Tranquility Bay

**Tranquility Bay** is a bay in the Gulf of Mexico that extends northwards into the former United States. It is one of the largest bays on Earth. It was created during the Lesson, when a massive piece of lunar debris impacted the Gulf of Mexico and flooded most of the Deep South region of the United States. The bay is home to Nemesis City, the largest city on Earth, which was purposely built in the bay by the Nemesis Group.

## History

The area now covered by the waters of Tranquility Bay was part of the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Mississippi Alluvial Plain along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The states within this region were part of the Deep South and included the peninsular extension of the plain in Florida; the belted arrangement of relief and soils in Alabama and in Texas; and the Mississippi embayment. Parts of this plain, especially in southern Louisiana, were prone to flooding; during the Second Space Race of the 21st century, the area was regularly submerged under tens of feet of water. It was also vulnerable to storms from the Atlantic. Nonetheless, several major cities were located in the area, including Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana. Several commercial spaceflight facilities were built along the coast before, during and after the Great Migration.

On May 1st 2435, the Hanseatic League detonated an antimatter bomb on the surface of Luna, shredding its surface and hurling lunar debris towards Earth. The resulting impacts devastated the entire planet, reversing centuries of climate engineering and wiping out billions. One such lunar asteroid struck the Gulf of Mexico, generating a colossal tsunami that struck the Gulf Coast; at the same time, the sudden reduction in tidal forces caused permanent inland flooding throughout the world, including along the Gulf Coast. Global sea levels ultimately rose by 70 metres, sending a surge of water inland from the Gulf and submerging the low-lying coastal plains of the region.

When the waters finally settled and rebuilding efforts began, it quickly became apparent that the situation was bleak. While the North American continent received relatively minor damage compared to other coastal regions of the world, the Gulf Coastal Plain was completely submerged in the area near the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, where a bay had formed from the surge of oceanic water. The body of water was large enough to be called a sea in its own right, but the name "Tranquility Bay" stuck, named for the Sea of Tranquility on Luna.

Despite the destruction, the bay acquired the interest of the mysterious Nemesis Group, a megacorporation that appeared from seemingly nowhere to offer assistance to the Earth Directorate. The Nemesis Group directed evacuation efforts, distributed food, clean water and medicine, built shelters and helped keep law and order across the planet, including around the new Tranquility Bay. All that the Nemesis Group asked in return was ownership of an area of land of their choosing; such an area would be completely autonomous from the Directorate and thus totally under the corporation's rule. Travel between corp territory and Directorate territory would be unrestricted, and the corp territory would possess its own civilian government overseen by the corp. In effect, the area would become a sovereign nation. Desperate for financial aid, the Directorate agreed to the demands of the Nemesis Group; in 2441, the corp laid the foundations of Nemesis City on the northeastern coast of Tranquility Bay.

## Gallery

Location of Tranquility Bay to the north of the Gulf of Mexico, with the Atlantic Ocean to the right