User blog:HealerZomo/Brainstorming Session Notes 08.03.18

Locational Brainstorming
Ukraine - majoritively receptive to the fae, but with large chunks of Resistance fighters. research more?

Cincinnati - Likely Cleansed. Where? Whole city? Which area is walled off?

Lviv, Ukraine - Unaffiliated through in-fighting -- even as the Uprising settled around the world, some areas continued to fight not only with the Fae, but amongst themselves, causing an ongoing conflict.

-The purpose of the Uprising was to take over major cities -High Elves wanted recognition on a wider scale so took cities and large towns -Once the Uprising started to settle the rest of the Fae joined the humans in the smaller towns and villages as more of a natural integration

-This means smaller more rural towns and villages are mostly unaffiliated; not ruled by any one movement and relatively unchanged (besides the fae living more openly with them) -This does not mean there isn’t conflict in those areas -- just more likely pockets of Resistance fighters than full-on Cleansed

-London is primarily overrun by Fae but there are high levels of Resistance dotted around, especially Outer London.

-Canary Wharf would have been largely untouched and undamaged, besides the plants growing everywhere.

-Romania would likely be primarily unaffiliated due to being highly rural and relatively poor, but Bucharest itself may have been conquered by fae and it’s likely there are pockets of Resistance due to the high superstition.

-New York City alliance? Possibly primarily but there may be pockets of both Cleansed and Resistance in certain areas. Where?

-Military forces? Likely devastated by magic but possibly caused a high amount of damage. Would Cleansed have control of some or all military? If not, where did it go? Were there survivors?

Forsaken
First Forsaken group settled in Bermuda. Spread across the Carribean islands

Astoria
-Anchored by large magic-tech crystal in the ocean, like a BIG MAGIC MAGNET

-Income is more credit-based, higher paying jobs allow for more luxury and food but base accommodation and transport is provided by the company

-Food and Luxury items are paid for due to the need for an economy to still exist. -Students earn based on performance and dedication; while not penalised for low performance, higher performing students, especially those who show genuine dedication and care, are rewarded in credits

-Students are provided with dorm rooms for each guild, meals on school working days, and are also provided with all equipment and materials required for classes.

-Students can transfer their countries currency into credits to be able to afford luxury items while at the academy and food on rest days. Alongside being able to earn credits based off of their performance.

-At graduation Students have the ability to use their saved credits to become Astoria Citizens and move into one of the residential areas to become a member of La Fontaine Industries to help move technology and magic forward through research and dedication to their jobs.

- Becoming an Astoria Citizen would also allow the families of said citizen to be allowed to move to Astoria

·       When was it founded? Who founded it?

Astoria was launched on the day of the Uprising, it was Created by Alexander La Fontaine and was built over several years after the discovery of a giant magic crystal with properties that fulfilled the need of fueling astoria and keeping it floating in the air, owner and Founder of La Fontaine Industries.

·       What's the local climate and biome like? What's the geography like? What about the geology?

English Channel, Flying City, Magically/technologically controlled and maintained.

·       What racial and ethnic groups comprise the population? What percentage of the total population comprises of each group?

All the population was originally La Fontaine Industries Employee who passed an aptitude test to join Astoria at launch. Later on after the Uprising settled Astoria opened its doors to the Magically Talented as the world’s first Magic Academy, teaching those who pass the entrance exams to become among the strongest magic users.

·       Which religious groups comprise its population? What percentage of the total population comprises of each group?

Secular society, religion is accepted and openly practiced though people are primarily pagan. Magic is more practiced than Religion.

·       In which parts do the wealthiest people live, shop, and work? What about the middle class? What about the poor?

All Employees live in Large apartment complexes. And students of the Academy have dorms nearer to the main campus area of the school.

·       Who are the biggest employers, and what kind of businesses or industries do they run? What types of people work for for these employers, and in what positions? How much does the economy depend on these employers?

La Fontaine Industries runs all businesses.

·       What schools are there? What demographics make up the student body of each one? How well-run and organized is each school? What is the quality of education at each school? Why is it this way?

The Magic Academy, student body and teachers are all magically capable humans and fae. The school is broken up into schools of magic and each of the Academies Guilds specialise in a specific school of magic.Blood Magic, Necromancy and shadow magic are considered more taboo, though not entirely frowned upon as schools of magic they are not practiced at the school. Anyone found practicing these forms of magic within city boundaries could be expelled due to the dangerous nature of the magics. However, Astoria has a separate Island Location in the Caribbean where you can go learn and practice these kinds of magic.

·        What hospitals, clinics, or equivalent are there? What types of people go to each one? How well-run and organized are they? What quality of health care can people expect to receive from them?

There are several clinics and one hospital. The staff in all are highly trained and equipped for almost all medical requirements. All health-care is free on Astoria, however there is possibility that some may be more limited at times this could be due to waiting for more medicines to be made. Though it is most likely that all medical requirements will be met at all times.

·       Where do the locals get their news? What types of local newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, or websites does it have? Or if these things do not exist, are people limited to a notice board or word of mouth?

The Intranet/internet

·       What types of transport are used by citizens? What types of people are most likely to use which?

Magic Uber,Transport pods, Trains (Skyline?)

·       How efficient is the police force or equivalent law enforcement system?

The Police force is run by Magic-tech Androids to increase efficiency of law enforcement in the city.

·       Does any organized or syndicated crime go on? If so, how much, and what it's about? What kinds of people are involved in it?

No crime is really committed except petty crimes, i.e drunk and disorderly. This is due to the city essentially being one big company with accommodation supplied and other various perks so crime rates are extremely low

·       In which parts does the most crime occur? Why?

Bars and Clubs. These are the areas where people are most likely to be under the influence of alcohol and thus Drunk and Disorderly behaviour may occur

·       How much substance abuse goes on? What types of substances are the most commonly abused, and by which groups? Which demographics are the most prevalent substance abusers? Why?

There is no substance abuse within the city, all people in the city need to pass an aptitude test and as part of this any substance abuse is not tolerated. This is due to the high standards kept by La Fontaine Industries.

·       How much gambling goes on? How much of it is legal? How much is illegal? Which demographics are the most likely to gamble over what? Which demographics are the most likely to gamble, period? Why is it this way?

There are casinos and other place which you can gamble, there is no underground gambling within the city. This is due to the city being essentially one giant Company.

·       What efforts have been taken to keep certain crimes or criminal activity from occurring? How well do they work?

The City Police force is entirely run by androids and Magic-tech Dolls, crime is extremely low in most cases but the police are there to step-in incase of any petty crimes, ie Drunk and Disorderly or fighting.

·       Who is the mayor, or equivalent? Who all is in charge of running it? What kind of people are they? How well do they do their jobs, all things considered? Is there any notable amount of corruption that goes on?

Alexander La Fontaine and La Fontaine Industries runs the city. There is no corruption as Alexander is non tolerable to that kind of behaviour.

·       What local venues, if any, offer fun and entertainment? What types of patrons do they cater to and/or attract? Or is there such a dearth of decent places to go that people would often find themselves having to look elsewhere for fun?

There are many locations for fun and entertainment, the entertainment district includes many establishments and places of leisure including, a spa, ice rink, swimming pool, cinema, gym and many more.

·       Does it have any parks? What are they like? What kinds of people most often visit them?

There are several parks within the city, some more playgrounds for children and a large nature reserve. These areas were terraformed so that the city was not entirely mechanical/magic based. The nature reserve is split into several areas each are climate controlled, this allows the city to also help endangered animals and help prevent their extinction.

·       Does it have any museums? If so, what do these museums display? What kinds of people do they attract?

There is one large museum which is split into many areas each area is essentially its own museum, from natural history, science, magic, war and many others.

·       Is there a library? How big is it? What kind of books does it have? Where is the library located?

There is a large library in the city that contains many books which were obtainable within the world along with more rare texts to be used for research and study.

As the world was in disarray Alexander wanted to make sure that people would still be able to enjoy their heritage and culture from around the world. The library was built as a safeguard to all cultures and heritages to allow people to be able to experience the world in case any catastrophic events occurred which could have essentially wipe out human existence i.e The Uprising, which caused major unrest and also wiped out large parts of the human population due to fighting with the fae and also infighting.

·       Does it have any festivals, holidays, or events unique to itself? If so, what are they? What are they about? How did they start?

Astoria celebrates all ‘normal’ world holidays, including bank holidays. It also celebrates its own festival called Launch Day/The Day of The Uprising. To celebrate the day Astoria was launched and also to mourn the losses around the world when The Uprising happened.

·       Does it have any sports teams? What do they play, and how well do they play? How much are people invested in their team or teams?

There are sports teams for all sports provided on Astoria, with quite an investment in the teams as they are one of the few representations of Astoria that the world gets to see.

·       Are there any social clubs? If so, what are they like?

Plenty they are located in the entertainment district.

·       Does it contain any locations considered historical? If so, why are they considered historical?

There are no historical locations. Though contains many artifacts from around the world most of which were found by Alexander on his travels.

·       Is there anything that attracts tourists? If so, how much tourism occurs? How many people make a living off of it?

There are no tourists. The city is not open to tourism. Though this could bring in income to the economy, Alexander thought it best to not allow this as primarily the city was built as a research and development facility

·       What are the oldest buildings around? What are the newest? Who built them?

All the buildings are newly built and furnished.

·       Are there any places that have been recently renovated and renewed? If so, why did this happen?

One of the newest additions to the city was The Magic Academy. Alongside there is development for new areas that are being planned to be built. Such as nature reserve expansions, Ecodomes (giant greenhouses) to increase food production, another residential area. More luxury areas such as large houses or apartments, these would allow larger families to be able to live together. There are other projects that may also be in the works but are currently too new or are deemed classified as they are part of new developments made by La Fontaine Industries.