I'm not just talking about the Renraku Arcology in Seattle or the Aztech Pyramid in Tenochtitlan, I'm talking about arcologies in general. I'm just starting to run a campaign in which a new and quite enormous arcology has been (finally) completed as a joint project of four corporations in 2068 after taking more than twenty years to build. The location of this arcology is adjacent to the city of New Chennai, on the southern tip of India. I decided that it was the third largest and tallest arcology in the world and that only the Chiba City Arcology and Aztech Pyramid were bigger by population and by total volume, respectively. This may or may not be true by cannon, but I haven't seen anything as to the size of the arcologies and decided to fill in some details here and there. This isn't the point, however, and though I've filled in quite a few details, I find myself wondering if I've missed anything.

The four corporations that are the principal shareholders in the arcology are the EVO Corporation, NeoNET, the Horizon Group, and Universal Omnitech. It was originally a project of Fuchi Industrial Electronics that began in 2042 and started to flounder into perpetual partial-completion when Fuchi took a dive and became Novatech in 2061. Novatech took on three partners to help speed construction in 2062: the Horizon Group, then a AA entertainment corporation out of California; Universal Omnitech, which was looking for a place to rebuild their South Asia HQ after a disaster in Islamabad; and Transys Neuronet, which was looking to expand its R&D facilities out of Mumbai and New Delhi. When Novatech was the "tragic" victim of the Matrix Crash in 2064(?), it suffered massive hits to its capital reserves. It agreed to sell its shareholder status and rights to one of the four towers atop the arcology to the newly-named EVO Corporation. Fortunately, Novatech ended up back in the arcology when it merged with Transys Neuronet and Erika and benefitted from being in a prime spot to set up the Wireless Matrix Infrastructure for the whole of Southern India from the arcology.

That's basically it as far as the principal corporate interests go. The arcology is split up into six basic areas: the sublevel power generation sector, the base, and the four towers which are extraterritorial to the four principal shareholders alone. I decided that the base would be administered by a council of seven: a Corporate Court officer, representatives of the four principal shareholders, and two representatives of the Federal Indian and Tamil Nadu governments. What I'm not so keen on is whether the big four would allow a significant presence of other megacorporations in their arcology... I suppose if the money was right, as in eye-gougingly bad, then they'd tolerate it -- but who would be interested?

As far as inhabitants go, I figured mostly European, Japanese, and North American inhabitants mostly speaking either English or Japanese. The Arcology Council would be given the ability to give out Arcology SINs and each corporation with extraterritorial status could issue their own SINs as usual. One could only be granted access to the arcology's base if they had either a temporary visitor status imprinted onto their existing SINs or possessed the appropriate corporate or arcology SINs. SINless individuals are not allowed to enter, and people who cannot afford even labour-dormintory rents are forcibly evicted and forbidden from reentry. Obviously, access to any of the four towers belonging to the big shareholders is subject to their own policies, and access to the power generation facilities is strictly controlled by the Arcology Council and their contracted firm, Gaeatronics.

I created a third-party company out of Mongolia to deal with general security in the base of the arcology and on the exterior: Golden Horde Security Services. They answer to the Arcology Council and are strictly forbidden to enter the extraterritorial zones of other corporations that do not expressedly allow their presence.

I've worked up sources of employment inside and outside the arcology, as well as transit and communications infrastructure to facilitate both. I've come up with four basic levels of residence inside the arcology. The first level is that of a common blue-collar worker paid to work a crappy job in the fields, aquaculture domes, or in a manufacturing plant. These are either labour dormitories, which are a lot like army barracks, or slightly larger coffin-hotels. The second level, and by far the majority of residences, is the so-called "lunchbox." A five by four by three meter room (and only slightly larger for orks and trolls) where one or two people live. Lacking a kitchen and a washroom, these facilities are shared in common with ten to fifteen other lunchboxers. Neither the labour-dorms nor the lunchboxes are spacious or necessarily comfortable, but they're both safe and access to clean water and air is guaranteed for a small fee. The next step is an apartment, which includes a small living area in addition to a bedroom, and includes its own bathroom (bath tubs cost extra) -- though kitchens are shared as in today's college quads. The ultimate is a suite, which usually has multiple bedrooms, a living and dining space as well as a spacious kitchen and luxurious bathing facilities. Since there are technically no homeless people in the arcology, these options roughly correspond with Lifestyle costs: labour-dorms are squatter level, lunchboxes are low, apartments are medium, and suites include high and luxury level lifestyles.

As a mildly interesting side-note, I've decided that there's only one union active in the arcology and it belongs to the janitors and garbage removal workers. Though it only has sway in the base, it's been able to disrupt services to such a degree that even the Arcology Council has agreed to let it exist and even flourish. The Waste Workers Union is savvy enough that even the inhabitants demand that they stay in business. I figured at this point, the WWU isn't as corrupt as it could be, and its workers are aware of what they have and therefore do the best job they can of things. Needless to say, having contacts within the WWU is like having contacts with a taxi dispatcher, dockyard foreman, or the like. Useful, almost all the time...

I'm having a little trouble with the Matrix topology, though. Should the arcology be its own RTG? And should the six different sectors each have their own LANs with varying levels of security? I figured that Golden Horde Security Services could police the "common areas" of the arcology's Matrix network in the Base while the sublevels and the four towers could be protected by each corporations own security forces.

As far as ambience is concerned, I went with a mix of very high levels of population density and a space-station/airport environment that I cribbed from an RPG called Jovian Chronicles. Outside your domicile, you're never really alone unless you're walking around at 3AM (and even then...); also, I think you'd have to get used to the concept of queues and waitlists everywhere you go. Do you want to attend the New Year's Celebration for 2071? You better have put your name on the list on January 2nd, 2070! You'll likely have to plan weeks ahead in order to do anything socially beyond a stroll in the mall and perhaps a visit to the very crowded groomed parkland on top of the Base of the arcology. For that reason, I see a very vibrant Matrix-based community. People might stay in their homes and interact with each other in a virtual environment that can have some fashion of so-called "public privacy."

All in all, personal relationships might be dominantly Matrix-based (for good or ill) and people would only plan to meet each other if they're willing to hang out at each other's home, or perhaps visit a "love hotel" or two between trips to see concerts, films, or the like that were planned weeks in advance.

As far as arcology life goes, that's pretty much what I've come up with beyond ideas for runs in and around this particular arcology. I'm looking for general feedback on the idea of a campaign set inside a functioning arcology, as well as any comments or questions in regards to my own setting. If you have any ideas in regards to neat things that could occur for colour, or as general developments inside and outside the arcology, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

- Rep.

Sounds Interesting, I was thinking of turning the city of Caracas in to a giant arcology at one time. The idea was that the City proper became an arcology to physically separate it from the miles of shanty towns surrounding it.

As for some of your details. In an Arcology that big it may well have it's own RTG with different sectors being different LTGs. Networks would probably vary by function more than area. There would probably be huge areas devoted to basic support services (Food, Water, Waste, and Power) maybe each being assigned to a different Corp to maintain a balance of power. Corp Brat-Packs could be a serious problem in this environment. It would seem that the Availability of Weapons would be more restricted in this environment, in fact moving Contraband (non Corp Approved merchandise) in and out could be a lucrative Biz.

Read Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven. The opening sequence is basically a group of runners trying to break it. ALso has some good details on what the outsiders might thing of the people inside.

stevebugge: Are there still LTGs? I know I read somewhere that there are RTGs, but I thought they were the only ones and now it's just a mess of LANs and PANs inside a very big pond rather than the strict and centralized heirarchy of "RTG > LTG > Server > Node" of the old, wired Matrix. Is the new Wireless Matrix more decentralized, or is that just my own personal bias as I skimmed through the book?

As for utilities and such, I've made water, electricity, and waste disposal available to every corner of the arcology for a reasonable fee. Food and other goods, though, are all supplied by either the big four or other companies and it's all organized by microeconomics. The arcology's been around in various states of completion for twenty years, and it's been effectively complete for about two years already. I think that's enough time for various market researchers to figure out the best locations and methods of setting up their businesses. I always figured living in an arcology is like living near the downtown core of a city -- lots of things are available, but most of us cannot get by without penny-pinching and a very good ability to separate needs from mere desires.

ogbendog: Duly noted, I'll look for it when I next visit my used book shop. No personal comments, though?

Nezumi, you lived in Caracas? May I ask when and for how long?

(It'd be interesting to know your opinion once Runner Havens and SoLA are out)

So, what would you suggest in detailing the economic, political and social differences between the arcology inhabitants and those of the sprawl around it? I was planning on arcology residents usually restricting themselves to the downtown core and beach areas, the tourist traps, because of the ill feeling the sprawlers feel toward them.

I was also thinking that the very close proximity to other people inside the arcology could be a leading cause of the high level of minor brawls and scuffles. Let's just say that there are many and large drunk-tanks in the arcology...

On a slightly tangential note, are BTLs difficult to produce en masse? Could there be a couple of BTL producers out in the arcology rather than there having to be a smuggling operation to bring them in? Perhaps sending them out would be a more likely if it was a primary regional source for them, which would be another way to explain the conflict between the sprawlers and the arcology residents.

For anyone living in an arcology, the most precious resource will be sunlight.

Studies have shown that peole react to sunlight far more positively than artificial light. In fact, one of the major limiting factor on the size of practical buildigns today is how far sunlight can penatrate into a building. People deprived of sunlight for too ling will start havign psychological problems, Depression cheif among them. (Don't go telling me how you don't need sunlight, either. If you really have been livign in a sunless basement for 5 years without going outside, you probably have the psychological problems I speak of.)

We can pretty safely asume that by 2068 the corps could care less about the mental health of thier employees, and are fine building buildings that have little to no solar lighting in most places. Those areas that do get sunlight, then, will be the most valuable real estate. The towers and the roof. However, the peole in power cannot reserve all this sun for themselves, or else their tenants below will develop severe issues that lower productivity.

Some possible solutions: vast public spaces on the roof of the arcology. Visiting these parks will be mandatory for the people in the building, but your time will be monitored and you can't spend too much time there. Imagine that each tenant receives 6 hours of "Park time" a week. They MUST go to the park for 6 hours a week, but cannot spend more than 6 hours a week there either (in order to make sure there is adequate park for the other tenants, don't you know.)

In other large public areas, artificial sunlight will have to be created. This is not as simple as making a light that has the exact quality of light the sun has. These artifical sunlight projectors must vary the quality of that light to mimic the Day/night cycle, the weather and several other qualities. Perhaps these sunlights can even be linked to external sensors to match the weather outside.

Maybe each tenant is given a copy of that prgram that creates virtual weather for your AR experience. Certain parts of the ceiling are designated 'Sky" by the program, and are replaced with sunlight and sky and weather and all that jazz. This will give the tenants the experience of being outside when in public realms of the building. Keeping this program active in your commlink willbe mandatory within the building.

Yeah, I was in Caracas for four years, from 93 to 97. When I left I was only about 16, so I didn't really absorb that much of the politics, but it was a neat four years. My comments would have to be on pre-Chavez Caracas, since he's made some pretty significant changes since I left. I'm generally pretty slow about picking up SR books (especially 'shadows of...' style books), but I might make a special exception for the two listed. I have a soft spot in my heart for South America anyway.

For Reprisal's question... I think the biggest part is how much of the city would actually be inside the arcology. Since I didn't drive, my memory of the layout of the city is pretty sketchy. If we're basically taking all of the city that isn't made out of cardboard and steel plates, I imagine we'd just be building a giant dome from the base of the Avila (that's the mountain on the north side of the city) across to some point in the south, and cutting off the major east/west roads. With a big dome, you could build an airport inside the city, instead of one on the coast, which would be nice too.

Politically, not much would change. When I was there, a lot went on behind closed doors, since there was a lot of corruption going on. The big difference is now the rich can make even better gated communities.

The gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' would get a little wider, although I'd be uncertain which category the poor in the arcology would fall into. 10% of the population have about 70% of the wealth and the middle class is tiny (around 15%, if memory serves, maybe a little larger). So that's the top floors of your arcology, for whom life wouldn't change much except things get cleaner, more convenient and more 'modern'. Now they just have a layer of glass over their country club so they can still golf during the rainy season.

For the people outside, a LOT of them could lose jobs. While we were there, our maid lived in a shack and my parents paid her something like $30 a week (which was a lot for her). Presumably, the government doesn't really like these people working in the arcology, or at least gives them some proper harassing on the way in. With the arcology well defended, there isn't much concern about rioting from them either, so let 'em starve. The ultimate question in this is simply one of money. Is it cheaper to get a maid from inside the arc, get a drone maid, or get someone from the ranchitos? If the people from the ranchitos find themselves ultimately outsources to cheaper alternatives, they'll likely be mostly ignored to continue living however they can. Many of the shanty towns may begin to dry up as a result. So I can see them getting a lot poorer, but I couldn't see this be any good for them.

The real problem is those people in the middle, rich enough to live in the arc, but still poor. On the lower end, I could believe there would be effectively an artificial shanty town. Basically a permanent coffin motel with some more communal space. This lets you keep prices low on uneducated labor, while keeping the real riff-raff out.

Above that you'd have those people with some sort of technical skill; repairmen, plumbers, shopkeepers, who can afford apartments, but are still living pretty hand-to-mouth. I suppose there'd be some sort of reasonably standardized living accomodations arranged, but I think they have the most to lose. Venezuela has some of THE most beautiful weather anywhere, and the mountain is right there so a lot of people, rich or poor, climb on the weekends. The natural beauty of the country, including around Caracas, is astounding. Suddenly, we're taking people from living right next to a mountain under the open, blue sky and constant refreshing breeze, and sticking them into what is effectively a subterranean existence. No more wild mango trees to pick fruit off of. No more stolen satellite television. I guess they'd still keep chicken roosts and home gardens, and the ice cream guy (Tio Rico) would still wander around with his happy music. But they'd lose a lot, I imagine. On the other hand, having your car caught because a road became a river, or dealing with damage from landslides wouldn't be a problem any longer.

(Meeting. May edit later.)

Don't forget breeding programs, nursuries and matrix based schools.

Another side of the arc would be law and how disputes are resolved. Would a court have judges from the towers and the base? As a runner its important to know if you'll just get a slap on the wrist or get shot to pieces for different infractions.

A lot of these questions are already likely answered if you look at existing arcologies. I suppose the big question here is who officially owns the new arc? If it's the government, I assume it'll have the existing court system, just new offices (and a few new laws). Don't assume it'll be any faster though. If memory serves, about six or eight years back the roof on a prison fell in killing a ton of inmates, many of whom hadn't even been to trial yet. the jail was holding three or four times its intended capacity, but a surprising percentage were still awaiting trial, a wait that can take two or three years or longer.

Of course, the people with money can post bail and pay to expediate the process.

nezumi: Thanks for your contributions, you've given me much to think about as I prepare to run my game today.

BEING a suitably skilled architect, I'm saying that it is no simple matter to do what your saying. Skylights on top of a building will only light three or so stories into the building, even at noon, due to the fact that the sun doesn't shine strait down.

The best idea I've been able to come up with to solve that problem is to use massive, massive bundles of fiberoptics mounted on mechanical devices to track the sun, "capturing" sunlight and redirecting it, but without doing a mock up I'm not sure that could work. Possible if all the walls in the atrium were highly reflective, it could route the sunlight farther into the space.

And it's Platonic, as in plato. Platonic ideals, Platonic solids, Platonic love, etc....

I'm glad I could be of help, even if my view of Caracas is only that of an out-of-country sixteen year old. It was a beautiful city, despite it's flaws. That said, the only correction I'd make in your earlier post was:

"Come to think of it, most of the "bad" stuff going on inside the arcology is due to other people, rather than the arcology itself." (In reference to the environment especially).

Caracas has *THE* most beautiful weather anywhere for a metropolitan area. There's a constant cross-wind which cleans the air, blowing it all over to Colombia. The result is that the air pollution in Caracas is surprisingly low, despite the tremendous number of poorly maintained gas burning cars and industry. Allergens could get bad over the spring, but aside from that... I'm not sure if that cross-wind will be enough come 2060 though.

However I suspect that even within the arcology, there will be crime, there will be littering, there will be people being nasty and rude to each other, vandalism, etc. The big difference might be that in the rich places, the poor people are kept out and the rich criminals go into different neighborhoods to be really destructive, plus the rich will have all the neat tools to keep things pleasant and safe. Whether the poor sections of the arcology are kept up by automated surveillance, crime-prevention systems, litter clean-up and all that (and so basically a freedom-less hole) or is left open for people to make their own communities within the basic resources provided (and so basically an anarchist hole) or somewhere in between is, of course, completely up to you. No matter what, I'm sure there will always be room for bribery to move things along and for the bottom of the pile to get whatever is the least inconvenient for the top of the pile.

The best information on arcologies is definitely Renraku Shutdown. I don't know of any other books that give even a fraction of the details provided in that book. Unfortunately, Renraku has a COMPLETELY different cultural climate than Caracas. I'd be fascinated to read about one of the Aztechnology arcologies.

As for lighting, the four towers could use inward-facing Heliostats to direct light to the skylights. Basically a collection of thousands of mirrors mounted on gyros that adjust periodically to reflect light to the skylights. i'm sure this wouldn't bring light to more than maybe six levels, but it would still help.

However, anyone who's read Appleseed knows the inherent dangers of heliostats...