Places

New Barcelona and New Castile

The cities of New Barcelona and New Castile claim the northern regions of the continent of Tranzere on Aragon.  Dominated by the Eduardo branch of the Hazat, Tranzere sits roughly between the Equator and the south pole, its northern regions just missing the tropics, its southern reaching cold, but rarely frigid, temperatures.

All contact between Tranzere and the capitol continent is made by air or sea.  New Castile, an abbreviated name of New Castellan so as to not conflict with the moon, serves as the local seat of government for the small continent, ruled by Duke Enrico.  New Barcelona is a lesser city that runs on industry and martial matters, ruled by a conclave of barons, foremost of which is Baron Jaime Eduardo.  The middle of the continent is used for farming while lower regions mostly subsist on herding.

New Barcelona hosts the world's second spaceport, not as large as Port Isabella but more than servicable.  Several lines of freight trains radiate out from the port, the northwestern line used for fast travel to the noble estates.  The eastern line proceeds across the city, connecting towards New Castile.

Nuevomilan

A city in the midst of constant urban renewal, it sits in the center of the jungle on Severus' South-Central continent, just below the equator with near-constant summer. A great highway runs NW to SE, the only access by land through the immense gothic walls that surround the city. Everything is made of processed wood and maxicrete, following a Decadan process of reducing wood to clay-like pulp that's stronger and less prone to burning than normal wood houses. This lends a feeling of anthill-nature to the city, featuring squat round houses built one on top of another, featuring browns and grays. Overall the only metal buildings in the town are for official government buildings. Most citizens that do honest work are employed at the processing factories in the city which ship processed jungle goods to the known worlds. However, at least half the business comes from less honest gains.

1. The Hub. This 6-way intersection is surrounded by the government offices of the city in metal buildings that rise above the wall. In these high-rises live the nobles of the Decados Line.
2. The Starport. Most of this area is used for the starport and airports that carry goods across the planet and across the stars.
3. Main land and sea shipping area, processing factories.
4. Secondary processing factory area.
5. Residential area, large masses of woodcrete apartments.
6. Rent-residential. Visiting dignitaries, high-class renters, seasonal government agents.
7. Research and development central, government offices and stuff.
8. Major factory areas.

The Government

The city of New Milan is considered a Barony, and includes all the surrounding jungle for twenty miles, including a prominent mining concern deep within. The current Baroness is Erica Miriam Decados.

The Starport

This sprawling complex epitomizes the rot of the city. Made during the Second Republic, most of the infrastructure is still from this time, but made harsh by the passage of years and jungle rain. Rusted steel supports have layers of paint and woodcrete to cover their problems, buildings have been shored up repeatedly and have lost huge portions of their electronics, and the landing strips are little more than dirt with maxicrete, barely safe for transit. The port also serves the air needs of the area, and has numerous hoppers and flitters in addition to the rampant space traffic. Somehow the airspace is kept mostly clear, but stunning accidents are not unheard of. The area is mostly kept free of Hull Rats, but they do periodically make it this far into the city.

The Wall

Erected hastily during the founding of the city to protect against the jungle dwelling Ascorbites and Hull Rats, the wall has not been changed much in the intervening years. It is a twenty foot or six meter high structure, made of steel scaffolding, rusting where it juts free, covered with layer after layer of maxicrete. The Decados try to keep it free of graffiti, but this is a constant job, and it routinely sports all sorts of art and slogans. There are only two land-based openings, following the main highway, and these are giant doors of solid steel emblazoned with the Decados mantis. Guard towers dot the wall, but cluster around the doors, which are actually well kept to keep out the dangers of the jungle, though Hull Rats have still found their way into the city, but in less numbers than most Severan cities.

The Labyrinth

Like many Decadan cities of the Second Republic, New Milan engineers became fascinated with underground complexes. Almost all buildings manufactured in the era have a number of basements equal to 1/3 the number of aboveground floors they possess. Many of these are secret, and a great deal sprawl under the ground around the buildings. In fact, very little of the ground in the city is actually dirt, with metal framing reaching through the soil all the way down to bedrock. Tunnels and crawlways were made to connect some areas, and the sewer systems connected the rest. The result is a vast underground network that is home to all manner of denizens. Hull Rats are common in the lower reaches of the Labyrinth, but are not the top predator on many lists. A small colony of Ascorbites are said to live in the deeps beneath the residential area, having adapted to living off the refuse of the humans above them. More shocking are the large colonies of Changed that have taken up residence, fleeing from their Jakovian tormentors. The Jakovian presence in the city is thought by the mutants to largely be to keep an eye out for them and to capture or destroy them before they can escape the city and spread news of their torture. The center of the colony is beneath the major factory area (8), and they have become adept at filching food and resources without being caught. The current leader of the changed population beneath the city is Dame Meredith Hawkwood, a noble who made the mistake of being caught by the Jakovians.