NEXUS CITYThe Nexus is a hodge-podge of locales and cultures both mundane and supernatural, a weird melting pot of all kinds of people that often swirls into a maelstrom of self-interest, conflict, and occultation. Monsters, both mortal and not of human seeming, make the streets dangerous and the night inhospitable, but many fantastic beings and individuals live in peace with the mundane and temper this darkness to a degree.
Nexus City is a vast modern metropolis as varied as all the great cities of Earth (and with landmarks from many), surrounded by mountains, forests and farmland, kissed by the sea on one side, and touched by pockets of wilderness and unusual environments. Each part of nature provides the Nexus with the best of its boons (and sometimes the worst of its curses and the bloodiest of its answers).
Thanks to its completeness and diversity, this small world manages to be self-sufficient. At the same time, it is also limited, for the boundaries of the Nexus as a whole stretch into themselves. If you try to leave it, whether by air, water or earth, when you go far enough out you'll find yourself moving back in the direction you came from. Or eaten by something conspicuously massive.
You can find a little bit of everything in the Nexus. It has advanced technology (but not too advanced), it has things from the medieval era, it has unexplained magical items.... even phone and internet service that can reach beyond the databases of the city. Except they never allow contact with anyone outside of the Nexus, and social media only work internally. The canny might ask how exactly that even works. Most will tell them "don't ask". External resources and connections with the outside just seem to trickle into the city as appropriate.
The Nexus is a unique place that pulls in objects, places and living beings from a myriad of different universes, in no discernible pattern. It has people from all kind of cultures and every way of life. Little peculiarities (and big ones from time to time) are a natural facet of how things work, and just about what the residents expect.
Properties of the Nexus
> The strange is common but generally not normal.
> It has a little bit of everything.
> You can't
just leave.
> Time is more narrative than linear.
THE PEOPLEBeing a completely mundane person in the Nexus is a bit like walking a tightrope. But the tightrope isn't that far from the ground. Sure, your legs might feel tingly if you land on them or you might get hurt if you fall, but you won't die. Except sometimes the ground where you just landed opens up into deadly hazards. Like lava. Or spike pits. Or bone marrow sucking giant carnivorous plants.
Of course, everyone knows about the supernatural, but the vast majority avoids it or doesn't acknowledge it unless they have to. A winged person could walk down the mall like anyone else, but people are not very likely to engage with them if they have that choice. Not everyone's like that, of course, and some supernatural denizens are welcomed or not distrusted - but it depends on the exact place and case-by-case circumstances. Though rarer than on Earth, the opposite stance also exists: vampires, werewolves and mages are shunned and prosecuted at times, even those that are entirely fine people. It's an aversion based on fear. Racism and discrimination of supernaturals unfortunately both stands out more and tends to be extremely hazardous for the health of both sides. But all things considered, it could be worse.
For good or for ill, everyone is aware of the truth. Some feign ignorance, but they'd need to be blind and deaf to actually be so. The impossible is seen as commonplace, but that doesn't mean it's any less impossible.
THE CITYThe City is effectively maintained and managed by private interests and organs, but it possesses a central government that handles much of the day to day processes and administers public services. In essence, it acts more like a middleman between the citizens and the philanthropies and businesses that keep the city running, but that's not to say they don't try. Like everything else in the Nexus, it suffers from variable corruption and the occasional spontaneous takeover by supernatural tyrants.
Registration in the Nexus is for the most part lax, but punitive. Unless you seek out an office and get registered (which involves paying taxes), newcomers are likely to get saddled with difficulties, with few guaranteed rights. But with so many coming and going without warning, it doesn't take a lot to be considered a legitimate citizen, and arguably takes less to avoid legal processes for those who wish to keep a low profile. The economy is in flux as much as the city itself, but corporate interests tend to find a way. They just might not necessarily be the same tomorrow.
How Does The Average Citizen Get By?The same way as anyone in our world might. They're registered municipally or nationally (or what passes for nationally), they have a job, they do taxes, and they pay for basic services probably distributed by privates. This is more or less the case for everyone unless they have particular deals with local powers or the like.
PLACESNexus Downtown
Sewers - There is no reason for the City's sewage tunnels to be as wide, tall, or inhabited as they are.
The Barrens - Not so much a place as a title indicating that all semblance of human civilization in a location has been destroyed. Small pockets of survivors scrounge for supplies, isolated monsters stalk ruined apartment blocks, and swarms of unnatural vermin make their nests. Any district is one catastrophe away from becoming Barren.
East Asian Special Ward - It's a mix of old and new, with influences of China, Japan, and others. Youkai and spirits walk the streets openly, and some run businesses. Yakuza, Triads and oni gangs dispute territory, but all tread lightly in the shadow of the Sky Palace.
Primeval Woods - The forested area past the irregular arrangements of farmland, and outside the urbanized limits of Nexus City. The trees at the edge are so thick no car can pass, and the only humans here qualify as such by narrow margins. Predatory beasts, faeries, and pre-human monsters await in the brush and branches.
Golden Rule Commerce District
Emporium Of Man
The Bay
GROUPSPolice
Enforcers
Corporations
Criminal Syndicates
Gangs
(Work In Progress)
Credit to Aiden for descriptions of locales
