Diamond City

Last City Standing

Diamond City lost communication with the outside world seventy-five years ago. It is almost impossible to know for sure, but many believe that Diamond City is the last remaining bastion of humanity in the world. Others share the view that this is too pessimistic; that surely somewhere out there life persists. Most, however, are content to ignore the implications, and focus on living their lives day to day as best they can. The most popular way to distract from the impending doom beneath your feet is to shop, discuss your favorite Divers, and maybe, if you're a very particular sort of person, you'll fight some monsters.

The Sky is Real Estate

The city rises into the sky, year after year adding more verticality, and improving their methods of doing so. With the city moving upwards, only the wealthiest can afford to cash in on the new "sky-side" homes, offices, and businesses. This causes a stratification. The wealthy move up, renovate, innovate, and build more wealth so they can pass on the sky to the next generation. They buy not just the furthest distance from the undercity, but also the ability to see the sky overhead. Traveling to the upper levels is free, but it is prohibitively expensive to live there. Some of the more high-profile brands use sky-side apartments as incentives to join up.

There are also incentives for people to work on the building effort for new levels of the city in exchange for permanent lodgings for their families when that level is completed. Some families have been moving up the ladder, one or more family members running themselves ragged in the construction process to ensure a better placement for their family. With each generation, these "leap-froggers," or "frogs" as the upper echelons sometimes call them, pass on the burden of construction to their children and retire early to nurse their fatigued and sometimes injured bodies. Because these families have homes but not wealth, they often find themselves isolated even though they live in the higher areas of the city. They live among palaces and corporations but don't have the means to interact with the commerce of the sector, so they spend much of their leisure time in lower levels of the city.

Scale and Transportation

Diamond City is not a large city, but it is very compact. It has about as much vertical real estate as it does horizontal. Each level of the city takes about ninety minutes to cross on foot, and travel between generally takes about ten to twenty minutes, depending on how long it takes you to find an elevator. Pathways are narrow in Diamond City, and not all of them have railings on them. Bikes are used for transportation only on some of the large platforms and in communities with more platforms and guard rails. Roller skates are more common, thanks to their nimble maneuverability. Ziplines and Hand-gliders are used for recreational use and for commuting between plates. Giant fans are positioned in many places between buildings to give glider passengers lift in key areas, and to plow them towards platforms. 

Technology and Amenities

Even before Diamond City plunged into turmoil, it had access to clean energy and public food solutions. Keeping and maintaining these technologies is largely what allowed Diamond City to survive its ordeal. Rainwater and water pumped and purified from the ocean are circulated down through the city by elaborate pipes and aqueducts. Many of these Aquaducts lead to and from water mills which generate electricity, and empty into pools which hold large wind farms in areas where the wind is strongest. Solar panels adorn roofs on the outer edges of all levels of the city. No one needs to pay for services such as electricity or water in Diamond City.

Food Synthesizers are located on every level of the city. They implement a technology that quickly grows a nutrient-rich and flavorless algae and then fashions that into the likeness of other foods with flavoring. It can sustain people and is often used for ordinary and blander meals. Luckily, the 5th level's arcology grows more varied and flavorful foods inside a menagerie of greenhouses and other synthetic habitats. Every citizen of Diamond City is allowed access to the arcology, with a set stipend of produce provided to all who come. Many in the city have personal gardens on roofs and small patios as well, and many community blocks have communal gardens that they tend together and use when they want more than the arcology can provide, or simply don't want to make the trip. No one pays for food in Diamond City unless at restaurants or fairs, where they are essentially paying for the service or expertise of preparation of the food.