The four main factions of Saijo City

If you’re like me, you’re probably pretty average, normal, and just trying to get by each day. Our beliefs as a people might swing this way or that way, but never is it more clear where some stand, as it is with the four main factions of our fine city.

The following is merely and overview of the four main factions that have come to be known over time:

Streeters - Corporates - Sci-Techs - Mystics
Each of these are pretty self explanatory by way of title alone.

The Streeters live in, well, the street, and try and get by with what they have. Not quick to adopt to new technology, either out of apathy or lack of means. They are notoriously violent, and yet, quite honorable, with reverence to true faith and traditional family values and honors. They have quite a disdain for the Corporates and the Sci-Techs, but generally are neutral with the Mystics.

Corporates. Just like it sounds. The all-powerful, ever-present corporate infrastructure exists strongly today, moreso because of the arrival of governments, militaries and world religions into their community. The bottom line is king. Over time, institutionalized religion was outed for the big business it really was; governments nearly evaporated into bankruptcy as the new rule came from the corporates; the militaries had become obsolete since they couldn’t compete with many mega-corps own security forces. When these institutions took a board of directions and incorporated, it saved them.

Sci-techs seek immortality by way of scientific and technological means. They can easily augment their presence with any amount of hardware, software, or device of science. Not opposed to the sprawling and massive infrastructure of the Corporates, the Sci-techs had proven long ago that one can maintain allegiance to self, and not have to answer to a crowded, orderly, and often corrupt environment. Many Sci-techs consult with Corporates– yet are able to sustain by inventing small, new advances in technology that are quickly snatched up by the highest bidder. They are wealthy and street smart.

Mystics, much like the Streeters, hail from a more traditional value system– without much of the violent posturing and enforcement so common in the streets of Saijo. They do not, however, oppose the quest for immortality that the Sci-techs follow. Mystics also see no good from the unstoppable evolution of the Corporate reign. Mystics, also people of faith, are the closest thing to how a religion should be, and not the incorporated profit machine that most religions are today. Mystics do periodically dabble in technology and science, so long that it aligns with their beliefs and practices of a more metaphysical and supernatural nature.

This is not a complete overview by any means, but it’s the common knowledge around here. Keep it close to you, because Information is Currency.

Newsfeeds available on Saijo Peninsula

Visitors to Saijo City’s civic center area will notice that updates now appear from this newsfeed onto the big screen near all the newspaper vendors and atm machines.

Information is currency!

From Reuters’ Second Life Sketches:

Written by Warren Ellis: full here

“Why is the Cyberman staring at me?”

I’m in Saijo City, trying to explore some of the constructions and take some photos for a planned future column on building. But this bloody Cyberman, the 2006 model, is following me around. Wherever I go, he appears next to me, speaking in audio captures from Doctor Who. He’s going to, I dunno, assimilate me or something. This end of Saijo City is combat-enabled. And, yes, I know this is just Second Life. But this guy is beginning to really bug me.

I jump to a broad flat roof. He settles next to me and starts jabbering about destroying me again. Bad enough I’m always running into kids who think they’re Torchwood (which, to my mind, means nothing but that they’re Welsh and always bloody crying), but now I have to put up with some Cyberpervert stalking me. So I show him a very, very large gun based on some ludicrous cannon from the anime MD Geist. He pauses for a moment, and then goes back in to the “I will destroy you and replace your bodily organs with toasters and microwave ovens” routine.

The thing about this gun is that it pushes people out of the area so quickly that they appear to instantly vanish.

I stand there for a moment, wondering what has happened to my life that I find myself shooting Cybermen in the course of my work.”

Doctor Slade’s research

The good Doctor has been examining various items from cities grossly affected by the ravages of war, toxicity, fallout, and other general states of unrest. Apparently, a good portion of people are able to grab leftover food from various dumpsters around the city of Suffugium. Doctor Slade also has been analyzing items from Midian City, and has also recently acquired some animal remains from a newly discovered wasteland area, that is far removed and isolated from our known civilization.

From the rooftops

There’s something about safety with altitude. Sitting high above the city floor, watching the activity below, there’s always an unusual calm up here. Down below, there’s a myriad of activity by day, and in the late hours, people make their way into safer areas.

I’d still wager that there is a myriad of activity at night, far far below where I sit, but it’s invisible. It lives in the shadows or under the floor of the city.

A few things fly overhead, and every so often, something flies up this way. And even on the very rare occurances, something travels from top to bottom.

It’s a vertical segregation– on accident in most cases– nothing lateral about it. No walls or dividers or anything that is noticeably visible. That’s what is the most nerve wracking.

Someone is making a decision and it might drive the wedge deeper between the floor and the ceiling. That can’t be good, really.

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An itinerary

For those that are curious where my travels take me, it’s usually around a few select places. Duty calls, after all, and that brings me to some varied locales.

Saijo City, Saijo Peninsula
Saijo City is where I call home, long since the days when I grew up on the James/Pine border. The Myrtle area was nice, but something about the waterways connecting Deimos and Bolinas never felt quite right. And perhaps sometime later, I’ll share about Pauluop. The Saijo Peninsula runs North/South from Saijo City to the north, to Shalida at the south. The city is divided by a wall, keeping the dangers of the northside contained. The further south you might travel, the safer it becomes. Districts inside of Saijo include Hollow Point, Steelbox Hill, the Brunswick Air Processing Facility, the Scrap Yard, the commons, the Allegory, and the Excavation Site staging area.

Nexus Prime, Gibson/Bonifacio
It was quite some time ago I remember being lost in Nexus Primem snaking through the ground level and sewers. It’s a much different story up top, where the mighty towers house powerful corporations like Templar Botworks and Tyrell. Incidentally, Saijo’s leadership requested some support from the Tyrell Corporation and such support in the form of shipments have started to appear below the BAPF. There’s some good places to hide in Nexus Prime, and not a bad little place to drink. Food? Would never touch it there. Then again, better than the tetanus you might catch in the Northside of Saijo.

Suffugium
Many people find refuge in Suffugium, and surprisingly, the most resourceful things can be found in the dumpsters. Suffugium tends to be a favorite to shop for supplies and there’s a bit more entertainment there than in the other places where getting through the day *alive* is considered sport. Ignoring the police drones that scan you from time to time, you’re generally able to find a variety of hotels and venues in Suffugium. Me? I’d rather hangout at the laundromat, watching the seedier types slip in and out of doorways. Hey, fun can take many forms.

Six Minute Hill
There’s something to be said for high-priced real estate, no matter how barren the land. SMH has recently shown up in the itinerary logs as a place that some bits of research occur. Don’t have much to say about it, since there’s not much there. But there’s activity. Peculiar activity.

The Wastelands
Various reports are coming in from the away teams that build the itinerary, and a newly discovered area named appropriately, ‘The Wastelands’, seemed to suffer a tremendous amount of damage and destruction. As far as I can tell, the residents live in ripped up subway cars, destroyed buildings, tents, lean-tos, shipping containers, and anything that will provide the slightest amount of shelter.

Rachleff Bay, The Outlands
Periodically, a research project or two will send me out to Rachleff Bay, just off the coast of the last remaining Outlands region of Jessie. Generally, I find I can do work for about 30 minutes at a time before everything de-rezzes. It’s all the water, I think.

Saijo City Annex, Outlands, Jessie
One of the more violent places, the Government of Saijo annexed over 50% of the last remaining area in the Outland region of Jessie, for training exercises, heavy weapons, and biological research. The annex is surrounded by a long waterway chain of small bays to the south, and Rachleff bay to the west. A variety of bunkers and secure facilities exist there, mostly vacant, although rumored to be occupied by nomadic mercenaries and mafia groups. Kids today.

ANWR, North/South continent chanel
Drilling rig in the middle of a chanel connecting the north and south continents. Not a lot of physical work can be done here, yet HUD work tends to get the job done. A non-stop facility of object production and interestingly, some sort of computer system generating transportation schedules. Enough to peak my interest for sure.

Octopia, (destroyed)
While many Octopian refugees are making their way to the Saijo Peninsula, Octopia was home to many advanced sci-tech companies and residents. Augmentation, communication, engineering, and the like. There’s speculation about regarding the cause of destruction of this once-future looking city–the common belief being economic–regardless, some residents, companies and visitors have made their way to Saijo City, to either set up a new base of operations, or to wait for the day Octopia may rise again. Cities. So portable.

More destinations added as time goes on.

Eyes, analog or digital

There’s a certain irony when you walk outside and the sudden appearance of fog distorts your perception. You think you should be seeing something, and yet, you’re not. That’s not the irony, though. The irony is how you see so clearly under Rachleff Bay in your Altair, right off the coast of the Annex. Ah, the constant battle of the analog vision versus digital vision.

And sometimes, you don’t have that bone tingling chill in the middle of the night in January when you’re encased in metal and augmented.

Go figure.

An influx of weapons

It’s been reported that somewhere around Saijo someone selling Hellbring G-36clt Assault Rifles. Although with the amount of Hellbrings that have been spotted, it’s believed that there must be crates of the damn things, since folks who show up wielding them suddenly, have a few associates with them, also equally equipped. Not a bad deal if that’s the case, anyway. Guess some exploration is in order.

Typical day: gunfire at the Plats

I have to remind myself to keep my head down, especially when those flying tanks buzz down from the sky. Granted, they weren’t after me… just some personal vendetta being worked out before bed.