Eurtec

## Description:

Eurtec is a Locked, Anchored Hinterland that corresponds to a geographic area near the French-German border. Unlike many Anchored Hinterlands, Eurtec does not mirror or otherwise mimic any other city on the Material Realm. Eurtec is a massive dystopian urban sprawl contained within a man-made spatio-temporal anomaly, constructed by a group of technophilic transhumanists known as the Servants of the Silicon Nornir in the 1980's CE; Eurtec is overseen by the Silicon Nornir, three (3) massive supercomputers which run the entire height of the city, but the GOC acts as the real force of authority within the Hinterland.

Eurtec's status as a Free Port within the Foundation and GOC's records requires that knowledge of the city's existence be limited to only those people who are within the supernatural community; knowledge of the city outside of that esoteric social sphere is eliminated. Eurtec is well-known within the wider paranormal community, however, as a place of possibilities and opportunities, especially for those who lack an interest in Magic.

### Geography & Climate:

The geography of Eurtec varies depending on the layer in which one resides. After The Silicon Revolt in 2008 CE, control of Eurtec returned to the Servants of the Silicon Nornir, who set to work restructuring large parts of the Hinterland. Most prominently among their changes was the elevation and expansion of the Hinterland's layers; where before Halfway was hidden far from the "Sun's" rays, the middle class now had access to the sky. The Upper City and Golden District were hardest hit, being almost completely dismantled by the ensuing chaos and destruction, which allowed the lower layers to obtain more access to resources and sunlight. The Undercity remained after the restructuring, however, and continues to be a place of criminality and infamy to this day. The geography of the Upper City is that of floating platforms, giant skyscrapers connected by skybridges and hoverlanes, and windows overlooking the clouds. The geography of the middle layers is that of a normal city, with massive buildings stretching far into the sky while the majority of people remain on the ground level, milling about their business among the warehouses and apartment blocks; the middle layers are far brighter and full of flora and fauna than the old structure of the city. The Undercity and lower levels remain the twisted and ruined network of dilapidated tunnels, sewers, and unused maintenance chambers full of criminals, Mutants, fugitives, and monsters.

Similarly, Eurtec's climate depends on the elevation. The most common climate, that of the middle layers at ground level, matches that of western Germany, being temperate and usually calm. The upper layers experience few storms, none of which are capable of damaging the reinforced skyscrapers; the sun shines brightly upon the clouds and the gilded buildings which pierce them. The lower layers, in contrast, experience a wider variety of climates according to the specific area; larger Undercity caverns and chambers will have their own self-perpetuating water cycle and temperature, while the tunnels themselves can either be thick with humidity or unnaturally/lethally dry to prevent the rusting of precious equipment in the city's infrastructure. Large underground lakes of refuse and chemical waste add toxins to the air and metal ground, while other areas are superheated forges, cisterns for Coolant or other liquids, automated factories, hubs of automated repair drones and security robots, etc.; many a scavenger has died attempting to loot the lost technology buried under thousands of feet of steel and concrete.

### Organization:

Before The Silicon Revolt, the GOC governed Eurtec with a brutalist iron fist, discriminating against all augmented and paranormal individuals within the city; the GOC's laws were unfair, harsh, and their surveillance intrusive and dictatorial. The Silicon Revolt represented Eurtec's hatred for the GOC and there treatment of the citizenry, a hatred so harsh so as to spark a full rebellion. Once the GOC's influence was greatly diminished in the wake of the conflict, the Servants of the Silicon Nornir regained full control of the city and its legal process; the Servants established a new constitution for the city and deregulated Eurtec's economy; they established a number of schools which specialize in paranormal education; they ceased the oppression towards paranormal individuals. Under the Servants' leadership, the city prospered and flourished, its technological capabilities expanding exponentially and its economy tripling in size seemingly overnight.

Under the GOC's rule, Eurtec's legal system was harsh, draconian, and swift; trials were almost nonexistent, and the GOC had the final say as to the punishment of any given individual. Laws were discriminatory against the poor and the paranormal, and no appeal reached the GOC's blackened, cold hearts. After the GOC was thrown out of Eurtec in 2008, the Servants of the Silicon Nornir established a greater degree of due process and fair order; making use of their extensive technological capabilities, the Servants installed automated trials, greatly diminished the bloated GOC bureaucracy, increased police presence, increased surveillance, created multiple paranormal policing units, and repealed oppressive laws. The Servants deregulated the economy and welcomed the presence of powerful paranormal megacorporations like Anderson Robotics and the now-defunct Prometheus Labs. More regulations in terms of living conditions, social support systems, and other quality-of-life changes were put in place to elevate the battered citizenry and convert Eurtec from a dystopian hellhole into a more average cityscape.

The Servants also created the FLYPAPER, a paranormal policing organization equivalent to SWAT, and FLYPAPER's various divisions designed to handle magical/anomalous crimes of all kinds. The Servants themselves also hired corporate police to handle street crime, something which has created controversy in recent years thanks to the city's plague of criminal factions and seedy dealings. Unfortunately, the Servants and residents of Eurtec were unable to totally remove the GOC's presence from their beloved Hinterland; instead, the GOC remains a distant presence equivalent to the FBI or MI5, policing large-scale crime and hunting fugitives who are responsible for crimes in other Hinterlands, Realms, or jurisdictions. Those who find themselves in the GOC's sights rarely expect to survive for long; in the face of the revolt, the GOC's presence in Eurtec is small but extraordinarily powerful.

#### Transportation & Infrastructure:

Access to Eurtec is only possible via teleportation Magic (called "Ways" by the Foundation and GOC). The Hinterland possesses no other set entrances or parallel access points in the normal Material Realm; such entrances existed prior to the Revolt, but were destroyed in part by the GOC and by the Servants of the Silicon Nornir to limit movement to and from Eurtec. Transportation within the city consists of teleportation circles, subways and trains, cars and buses, cycling lanes, and sidewalks; all such transportation is generally identical to that found outside of Eurtec, save for some more technologically advanced options.

Eurtec's infrastructure is contained almost solely within the Undercity, a poorly maintained subterranean section of the Hinterland hidden from view underneath hundreds of meters of dirt and metal. Eurtec's self-contained internet services, provided by the Servants of the Silicon Nornir alongside other private companies, is monitored by the GOC to prevent breaches of information to the outside world; access to the normal world's internet is available for purchase, but is very heavily monitored. The city's plumbing system functions as expected, but uses recycled moisture and bodily fluids to prevent an over-reliance on external supplies. The city's electricity is supplied solely by the Servants, who use a massive amount of the power to fuel their supercomputer overlords. Cellphone service exists within a self-contained network, although access to the outside world's phone networks is available for purchase in face of the heavy censorship and intrusive surveillance.

#### Education System:

Eurtec is home to [REDACTED], the paranormal world's most prestigious engineering and technical school and has ties to the University of Alexylva, and smaller private institutions; none of these institutions teach conventional Magic, a rule imposed by the GOC. Eurtec's education system is highly privatized, and several external schools have agreements with the GOC and/or Servants to allow for inter-school competitions, exchange student programs, and other similar partnerships.

#### Economy:

Eurtec's economy is considered very laissez-faire; the Servants of the Silicon Nornir have little need for money within the Hinterland, and as such tend not to focus on the corporations which run rampant through their city. Instead, the Servants ensure that the corporations do not break any laws or harm the Nornirs' plans. As a result, Eurtec's economy is massive, and features hundreds of markets which the outside world does not have; the Bionic Augmentation market is one of Eurtec's largest, followed by other pieces of advanced technology, Digitspace-related equipment, and robots/Androids. The city is aggressively capitalistic, as the companies seek to wring every citizen dry of every last penny and euro; this system has led to a powerful divide within Eurtec, split between those who support or are otherwise ambivalent to the corporations and those who despise them. Eurtec is often considered to be "cyberpunk" in nature, according to the people who live there, as the city's lack of government regulations and never-ending advertising create an oppressive atmosphere of marketing, consumerism, capitalism, and inequality; the city's richest men and women occupy the Upper City, while the rest of the citizens live below.

The Servants of the Silicon Nornir are, themselves, a powerful economic presence within Eurtec; the Servants are known to sell their services, both of a magical and mundane nature, to those who can afford the steep price. Additionally, the Servants act as one of the largest distributors of Bionic Augmentations in Eurtec. Occupying a larger share of the same Bionic market, Anderson Robotics maintains itself as Eurtec's largest producer, designer, and distributor of Bionics; Anderson Robotics is often criticized for its high price and aggressive business tactics, however. Thousands of other corporations call Eurtec home, and many find their start in the city before branching out across the world to other Hinterlands. Marshall, Carter & Dark Ltd. is also known to operate quite heavily within the city, making use of its extensive criminal underworld and its corruption to make as much money as possible. Eurtec is also known for its large quantity of abandoned properties, almost all of which previously belonged to Prometheus Labs prior to the company's collapse; these abandoned properties created an inundation of illegal paranormal items, equipment, individuals, and technologies into the black market, and also left hundreds of properties ripe for exploitation by criminal elements. Most of the properties were purchased and recycled, either by other corporations or criminal businesses attempting to obscure their true intentions, but a majority of the facilities remain officially abandoned.

### Locations:

#### Upper City:

The Upper City refers to all areas of Eurtec above six hundred (~600) meters. Massive skyscrapers, corporate mega-branches, flying platforms, and residential mega-blocks reside at this level; the city's upper classes reside at this level, partaking in the many benefits their wealth and positions offer them without a care for the rest of the citizenry beneath them. The Upper City suffered during the Revolt, during which large portions of the Golden District fell upon the Upper City and during which the Upper City collapsed to the city's ground level; this damage drastically reduced the power and size of the Golden District and Upper City, but failed to fully eradicate the Layer or the status it represents. The toll was so great, however, that the Upper City remains a rare sight to the people of the lower Layers, a tangential thought amidst their chaotic daily lives; few people obtain the honored privilege of ascending to the Upper City from one of the lower Layers.

##### Golden District:

The highest level of Eurtec sits approximately one thousand (~1,000) meters above the Hinterland's "sea level," and is inhabited solely by the city's richest men and women. Luxuries beyond a mortal's greatest imagination are commonplace in the Golden District, and only a handful of people from any other level of Eurtec society get to see it. While it is true that the Golden District is still home to the GOC's Headquarters, and that a massive majority of the District was destroyed during the Revolt, it continues to remain a beautiful example of Eurtec's potential. However, the officials that occupy the Golden District, including adherents to the Nornir themselves, reside in their positions due to corruption and other crimes.

The Golden District is only accessible via elevators, helicopters, VTOL's, or hover-vehicles. Security in the Golden District is also appropriately extreme; the Golden District, however small it may be, is the only part of Eurtec where the GOC retains even a semblance of its original control over the city. The GOC's best troops and most advanced security measures are employed throughout the Golden District to prevent further riots, uprisings, revolts, rebellions, or acts of terror/sabotage.

##### Urthor Transport Terminal:

The world's largest nexus of teleportation circles (Ways), the Urthor Transport Terminal is the Upper City's answer to its Hinterland's separation from the rest of the world. The Transport Terminal can bring the right person to any major city or Hinterland in the Material Realm, for the right price, and was used extensively by the GOC to police the paranormal world until the Revolt. The Terminal was temporarily destroyed during the Revolt by the GOC, who wishes to contain the violence as much as possible; the Servants of the Silicon Nornir rebuilt the structure in the years that followed the Revolt, however, and continue to maintain and operate it to this day.

#### Halfway:

##### Lightline:

"Lightline" refers to the ground level of Eurtec, the altitude of zero (0) meters at which height the Hinterland's artificial Sun becomes visible; below the Lightline, few people see the sun, and above the Lightline sit the city's wealthiest aristocrats and CEO's. "Lightline" is an archaic term carried over through slang from Eurtec's time before the Revolt, when sunlight was a commodity for which people had to pay extra and when "Second-hand oxygen for second-class citizens" was a GOC slogan plastered on most walls of Halfway and below; after the Revolt, the term "Lightline" remained in the public consciousness, and exists nowadays as a means of describing the city's largest Layer.

To those who live there, Lightline appears very similar to every other city on Earth, save for the armies of Androids and drones which walk and crawl and flutter about, the waves of holograms and AR messages and neon signs which assault their eyes, the heavily-augmented men and women walking down the street, and the advanced equipment on everyone's hips. The corporations' colossal skyscrapers reach up into the Upper City, blimps and hovercraft zip around like flies, and the Sun shines down on over eighty-five percent (85%) of the city's population. Almost all of Eurtec's services, residential districts, commercial districts, and buildings exist at this Layer.

##### Crimson-Light District:

The Crimson-Light District is where Eurtec's seedy underbelly brushes up against its legitimate upper half. The Crimson-Light District is designed to rid a visitor of every euro and every semblance of dignity they had when they entered, and was created to be the ultimate center of pleasure, hedonism, and vice on the Material Realm. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, everything is sold or bought in the Crimson-Light District; it is here that the city's criminal underworld interacts with the Layers above, hiding their shady dealings behind the mist of narcotics and the rose-colored glasses of the District's headache-inducing lights. Brothels, clubs, restaurants, boutiques, stalls and bazaars, and all manner of other establishments line the streets of the Crimson-Light District. Rumors persist, even, that a semi-permanent teleportation circle to the Meat Market exists somewhere in the Crimson-Light District, controlled by one group or another.

#### Blood District:

The Blood District existed before the Revolt, and it survived the Revolt, too. Despite the best efforts of the GOC and Servants of the Silicon Nornir, the Blood District persists. The Blood District does not see the light of day, and never has; instead, it revels in its neon lights and unmaintained, dilapidated tunnelworks. The Blood District is home to an estimated ninety percent (90%) of Eurtec's criminal underworld, all crammed inside tight chambers and crumbling tunnels just beneath Lightline's surface. The Blood District is lawless,

### List of Factions (by group):

#### Corporations:

1. Anderson Robotics:
2. Prometheus Labs (collapsed circa. 1998)
	1. Amrita Therapeutics
	2. Archimedes
	3. Argo Automotices
	4. Iris Arts
	5. Redzone Security
	6. Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics
3. Abraxas Group
4. Oneiroi Inc.

#### Religious Organizations:

1. Servants of the Silicon Nornir
2. Great Spherical Church
3. MachineGod:

#### Criminal Organizations:

1. The Shamrocks
2. Chicago Spectre
3. Chicago Geist
4. The House of Cards