Sargasso

Sargasso is a coastal ghost town in all but name on the farthest outskirts of Prime City and on the eastern coast of the continent.

General Information
Pronunciation	Sarr-gars-oh
Allegiance	Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia
System	Nepleslia Prime
Planet	Nepleslia Prime
Continent	?
Province	?
Population	4170
Founded	YE 31

Sargasso was founded in YE 31, shortly after the colonisation of Nepleslia Prime and the touchdown at Prime City. A prospecting party was sent out to a balmy coastal region far from Prime City and they found good mineral signs along the hilly terrain, finding good concentrations of iron in the dirt. As investigations went underway, a mining tycoon named Wayfield Investments decided to invest in the area in the hopes that it'd pay off, and a mining operation sprung up.

Wayfield made further investments and eventually started housing the working population. A form of civilian administration beyond the tycoon had to be called in to manage the other people coming in to cash in on the boom and make their fortune, as well as provide services. Agricultural endeavours were made further away from town where the terrain was less rugged and fertile, and away from the mining operations. At its peak, Sargasso and had 30,000 people working and living together.

However, the good fortune didn't last as setbacks started to come in. In YE 32 the iron veins found on the surface of the mountain didn't go as far as first anticipated by the prospectors, leading to exploratory mining efforts and finding very little. This eventually lead to the discovery of paydirt beneath the agricultural land, and the farmers protested against Wayfield, threatening to leave and by doing so, starve their workers. The Wayfield, believing that they were the rulers of the city were displeased by the dissent and went ahead. As promised, the farmers left, and with them, so did most of the commerce and a good chunk of the working population, now having to import food from beyond. The costs on the mining tycoon were starting to mount as creating new operations, abandoning old ones and having to pay for food were all adding up.

The paydirt beneath the agricultural lands was proving to be an intense hassle to obtain, as equipment failure from cutting corners and cave ins, floods and landslides mounted. Wayfield continued to try and pursue this goal; To nobody's surprise, the tycoon's mismanagement and poor judgement caused it to go bankrupt in YE 33 and for the remaining workers to revolt, leaving a decimated, salted landscape and many disillusioned workers packing up and heading back towards Prime City. This event was known as the Big Bust. Only a few handfuls of desolate souls wander the empty streets now. The desiccated corpses of Wayfield's management are strung upon lamp posts if they weren't thrown into the ocean.

As of more recently, nobody has been willing to stay in the city for too long, and the Nepleslian brand of criminal found that there was no opportunity to be had here, and avoid it. The permanent residents that remain still band together for basic needs and have the most basic semblances of an economy running amongst themselves and whoever else wisheD to stay behind.

In YE 35, the crew of the ISC Phoenix moved in to call this town their base of operations, and the locals have tolerated their presence because they've been a steady source of income and stimulation for the town. In YE 37 a boom from profits and extra faces bought in by the town being put on the map prompted a rapid expansion to house all the new demand, particularly with the creation of a shopping mall and a bacteria creation array.

In general, the few remaining people who can call themselves Sargassi are regarded as distant, alien folks even amongst Nepleslians for how hard they cling to what little they have to call home after the Big Bust. In general, the locals regard outsiders with relative indifference unless they have money to give to the town - or better yet decide to move in. After all, there's nothing worse that could possibly happen to the town with another streak of graffiti hitting the walls or a few more bullet holes alone. The tight-knight and insular nature of the 'city' has more in common with a burgeoning, overdeveloped village.

• Long Runner - Someone who came during the initial project pitch. Only a handful of these people still remain as permanent population.
• Miner - Someone who came for the mining opportunity and stayed for the revolt.
• Drifter - Someone who came to the town and decided to stay after the Big Bust.
• Returner - Someone who came back to Sargasso after the second boom.
• Backy - Someone who came in with the influx to work on the Bacteria Cultivation Arrays.

To accommodate the balmy weather and semi-tropical climate, most of the housing is made to be easily ventilated and air conditioned, and elevated upon stilts or pillars to protect from the monsoon weather. The constructions are usually composed of wood, brick, concrete and metal. Things on the ground level tend to be built to drain towards the bay in the event of a flood, with grooves down the left and right sides of a room to assist with drainage.

Aesthetics wise, the spartan accommodations have lent themselves to practicality, and outer decorations are sparse, mostly consisting of fractal geometric patterns engraved onto the stone and metal. The use of glass is uncommon for facades or storefronts since it is difficult to clean after a monsoon, instead opting for open storefronts with metal roller-shutters. More recently, the looks of disrepair and graffiti have been a common sight, turning the rusting grey metal and cracked concrete into a riot of colours that hold fast against the layers of tropical grime.

With the second boom, contrasting neon lighting of pink and blue and pastel colours in the graffiti and grime have become more common.

The weather of the city is semi-tropical, with a wet and a dry season rather than the normal four seasons. Heavy floods and rain tend to come down during the wet season, flooding most of the rubbish out to sea and threatening to drown lower-lying homes.

• Residential
  • Ironsides - Ferros Block Watches Tall
  • Waterworld - Living Over Water with style
  • Shakersley - Come for the view, stay for the Doctor
  • Middleton - Here you Are, stuck in Middleton
  • Sargasso Heights - Floodproof Living near the Algae Cultivation
  • Boom Boulevard - Good First Impressions for Prime City
• Commercial
  • CBD - Central Business District, come and spend
  • Immortian - Trade shiny And chrome eternal
  • Whitetail Hill - Close to the Long Road, dip in for a snack
  • Beach View - Grab a drink and hit the beach
  • Wayward - Home to Wayfield's Legacy Mall
• Industrial
  • Refinery Hill - Former Refineries, now into Forestry
  • Cartwheel Row - Houses miscellaneous heavy industries
  • Featherwell - Storage and distribution for the Bacteria Cultivation Array
  • The Big Tray - The main portion of the Bacteria Cultivation Array
  • Little Tray - Smaller portion of the Bacteria Cultivation Array
  • Dripton - Reclaimed Zone, desperately looking for a purpose
• Infrastructure
  • Prime Highway North - Goes further up the coast to who-knows-where
  • Prime Highway South - Goes to Prime City
• Natural
  • Mount Sargasso - Not very far off the ground, but still a high area for Sargasso
  • Trough River - Not safe for swimming in.
  • Crackwell Forest - Home to the Sargasso Forest Warbler
  • Briarpatch Hills - Wear gloves, and keep your engines cool
  • Drill Plains - Home to drill tank races
  • Marauder's Cave - Please use this for shady dealings responsibly
• Ocean
  • Sargasso Bay - Hit the Beach and go for a swim
  • Sargasso Northwaters - Watch out for Mudworms
  • Rig Bight - A Dip in the water
  • Sargasso Deepwater - Here Be fish

The frontmost face of Sargasso, on the eastern shores of Nepleslia Prime and facing the vast ocean of the planet. The Dockfront District is prominent when viewed from afar with the towers dotting the landscape. It is positioned on artificially heightened ground, close to the coast.

The Neighbourhoods in this district include:

• CBD
• Immortian
• Whitetail Hill
• Beach View
• Wayward
• Boom Boulevard
• Drifter's Beach
• Dripton (Shared with the Operations)

Further information about the Dockfront District can be found on this article.

The housing districts and buildings financed by the mining Tycoon. They exist in the shadow of the Dockfront District. Some are out on the water on stilts, hiding behind wavebreakers to create an artificial bay. Most of the buildings are in an elevated position from their foundations to deal with the monsoon floods.

As time went on and retrofits had to be made to accommodate more people, it became common that houses were built on top of each other with families sharing the same living space. With increased population intake, the houses have started to see renovation and improvement.

The Neighbourhoods in this district include:

• Ironsides
• Sargasso Heights
• Middleton
• Shakersley
• Waterworld

Further information about the Projects District can be found on this article.

The westernmost point of Sargasso's limits and on firmer ground, this was where the mining took place. Now it all lies abandoned, the equipment is rusted and the command outposts lie cannibalised.

The Neighbourhoods in this district include:

• Refinery Hill
• Cartwheel Row
• Dripton (Shared with Dockfront)
• The Big Tray
• Little Tray
• Featherwell

Further information about the Operations District can be found on this article.

The ocean east of Sargasso beyond the wavebreakers is a whole lot of water, and bacteria, and swimming to be done. It isn't recommended to swim in the ocean for too long, as it is somewhat polluted and full of bacteria. The fishing isn't so great either, most of the fish have a few extra fins or eyes, or taste like heavy metal.

The wavebreakers themselves serve as a hydroelectric, wave-power solution, using the turbulent ocean currents to generate power. So long as the ocean keeps moving, Sargasso does not run out of power. If the ocean stops somehow, then there's trouble.

Inland, a large, sludgy river runs parallel to Sargasso's highways behind Sargasso's highest point¹⁾ and the sprawling subtropical forest, sometimes marshy underfoot. Nature, game, and motorbike/buggy trails have been established through the forest and around the mountain. Sargasso's longest zipline from the top of the mountain, roughly four kilometres in length, can be accessed here for the ride of your life.

The 'Neighbourhoods' in this district include:

• The Ocean
  • Sargasso Bay
  • Sargasso Northwaters
  • Sargasso Deepwater
  • Rig Bight
• The Wilderness
  • Trough River
  • Mt. Sargasso
  • Briarpatch Hills
  • Drill Plains
  • Crackwell Forest
  • Marauder's Cave

Further information about Sargasso's outdoors and wildlife can be found on this article.

Mass Transit and transportation in Sargasso is limited. There are no space ports due to the small size of the town, or much in the way of air travel since infrastructure has been in a state of relative disrepair. If one wants to get to Sargasso for whatever reason possesses them, they must head in via Prime City's spaceport or airport and take a taxi there, or catch one of the distinct Sargasso Shuttles during a supply run at Prime City.

Originally the territory of the Ferros towers, their influence started to spread to other parts of Sargasso that were further up for transporting goods, and occasionally, people. The 22nd floor of Ferros Towers has a variety of outbound ziplines to other buildings and districts while the 6th floor is meant for inbound traffic. The use of this system to transport people came into effect when floods made transport by land impractical, in particular for quick medical or repair aid.

A handful of soft-toppped, open cabined buses that drive around town for few particular reasons. Their usual goal is to simply transport things to, from and around Sargasso, but they usually have enough spare room to take a passenger or two. If one feels adventurous and there's no room in the shuttle, they can hang onto the sides.

During floods, the Sargasso Shuttle system shuts down and the buses retreat to higher ground; staying in elevated storage to weather out the flood and receive maintenance and repairs.

The rail system that was used for transporting ore and supplies to and from the Operations are rusted and bent out of shape without maintenance. It serves as another sad reminder to Wayfield's negligence and poor planning. Fortunately, the trains themselves were removed and sold, so the rails are free of traffic.

Some ideas to get a public transport system going using the rail stock have been floated, with the addition of a light rail station being a welcome idea to provide easier transportation of goods, services, and people to and from Sargasso to the rest of the world.

The Long Road is a large stretch of open road that was developed for the purposes of expansion in YE32, but as setbacks came in, nothing was developed around it - leaving it open in the barren wastes. The Sargassi decided to turn it into a makeshift airport by erecting a control tower, since the road was long enough to accept light or ultralight aircraft. Unlike the other roads that are further outside of the city, this one receives maintenance in the hopes that a second wind will come for the city.

A spaceport a stone's throw away from Drifter's Beach connected to a busy main road, capable of accepting ships either floating in the bay like boats, or within the structure itself from hangars on the exterior. Most of Sargasso's exports come and go through this spaceport. Also, there is a The Pangalactic Chophouse of Waffles (Pan-CHOW) near the entrance for the hungry traveler. This one is markedly nicer than the one across town.

Cargo drones are frequently seen fluttering around, moving items around Sargasso into space and into ships now. This has provided further employment and opportunities for the drone operators and maintenance people.

Sargasso's communication and infrastructure is decidedly sporadic. The fastest possible web connectivity speeds are about 25 megabytes a second during peak hour, and 50 mb/s off peak. For websites hosted within town, the connection is much quicker. For interplanetary communications, a satellite made of improvised parts handles it, and the connection speed drops to 10mb/s, which is unacceptable for most heavy duty communications.

With improvements to Sargasso's employment makeup and workforce, the connection speeds within Sargasso have improved with some much-needed updates to the Infrastructure, raising the connection speeds during peak hour to 200 megabytes a second, with up to 500 mb/s off peak. For websites hosted outside town, their content is downloaded at 50 mb/s. A noticeable improvement from before.

David Takeyama, a group of technicians and operators dispatched from Origin Industries, a small handful of interns, and one or two freespacers are responsible for maintaining communications infrastructure at the moment.

On the 130.33Mhz short-wave frequency at 6:00 PM every day, the Sargasso Community Radio station comes alive and makes a quick bulletin of the day's events in no particular order in addition to a topic of the host's choosing. The merchants of Commercial Lane take turns hosting the radio briefing for that evening.

Everyone's bulletins tend to focus on different events or different things the broadcast, and due to a lack of professional skills or scheduling, each host's conduct on air is decidedly loose. The broadcasts usually go for half an hour to forty five minutes, depending on the broadcaster. Music is occasionally played too.

It has been noted that with more notoriety of the station, the station now broadcasts digitally and on the FM band. People have suggested that the town radio begins to expand its hours, but a dedicated radio jock currently eludes Sargasso, and the Proprietors do not have the chops, newsworthy content and stamina to speak all day.

A series of landline pay phones scattered across town are available. The phones are callable to each other provided that the dialling number is correct. The calling code is engraved onto the telephone, and to call another phone, press the hash key followed by a three digit number.

Due to the age and kludginess of the connection system, crossed wires occasionally turn up. Phones occasionally ring for no reason and when answered, transmit odd information such as streams of numbers said by a robotic voice, slowscan television signals, or garbled voices alleged by the children to be from a different dimension.

Despite their current state, their unique quirks have been preserved, and the Phones were not updated with the rest of the city's infrastructure.

As Luca and company have moved in, more money has begun to move into the town and with it the people of Sargasso and the Mayors are becoming a little more adventurous with their savings. They have no idea what they'll give back if they receive third party investment and they are wary of having too much outside interference…

• Better Telecommunications Infrastructure.
  • Communications Speeds around town increase.
  • Off-planet communications improve.
• The funding and creation of an export industry
  • Ongoing profits.
• Commercial Lane gentrification and building refits
  • Shops carry more stuff and better stock.
• Health Program
  • Dr. Letz Shakes' gets more funding.
  • Better health care and recovery for citizens.

They are open to other ideas and will accept citizen submissions.

this place is like a simcity game gone horribly wrong. (AND I LOVE IT)

This page was originally created on 2012/11/13 19:06 by Luca.