<Autocrat> 1My role play experience came in the late 90s with Diablo I and Starcraft when they introduced battle.net. That's where I got my start. THAT was anarchy. I like to call it "Absolute free form". At any given time you could have a power plant, a giant true, Raccoon city, or whatever in the channels we played in. There wasn't any formal setting, you just. . played whatever you want. . whether it was a Neko flying valkyries from Macross or a Super Saiyan half angel. Which seems silly now, obviously, but it was fun and cool shit did arise.
<Autocrat> 01[18:20] <Autocrat> 1Fort City takes place on a mysterious landmass called "The Land of Nod" in a vast and unknown ocean separate from our world. On it resides the even more mysterious city of Enoch, a vast walled in city that is easily larger than some US states. It is the only major population center on the land and is home to tens of millions. You cannot reach the Land of Nod, let alone Enoch, by any conventional means. No! No path leads to it and yet any might end at its gates. A road less traveled, a wrong turn taken. A blink, drozing off for a second, or losing focus! Any of these may interupted by a blinding light. The light of Pharos, the lighthouse, a giant tower at the heart of the city.
<Autocrat> 1[18:22] <Autocrat> 1But Enoch is special in another way. It is an anachronism, just as implausible as the tower at its heart. It is divided into six sections, four large and two that are smaller. The smallest being Anemoi, the heart of the city and where Pharos resides. No one is allowed there but the ruler of the city, the enigmatic Viceroy, and his five minions known as the Ideal Hand. The Viceroy never leaves there and as such some believe he doesn't exist but according to the Ideal hand he. . or she? It? Does.
<Autocrat> 01[18:22] <Autocrat> 1[23:41] <@Autocrat> They are almost as aloof, to varying degrees but at least they are visible from time to time.
<Autocrat> 01[18:22] <Autocrat> 01[23:45] <@Autocrat> Surrounding Anemoi are the four sections of Boreas, Eurus, Zephyrus, and Notus. Boreas, in the north, is the stuff of the 21st century. It is the modern era, the information age. From the urban sprawl to the suburbs, you can find it there. Sky scrapers and even arcologies.  Eurus, of the east, by contrast is what you'd expect from typical fantasy and the medieval/dark age with dwarves and elves. Wizard towers and manors. Knights and so forth. In the west is Zephyrus and it brings us the pre industrial to industrial age. Elements like steam punk can also be found here. Finally there is the south, Notus, of antiquity. Marble temples and great pyramids are among the many wonders of old. Ancient rome, the inca, Greeks. . persia, they can be found here.
<Autocrat> 1[18:22] <Autocrat> 1[23:47] <@Autocrat> Finally there is Skiron, but Skiron actually exists outside the walls of the City proper. It is almost like a root that stretches to the ocean and acts as a port city. It is connected to the rest of Enoch by a massive stone causeway that doubles as an aquaduct. It's so large and long that there are actually, like the London Bridge, towns and villages built along it. It stretches over a desert and through mountains to Enoch. Right now, the easiest way for me to explain it is that it is like the Atacama Desert.
<Autocrat> 01[18:22] <Autocrat> 01[23:47] <@Autocrat> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Atacama.png <-- Skiron is on the water, Enoch is in the green area. Image a bridge/causeway thing connecting the two.
<Autocrat> 01[18:22] <Autocrat> 01[23:48] <@Autocrat> Er, Imagine.
<Autocrat> 01[18:22] <Autocrat> 01[23:48] <@Autocrat> Skiron belongs to no specific age; you can just as easily find ships from the age of sail as you would iron hulled dreadnoughts. It does carry a heavier desert theme, though, for obvious reasons.
<Autocrat> 1[18:23] <Autocrat> 1[23:51] <@Autocrat> Now, let me explain what I only eluded to earlier. People don't know how to get to Enoch (I should say they don't know how they GOT there) and most don't know how to leave (I use the qualifier "most" so that I don't force anything on anyone but I encourage people not to have the answer for the sake of fun). Only that one minute they were driving or walking or riding along and then poof, being blinded by a radiant light only to clear their vision and see the gates of Enoch.
<Autocrat> 01[18:23] <Autocrat> 01[23:54] <@Autocrat> The population is comprised of two sorts. Many are people belonging to generations that have lived and died in Enoch. Others are the people brought here by the means I just described. Knights, commandos, elves, klingons, what have you. Some have accepted living here while others continuously try to find a way back but all can at least take comfort that there are places and systems that assist the newcomers.
<Autocrat> 01[18:23] <Autocrat> 1[23:57] <@Autocrat> Let me take two steps back, though. Going to the quarters. Travel between them, like from Notus to Eurus or Zephyrus to Boreas or what have you. . is not restricts. There's no overt barrier preventing you from traveling between them. Overt barriers. While there are roads that cross over from one to the other, there aren't too many and while there's no one big wall impeding anyone's path, there ARE walls and a variety of articial and natural barriers from buildings to cliffs, to dense woods and canals. Furthermore, the closer to the border you are, the more convoluted and maze-like the neighborhoods become. The roads become more twisting, the alleys more winding.  Many routes are obscure, like through said alleys or down the rabbit hole. . or going through someone's basement through a tiny door.
<Autocrat> 1[18:24] <Autocrat> 1[00:09] <@Autocrat> Going back to the details! Free thinking people theorize some sort of magic is at work because large parts of the population seem to be in some sort of denial or it could just be shock and an unwillingness to accept or explore what they see as alien, IE the other sections. Oh yes, and another way movement and the city as a whole is controlled is through the exchange rate. Each section may use its own money, and the only way to exchange that money is either through the agencies of the tower or those who happen to be licensed by the tower.
<Autocrat> 01[18:24] <Autocrat> 01[00:12] <@Autocrat> Oh yes, and every section, excluding Anemoi, is divided into hundreds of districts. Each one may be different than the other and may carry a different theme. A couple districts might be an "Asian town", another may be more middleastern. Oh, and each section has a representation of a generalized form of culture. Using the Asian example, each of the sections may have their own relevant version of Asian cultures or middle eastern or western European, et cetera.
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 1[00:15] <@Autocrat> The Viceroy and the Ideal Hand command potent paramilitary force to maintain the status quot but do not concern themselves with 'minor' things like theft and murder. To that end, each of the sections outside of Anemoi may have their own form of law enforcement. It may even vary between districts. And while the Viceroy and the Ideal Hand may rule the city, there are governments beneath them that may vary. For instance, a sort of democracy exists in Boreas except that the Ideal Hand in charge of Boreas acts as a sort of dictator for life. . BUT. . everyone beneath him is elected.

<Autocrat> 1[18:25] <Autocrat> 01[00:18] <@Autocrat> Of course the law around here is stretched thin so to bolster them, as well as provide something for newcomers to do, a semi autonomous agency was set up called (currently; working name) the Guild System that allows people to set up guilds and organizations for various purposes from Private Military Contractors to Adventurer Guilds. The other point to that is that neither the law enforcement or the agents of the Ideal hand concern themselves with anything outside the walls of the city. So if you wanna wander around out there and you aren't confident in your ability, you gotta contract out for help.
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 1[00:18] <@Autocrat> Of course the law around here is stretched thin so to bolster them, as well as provide something for newcomers to do, a semi autonomous agency was set up called (currently; working name) the Guild System that allows people to set up guilds and organizations for various purposes from Private Military Contractors to Adventurer Guilds. The other point to that is that neither the law enforcement or the agents of the Ideal hand concern themselves with anything outside the walls of the city. So if you wanna wander around out there and you aren't confident in your ability, you gotta contract out for help.
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 01[00:18] <@Autocrat> (This will, as I said, all be on the site eventually and in greater detail with fancier phrasing.)
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 01[00:19] <@Autocrat> Oh yeah. I also left out that there are underground districts as well as ruins and tunnels and caves and vast sewers and caverns. . lots of them. . under the city. So, yeah, you got options.
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 1[00:20] <@Autocrat> But the primary hubs of interaction or at least a place to get started are the inns, bars, and taverns near the gates which advocate for the assistance of newcomers.
<Autocrat> 01[18:25] <Autocrat> 01[00:21] <@Autocrat> There are tons of mysteries, tons of adventures to be had.