Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/The Sprawls

"The sky above the city is the color of a television tuned to a dead channel..."

-Opening of National Geographic's award-winning documentary 'Life in the Sprawls'

The Sprawl is the main way that the Lumeris Syndicate operates as a corporation. Basically a corporate city, the Syndicate crams as much industry, commerce, and illegalities into an area it has, keeping all the workers inside the Sprawl's limits to maintain their dependency on the corporation. As semi-extraterritorial enclaves, the Syndicate is free to run it how they wish it.

To best understand the Sprawl, one should study how it's created. The Syndicate orders the stages into four of construction, and one if the Sprawl should fail. They are named after paintings in the Nathan Cole series The Course of the Empire, supposedly one of Romulus's favorites.

The Savage State
A sprawl is usually chosen from a very poor area. The inherent value of a Sprawl is what the Syndicate makes of it, so buying valuable land is just a waste of money. The favorite Sprawl locations are run-down, decayed urban areas. Many cities in the first world have areas that died with the rise of suburban areas, with only poor immigrants and elderly holdouts. Other cities in poorer countries were never rich to begin with. In any case, the remaining residents are either bribed or coerced out of their residences, and the Syndicate or a shell company can buy the whole area for a small amount. The advantage of this is that pre-remaining buildings can house the workers, executives, and less savory types while the mini-arcologies and sprawling high rises are built, possibly voiding the Arcadian State stage altogether.

The other, more common option is to build the Sprawl from the ground up. This only happens if the land is very cheap, as constructing a Sprawl is an expensive project. Sometimes the Syndicate can get a deal with closing military bases, or areas written off as a loss due to a disaster or similar circumstances. Cleanup priority is considered minimal. Other times, a grateful warlord who just conquered a nation the Syndicate wasn't fond of will shear off a sizable area for the Syndicate to use. Wars have been started for this reason alone. The most important thing for the Syndicate to consider is the usefulness of the Sprawl. A Sprawl in the middle of the Elonan Desert doesn't do anyone any good. At the very least, a Sprawl has to be a port if no other resources are available. In any case, The Syndicate then fences off the entire area and begins construction of the second stage.

The ability to gain land for a Sprawl varies widely with the nation. In a wealthy democracy, any politician who is "convinced" to go the Syndicate's way has a tendency to be voted out. A communist nation will right out forbid any Syndicate activity, and won't hesitate to take a sizable chunk of flesh from any executive trying to negotiate. The megacorporation of the Voshkod and other nations is an example of why Capitalism is so corrupt to begin with. The best place is either a poor third-world country without the strength to fight against the Syndicate, or any nation heavily in debt to the Syndicate (or, indeed, in T'au itself.)

The Arcadian State
The first phase of building the new sprawl is the construction of cheap buildings. This is to hold the workforce needed to build the sprawl, while Syndicate executives are kept in specialized temporary buildings, from mobile offices to trailer private suites. Even with all the technology in the world, it's still cheaper to use unskilled workers. Why pay for advanced AURA-driven machines, when a dose of narcotics will buy a man for a day? Construction is quick and crude, with minimal safety concerns. If concrete is too expensive, sheet metal, wood, or any manner of temporary construction material is used. As long as the workers are housed, then the Arcadian State can begin.

The temporary houses are more or less plopped at random in the area. As the next step is the lying down of roads and infrastructure, this will dictate how the Sprawl will shape up in the end. Confusing, twisting alleys are a bonus to the Syndicate; all the better to confuse invaders and provide places for outcasts to hide. In any case, asphalt is laid, sewers are dug, and power lines constructed. Throughout the site, small power generators are built, which produce power through whatever is most convenient, usually natural gas or oil. The foundations for a dome are always dug and set; even if the Sprawl doesn't get one, they're given the ability to.

Also at this moment, Legionnaires are shipped to the Sprawl site and keep the area under tight control. Any disobedient workers are punished, usually by fining money or drugs. This also serves to warn a Sprawl's home nation to not attempt to retake the site. By now, the Sprawl resembles a rough collection of crude buildings over most of the Sprawl area.

The Consummation of Empire
"Consumption. This is the new national pastime. People spending money they don't have on things they don't need . . . So they can max out their credit cards and spend the rest of their lives paying 18 percent interest on something that cost $12.50. And they didn't like it when they got it home anyway. Not too bright, folks, not too fuckin' bright."

-George Carlin

As soon as the road network is complete, the bidding process for the land begins for all the Syndicate subsidiaries. Lot sizes are not set; all that matters is how much is brought to the Sprawl's parent company. This can be money, favors, or the effects of blackmail and corporate sabotage. The only parts not for sale (officially) are the pre-existing buildings and infrastructure. Once a corporation has a lot, it can do anything it wants on it, though many corporations keep and sell it when demand is greater.

There is no planning commission for a Sprawl, so the buildings are built for maximum profit instead of any unifying vision. Buildings are made as tall as the corporations want it to be, and they're often right at the edge of a lot, and sometimes over a neighboring lot. More streets and further infrastructure can be built at will, leaving the city network of roads and power lines even more tangled. Bridges over streets are common; a housing corporation might agree to link its tenants with their jobs in return for a fee from the employer. These bridges can be a walkway for pedestrians, asphalt for vehicles, or even an entire plaza with smaller buildings! Even decorative architecture suffers; some buildings are in a Retro-Classical structure, while others are of the Brutalist design, with others everything in between. It's not uncommon for a free-running Satyr to jump off a Gothic gargoyle into a Modernist glass skyscraper and drag his unfortunate victim to a top of a Doric column.

Some common designs are enforced to prevent the Sprawl from being completely out of the Syndicate's control. All buildings are to be connected to the same AURA system; there can be no on-site only systems. This is of course a preventive measure from the Board of Classics in case any corporation needs to be punished, not any attempt to make the common Sprawl dweller's life easier. Neon is common; normal signs often can't be seen past the smog and darkness of a Sprawl, though advertisements are seen as more important that Stop Signs in this regard. Video monitors (or multiple monitors acting as one) are as common in the Sprawl as posters in a normal city; any company can rent them for whatever purpose they want. And to add the final touch, the Syndicate itself adds Classical touches to the city. Whether it's a bronze replica of the Capitoline Wolf or Latin phrases spelled in neon, they serve the same purpose: to remind everyone who's truly in charge.

The Destruction of Empire
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."

-Ayn Rand

At this point the city is filthy, crowded, and ugly, but more or less lawful. The Syndicate learned early on that this does not maximize profit, so it amorally strips away the thin veneer of civilization of the Sprawl by the simple act of withdrawing its free Legionnaire security. This action is not announced and comes suddenly. Almost at once, the corporations who were suddenly so friendly turn on each other, while the common people seek to plunder the shops and factories around them. Gun shops show a sudden spike in sales as the people arm themselves for either protection or for nefarious deeds.

In the meantime, the subsidiaries suddenly find themselves billed for the time they were protected, requiring massive cost-cutting measures in all of them. Layoffs and budget cuts are common, and not all corporations make it. Those that do often resort to corporate sabotage and outright warfare to secure contracts from the Board of Classics to make any sort of money. Those that can afford it soon purchase Legionnaire security.

Normal people are soon shooting each other over trivial things thanks to the environment around them. Many are unemployed and desperate, so they form gangs of like-minded people. These range in size from a few brothers making trouble to almost the size of an army. Often, these gangs are hired by poorer corporations to provide security and destroy their rivals; after all, it can't be proven in court that the gang was hired when they've spent all their hard-earned money on drugs.

After a while of hell, a status quo is established. The gangs are still there and the corporations are still desperate for contracts, so it's now a true Sprawl in all definitions. Normally this leads to stable, highly efficient production and export of goods. Sometimes, however, it doesn't go so smoothly.

Desolation
It's not unknown for Sprawls to eventually die. The most common way is for the Destruction of Empire phase to not stop. Called "Laissez-Faire", gang warfare becomes so rampant that too many people are being killed, too much capital destroyed, and too little work being done to support the Sprawl. Like a twisted nightmare of a person worried about a city being cut off from the outside world, food and drugs are cut off, and Sprawl dwellers start killing each other for reasons trivial even by earlier standards until a handful of people are left amongst the bullet-scarred and ruined buildings. The Syndicate has to restart again, which severely cuts into profits.

There are other ways for a Sprawl to die. Pollution can become so bad humans cannot live there anymore, the city can be destroyed by outside forces, the profits of the Sprawl become so low the Syndicate doesn't want to keep it, or countries nationalize the land. However, the Syndicate will usually rebuild a Sprawl instead of building a new one. Some of the older Sprawls have been rebuilt several times, on top of the rubble of the last. This is the case when one sees a shining new building next to a years-old half-ruined flat. Such a sight is symbolic of the Syndicate, perhaps above anything else.