones. OWR (Old World Reports) is a news station that's also owned by Nexuspace and has one of its branches in New Prista. Nexuspace hoped to create a branch of Volemotors within New Prista, a company specializing in the production of vehicles, but this plan was fruitless due to wrong timing in relation to the events that were occurring within the city back then. The city also has sister locations of TAI (Therefore A.I.) and Otherworld, both of which are at the current time owned by Lifestock, yet they helped companies owned by Nexuspace in growing. TAI is a company that at first focused on the development of machine learning, which eventually evolved into the creation of the many kinds of commercially used artificial intelligence. Otherworld is a company that is responsible for augmented reality, and the Mistweb of things—an elaborate system for controlling common runetech appliances through the Mistweb using apps installed on the runecards. Despite their location being within the territory of their competitors, Otherworld and TAI are both allowed to continue their activity within New Prista due to their past contributions to its success. Beyond these, smaller companies are located in New Prista too, though those are not worth mentioning.

The two most unique customs of New Prista are the Winter Solstice Hymn and The Pearlhunt. After midnight of the longest night of the year, regardless of whether it did or didn't snow this year, the people gather on the largest squares in New Prista to celebrate the past year and expect the first signs of a new one. They usually feast on mutton served in various easy-to-hold forms, and drink hot fruit tea, while catching up with people they meet after a long time on the square by chance. Roughly thirty minutes before the first sunrise after the winter solstice, the people begin to sign the hymns that supposedly encouraged the Sun to grace the city for a longer time with its light. While these days nobody believes in this myth, the overall experience is considered to be worth doing just for its own sake.

Celebration of The Pearlhunt starts precisely three weeks after the summer solstice, and it lasts for one week. For every day of this week, people are encouraged to come to the Fisher and Backsalt districts wearing their swimwear and possibly some extra clothes, in order to participate in the yearly pearlhunt. The goal is to swim deep underneath the waters within the walls and to find as many pearls as possible before running out of breath. Ever since the unfortunate incident 21 years ago, runebots are prohibited from participating in the competition due to the fact that they do not breathe. Every day ends by announcing the winner—a person that found the highest number of pearls while not passing out—and as a prize, the first four places get to keep one pearl of their choice. Any participant gets a symbolic monetary sum for every pearl they found, which is doubled if they managed to get back to the surface without passing out. The celebration started as a showcase of one's determination, but also awareness of their limits.

Subculture Showcase: Corporate Lifestyle

Note: This section is not meant to imply that the presented subculture is in any way unique to or most represented within this city. It is just a subculture I chose to present because it felt most thematically fitting and it wasn't introduced yet.

Examples of regular formalwear worn mainly by the staff of the corporations, but also anyone who wishes to appear official. Variations do exist.
Art kindly provided by Arell, a friend of mine.

Art Curiosities: Due to baldness, the depicted man decided to brandish an illusory hairstyle. The screen in front of the woman is how the interface of runecards and most other runetech appears. Those who wish to draw attention or just appear exotic wear illusory glasses that are actually just an image anyone but them can see.

Those who live a Corporate Lifestyle work for the megacorporations that rule most of the cities in the world. One of the stereotypical views on them is that they're mindless drones who serve as the cogs for world-spanning machines, but the truth is that their productivity is the reason for them earning and keeping their job. Perseverance, adaptability, and reliability are the characteristics held above all others by the corporate staff. Spending large amounts of time working, sometimes even working overtime, earns these employees enough money to live a much higher class life in their free time.

The corporate ladder within the Nexuspace and Lifestock is identical, with the only difference being some of the title names in the language commonly used in Runehack. However, their meaning is synonymous enough to not require a different name in English.

1. Chairman is the owner of the entire megacorporation. The Vice-Chairman is the substitute of the Chairman in case of need but otherwise doesn't hold executive powers, following their orders.
2. President is the ruler of the megacorporation on the scale of an individual city and follows the orders given by the Chairman. The Vice-President is the substitute of the President in case of need but otherwise doesn't hold executive powers, following their orders.
3. Minister manages a certain ministry within a city and follows the orders given by the President. The Vice-Minister is the substitute of the Minister in case of need but otherwise doesn't hold executive powers, following their orders.
4. District Manager oversees a specific city district and follows the orders given by the Minister as well as President.
5. Teams Manager oversees a group of Team Leaders and follows the orders given by the District manager.
6. Team Leader oversees a group of Team Members and follows the orders given by the Teams Manager.
7. Team Member follows the orders given by the Team Leader.

Some of the phrases and traditions practiced by those who live a Corporate Lifestyle include:

• "Work early, home early." A saying that means that those who begin their work earlier get to end the work and partake in activities of their choice earlier.
• "Persevere, and you'll make the step." This saying refers to the determination required in order to ascend the corporate ladder.
• Paper War Welcome is a spontaneous event, which is meant to greet a Teams Manager, Team Leader, or Team Member who has returned from taking some time off work by pelleting them with paper balls shot from paper-fed railguns upon their arrival to the office. If the colleagues are close, they can pretend that it's a form of punishment for "slacking off" in a friendly humorous way.
• If someone gets a promotion, it's expected of them to enjoy that night through a party, whether private or with those who matter to them, and to take the next day off. If they're still a Teams Manager or someone lower on the corporate ladder, this day off is followed by a Paper War Welcome.

Relations

As one could expect, New Prista has largely positive relationships with almost all other cities owned by the Nexuspace, generally neutral to negative relations with the cities owned by Lifestock, and neutral relations to the kingdoms.

Due to the lack of development of these other cities, I will skip the rest of this section for now. I would much rather update it later.

Curiosities

There are multiple points of interest within the walls of New Prista. Among the most interesting tourist attractions are:

• Pristine Fort, found in the eponymous Fort district, is one of the oldest structures within the city. The royal family used to live here for generations before Nexuspace bought the city. Within 10 years of Nexuspace buying the city, the royal family went through a mysterious string of deaths due to accidental circumstances. In the present day, no members of the royal family are known to be alive.
• Hymn Square is the largest square of New Prista located in the Central district. It's named after the celebration of Winter Solstice Hymn that supposedly began here. It's littered with advertisements and became iconic to New Prista.
• Twintall Tower is a building found on the border of the Backsalt and Deep Blue district, and it's infamous for being a "skyscraper that scrapes both ways". The building has 103 stories above sea level, as well as 103 stories below sea level. Many of the floors are owned by various smaller companies, owned for the most part by Nexuspace, but the most floors owned above sea level belong to Tomorrowkind. Underwater floors, on the other hand, are where the TAI has started to move in.
• Grandfoot Monument is a statue of the last dwarven king of New Prista. It was raised by the Nexuspace once it has acquired the ownership of this city, to commemorate the times of the old monarchy. It's found on the hill of Upper West district where it's visible from multiple places within the city.
• Auditorium of Agony is a religious building within the Red Street district used for the scorn of the Pantheon of the Misfortune. This round dome is by design submerged halfway underground, with a podium in the middle for the speeches. While people like to joke that the speakers there only scream for hours at a time, the truth is that their lectures are meant to improve people's lives and teach them how to treat the pain in their lives.

The Faceless

The greatest curiosity, and the focal point of my planned story, is the Blood Season. It's named that due to its severely increased number of murders with an unknown motive. Those who were familiar with the motivation that drove it would more likely call it an Assassin Game.

A great unknowable being from beyond this world has contacted hundreds of people through strange incomprehensible means, offering them with Absolution, a power to go beyond the laws of nature in some way. In this case, it was the Absolution from Form—a power to change one's appearance. At first, it comes with limitations, but every Absolution can be enhanced further by appeasing the being to grant these powers. Those who possess the Absolution from Form refer to themselves with several terms, most commonly as the "faceless", but sometimes also as "ashwalkers" due to the curious fact, that whenever they use this power, they leave behind a visible amount of ashes and soot.

As it goes for any supernatural power, however, it comes at a cost. The unknowable being has started the greatest Assassin Game, wishing only for the survival of the fittest. Each of the participating faceless receives an item that points at one target that they must eliminate. When the target dies, their hunter inherits their target. The being that grants these powers is willing to enhance each participant's powers the more of their opponents they eliminate. Due to the fact that all of the participants are shapechangers, the greatest cost to these powers is psychological trauma caused by the contest, in which someone who can look any way they want could at any moment pursue you in an attempt to kill you. Even if one were to avoid this contest and not murder anyone, sooner or later they would be targeted, and possibly eliminated, by a different faceless. There is also another cost to this power, but that's something I would consider a spoiler, so it should remain hidden for now.

Important People

A few examples of the important people from New Prista:

• Zaxon Skybank, elf, male; the current President of New Prista.
• Sallice Redleaf, fairy, female; internationally popular singer, actress.
• Quincenza Freecraft, human, female; inventor, Teams Manager for TAI.
• Keven Steelhammer, dwarf, male; the current leader of the Loyalists, international Mistwebber.
• Stepharia Crownsong, elf, female; architect, visual arts producer.