I want to focus more on bringing CruelKind to life. Or, at least into a more tangible dimension than “Andi’s [Scatter]Brain.”
CruelKind, for me, is a collection of loosely related speculative fiction stories set aboard the ærcity, Astoria.
Astoria is a future city-sized airship over the Pacific. It is divided between two major cities: UpperCity (atop Astoria), and UnderCity (within the hull).
Astoria’s hull has a central hemispherical section with eight petal-like protrusions from it. Astoria’s exterior has eight sectors with an OuterRing that houses Astoria’s agricultural production (on seven of the “petals”) and the port (on the remaining petal.
At UpperCity’s centre is the Black Palace, which acts as the political centre for UpperCity. An iridescent shield protects the UpperCity from atmospheric and pressure dangers one would experience at altitude.
UnderCity is Astoria’s old[er] city. It’s largely industrial, with a permanent haze to it. Due to the scale of it, UnderCity does experience weather patterns, including acidic rain showers.
On the plate above (supporting UpperCity), there’s always-on artificial lights that keep UnderCity in perpetual twilight; from the constructor’s own whimsy, these lights are arranged into constellations rather than a more-efficient grid pattern.
Astoria was originally created as an independent [unethical] research & development facility, specializing in weapons development.
By the time our story starts, Astoria has undergone multiple revolutions, and its citizenry largely exists in a post-capitalist eutopia where they freely pursue their passions.
But, that research still has a lingering impact, notably in the development of its modis and mekinika citizens.
A modi, short for “modified person,” is anyone outside of a standard “baseline human.” This includes mutacions and people with makina implants/prosthetics. While it’s usually used to indicate someone is “enhanced,” the term includes people with disabilities or have had any cosmetic surgery.
A mekanika is an automaton that’s sentient. It’s worth noting that a “mekanika” can be nonphysical, including a number of avatar-based or even non-visible programs. It can be treated as equivalent to a non-organic soul.
As an energy/resource-saver, Astoria uses exclusively plant-based food and prohibited the importation of animals for most of its history. This led to a number of roboticists to model their makina creations on organic subjects as synthetic substitutes. Over time, some these makina (having repeated unnecessary animalistic behaviors), began to develop faults that convinced them they were indeed the animals they were mimicking.
In addition, Astoria’s Ætherwave access allowed more advanced artificial intelligences to develop via machine learning. This group tends to be more human-like and have citizens’ rights within Astoria.
… There’s also the matter of Them.
The world of CruelKind, takes place after an apocalyptic environmental disaster. Since Astoria was airborne, it largely avoided the initial devastation and upheaval.
But, this event triggered a number of Them to revive. They are what you’d think of as supernatural or mythical creatures including fairies, demons, gods, etc.: all terms They treat as slurs. They don’t have a word for Themselves, using the same word for singular first-person (English: “I” & “me”), plural first-person (“us” & “we”) of any size group (where you’d use “humankind” or similar).
A number of Them were experimented on, notably, a being known as All-Father. All-Father is a large, tree-like entity with three masculine, antlered humanoid faces: Vodin, Villi, and Vé. All-Father is believed to be all-knowing by Them, with the one-eyed Vodin able to see into the past, the two-eyed Villi seeing the present, and the three-eyed Vé seeing into the future.
The All-Father remains in the deepest part of the old UnderCity labs.
Deeper still is Astoria’s Core.
The Core is a largely forgotten area, where the most dangerous (but, potentially still profitable) of Astoria’s old lab work is stored.
Including, a girl dressed in golden armor, sleeping in a cryogenic tube. Her dreams drift into the Æther and weave Astoria’s protective dome. A girl who burns for revenge.
… Hope she doesn’t wake up and kill everyone.