Friday, March 13, 2026

Fashion

 Okay, so indeed, people would, as a default wear what looks like exercise or scuba suits that are fom fitting, some leaving sleaveless openings, especially if they have fur, scales, or lithodermic skin because it might not be fully comfortable even if it's customized. However, in terms of modesty of decorum we do see some other elements: Robes: Probably the most common, they're extemely simple, and yes, those who might be self concious about their mutations might effect something that makes them look like a monk or nun. Smoking jackets might make sometjing a comeback, and it's not uncommon where an entire grocery store looks like Jeff Lebwoski. Tracksuits/Athleisure: Very common, for those who don't want people staring at their butts or stomachs, but don't want to seem uptight Bandhgala: The closed color minamalist suit to show that someone is "all business". Big with memorial services, populist leftists, and business leaders who want to seem non-descreipt. Chitons and the Exomis: This is the middle ground between being super serious, usually the equivalent to smart or business casual or a flashy tux. Think Jeff Bridges in Tron, and hey, Jeff Bridges is starting to look surprisingly represented here. Accessories: T-Shirts and Jerseys: Probably the biggest vestige of consumer churn. They're easy to make, even on demand, easy to store, both fun and practical, can be used as rags, so you'll see them around all the time. Whether or not they're "modest" depends, since some women wear them intentionally tiny or the over the soulder look. Armor: Worn by security and military, something affected by people who want to appear tough, like your biker equivalents or those guys who wear military fatigues whether or not they're in the military Gilets: Usually worn for padding and item storage. Capes: Actually not common. They're incedibly impractical and some people want to mitgate the "We live in a comic book" reality if they want to seem solem or intellectual. Again, the Greco-Roman appropriation comes into play, your Himation or Chlamys. (Some mixed with the more minmalist Bandhgala, those folks have some interesting politics) as well as the "arm cape" seen by Storm and Banshee. Subcultures: Obviously music, politics, and hobbies might create all new styles of dress it's hard to ancitipate without making it an actual specific piece of lore building. But Hip Hop for instance is a great weather vane, think Ancient Egypt or how Megan Thee Stallion likes co drawn inspiration from Anime, Comics, and Video games. (Actually, this is nothing new, Elvis generally dressed like a cross between Captain Marvel and a Cowboy) So basically we might expect music afficinados, particularly attractive women, to look the most comic booky. Gang members are also likely, but keep in mind gang violence might be strongly discouraged in arcologies. If you have a prominent physical mutation, the general sense is to downplay it with extremely minamalist and obsfucating apparel, or completely own it: if you're shiny your clothes are shiny, if you have scaled you evoke snake imagery, and a tendency to not have a middle ground.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Law

 Overwatch, sometimes called Hall of Justice:



Basically I got the idea from where I was introduced to Simcity 2000, where, if you build enough arcologies, crime foes way up. But I was like "These standard police stations really disrupt the futuristic vibe..."


1) Strictly speaking, the Overewatch is not an arcology at all. People largely don't live there. it does not produce its own food. It recycles water, I guess. But it is an imposing superstructure. But think of it as the stacking of all the major municipal buildings into one building.


2) It is found in the center of the city, every train runs to and from, sometimes redundantly. First responders exist in every deck in every arco, but this has an elite auxiliary. Police, Fire Brigade, even paramedics are stationed there (Every second counts, and the medical needle usually has some other logic behind where it's positioned.)


3) Also, because it houses most of the major government offices (They actually speficcally house a few departments and deputy positions in other arcos just for safety reasons) they want to make it look like anyone who wants to break in and burn it down...can't.


4) It's a police Academy but also...a law school. Sort of like Judge Dredd, but in a less reactionary way, going into lawn enforcement means a Pre-Law education. If you want to hit people with a stick, there's plenty of other jobs. But they also need to representatives of the court to act incredibly fast in such a dynamic and condensed society where people lived in closed loops.


5) This is actually drawn a little from how for instance, in Rhode Island the Sheriff is strange blurring of law enforcement and the Judicial Branch. Overall, this creates an interesting mix of law enforcement who can be real eggheads (Like Tom Hanks's FBI Agent in Catch Me If You Can) and lawyers who are two fisted, country style folk. (Think Abraham Lincoln). That's generally what detectives act like: FBI Agents, since in general 


6) The Forensics and crime research lab is pretty extensive, in fact a lot of people join law enforcement because they want to work in a lab but are afraid their paths might lead them to some creepy alien biome.


7) This is also the vault for any solid assets (usually gold or the like) for municipal treasuries, banks, etc, as well as mainframe data centers for national and public banks.


8) Also, this building houses a library, a massive, massive library. They try to keep a hard copy of everything. Court transcripts. News clipping. Top 40 songs. Available to the public. This creates a system of transparency. But arguably corruption, because it's very easy to hide paper trails in plain sight, it's like taping together shredded documents.


9) There's commissaries and a couple other commercial stations, but alcohol is prohibited from being sold, though every desk has a flask, just about.


The Arenaplex

 1) Vegas Strip. The Sphere. The Chimelong Spaceship. The Mall of America. Disney World. Boulevard World. Supercharged Entertainment. They make up for with granduer what lack in room, but there is more walking room than you usually see an an arcology.


2) The centerpiece is the stadium for the local sports team, we'll look at sports, but there's a lot of limited seating in regular arcologies, this is where you can put your major league teams.


3) This is very intensive, and expensive, to maintain, so this where you see advertistments everywhere. It makes Time Square look like a little league baseball field.


3)  consumer economy is largely dissipated, commercial decks we don't see a lot of storefronts with fast fashion. That said, there is a shopping arcade. These are sort of like the chains, again, like in Time Square, existing not to make money per se but build brand awareness, and associate them with a fun trip, so you'll "subscribe" to them when you get home. 


4) Gambling is very, very tricky.  It's really considered disruptive, a few machines are required to have "view ad to continue" to winnow out addicts. 


5) V.R. Simulation is usually the way to go, but there are is at least one six flags calibre roller coaster in every one. 


6) Chances are this is where a film industry would be located. A few digital backlots would be here, studio tours, (they *might* have an adjoining Industrial Arco?), and as such, they have an equivalent to Rodeo Drive, just window shopping gives you a cavity. 


7) If people still celebrate Christmas, you have to visit at least once during December. They're pretty amazing. They may have rinks, but they definitely do this time of year.


8) Relatively few people live here, but there's a lot of hotels, usually with adjoining water parks and other fun amenities.


9) They're kind of uncool? Like, performing there means you've made it, but it's also a little bit of a sign you're not that interesting to other artists, especially newer ones who have sort of found their voices in the nooks and crannies of the arcologies.


Military

 1) Again, we're looking at an outpost vs city dynamic

2) The outposts are closer to regular arcology size and population, might have their families, and some might be tied to research stations like a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut annex

3) If they are located in cities, much squatter. Lower ranking army personnel usually not from neighboring arcocarcoss unless the polity is truly city state-sized. Officers might have their families live with them, most prefer to have their wives and especially children live in a regular real life arco, they have dinners when they can.

4) Most cities have one. Border cities will have a couple. Capital cities will have one for every division, plus a joint one.

5) Quite large industrial decks. Again, if you can't expect the army to be self sufficient, who can you trust? Likewise, much like the Roman Empire and America in the 1950's, the day to day activities of the army is construction, and relief aid is a major part of their modus operandi as well. A lot of young men thought they would be joining to shoot plasma rifles and quite taken aback so much of their time is making drywall and packaging twinkies.

6) That said, it's not all doldrums. Major, major sectors are dedicated to The Garage, where soldiers can experiment with gear, usually vlto, cycles, scope equipment, drones, armor, "occasionally" rifles. This may break 20th century norms? But it's a brave new world.

7) Also, extensive training facilities, sort of like the Danger Room from X-Men, as mentioned, people need to experiment, be inventive. 

8) There's definitely a lot going with military theory of having lots of squads with one power, or specializing unit to unit. Sometimes the preference is chalked down to the difference between being a strategist and a tactician. But you have military duties, and especially advancement is marked by how often you train with someone with a different power set.

9) And of course, there's the no power gauntlet, If there *are* dampeners, they'll be found there. There a giant "no power run" leaderboard in every mess hall


Agri-Arcos

 So now we're going to look at dedicated agricultural arcologies


1) Not a ton of outposts, people kind of want to the *food* near them


Some operate like vineyards. Which is ironic, because grapes themselves grow reasonably well in arcologies. In fact, there's been a large move to make spirits out of especially pears, maybe apples and cherries, because of the three pronged used of good spirits/good food/good wood, while wine and grain would be *wasted* getting people drunk?


3) Kind of Ponderosa coded, at least that's how they view themselves, but they're also very Silicon Valley (I guess Skywalker Ranch if they didn't make Star Wars. Hmm, I wonder if Skywalker Ranch would be something they try to evoke. Lightsabers and Jedi Robes becoming the new cowboy hat and spurs). But in general, very rich people needed capital to set up these buildings in the first place


4) Usually multiple ones per city, at least three

5) Attracted a lot of small towns people who fetishized rural living, maybe conservative values, might be even more amped up because it's so easy to jump on the train to the big city making the families more protective. 6) Large focus on cereal grains, like wheat rice and corn. These are the staples of society, maybe people will learn to appreciate full yeast, but grain, once you have the heard start, you have high yield and an easy to store. 7) Then you have livestock. If there are cows, this is where they’ll be. If now, this is where people will be trying something else, because people miss cheese that much. People likewise testing various other things as mounts or meat or egg sources, etc. 8) However, we get milk, this will turn the milkman into an an almost operatic figure? Like, remember the old milkman visiting lonely wives joke? Well here, the milkman is basically Han Solo. 9) Possibly aquatic farms. You know what might be a crazy source of dairy if we don’t have cows anymore, belugas.

Science Structures

 1) Again, there's a sort of outpost vs. city structure dynamic

2) The ones on the frontier are truly likes space stations, relatively sparse, but have families, more military stationed there, more likely to grow their own food. (Unless they're based in places where food and water is harder) A scene might be two soldiers arguing whether they're better off with the hydroponic rabbit food, or the shipped in frozen pizza like the factory arcos get

3) Can be private, government/military, or civic.

4) Civic ones are much more open to the public, and very much like colleges

5) Some might also be nature studies and preservations, especially aquariums might be even be sort of touristy places for families to visit. A dedicated scientist sighs after remembering they were told to push he gift shop.

6) Might also be dedicated Medical arcos

7)  The most futuristic one, maybe the most aesthetically pleasing depending on how much you like the arco design in general

8) Really, they vary the most often in design since they're often customized to the terrain, maybe implementing the strange new materials

9) It is quite possibly one in ten citizens in generally are in the sciences


Industry Arcos

 So the Heavy Industrial arcology: 1) Probably more pyramid shaped 2) usually not pretty, brutalist at best if in the city limits 3) Often both the oldest and youngest arcologies 4) Kind of staffed by the true working class, possibly immigrants 5) usually privately owned 6) Multipurpose: Makes aircraft, weapons, ingredients for other arcologies 7) Does not have residential areas *unless* it's an outpost, there we have some residential blocks, a main street, schools, etc. Might not have a greentower, possibly all imported food 8) If it's not a rudimentary "frontier town" arcology, probably has an inordinate amount of bars, casinos or other gambling devices, even brothels Any "corrections" or refinements or anything?

Fashion

 Okay, so indeed, people would, as a default wear what looks like exercise or scuba suits that are fom fitting, some leaving sleaveless open...