by L.A. Frederick
Hello all, and welcome to my explanation or at least attempted report into the city of New Hampton. It has a mind of its own so trying to explain it is harder than you might think!
It doesn’t quite have a mind of its own. But it is the one dominating force in a country that pretty much all packed up and headed for New Hampton. The nation is nameless throughout, but if you held a gun to my head… I’d say it’s an ambiguous cross between the United States of America and England.
I am an Englishman who’s obsessed with American literature and TV shows. Thus it was only natural that I’d fall upon something between the two for my debut sci-fi series.
The world of New Hampton is a dark, urban mystery setting. The enormous city makes up 99% of the country’s population. A few small fishing towns are still in existence in the very northern part of the nation.
On a timeline, the city is set in current times, so say 2017. The focus is on the urban, city environment of the cutthroat New Hampton. A few hundred years ago there were decent sized towns scattered up and down the country. That was until the Great Depression hit. Hundreds of thousands of people forced to move. The only remaining prosperous area in the country, you got it, New Hampton.
As a result, in the modern day, the city has an overcrowded population and has become a corporations dream. Millions upon millions of consumers lap up whatever the corporate fat cats throw at them. All in a vain attempt to elevate their meaningless existence in a city of greed and corruption.
The vast forest that spans the entirety of the northern part of the city masks the city from the wastelands. Hiding the city from the reality that makes up the majority of the country. All that remains near New Hampton to show that life ever existed are thousands of wooden shacks. That used to house a vibrant community. That community is often referred to as the lost society. They upped and left one day, never seen again; did they make it into New Hampton? No one seems to know.
The most prominent feature of New Hampton, especially in the past six months or so, is…The Rain.
A Few Key Locations:
The Emerald Mile
The Emerald Mile is the height of wealth and opulence. Huge townhouses, high-rise buildings and the Royal Palace the standoYetures. There hasn’t been a Royal family for hundreds of years. The Royal Museum is a treasure trove of information on the city. The well to do live within the bubble of the Emerald Mile, a few miles away from the mire and filth of the…
The Docks
Dangerous men live there. Dangerous men work there. It’s not a place for the faint-hearted. The seedy pubs that stain the boardwalk are full of biker gangs. Organised criminals frequent the bars and the entire area. All in the knowledge that the law won’t dare touch them in that area.
As you would expect, the docks are dark and dingy. Dank moisture lingers in the air wafting in from the sea up the river.
Abandoned Warehouses And Factories
The northern part of the city is littered with hundreds of them. Over the years the wealth and prosperity have grouped down in the southern parts of the city. As such several industrial buildings are derelict, eyesores on the city. They provide yet another layer of shielding from the stark realities of the country. You either live in New Hampton or the fishing towns, or you go elsewhere.
These warehouses and factories are not as unused as some might think…
So that’s New Hampton in a quick nutshell. As one reader describes it ‘It reminded me of a dark, gothic Batman type superhero book.’
That’s a pretty apt description of it, a city that takes over and consumes everything in its path. It is a dangerous place, with a combination of the affluent and the poor, threatening to boil over at any minute. A criminal element resides under the surface of the mysterious megalopolis of New Hampton.