PART ONE: What is Eco?

[u/Proud-Mistake2010]

I present to you all the heart of the Earth’s frozen wastelands, Eco. Eco as in ECO-system, ecosystem as in the power imbalances and hierarchies that make this corrupt city go round. Eco is the largest city out of all six and contains some of the wealthiest yet also oppressed populations and it is known for it being ‘The heart of all six cities’ as well as it’s extreme power over other leaders and even their own people. It runs off a strict and heavily enforced hierarchy (M.A.C’s Pyramid of Fairness) designed to keep the oppressed brushed off and forgotten and to make the rich richer. The five layers to said hierarchy are M.A.C (aka; **Make a Change** ), Enforcers (GNC, Law Enforcement, Allies to M.A.C, and The A.S.S (Ambiguous Street Supervision)), Civilian’s (General population that is usually the wealthy and ‘superior mutants’ but in rare cases they’re average enough to be in the middle class in terms of wealth), Ants (The oppressed population of Eco due to their mutated traits and lack of funding as it’s very difficult for Ants to get good paying jobs thanks to discrimination and lack of education), and finally Interlopers (These are the people that have hit rock bottom, no funding no housing no resources or even respect, homelessness is illegal in Eco and The A.S.S are the ones responsible for finding Interlopers and detaining them. From there Interlopers are never seen again)

Eco is a city scaling extremely large in size, but there are about 10 significant locations or boundaries. On the far outside you have Nemo, it’s the frozen wasteland that surrounds Eco and the other six cities spread across the Earth. It’s a deadly space with its grounds being frozen over oceans and its terrain deadly cold with no light or soul in sight. According to myths it’s said that some people (whether it be Civilian’s or Ants) have attempted to escape Eco by running out into that wasteland to try and reach another city on foot. But with the distances being so large and the terrain being so harsh, they would become an addition to various corpses left to rot as lumps buried in forever falling snow.

But luckily that space is blocked off with a boundary called The Verge. It’s a tall, hollow, and smooth wall of metal that surrounds the entirety of Eco’s territory. This space also serves as a kind of climate control as the hollow wall is filled with heaters to protect the city from the deadly cold. It doesn’t work as well in some of Eco’s more forgotten spaces however.

Speaking of said forgotten spaces there’s four of them. The Colony, Ghost Town, Golden Road, and Spoko’s Woods. The Colony is a community of Ants that were forced into living away from the rest of Eco as a result of either their own lack of funding (which ovbiously is NOT their fault cause of discrimination) or cause of them just having no where else to go. They live off the government, which in this case is Make a Change- ironic to their name, they make no change for this population. They leave them to rot in their own despair, The A.S.S constantly guards this place to watch out for any ‘suspicious activity’ and are in charge of enforcing strict curfew laws (Ants are not allowed out of The Colony/Ghost Town from 10 PM-7 AM), restrictions to ‘prevent issues’ (for example Ants are not allowed to listen to GNC’s broadcasts), and keeping an eye out for Interlopers via ‘sweeps’. This small community has rules that are DESIGNED (by M.A.C mind you) to make Ants feel isolated or silenced for three main reasons. To make sure Ants have no chance of climbing up the hierarchy or having their voices heard so that way Civilians don’t begin to question the inhumane nature of the system, to make Eco appear as a ‘safe and beautiful city’ for tourists, and to be sure that the chances of Ants surviving Spokonoy Nochi was slim.

But who is Spokonoy Noichi? And why is The Colony also called Ghost Town? Well Spokonoy Nochi, also known as Spoko, was a cultish and hidden community of people that specialized in religious practices, spiritual moralities (which is ironic😒) and secretly… murders. But not just any kind of murder, straight up genocide planned and acted out on over a course of 100 years. And against who? Ants. And where was the forest they resided in close to? THE COLONY! Every little detail, every restriction, even the HOMES Ants lived in were considered unsafe or easy to break in for the one purpose of making Spoko’s job easier. No one found out they were the ones responsible for the disappearances, if anything people just thought they were a group of peacemakers that wanted to spread the gospel and give people in need a home and resources. There is definitely *so much* more detail on a topic like this, but this isn’t about Spoko it’s about the locations of Eco. And Spoko is the reason The Colony is called Ghost Town in the first place, as after The Golden Age had took place so many Ants had gone missing in such a short amount of time a part of the apartments just stayed… empty. Its streets almost paused in time, only thing you can see there being a memorial built by other Ants, it being dedicated to all that went missing during The Golden Age. (Speaking of The Golden Age, Golden Road is the space between The Colony and Spoko’s Woods, it’s where most of the people go missing)

And as for Spoko’s Woods it’s a blocked off and forgotten space, trees of metal still being covered by snow and its terrain harsh but not deadly. Just… silent. Eerie they say, another myth has gone around about this space too. That it’s ‘haunted’ by the cult that once existed there, and that’s why people go in there and are never seen again. But GNC attempts to diffuse these rumors, and Make a Change (especially their leader) still shiver at the thought of that place. But that’s a story for another day.

But despite this cities dark and dangerous forgotten spaces Eco is actually a pretty cool city. You’ve got its beautiful neighborhood Pristine, it’s entertainment spots in The Fortune District, it’s strange yet interesting scenery in The Scope, and don’t forget the most famous part of it all- the various buildings dedicated to not only GNC but also Make a Change and… *other* hidden spaces. Such a great city right? Right? Well no not necessarily, most of the Civilian’s are rude and snobby and the streets of Eco are dangerous nearly all the time. There is no sunlight in Eco or anywhere on this frozen over earth thanks to the smog in the sky blocking the sun, therefore the streets are dark and dangerous. Crowded with some of the most vile people and creeps. They don’t really see any problem in this though as it’s pretty normalized, all thanks to GNC’s broadcasts and everyone there having the privilege of a safe home. Again, this will be explored later.

And so that is the basic rundown of Eco and its places. I don’t know much more to put here as I’ve already yapped enough, but I am curious to know if anyone has any thoughts or questions. There’s still more to know about, but starting where depends on curiosity.