Loyang
Loyang is the center of heavy industry site in the Dominion. The eastern region of the city is dedicated to refining metal ore that is imported from the ESE. The northwestern third of the city specializes in refining the crude petroleum that is piped from the North Mekong Plain. The southwestern zone of the city is the main site of fernwood production in the Mekong Dominion. The most unusual industry in Loyang is its power generation facilities. Loyang uses ancient fission-based reactors, thereby taking advantage of local uranium deposits. These are the only such reactors on Terra Nova; most other city-states consider them to be much too dangerous for use in power generation when solar and fusion generators are available.
All this industrialization has had a terrifying effect on Loyang. The city is horribly, perhaps irreparably, polluted. The Loyang River has a dull greenish brown color from large colonies of algae which thrive on the industrial by-products dumped into it. Soot cakes every building and acid rain has defaced most of the older public monuments. Loyang’s smog is bad enough to give the sky a permanent yellow-brown tinge.
Health conditions in the city are so bad that the average lifespan here is 40 cycles. Cancer and respiratory ailments are rampant, to the point that insurance companies will not offer any resident life or medical coverage. Citizens of Loyang, following in the tracks of the people of Siwa Oasis, charge a Health Tax on petroleum and use the extra funds to foot their health bills.
The city and its surroundings have been nicknamed “the land of the dead,” earning its citizens the name “zombies.” While most of Loyang’s citizen’s dislike the nickname, few will argue that it is not fitting. Most of Loyang’s population is lower class, since anyone with sufficient funds to move to a new city-state did so years ago. Nonetheless, Loyang’s social problems are far from resolved. The negative birth rate and the automation of many of the city’s processes has made First Citizen Cheng realize that Loyang could well become a ghost town before ten cycles pass unless a drastic clean up program is put in place.
Because locals stuck in this industrial hell-hole have little hope, Loyang is a very violent city-state. Local policia forces (municipal law enforcement) regularly wear body armor and carry heavy weapons. Local street criminals have adapted by simply raising the level of violence, arming themselves with illegal automatic weapons. The working class shanties that have popped up between the feeder lines of many factory complexes are especially dangerous for ill-advised visitors. Locals know who to pay tribute to in order to avoid mugging. Those who try to stand up to the bullies my not end up living to regret it — many bodies are simply dumped into chemical sludge pits.