Rocan

**Rocan**, (路関 [ro-can] in Imperial Script literally meaning Route Connection, but translated to The Centre of all Paths) was an ecumenopolis, a city wide planet, located within the Imperial Core Worlds, an area of space from which the Empire began and sprawled ever outwards. Humanity was its native species which have since spread across the imperial realm. Whilst officially the state to which it belonged was called the Great Celestial State, it was from Rocan that it got its more common name, the Empire of Rocan. Known chiefly for its dichotomous social hierarchy and architecture, its surface was characterised by towers that spread from the rotten underbelly. It had a cosmopolitan society, with citizenry hailing from a multitude of backgrounds and worlds, trillions of permanent residents of alien and humanoid varieties. It was the single most important world in the entire empire, the hub of all power and influence, an imperial culture which spread across the stars emanating from its elite class. As such, galactic culture, education, finance, fine arts, politics, and technology all took their cue from the imperial centre.

It was a site of important pilgrimage to many faithful adherents of the imperial religion, and the shrines to the Living Emperor were amongst the most popular landmarks. Many other landmarks and important buildings existed upon the surface and below, though chief amongst these was the Imperial Palace Complex. A great palace and temple in one for the imperial court, the true centre of political power within the state. It was here that the Emperor and his court resided for the majority of their time, though hundreds of palaces existed across the realm for their use, and movement between these was a highly choreographed event.

The permanent capital of the state, despite its unassailable position of prestige, was rotten below its surface of rising towers. Infrastructure that was rarely corrected unless it benefited the stability of the upper levels made up the majority of space for its trillions of residents. The common citizens were, for the most part, abandoned by the government with a police force whose duty was mostly to restrict movement from the lower levels to those above. Crime was rampant, and only ever investigated if it jeopardised the stability of the state and the imperial court. A labyrinth of urban canyons and gargantuan city blocks that stretched for more than two hundred levels below the towers, it confused most offworld visitors that flocked for pilgrimages. Various long forgotten government agencies in the byzantine bureaucracy carried out pointless work that the senate and ministries had long stopped tracking within the urban depths.

## Description

### Planetary Geography

Located in the core region in terms of the imperial astrography, it was part of the Rocan System, though this system was also called by the more popular name, the Imperial Centre. Rocan itself was a planet that was covered in a dense ecumenopolis. With a diameter of 13,520 kilometres, it orbited its sun, which was relatively average in terms of its size, at a distance of 148 million kilometres. Its natural climate was one with varying regions, though generally temperate, with a mix of grassland, forest, ocean, and dessert, with ice at its poles. This allowed for a variety of species to thrive depending on where they settled, but over time its ecumenopolis would ensure almost any species could live anywhere. However, this very same planet-wide city structure produced a level of perpetual haze over the world, dimming its luminosity from space. With towers that pierced through the troposphere, they would come to affect the climate of the planet, and great variations of temperature and pressure necessitated artificial controls within these structures.

Thousands of years of development across the city had long since stripped the planet of its natural appearance, across mountains and over oceans that had dried up over time. The peaks of various mountains did still pierce the surface of cityscape in various places, and these often housed great temples dedicated to various gods but chiefly the Heavenly Lady of the Flayed Mother, the patron goddess of Rocan itself. These areas were frequented by the nobility, and the areas around these protruding peaks were some of the few areas with dedicated parks, with greenery planted for the reflections and enjoyment of those with means to visit. The tallest of these peaks was Xewerres, around which existed the Park of Heavenly Monuments, great statues dedicated to many of the founding Tiure dynasty of the Empire. In addition to these final mountain peaks, were the remnants of oceans that, of which there were two; the Prashaant and Taipinyan. These two bodies were relatively close together, and though neither were particularly large they had both one been part of the same ocean.

### Urban Cityscape

The surface of the planet Rocan was defined by one thing only; urban sprawl that shared its name with the planet upon which is was located. Massive, dense city blocks had been constructed upon one another over time, with levels identified by its floor height from the furthest below. Commonly, city levels reached upward from 1 to above 300, though they could rise above 450 in some places. These levels ignored the towers above which reached beyond even that. The lowest levels were not dedicated to living space. The towering structures built above these, however, were, and some of them reached up above 5000 metres into the sky, making many of them more than 1000 floors high. These towers were made with a combination of materials, with various forms of stone, slate, concrete, and steel being used in their construction. A busy city-wide planet, with many dark canyons between city blocks within the thriving underworld, it was an easy place for crime to fester, and this affected many offworld visitors.

Officially, city blocks were designated by grid co-ordinates to create sectors and districts which were assigned by the municipal authorities. However, many identified regions with particular names owing to landmarks nearby. Perhaps the most famous of all districts was the Infinite, Eternal, or Null District. Sitting upon both 0 latitude and 0 longitude, it was here that the Imperial Palace district had been constructed purposely. As far as the Empire was concerned, this was the centre of the planet, often referred to as the navel of the world. Other vitally important districts were the Great Senatorial District as seat of the Imperial Senate and the Magisterium District as the seat of the Magistrates. Nevertheless, there were many other important districts housing the City Municipal Authority Building, the Imperial Security Central Office, the Imperial Registry Hall, the Naval Intelligence Headquarters, the Censorate Rotunda, the Zhenlic Imperial Military Academy, and the Institute of Imperial Biochemistry, not to mention thousands more buildings all contributing towards the unfathomably large bureaucracy.

Air-traffic was highly automated, with vehicles using preprogrammed routes to travel across the planet. This was done to reduce any potential crashes that may take place, but as a precaution, many scrapers had shielding to protect them against any traffic that might find itself out of control and veer into the structures surrounding them. This was of particular importance given the sheer number of government buildings that were located on the planet, many of which were the central government offices for their particular department. Not only were government offices prolific, but so too were corporate offices, with offices specialising in food procurement and sales, large banking offices, and the major institutes of science and technology. The lower levels were home to mechanisms concerned with keeping the planet-city alive, vast pipes and systems transferring sewage, water, air, they all passed through the lower most levels. For the most part, only the lowest of society and sanitation crews found themselves here, and for as little as people thought of them, they provided the most vital of jobs. Further above were the 'good' commoners, and above them the towers housing the ultra-wealthy. Tens of trillions of beings.