WikiFur - User contributions [en]

Vagrant

2006-09-25T07:44:29Z

69.160.157.63:

2006-09-18T21:27:32Z

69.160.157.63:

Alpha City

2006-09-18T21:22:48Z

69.160.157.63:

{{cleanup}}

'''Alpha City''' was an [[mIRC]] free form role-playing game that existed on the [[RPGWorlds]] server from 1995-2004(?) under the management of [[QuyetPawz]], [[Dark_Wolf]], and a number of channel Ops. Much of the setting and artwork had been contributed by various players, and staff of the game. The game was briefly moved to the [[Esper]] server, where after a very short time, it was officially closed due to inactivity.

*'''Founder''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Administrators''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Ran from/to''': 1995 - 2004? The actual closing date is debated.

== The setting's history ==
As so many other great achievements and failures, Alpha City began with a vision—a dream.

In this case, it was the vision of an aspiring feline politician, Miriam Raas: A vision of a city—a great city—pooling the resources of the surrounding countryside and using them for the common good and progress, unlike the other city-states in the region: Petty townlets or walled fortresses whose neo-feodalistic rulers spent their wealth for their own comfort alone. Gathering a group of politicians and volunteers of all kinds and races in a rare display of racial and cultural tolerance, Raas began to campaign for this new city—this Alpha City—in the autumn of 1971. With the help many skilled politicians and intense volunteer speakers, her Alpha Party gained nearly 30% of the votes in the elections in the region that was to become Alpha City.

In 1972, the Alpha Party won the elections with an astounding 86% of all votes. Alpha City was officially founded, comprised of nearly three dozen minor cities and towns. A massive relocation project was initiated, as land was cleared for the massive research and industrial centres that were to form the core of Alpha City policies. Offering modern workshops and laboratories at attractive prices, and generous subsidies to science, Raas managed to entice scientists from hundreds of miles around to gather in Alpha City, whose population were glad to oblige by paying their increasingly high taxes for the common good.

Initially, everything seemed to work exactly as planned. Alpha City research and technology leapt ahead of all other cities, thanks to the number of skilled scientists. The high-technological industry achieved an annual growth of over 40%, and as other cities were forced to trade with the city for the newest technology, the money that the tax payers had spent began to return.

In 1985, when Raas had been re-elected twice, Alpha City was the most advanced city in the known world, and one of the more prosperous.

This was the reason for its downfall.

With a vast amount of wealth gathered in one place, large numbers of successful and rich scientists and businessmen, the lords of the underworld, crime lords of other cities possessed of great power and influence, began to leer at this glorious fruit ripe for the picking. Just as scientists had began to immigrate some twelve years earlier, criminals of all kinds flooded Alpha City. The ingenious but gentle Raas was unprepared to deal with the sudden tsunami of violence and corruption that swept the city. The public cried out for drastic measures, and the regard for their benefactor began to dissipate.

Despite her efforts to strengthen the police forces and control the crime, Miriam Raas won the election in 1986 by a narrow 7%. Forced to co-operate with the more radical parties in order to retain her power, Raas agreed to the so-called Lupine League’s suggestion of founding a new branch of the police force—an all-canine force called the Canine Law Enforcement Division.

The Lupine League quickly proceeded to select some of their most competent and loyal followers for leading positions within the CLED, and sacrificed vast amounts of their own economic resources to help finance this new law enforcement division. Although this was, on the surface, a selfless sacrifice for the good of the city that might do much damage against the League itself, it soon became obvious that the reasons were subtler and the reasoning behind the CLED more cunning than had first been apparent.

At the time of the following mayoral election, crime rates had dropped by 40%, and it was only by clearing several of the Lupine League’s projects that Raas could remain as mayor. The majority of her advisors and assistants were now members of the Lupine League rather than of her own Alpha Party, and it soon became clear that she had been re-elected mayor more as a matter of tradition—she had, after all, been the mayor since the city was founded—than because the citizens expected her to govern the city.

In 1986, several great changes took place in Alpha City. For the good of the city, it was said, and in order to prevent the immigration of criminals that had taken place some years earlier, the city was to be sealed. The building of a vast barricade began. Three years later, all of Alpha City was surrounded by a wall of steel and concrete over a hundred feet tall, and the construction was never entirely abandoned. Immigration became a difficult matter, and the officials at the gates and immigration offices obviously favoured canines above others, and felines in particular were discouraged to enter.

Nevertheless, the Lupine League was successful. With the resources available to the CLED ever rising, crime rates kept dropping dramatically, and as several newspapers began to point out the pattern as both crime and feline immigration decreased, the once-equal society of Alpha City began to deteriorate. Feline protests that the figures were taken out of context—the decrease in crime owing more to the CLED than any decrease in immigration—or that these articles were sponsored by the Lupine League were all disregarded.

In the following election of 1990, Raas was re-elected mayor once more, but this time all but a scant few of her assistants were members of the Party for Law Enforcement, as the Lupine League had been renamed. Using their name to reminisce of the CLED, the PLE increased in popularity even as their supporters in the news business published fabricated evidence of the participation of the felines in the Invasion, as they called it, of criminals some years earlier. At the same time, each feline response was rigorously examined, and every discrepancy was harshly reprimanded; every lie severely punished.

It was around 1990 that Alpha City truly began to become segregated. With the building of the great wall, parts of the city had been cast into near-perpetual shadow, and a ghetto began to take form along the wall itself. As the city’s growth was now impeded by the wall, buildings began to grow taller, and land values rose logarithmically. Those that were poor became impoverished even if they did move to the slums, and thousands of people were rendered homeless, mostly felines. A municipal agency to provide for these unfortunates was founded, but in reality only canines received any help.

As this development proceeded, the inner city became an entirely different world from the slums near the wall. Beautiful parks were made with fountains and statues of canines that had allegedly played a great part in the founding of Alpha City. Other than Miriam Raas, not one feline was depicted. Meanwhile, the slums became worse and worse, and crime rates rose at an alarming rate. Quite obviously, felines were the main perpetrators, as they were impoverished and could sometimes not survive without breaking the law. As canines and other upper-class citizens raised an outcry, a barrier of electronic gates was erected about the inner city, where heavily armed CLED officers stood guard. No one without a special Inner City Pass could enter, and although in theory all races were still equal, only non-felines were allowed a pass.

As more and more of the city’s income was spent on the construction of the great wall, the inner barricade, the construction of taller and thus more expensive buildings, and the CLED, less and less money became available for research. Other cities, previously jealous of Alpha City’s rapid progress, refused to share their newer results. In only ten years, the city had deteriorated from the most advanced city in the known world to a backwater. Those scientists that could fled the city, and soon more restrictive rules for emigration were enforced. Once again, canines were left without practical restrictions, whereas the oppressed feline population were forced to stay.

In midwinter, 1999, pending the mayoral election, Miriam Raas died in what the newspapers referred to as a tragic accident as she fell of her balcony, plummeting to her death on the street over a hundred storeys below. When feline press feebly raised suspicious of murder, canine authorities immediately pointed out Raas’s personal retainers; old friends and all feline. Although no formal trial was held, they were never seen again. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Raeth Karr, a black wolf, was announced as the new mayor. Votes were never accounted for.

== The setting's present ==

Since the death of Miriam Raas, Alpha City has been ruled exclusively by non-felines, and only a handful of the people with any kind of power are anything but canines. The newly appointed Lord Mayor Reath Karr has been known for his anti-feline sentiments, and despondent felines know that if the situation is bad now, it will only get worse with Karr as mayor.

The canines of Alpha City have become an elite. Almost all politicians are canine; most major businessmen, scientists, artists and so forth are canine, as well as all doctors for canines. Since canines comprise almost 50% of the population, many of them do, of course, have more menial tasks, but in general they work less and not as hard but get paid more than felines.

Felines, on the other hand, have come to comprise the lowest classes. Even though they comprise almost 50% of the population, being about as numerous as the canines, it has been estimated that less than 5% of the city’s official economic assets are under feline control. Those that can usually work in the heavy industry or with menial tasks such as cleaning, garbage disposal et cetera, but many are forced to take other, more distasteful jobs. Strip clubs, run-down bars and cheap, filthy hotels abound in the Wall area. Even so, almost 40% of all felines are unemployed, and it is estimated that the crime rates are similar.

The few denizens of Alpha City that are neither canine nor feline belong to neither group. While felines hate canines almost as strongly as the latter despise and scorn the former, both groups acknowledge other races as a rule. These ‘neither-people’, as they are referred to as a group, generally work as office assistants, assistant managers or other jobs related to the canines if they can, although some, unable to find employment, dwell in the slum with the felines. Although canines can move about in the slum, they rarely choose to, and thus the neithers are the only citizens of Alpha City that can truly move about freely.

== The Inner City ==

Sealed away from the outer city and the slums with great electric fences and gates tipped with spikes or barbed wire lies the Inner City. CLED troops guard all entrances, and only those with IC passes are permitted entry.

Most of the buildings of the Inner City are a hundred storeys or more. The Alpha Tower, serving as office and home to the mayor and his senior staff, looms above the entire city with its awesome 568 metres. The entire area is characterised by large, well-built buildings interspaced with green parks boasting statues and fountains. Even though 40% of the city’s population lives here, it is generally calm and peaceful, and the only sign of the turmoil in Alpha City is the omnipresent patrols of CLED officers who guard against any feline invasion or treacherous breakout.

== The Outer City and the Wall ==

Outside the Inner city lie all those elements that the good canines of the upper classes might find disturbing or uncouth. Here, far beyond the beautiful homes of the canines, lie all the heavy, smog-producing industries and workshops; here dwell all of the felines, the unfortunate neithers, and the few canines who, for some offence or other, were cast out of the Inner City.

Although nominally under the control of the CLED, the populace of the Outer City do not generally think of the PLE as their rulers. When a canine of the upper classes walks by, all step aside, and none but the most foolhardy few would dare do more than whisper behind the backs of the canine, but when the CLED is not around, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme.

Since the PLE came to govern Alpha City, little effort has been made to clean out the crime in the feline areas. After the deterioration of the Outer City began, it was not uncommon for canines who were foolish enough to stray from the broader avenues to get robbed, beaten, or murdered. The CLED, however, put a swift end to this, and with a combination of brutal reprisals for any offence against canines and rewards and bribes for those who betray a perpetrator of such a heinous crime they exert just enough power over the Outer City that canines may walk the streets safely even at night. Beyond that, however, they simply don’t care if the crimes lords rule, and the latter have seized their opportunity.

The Wall, or more correctly, the dark part of Alpha City that lies in the eternal shadow of the Wall, is the most dangerous and the most corrupted area. Here, even canines hesitate to walk alone in the dark—even though the PLE is as effective here as elsewhere, some of the denizens of the Wall are bold, foolish or desperate enough to assault canines even though they rationally know that vengeance will be swift and painful.

== The CLED and canine-feline relations ==

Although the CLED began as a police force, and an effective one at that, it has since become the soldiers of the canine elite. CLED officers are strictly canine—here is the one area where not even their neither allies are allowed. Within the barriers of the Inner City, where only canines dwell, they are indeed a police force, and a police force with precious little occupation, as crime rates among the canines are very low, thanks to brutal measures when such corruption is detected.

The CLED in the Outer City is a different matter altogether. Other than making the occasional raids of reprisal when some canine has been molested—where they make certain that not only the perpetrators are killed, to set proper examples—they serve as a soldiery to remind the felines of their subservience. Matters are made even worse by the fact that the laws of the Outer City are quite different from those enforced by the CLED.

As is always the case where poverty and crime prevail, drug use is widespread in all of the Outer City, and thousands of the city’s denizens dwell on the streets in a constant stupor. The CLED, however, maintains that the use of any narcotics outside of medical treatment is strictly prohibited, and enforces this law with the same brutality as any other. Likewise, they regard strip clubs, casinos and many bars as little or no better than illegal, and have been known to make raids without apparent reason.

== The crime lords ==

Where the arm of the CLED cannot reach, or is unwilling to explore, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme. Although organised crime is common throughout the Outer City, almost all of the crime lords themselves dwell in the comfortable shadows of the Wall, where few canines ever dare or care to walk, and where there are countless thousands of nooks, holes and crannies to hide should trouble arrive after all.

Even though these crime lords claim that they are not afraid of the CLED or the city’s rulers, they always stay away from the strictly canine affairs, such as the caravans of trucks and trains importing foodstuff into the city, or the similar caravans and trains exporting chemical products and machinery. The main prey of the crime lords are the felines and unfortunates of their own territory.

The only reason why no crime lord rules the entire Outer City, and musters enough strength to challenge the PLE, is that there are simply too many crime lords, and the CLED always cunningly maintains this balance. It is believed that there are at least 36 major crime syndicates operating in the Outer City, along with a countless number of gangs and minor constellations.

== Characters ==

* QuyetPawz - Female Snow Leopard
* Dune - Female Feline/Canine cross
* Sarin - Male Lion
* Volk - Male Wolf
* Ice - Female Snow Leopard
* Lr`Ron - Male Wolf
As Alpha City grew, so did its unique characters, including a set of horse/birds that were determined to see the Apocalypse, a cannibalistic yet charming cat, and a huge number of interesting personalities.

[[Category:Multiplayer worlds]][[Category:1995 births]][[Category:2002 deaths]]

Alpha City

2006-09-18T21:20:43Z

69.160.157.63:

{{cleanup}}

'''Alpha City''' was an [[mIRC]] free form role-playing game that existed on the [[RPGWorlds]] server from 1995-2004(?) under the management of [[QuyetPawz]], [[Dark_Wolf]], and a number of channel Ops. Much of the setting and artwork had been contributed by various players, and staff of the game. The game was briefly moved to the [[Esper]] server, where after a very short time, it was officially closed due to inactivity and staff problems.

*'''Founder''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Administrators''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Ran from/to''': 1995 - 2004? The actual closing date is debated.

== The setting's history ==
As so many other great achievements and failures, Alpha City began with a vision—a dream.

In this case, it was the vision of an aspiring feline politician, Miriam Raas: A vision of a city—a great city—pooling the resources of the surrounding countryside and using them for the common good and progress, unlike the other city-states in the region: Petty townlets or walled fortresses whose neo-feodalistic rulers spent their wealth for their own comfort alone. Gathering a group of politicians and volunteers of all kinds and races in a rare display of racial and cultural tolerance, Raas began to campaign for this new city—this Alpha City—in the autumn of 1971. With the help many skilled politicians and intense volunteer speakers, her Alpha Party gained nearly 30% of the votes in the elections in the region that was to become Alpha City.

In 1972, the Alpha Party won the elections with an astounding 86% of all votes. Alpha City was officially founded, comprised of nearly three dozen minor cities and towns. A massive relocation project was initiated, as land was cleared for the massive research and industrial centres that were to form the core of Alpha City policies. Offering modern workshops and laboratories at attractive prices, and generous subsidies to science, Raas managed to entice scientists from hundreds of miles around to gather in Alpha City, whose population were glad to oblige by paying their increasingly high taxes for the common good.

Initially, everything seemed to work exactly as planned. Alpha City research and technology leapt ahead of all other cities, thanks to the number of skilled scientists. The high-technological industry achieved an annual growth of over 40%, and as other cities were forced to trade with the city for the newest technology, the money that the tax payers had spent began to return.

In 1985, when Raas had been re-elected twice, Alpha City was the most advanced city in the known world, and one of the more prosperous.

This was the reason for its downfall.

With a vast amount of wealth gathered in one place, large numbers of successful and rich scientists and businessmen, the lords of the underworld, crime lords of other cities possessed of great power and influence, began to leer at this glorious fruit ripe for the picking. Just as scientists had began to immigrate some twelve years earlier, criminals of all kinds flooded Alpha City. The ingenious but gentle Raas was unprepared to deal with the sudden tsunami of violence and corruption that swept the city. The public cried out for drastic measures, and the regard for their benefactor began to dissipate.

Despite her efforts to strengthen the police forces and control the crime, Miriam Raas won the election in 1986 by a narrow 7%. Forced to co-operate with the more radical parties in order to retain her power, Raas agreed to the so-called Lupine League’s suggestion of founding a new branch of the police force—an all-canine force called the Canine Law Enforcement Division.

The Lupine League quickly proceeded to select some of their most competent and loyal followers for leading positions within the CLED, and sacrificed vast amounts of their own economic resources to help finance this new law enforcement division. Although this was, on the surface, a selfless sacrifice for the good of the city that might do much damage against the League itself, it soon became obvious that the reasons were subtler and the reasoning behind the CLED more cunning than had first been apparent.

At the time of the following mayoral election, crime rates had dropped by 40%, and it was only by clearing several of the Lupine League’s projects that Raas could remain as mayor. The majority of her advisors and assistants were now members of the Lupine League rather than of her own Alpha Party, and it soon became clear that she had been re-elected mayor more as a matter of tradition—she had, after all, been the mayor since the city was founded—than because the citizens expected her to govern the city.

In 1986, several great changes took place in Alpha City. For the good of the city, it was said, and in order to prevent the immigration of criminals that had taken place some years earlier, the city was to be sealed. The building of a vast barricade began. Three years later, all of Alpha City was surrounded by a wall of steel and concrete over a hundred feet tall, and the construction was never entirely abandoned. Immigration became a difficult matter, and the officials at the gates and immigration offices obviously favoured canines above others, and felines in particular were discouraged to enter.

Nevertheless, the Lupine League was successful. With the resources available to the CLED ever rising, crime rates kept dropping dramatically, and as several newspapers began to point out the pattern as both crime and feline immigration decreased, the once-equal society of Alpha City began to deteriorate. Feline protests that the figures were taken out of context—the decrease in crime owing more to the CLED than any decrease in immigration—or that these articles were sponsored by the Lupine League were all disregarded.

In the following election of 1990, Raas was re-elected mayor once more, but this time all but a scant few of her assistants were members of the Party for Law Enforcement, as the Lupine League had been renamed. Using their name to reminisce of the CLED, the PLE increased in popularity even as their supporters in the news business published fabricated evidence of the participation of the felines in the Invasion, as they called it, of criminals some years earlier. At the same time, each feline response was rigorously examined, and every discrepancy was harshly reprimanded; every lie severely punished.

It was around 1990 that Alpha City truly began to become segregated. With the building of the great wall, parts of the city had been cast into near-perpetual shadow, and a ghetto began to take form along the wall itself. As the city’s growth was now impeded by the wall, buildings began to grow taller, and land values rose logarithmically. Those that were poor became impoverished even if they did move to the slums, and thousands of people were rendered homeless, mostly felines. A municipal agency to provide for these unfortunates was founded, but in reality only canines received any help.

As this development proceeded, the inner city became an entirely different world from the slums near the wall. Beautiful parks were made with fountains and statues of canines that had allegedly played a great part in the founding of Alpha City. Other than Miriam Raas, not one feline was depicted. Meanwhile, the slums became worse and worse, and crime rates rose at an alarming rate. Quite obviously, felines were the main perpetrators, as they were impoverished and could sometimes not survive without breaking the law. As canines and other upper-class citizens raised an outcry, a barrier of electronic gates was erected about the inner city, where heavily armed CLED officers stood guard. No one without a special Inner City Pass could enter, and although in theory all races were still equal, only non-felines were allowed a pass.

As more and more of the city’s income was spent on the construction of the great wall, the inner barricade, the construction of taller and thus more expensive buildings, and the CLED, less and less money became available for research. Other cities, previously jealous of Alpha City’s rapid progress, refused to share their newer results. In only ten years, the city had deteriorated from the most advanced city in the known world to a backwater. Those scientists that could fled the city, and soon more restrictive rules for emigration were enforced. Once again, canines were left without practical restrictions, whereas the oppressed feline population were forced to stay.

In midwinter, 1999, pending the mayoral election, Miriam Raas died in what the newspapers referred to as a tragic accident as she fell of her balcony, plummeting to her death on the street over a hundred storeys below. When feline press feebly raised suspicious of murder, canine authorities immediately pointed out Raas’s personal retainers; old friends and all feline. Although no formal trial was held, they were never seen again. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Raeth Karr, a black wolf, was announced as the new mayor. Votes were never accounted for.

== The setting's present ==

Since the death of Miriam Raas, Alpha City has been ruled exclusively by non-felines, and only a handful of the people with any kind of power are anything but canines. The newly appointed Lord Mayor Reath Karr has been known for his anti-feline sentiments, and despondent felines know that if the situation is bad now, it will only get worse with Karr as mayor.

The canines of Alpha City have become an elite. Almost all politicians are canine; most major businessmen, scientists, artists and so forth are canine, as well as all doctors for canines. Since canines comprise almost 50% of the population, many of them do, of course, have more menial tasks, but in general they work less and not as hard but get paid more than felines.

Felines, on the other hand, have come to comprise the lowest classes. Even though they comprise almost 50% of the population, being about as numerous as the canines, it has been estimated that less than 5% of the city’s official economic assets are under feline control. Those that can usually work in the heavy industry or with menial tasks such as cleaning, garbage disposal et cetera, but many are forced to take other, more distasteful jobs. Strip clubs, run-down bars and cheap, filthy hotels abound in the Wall area. Even so, almost 40% of all felines are unemployed, and it is estimated that the crime rates are similar.

The few denizens of Alpha City that are neither canine nor feline belong to neither group. While felines hate canines almost as strongly as the latter despise and scorn the former, both groups acknowledge other races as a rule. These ‘neither-people’, as they are referred to as a group, generally work as office assistants, assistant managers or other jobs related to the canines if they can, although some, unable to find employment, dwell in the slum with the felines. Although canines can move about in the slum, they rarely choose to, and thus the neithers are the only citizens of Alpha City that can truly move about freely.

== The Inner City ==

Sealed away from the outer city and the slums with great electric fences and gates tipped with spikes or barbed wire lies the Inner City. CLED troops guard all entrances, and only those with IC passes are permitted entry.

Most of the buildings of the Inner City are a hundred storeys or more. The Alpha Tower, serving as office and home to the mayor and his senior staff, looms above the entire city with its awesome 568 metres. The entire area is characterised by large, well-built buildings interspaced with green parks boasting statues and fountains. Even though 40% of the city’s population lives here, it is generally calm and peaceful, and the only sign of the turmoil in Alpha City is the omnipresent patrols of CLED officers who guard against any feline invasion or treacherous breakout.

== The Outer City and the Wall ==

Outside the Inner city lie all those elements that the good canines of the upper classes might find disturbing or uncouth. Here, far beyond the beautiful homes of the canines, lie all the heavy, smog-producing industries and workshops; here dwell all of the felines, the unfortunate neithers, and the few canines who, for some offence or other, were cast out of the Inner City.

Although nominally under the control of the CLED, the populace of the Outer City do not generally think of the PLE as their rulers. When a canine of the upper classes walks by, all step aside, and none but the most foolhardy few would dare do more than whisper behind the backs of the canine, but when the CLED is not around, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme.

Since the PLE came to govern Alpha City, little effort has been made to clean out the crime in the feline areas. After the deterioration of the Outer City began, it was not uncommon for canines who were foolish enough to stray from the broader avenues to get robbed, beaten, or murdered. The CLED, however, put a swift end to this, and with a combination of brutal reprisals for any offence against canines and rewards and bribes for those who betray a perpetrator of such a heinous crime they exert just enough power over the Outer City that canines may walk the streets safely even at night. Beyond that, however, they simply don’t care if the crimes lords rule, and the latter have seized their opportunity.

The Wall, or more correctly, the dark part of Alpha City that lies in the eternal shadow of the Wall, is the most dangerous and the most corrupted area. Here, even canines hesitate to walk alone in the dark—even though the PLE is as effective here as elsewhere, some of the denizens of the Wall are bold, foolish or desperate enough to assault canines even though they rationally know that vengeance will be swift and painful.

== The CLED and canine-feline relations ==

Although the CLED began as a police force, and an effective one at that, it has since become the soldiers of the canine elite. CLED officers are strictly canine—here is the one area where not even their neither allies are allowed. Within the barriers of the Inner City, where only canines dwell, they are indeed a police force, and a police force with precious little occupation, as crime rates among the canines are very low, thanks to brutal measures when such corruption is detected.

The CLED in the Outer City is a different matter altogether. Other than making the occasional raids of reprisal when some canine has been molested—where they make certain that not only the perpetrators are killed, to set proper examples—they serve as a soldiery to remind the felines of their subservience. Matters are made even worse by the fact that the laws of the Outer City are quite different from those enforced by the CLED.

As is always the case where poverty and crime prevail, drug use is widespread in all of the Outer City, and thousands of the city’s denizens dwell on the streets in a constant stupor. The CLED, however, maintains that the use of any narcotics outside of medical treatment is strictly prohibited, and enforces this law with the same brutality as any other. Likewise, they regard strip clubs, casinos and many bars as little or no better than illegal, and have been known to make raids without apparent reason.

== The crime lords ==

Where the arm of the CLED cannot reach, or is unwilling to explore, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme. Although organised crime is common throughout the Outer City, almost all of the crime lords themselves dwell in the comfortable shadows of the Wall, where few canines ever dare or care to walk, and where there are countless thousands of nooks, holes and crannies to hide should trouble arrive after all.

Even though these crime lords claim that they are not afraid of the CLED or the city’s rulers, they always stay away from the strictly canine affairs, such as the caravans of trucks and trains importing foodstuff into the city, or the similar caravans and trains exporting chemical products and machinery. The main prey of the crime lords are the felines and unfortunates of their own territory.

The only reason why no crime lord rules the entire Outer City, and musters enough strength to challenge the PLE, is that there are simply too many crime lords, and the CLED always cunningly maintains this balance. It is believed that there are at least 36 major crime syndicates operating in the Outer City, along with a countless number of gangs and minor constellations.

== Characters ==

* QuyetPawz - Female Snow Leopard
* Dune - Female Feline/Canine cross
* Sarin - Male Lion
* Volk - Male Wolf
* Ice - Female Snow Leopard
* Lr`Ron - Male Wolf
As Alpha City grew, so did its unique characters, including a set of horse/birds that were determined to see the Apocalypse, a cannibalistic yet charming cat, and a huge number of interesting personalities.

[[Category:Multiplayer worlds]][[Category:1995 births]][[Category:2002 deaths]]

Vagrant

2006-09-14T01:49:04Z

69.160.157.63:

'''Vagrant''' is a free-form [[role-playing]] game, based in IRC channels, with [[anthropomorphic]] characters. The war-torn setting includes city-states and the desert Outlands. Currently the game is undergoing various changes, and is expected to have a site update in the near future with a new, expanded setting.

* '''Addresses''':
** '''Website''': http://the-vagrants.com/
** '''[[LiveJournal]]''': http://community.livejournal.com/vagrants/
* '''Ran from/to''': 2003? - present

== [[Character]]s ==

* [http://www.the-vagrants.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=659 Decker] - Female Wolf
* [http://www.the-vagrants.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=756 Haggard] - Male Bison
* [http://www.the-vagrants.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=620 Jiro] - Hokkaido Dog
* [http://www.the-vagrants.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=587 Ronnie] - Male Wolverine
* [http://www.the-vagrants.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=739 Xen] - Female Black-Necked Spitting Cobra

{{mp-world-stub}}

[[Category:Multiplayer worlds]]
[[Category:2003 births]]

Alpha City

2006-09-14T01:39:01Z

69.160.157.63:

'''Alpha City''' was an [[mIRC]] free form role-playing game that existed on the [[RPGWorlds]] server from 1995-2004(?) under the management of [[QuyetPawz]], [[Dark_Wolf]], and a number of channel Ops. Much of the setting and artwork had been contributed by various players, and staff of the game. The game was briefly moved to the [[Esper]] server, where after a very short time, it was officially closed.

*'''Founder''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Administrators''': QuyetPawz, Dark_Wolf
*'''Ran from/to''': 1995 - 2004? The actual closing date is debated.

== The setting's history ==
As so many other great achievements and failures, Alpha City began with a vision—a dream.

In this case, it was the vision of an aspiring feline politician, Miriam Raas: A vision of a city—a great city—pooling the resources of the surrounding countryside and using them for the common good and progress, unlike the other city-states in the region: Petty townlets or walled fortresses whose neo-feodalistic rulers spent their wealth for their own comfort alone. Gathering a group of politicians and volunteers of all kinds and races in a rare display of racial and cultural tolerance, Raas began to campaign for this new city—this Alpha City—in the autumn of 1971. With the help many skilled politicians and intense volunteer speakers, her Alpha Party gained nearly 30% of the votes in the elections in the region that was to become Alpha City.

In 1972, the Alpha Party won the elections with an astounding 86% of all votes. Alpha City was officially founded, comprised of nearly three dozen minor cities and towns. A massive relocation project was initiated, as land was cleared for the massive research and industrial centres that were to form the core of Alpha City policies. Offering modern workshops and laboratories at attractive prices, and generous subsidies to science, Raas managed to entice scientists from hundreds of miles around to gather in Alpha City, whose population were glad to oblige by paying their increasingly high taxes for the common good.

Initially, everything seemed to work exactly as planned. Alpha City research and technology leapt ahead of all other cities, thanks to the number of skilled scientists. The high-technological industry achieved an annual growth of over 40%, and as other cities were forced to trade with the city for the newest technology, the money that the tax payers had spent began to return.

In 1985, when Raas had been re-elected twice, Alpha City was the most advanced city in the known world, and one of the more prosperous.

This was the reason for its downfall.

With a vast amount of wealth gathered in one place, large numbers of successful and rich scientists and businessmen, the lords of the underworld, crime lords of other cities possessed of great power and influence, began to leer at this glorious fruit ripe for the picking. Just as scientists had began to immigrate some twelve years earlier, criminals of all kinds flooded Alpha City. The ingenious but gentle Raas was unprepared to deal with the sudden tsunami of violence and corruption that swept the city. The public cried out for drastic measures, and the regard for their benefactor began to dissipate.

Despite her efforts to strengthen the police forces and control the crime, Miriam Raas won the election in 1986 by a narrow 7%. Forced to co-operate with the more radical parties in order to retain her power, Raas agreed to the so-called Lupine League’s suggestion of founding a new branch of the police force—an all-canine force called the Canine Law Enforcement Division.

The Lupine League quickly proceeded to select some of their most competent and loyal followers for leading positions within the CLED, and sacrificed vast amounts of their own economic resources to help finance this new law enforcement division. Although this was, on the surface, a selfless sacrifice for the good of the city that might do much damage against the League itself, it soon became obvious that the reasons were subtler and the reasoning behind the CLED more cunning than had first been apparent.

At the time of the following mayoral election, crime rates had dropped by 40%, and it was only by clearing several of the Lupine League’s projects that Raas could remain as mayor. The majority of her advisors and assistants were now members of the Lupine League rather than of her own Alpha Party, and it soon became clear that she had been re-elected mayor more as a matter of tradition—she had, after all, been the mayor since the city was founded—than because the citizens expected her to govern the city.

In 1986, several great changes took place in Alpha City. For the good of the city, it was said, and in order to prevent the immigration of criminals that had taken place some years earlier, the city was to be sealed. The building of a vast barricade began. Three years later, all of Alpha City was surrounded by a wall of steel and concrete over a hundred feet tall, and the construction was never entirely abandoned. Immigration became a difficult matter, and the officials at the gates and immigration offices obviously favoured canines above others, and felines in particular were discouraged to enter.

Nevertheless, the Lupine League was successful. With the resources available to the CLED ever rising, crime rates kept dropping dramatically, and as several newspapers began to point out the pattern as both crime and feline immigration decreased, the once-equal society of Alpha City began to deteriorate. Feline protests that the figures were taken out of context—the decrease in crime owing more to the CLED than any decrease in immigration—or that these articles were sponsored by the Lupine League were all disregarded.

In the following election of 1990, Raas was re-elected mayor once more, but this time all but a scant few of her assistants were members of the Party for Law Enforcement, as the Lupine League had been renamed. Using their name to reminisce of the CLED, the PLE increased in popularity even as their supporters in the news business published fabricated evidence of the participation of the felines in the Invasion, as they called it, of criminals some years earlier. At the same time, each feline response was rigorously examined, and every discrepancy was harshly reprimanded; every lie severely punished.

It was around 1990 that Alpha City truly began to become segregated. With the building of the great wall, parts of the city had been cast into near-perpetual shadow, and a ghetto began to take form along the wall itself. As the city’s growth was now impeded by the wall, buildings began to grow taller, and land values rose logarithmically. Those that were poor became impoverished even if they did move to the slums, and thousands of people were rendered homeless, mostly felines. A municipal agency to provide for these unfortunates was founded, but in reality only canines received any help.

As this development proceeded, the inner city became an entirely different world from the slums near the wall. Beautiful parks were made with fountains and statues of canines that had allegedly played a great part in the founding of Alpha City. Other than Miriam Raas, not one feline was depicted. Meanwhile, the slums became worse and worse, and crime rates rose at an alarming rate. Quite obviously, felines were the main perpetrators, as they were impoverished and could sometimes not survive without breaking the law. As canines and other upper-class citizens raised an outcry, a barrier of electronic gates was erected about the inner city, where heavily armed CLED officers stood guard. No one without a special Inner City Pass could enter, and although in theory all races were still equal, only non-felines were allowed a pass.

As more and more of the city’s income was spent on the construction of the great wall, the inner barricade, the construction of taller and thus more expensive buildings, and the CLED, less and less money became available for research. Other cities, previously jealous of Alpha City’s rapid progress, refused to share their newer results. In only ten years, the city had deteriorated from the most advanced city in the known world to a backwater. Those scientists that could fled the city, and soon more restrictive rules for emigration were enforced. Once again, canines were left without practical restrictions, whereas the oppressed feline population were forced to stay.

In midwinter, 1999, pending the mayoral election, Miriam Raas died in what the newspapers referred to as a tragic accident as she fell of her balcony, plummeting to her death on the street over a hundred storeys below. When feline press feebly raised suspicious of murder, canine authorities immediately pointed out Raas’s personal retainers; old friends and all feline. Although no formal trial was held, they were never seen again. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Raeth Karr, a black wolf, was announced as the new mayor. Votes were never accounted for.

== The setting's present ==

Since the death of Miriam Raas, Alpha City has been ruled exclusively by non-felines, and only a handful of the people with any kind of power are anything but canines. The newly appointed Lord Mayor Reath Karr has been known for his anti-feline sentiments, and despondent felines know that if the situation is bad now, it will only get worse with Karr as mayor.

The canines of Alpha City have become an elite. Almost all politicians are canine; most major businessmen, scientists, artists and so forth are canine, as well as all doctors for canines. Since canines comprise almost 50% of the population, many of them do, of course, have more menial tasks, but in general they work less and not as hard but get paid more than felines.

Felines, on the other hand, have come to comprise the lowest classes. Even though they comprise almost 50% of the population, being about as numerous as the canines, it has been estimated that less than 5% of the city’s official economic assets are under feline control. Those that can usually work in the heavy industry or with menial tasks such as cleaning, garbage disposal et cetera, but many are forced to take other, more distasteful jobs. Strip clubs, run-down bars and cheap, filthy hotels abound in the Wall area. Even so, almost 40% of all felines are unemployed, and it is estimated that the crime rates are similar.

The few denizens of Alpha City that are neither canine nor feline belong to neither group. While felines hate canines almost as strongly as the latter despise and scorn the former, both groups acknowledge other races as a rule. These ‘neither-people’, as they are referred to as a group, generally work as office assistants, assistant managers or other jobs related to the canines if they can, although some, unable to find employment, dwell in the slum with the felines. Although canines can move about in the slum, they rarely choose to, and thus the neithers are the only citizens of Alpha City that can truly move about freely.

== The Inner City ==

Sealed away from the outer city and the slums with great electric fences and gates tipped with spikes or barbed wire lies the Inner City. CLED troops guard all entrances, and only those with IC passes are permitted entry.

Most of the buildings of the Inner City are a hundred storeys or more. The Alpha Tower, serving as office and home to the mayor and his senior staff, looms above the entire city with its awesome 568 metres. The entire area is characterised by large, well-built buildings interspaced with green parks boasting statues and fountains. Even though 40% of the city’s population lives here, it is generally calm and peaceful, and the only sign of the turmoil in Alpha City is the omnipresent patrols of CLED officers who guard against any feline invasion or treacherous breakout.

== The Outer City and the Wall ==

Outside the Inner city lie all those elements that the good canines of the upper classes might find disturbing or uncouth. Here, far beyond the beautiful homes of the canines, lie all the heavy, smog-producing industries and workshops; here dwell all of the felines, the unfortunate neithers, and the few canines who, for some offence or other, were cast out of the Inner City.

Although nominally under the control of the CLED, the populace of the Outer City do not generally think of the PLE as their rulers. When a canine of the upper classes walks by, all step aside, and none but the most foolhardy few would dare do more than whisper behind the backs of the canine, but when the CLED is not around, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme.

Since the PLE came to govern Alpha City, little effort has been made to clean out the crime in the feline areas. After the deterioration of the Outer City began, it was not uncommon for canines who were foolish enough to stray from the broader avenues to get robbed, beaten, or murdered. The CLED, however, put a swift end to this, and with a combination of brutal reprisals for any offence against canines and rewards and bribes for those who betray a perpetrator of such a heinous crime they exert just enough power over the Outer City that canines may walk the streets safely even at night. Beyond that, however, they simply don’t care if the crimes lords rule, and the latter have seized their opportunity.

The Wall, or more correctly, the dark part of Alpha City that lies in the eternal shadow of the Wall, is the most dangerous and the most corrupted area. Here, even canines hesitate to walk alone in the dark—even though the PLE is as effective here as elsewhere, some of the denizens of the Wall are bold, foolish or desperate enough to assault canines even though they rationally know that vengeance will be swift and painful.

== The CLED and canine-feline relations ==

Although the CLED began as a police force, and an effective one at that, it has since become the soldiers of the canine elite. CLED officers are strictly canine—here is the one area where not even their neither allies are allowed. Within the barriers of the Inner City, where only canines dwell, they are indeed a police force, and a police force with precious little occupation, as crime rates among the canines are very low, thanks to brutal measures when such corruption is detected.

The CLED in the Outer City is a different matter altogether. Other than making the occasional raids of reprisal when some canine has been molested—where they make certain that not only the perpetrators are killed, to set proper examples—they serve as a soldiery to remind the felines of their subservience. Matters are made even worse by the fact that the laws of the Outer City are quite different from those enforced by the CLED.

As is always the case where poverty and crime prevail, drug use is widespread in all of the Outer City, and thousands of the city’s denizens dwell on the streets in a constant stupor. The CLED, however, maintains that the use of any narcotics outside of medical treatment is strictly prohibited, and enforces this law with the same brutality as any other. Likewise, they regard strip clubs, casinos and many bars as little or no better than illegal, and have been known to make raids without apparent reason.

== The crime lords ==

Where the arm of the CLED cannot reach, or is unwilling to explore, the crime lords of the Wall rule supreme. Although organised crime is common throughout the Outer City, almost all of the crime lords themselves dwell in the comfortable shadows of the Wall, where few canines ever dare or care to walk, and where there are countless thousands of nooks, holes and crannies to hide should trouble arrive after all.

Even though these crime lords claim that they are not afraid of the CLED or the city’s rulers, they always stay away from the strictly canine affairs, such as the caravans of trucks and trains importing foodstuff into the city, or the similar caravans and trains exporting chemical products and machinery. The main prey of the crime lords are the felines and unfortunates of their own territory.

The only reason why no crime lord rules the entire Outer City, and musters enough strength to challenge the PLE, is that there are simply too many crime lords, and the CLED always cunningly maintains this balance. It is believed that there are at least 36 major crime syndicates operating in the Outer City, along with a countless number of gangs and minor constellations.

== Characters ==

* QuyetPawz - Female Snow Leopard
* Dune - Female Feline/Canine cross
* Sarin - Male Lion
* Volk - Male Wolf
* Ice - Female Snow Leopard
* Lr`Ron - Male Wolf
As Alpha City grew, so did its unique characters, including a set of horse/birds that were determined to see the Apocalypse, a cannibalistic yet charming cat, and a huge number of interesting personalities.

[[Category:Multiplayer worlds]][[Category:1995 births]][[Category:2002 deaths]]