Jade City

> “
> “This place is a dreamcatcher, cuz. Whether it makes dreams or breaks them is a beast of a question in its own right...”
>
>
> — *Sergey Misurov, to his cousin Lina*
>
>
>

## Jade City

Elysian Heights, the most dense neighborhood of the borough of Coronado, Jade City

## Location information

### Districts

Alabaster
Coronado
Little Philippines
Ninjing
Nowak Heights
Rochefort
Vangelic Beach

## Societal information

### Prevalent language(s)

English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese

## Miscellaneous information

### Website

jadecity.gov.hyp

**Jade City** is a massive municipality that lies on the eastern seaboard of the continent of Albion within the planet of Hyperion. It is bordered to the south by Maogang, to the southwest by Chasten, to the west by the Outland Gate, to the northwest by the Empire Ramparts, and to the northeast by Anchon. To the east lies the Gulf of Batou, which hosts integral maritime shipping lanes between Jade City and the rest of the planetary surface.

Originally settled in 2100 as a cooperative colonization of the then-wild Albion southeast between the United States of America, Federal Republic of Olympia, the People's Republic of China, and the South American Union, Jade City quickly grew in population and expanse to become the largest and most diverse city within the Eastern Albion Megasprawl. In the 2390 bid for a new planetary capital city beyond the now-depreciated municipality of The Port, Jade City was in second place behind the winner, Port Bremerton on Destino.

With a population of 8.2 billion, Jade City takes form as one of the most influential cities in Hyperion, and is considered the largest single delineated metroplex on the planet. Containing various key landmarks such as the Jade City Aerospaceport and sitting on a major coastal transportation network between the Atlantis Underwater Megasprawl and the rest of northern Albion, Jade City also serves as a nexus of intraplanetary transportation and logistics. In recent years, the local economy of Jade City has exploded as a result of massive corporate and state investments into a multitude of different service and manufacturing sectors, with some originate from monolithic corporate entities such as the Chen Wu Corporation. Its population is also on the rise as a result of increased interstellar immigration to Hyperion.

## Characteristics

Jade City is known for its diversity in skyline per each of its boroughs; nevertheless, it incarnates as a massive sea of stratoscrapers, skyscrapers, and arcologies that have become home to over eight billion in an area roughly equivalent to that of Earth's North Carolina. With recent growth in corporate and state investments, Jade City has been advertised as the "most entrepreneurial city on Hyperion", even if this description glosses over the tremendous amounts of poverty, crime, and corruption that lurks behind the city's neon façades.

## Etymology

The term **Jade City** originates from the first Chinese settlers in the area, who in 2101 petitioned the stellar government to name the settlement *Yùchéng* (**玉城**; "City of Jade"). However, dissatisfaction with the name by Olympian, American, and South American colonists eventually lead to a compromise of the settlement adopting the English form of the name.

### Cityscape

#### Boroughs

Jade City is split into multiple boroughs, with each borough having some semblance of autonomy from the central municipal government due to sheer population. Thousands to tens of thousands of neighborhoods exist throughout Jade City, shaped by over five centuries of immigration, cultural syncretism, and other events in history.

##### Coronado

Coronado is the most affluent of the Jade City boroughs, home to the densest neighborhood in Jade City, Elysian Heights. It is the administrative and financial center of the city, hosting both the municipal government and the headquarters of many Hyperian megacorporations. Coronado itself is seen as one of the most influential areas in all of Hyperion, only rivaled by portions of Port Bremerton.

Coronado itself is situated on the eponymous Coronado peninsula. By far, the most impactful of the Jade City skyline lies in the Elysian Heights ward of Coronado, where its tallest stratoscrapers lie. The entirety of the Coronado peninsula also generally hosts the tallest of Jade City structures, with its most premiere shopping, hotel, and business neighborhoods lying within. Its many harbors, both for personal and commercial use, stretch for miles around the tip of the peninsula, with beaches on the northern and southern sides preserved for public and private use alike.

### Climate

Jade City has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen *Cfa*) characterized by hot and humid summers and cool to mild winters.

The metrozone is at the forefront of Hyperion's massive war against climate change, with great seawalls extending miles off of the coast to regulate the height of the proximal ocean. It is also consistently hit by hurricanes that arise from the Arcadian Ocean, having lead to much of the city's infrastructure morphing to accommodate massive rainfall, windspeeds, and possible tornado damage.

### Government

The municipal government of Jade City is organized along council-manager lines, with the current mayor Joshua Morray holding little actual power. Instead, the city is mainly controlled by the municipal council (who decide policies and create ordinances) in addition to the city manager, who is appointed by the council indefinitely. The city manager is only removed from a majority vote of the council, and they are responsible for all facets of the municipal administration in addition to budgeting. The current city manager is Ema Militsa, who was appointed by the municipal council in 2681.

Corporations have significant influence on the municipal government of Jade City. This is as a result of the city having borrowed multiple loans and soliciting investitures from megabanks such as Tempest Red Bank and Pearl Thule Capital Hathor Bank, a subsidiary of Pearl Thule Capital's republic banking system, with these loans and investments often ranking in the trillions of notes. As a result of this, much of the council (and as a result, the manager) have become beholden to sponsoring corporate interests within the city. However, financial intervention from the government of the Planetary Republic of Hyperion allowed for a debt transfer of some loans, alleviating corporate pressure on the city in recent decades in exchange for an increase in the state's dictation of municipal ordinances.

## Trivia

* Jade City is most inspired by New York City, but also has grounded inspiration in fictional cities such as *Cyberpunk*'s Night City and *Judge Dredd's* Mega-City One.