Mekong City
Unlike many capitals on Terra Nova, Mekong is not intended to be a showpiece. It is a bustling, thriving city congested with people. Only the city’s government district avoids this chaos. This area is a series of elegant buildings surrounded by a large tropical garden. A large ornate black marble fountain, called the Fount of Good Fortune, is located in front of the Mekong Assembly House. It is said that anointing oneself with water from the Fount every day brings good luck to those who are not selfish.
The corporations that founded the city-states of the Mekong Dominion created Mekong City as a central trading point between their various corporate fiefdoms. As such, the city has been a historical capital even longer than the actual Dominion itself has existed.
This central trading function is mostly responsible for the city having become an actual capital. Indeed, the Mekong Dominion was preceded by the Mekong Alliance, and ad hoc league of major cities and corporations founded to fight a war against Loyang and based in Mekong. When Loyang was conquered, the Alliance was formalized into the Mekong Dominion. Since then, the major corporations have used Mekong as the place to do business, adding to the cosmopolitan air of the city-state. There have been proposals to move the capital, but tradition keeps the Dominion’s government in the city that bears its name. It would take a great upheaval to change this conservative bias.
Mekong is a walled city, surrounded by old stone ramparts. These defenses are not military in nature: they are intended to keep the region’s large and aggressive wildlife out of the city. Since no suburbs exist, the city’s population density is very high, making real estate very valuable and multi-story buildings common. Mekong City is home to some of the South’s most powerful corporations and manufacturing houses, including ICP, Dominion Motorworks, Mekong Rail (a division of Southern Rail) and Krellen Foods. The latter are producers of nearly any kind of packaged food and are the owners of the extremely trendy Weird But Tasty novelty fast-food chain. “When you’re in the mood for something different... (jingle) Weird..... (eww!) But Tasty! (mmmm!)”
The Peacekeepers’ headquarters are located in the southern district of the city, in a crowded ten-story ferrocrete structure. It is always heavily guarded, and protected by multiple redundant detection and alarm systems. A minimum of three hoppers are kept on the roof at all times to handle emergencies throughout the city. Twenty local barracks, which also double as police stations, can be found throughout the city.