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Zion Background Information
Zion is not a city that was planned. Like Boston, like Paris, like London, it is a city that grew out of necessity. As the Machines won the battle for Earth's cities, the survivors, the resistance, the last free humans, retreated into the wilderness. It was somewhere in the vast center of the continent that had been called North America that the city of Zion came into being.
The survivors were drawn to this place for two reason. First, now that the sun was gone from the skies, perhaps forever, it was a place where the Earth provided warmth and energy. Second, it was a region of abundant mineral resources. Gold. Aluminum. Iron. Silicon. Copper. Many vital minerals could be found running in veins, deep in the Earth. At first, the survivors clustered desperately in the tunnels that generations of miners had dug over a century before. And then, when there was no more room, they started digging themselves.
The original tunnels have long since been abandoned. The heart of Zion is buried deep in the Earth and some semblance of order has come to it, over the years. The military, the Academy and offices of Zion Central Command have taken over one block of more or less contiguous cubic. Facilities for hydroponics and waste reclamation skirt the city. Personal dwelling spaces - some of which have belonged to individual families for generations now - were originally dug rather haphazardly. After the earthquake, people became more careful.
Near the center of the city there is the Plaza. Back near the founding, one badly injured engineer insisted on creating a structure that would be a park. People laughed at him but he insisted. He choose a largeish natural cave as his starting point and he went from there. One of the children's favorite features of the park is a fountain that erupts water at random intervals. In these days, the Plaza has become a social center and a space for cultural events.
Zion is not a large city by the standards of the 20th century but it is big enough to have a vibrant life of its own. The culture and language of the city grew out of the traditions that the survivors brought with them. The flavor of the city probably is closest to North America, since that is where most of the survivors probably originated from, but to an ex-bat, recently out of the Matrix, it would be a bewildering experience.
The city is a place of contrasts. On one hand, they use and fundamentally depend upon incredibly sophisticated technology to survive. On the other hand, they are human and they are proud of that fact. If there are things that can be done by hand, they will be. If it is possible to walk, people will walk. If something is small enough to be carried or pushed on a cart, they will do that instead of using a motorized vehicle. Technology is used where it is necessary, without a second thought, but in daily life, Zion can take on an almost rustic feel.
Art and Music
The art of Zion would be readily recognized by any pioneering or frontier culture. No one has the resources to devote their entire lives to the persuit of something so ephemeral as beauty, but art permeates the culture and everyone participates.
The culture of Zion is such that if something can be made by hand, instead of by machine, it is. As a result, common everyday tools are handmade. People have learned again to treasure the work of a skilled craftsman and value beauty in the common tools of living.
For visual arts, there is no wood, paper or animal by-products to work from, but scrap metal is plentiful, as is stone. From this, sculptures, ornaments and trinkets can be fashioned. Indeed, small handmade creations of this sort are far more common as presents than something that was bought for the occasion.
Computers and tech may also be invoked in works of art. Ranging from holographic sculptures of light to interactive landscapes (that originated as training programs for pilots), computers have taken the place of the canvas that can no longer be manufactured.
Likewise, the music of Zion is similarly particpative. The instruments are made of metal, stone and glass as wood and animal bits are far too rare to be used in this manner. Instruments that a Player might recognize include glass harmonicas, steel drums, flutes, regular harmonicas, metal stringed instruments, and, of course, voice. Synthetic sounds produced by the computers are also used.
The music tends to either be singable or danceable by the average person. It is the music of release, the music of escape. It draws heavily from sources like jazz and street music. Some tunes a Player would recognize might be "America the Beautiful", "My country 'tis of thee", "Happy Birthday", "Home on the Range" and various carols, but the words have long changed and become more suitable for the new times.
Energy
Zion's primary source of energy is geothermal. It is near a "hot spot" where the earth has provided a decent sized plume of molten and semi-molten rock. Heat exchangers allow Zion to draw the energy from the rock and generate electricity. Simple thermal conduction keeps Zion itself warm.
There has been some effort in recent years to try and breed a type of chemosythnsizing bacteria that would "eat" the rock and might also provide an additional energy source for the city, but that is still in the R&D stage.
While Zion does have a vast supply of energy, it is not infinite. Furthermore, due to the extreme environment Zion is situated in, the per capita energy expenditure is very high. Concerns about sustainability and quality of life have lead the city's leaders to realize that about 100,000 is their maximum population.
It is important to note that Zion does not have access to any petro-chemical type energy. They have a small supply of oil that is used mainly as a lubricant, but it is a small supply and it can be replenished only at extreme cost and risk. Petro-chemicals are not burned under any circumstances. Nor are they converted into plastics. Zion is a city of metal. Plastics, like woods and other biological materials, are exceedingly rare.
Bigotry
Zion was founded by small handfuls of survivors who managed to escape the massacres that were going on in the cities of Earth. People of all races, and many cultures came together. By adversity and the need to survive, they were molded into one culture. Racial hatreds and cultural differences were set aside in the face of the desperate war they were fighting. The survivors looked at their cultural baggage and let go of anything that did not help them survive the rigors of their new life.
A Player would look on Zion as a city of cultural and racial mutts. The "look" of the average Zionite is darkish skin with hispanic, african or asian features, or some combination of those.
Like many pioneering cultures, there are distinct gender roles. Many fewer women than men serve on the front lines and as a result, there are more women than men alive in Zion. Having and raising children is considered an important and honorable job and many women do that while working part time at some other job in the city proper.
Zion is a city rallied around survival and there is little time for hate of anything but the Machines. However, there are people who are distrusted. People who do not pull their share are not liked. Neither are people who dissent too far from popular opinion. But, most of all, the people who are distrusted the most are Players. For starters, they look strange. The only people with pure caucasian features, or pure ethnic features of any race, are Players. Not only that, but they have are bound to the Machine in a way that makes most natural born Zionites nervous. While a Player rarely confronts actual hatred, many families would think twice about marrying one.
Food
In the early years of Zion, once the military rations were gone, the only food that was to be had was macrobiotic yeast. Over time, this has improved, but it still remains the staple of a diet in Zion.
After a few years of work, the engineers and bioengineers got plants and lights that would work together and over time caves filled with hydroponics were created. Many of these crops would be familiar to a Player - cotton and flax for clothes as well as corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and other vegetables for food. But in addition to the familiar vegetables, a renewed interest in herbs became important as people began to realize that the synthetic pharmaceuticals that had been developed in the previous century would not be able to be redeveloped soon, or perhaps ever.
Zion is a city of vegetarians. The only meat to be had is the descendants of the animals that followed humans into the city - i.e. dogs, cats, rats and mice. These animals are not considered food.
Family
Zion has abandoned the traditional one man-one woman marriage. While those arrangements do happen - typically between couples who are both based in Zion or in couples where one or both of the members are Players - their very smallness makes it difficult to guarantee the welfare of the next generation if one or both of the parents were killed. Arrangements vary. Triads, quads, lines and clans can all be found. Regardless, the cardinal rule is take care of the children. See them educated. They ARE the future, in a very real sense.
Government
Zion began as a refugee camp and grew into the headquarters of what resistance the free humans could muster. It has always been led by the military and, so long as it goes on, so long as the city's singular purpose is to defeat the Machines, it will continue to be led by the military. It is a dictatorship, but one where the leader does not need to have troops in the street. People are united in their purpose of defeating the Machines. There may be dissent on tactics, but by and large, not enough to lead the city rise up. Things are well run. Democracy is a luxury of another age.
The Calendar and Festival
Time in Zion is no longer tied closely to the sun. By tradition, they keep a 24 hour "day" and a 365 day "year", but in practice, Zion is truly a city that never sleeps. People are likely to talk about a "quarter-thou" (250 hours) for an increment of time roughly equivalent to ten days, or a "thou" (1000 hours) for an increment of time about a month. "Week" and "Month" are also used but time is a rather fluid concept.
Years are counted since the official "founding" date and that was ??? years ago. A year is broken into two halves of 180 days, separated by "Festival" which lasts for 5 days in between.
The experience of "Festival" varies depending on age. For a child, it is a time of silliness and pranks, and, perhaps presents. As children become adults, the pleasures become more carnal and wild but the drunken debauchery masks a core that is more solemn. For those entering the military, graduation is immediately before Festival and typically ships leave Zion after Festival. For an adult, it is a reflective time and a chance to celebrate with their families. For all, Festival is a time of music, dancing and special holiday foods. It is a time to blow off steam and rejoice in being alive.
| matrix-info@downwardspiral.net | The Matrix Role Playing Game at downwardspiral.net | updated 2/21/2000 |
