World Setting

[Henchman99942]

Howdy. I am preparing a world setting (for GURPS). It will be a cyberpunk setting. I want to include (at least some) these elements...

Apophis 99942.
Sea Level Rise.
Disease.
Collapse of economy/governments.
Cults/religions.
Ethno syndicates.
Corporations.
Famine.
Unemployment.
Robotics.


One element I am sure that I am including is the impact of Apophis 99942 in 2036. Events preceding the impact, including the collapse of the world governments due to famine, disease, etc, resulted in nobody watching the skies. So when Apophis 99942 came around in 2036, there was no organization prepared to deal with it.

Sea level rises, potentially due in part to Apophis 99942 impacting the antarctic ice shelf, devastate the coastal cities. This leaves most of the traditional sites for cyberpunk settings unusable. So I am looking at the great lakes area.

I invite anyone with any thoughts to share them with me. If not in this thread directly, then as a PM, or potentially in discord or something similar.

[Astromancer]

Even if all of Antarctica's ice melted, large sections of Los Angeles would be above sea level. The East Coast cities might be uninhabitable but the West Coast has mountains. Also, Montreal and Toronto are well inland. Albany, Richmond, Atlanta, and Charlotte NC would become the new East Coast powerhouses. Why not move the US capital to Denver?

[khorboth]

What about...

Charlston, SC?

In the years leading up to the impact event, fears of climate change led to a large sea wall being built around the city to protect against rising sea levels. After the impact, the U.S. government put an irresponsible amount of money into quickly expanding the wall both horizontally and vertically. Now, there's a wall which is nearly 100 feet tall in places around the coastal SE side of the city. It holds back the sea for now, but it's crumbling. A few small leaks have sprung, but there are pumps and canals channeling the water away so it's not flooding anything critical. These are dependent on the interest of rich cartels who want ready access to the sea for importing goods which are lowered by crane. There are more efficient ways of doing this, but for now it's the most convenient method without investing in more infrastructure.

Sooo....

We have a setting with the visible hubris of the government in the background. The wall would become the icon representing what is wrong with the world and also the impending doom. The leaks and ragged top would show human's failed attempt at working together as a group. Everyone's constant knowledge that it could collapse would underscore the knowledge that society is no more stable than the concrete and steel that keeps them dry and safe.

The city exists because it's the best port left on the East coast. The others have all largely flooded and gone. Its economy is thriving, but nobody really WANTS to live there because everyone knows it's a deathtrap. But people need to live there because the economic opportunity is second to none. It's like a new gold rush with prospectors trying to strike it rich and get out before a cave-in takes their life.

[Astromancer]

Not a terrible idea, but both New York and New Orleans are better choices by geography. New York, because Manhattan island is higher and largely made of granite, would be the best choice.

You could have a half submerged New York with the poor and the working classes, to the degree they are seperate, living in muggy, cramped, humid, overheated or clammy cold undersea slums. Which would be very cyberpunk and would probably smell of mold and mildew.

[Astromancer]

If Famine is an issue, then Vertical Farming would be a major plot point. Growing crops near those that eat them would make even greater economic sense and it would deepen Urban/rural divides in much of the world. It would also make for security jobs, ripe crops are worth stealing. Food Riots can be very useful to cults. Control of food charities was often used by Religious groups to control and indoctrinate the poor.

Quarantine of ports would be vital in a plague ridden world. The ports could be sealed off from the outer world, a buffer between the nation the port serves and the plague ridden lands beyond. Only those with very high clearance or great underworld connections and vast amounts of money can leave a port either to go inland or to sea.

[Henchman99942]

I was thinking that a lot of water could have been added to the oceans in a short period - causing problems for the coastal cities. When Apophis 99942 strikes, either whole or as multiple pieces, I figured on impact tsunamis causing problems for coastal cities. And I was thinking that famine and disease would wreck government services. Fresh water becomes the number one priority. The Great Lakes mark the largest source of fresh water in the US. This was based on a very rough and brief thought experiment.

I think I want to rule out the Yellowstone supervolcano. That seems seriously civilization ending. Maybe it could undergo a mini eruption.

This does not preclude the existence of other cities. There are certainly other viable cities in this setting. But I am fairly set on the general location.

I am interested in specific cities within that region and catastrophe ideas, both new and specifics within those listed.

If anyone has any ideas they are willing to share in a voice or text chat, I can share my discord ID in a PM and arrange a day and time. I make this offer because this may end up being an extended discussion and I don't want to scroll post on the forum needlessly.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Not a terrible idea, but both New York and New Orleans are better choices by geography. New York, because Manhattan island is higher and largely made of granite, would be the best choice.

You could have a half submerged New York with the poor and the working classes, to the degree they are seperate, living in muggy, cramped, humid, overheated or clammy cold undersea slums. Which would be very cyberpunk and would probably smell of mold and mildew.

Frankly you could have the cheap end of town consist of the upper decks of otherwise submerged high-rises with the gaps filled in by boat-towns and things built on stilts until they touch something solid...ish...

[Black Leviathan]

even a few feet of water would actually destroy most coastal cities. It would stop sewage systems for functioning and it would erode building foundations. It could mean that less than 10% of the city was under water but that 10% would be a health and infrastructure nightmare. If it happened in the course of three years it would be a destructive momentum that would take massive amounts of capital to stop. If it happened during a plague or a viral outbreak it would make cities like San Diego, new York, or Washinton DC into necropolises.

In-land ports are a fallback that would allow trade, especially along riverways where channels don't have to be dug or trees cleared but the infrastructure to build a sea-port would take decades. There would likely be these Global Warming boomtowns that are up-river from river outlets where there's lots of piers and warehouses under construction and the rivers are being dredged for large hull ships. Meanwhile the old ports would be barely above water likely connected to continuous ground by shakey floating bridges, half-sunken cities full of those that can't afford to move living in lawless mega-poverty. The more trade shifts to these growing inland ports the more desperate things become in New York and Baltimore where the next rainstorm could trigger a domino fall of old skyscrapers full of squatters trying to scrounge and farm.