Once upon a time, on an asteroid far far away....
That sets the mood well for Wellston. The overall feeling of Wellston should be an idyllic happy town snuggled under a dome, with green lawns, pleasant buildings, a clean atmosphere and town. Here's a basic map:
Firstly, some excerpts from my
Human Starting Area thread, about Wellston.
Wellston will be small/medium, but offer basic services for all classes and walks of life. As far as role-play goes, it offers an idyllic atmosphere (on it's surface), a tavern, church, gardens, and a few medium sized upper class estates. The other half of the surface has middle class terraced townhouses. A tram connects the two halves of the dome, a wall separating the upper-class/business district and the middle class housing. Wellston's central building, it's government house, has a lift to the starport which rests on the roof of the dome. Underneath Wellston is the lower class worker housing in tunnels, some factories which vent their exhausts outside the dome, and even lower, a large mine providing the town with it's main ore economy.
I intend for the Starting Village/Camp, Illthorpe Manor, and Wellston to all be on the same asteroid, meaning players will not need a ship or any special transport to get from one to the other. The entire area will be sealed off by terrain-based walls, but the area offered will be about half the size of what PlaneShift currently offers players. Wellston will be about the size of Hydlaa (for comparison), including above and below ground. Ceres in my opinion should be about the size of any of the capital cities in WoW, though I think we should play with terrain within the dome to create something magnificent (Central building built on a massive crag of rock was what I was thinking here).
A Rough Layout of the So-Far-Completed Buildings
These are sort of meant as basic concepts more than final game models, polycounts may be too high or low, and they are open to being changed and reworked completely. That said, if the team agrees that they are satisfactory as is, they will be textured and put into the game.
The Central Government and Transport Building
This building serves both as a government administration building/council hall, and also as the centre of transport for the city. The tower on it will be connected directly to an elevator that leads to a spaceport on the top of Wellston's glass dome. This ensures that unwanted individuals cannot enter/exit Wellston easily, retaining the Empire's control on travel to and from her cities and townships. Coming in off the elevator, a person can be expected to be instantly asked for their royal passport, before being let downstairs to head into the town. The gears on the side of the building are used to power the elevator, and there is a debate amongst townsfolk as to whether it should be covered up.
The Guild Centre
Another central building in Wellston, the Guild Centre gives free accommodation to Guild members who are members of approved Empire-Chartered Guilds. It also serves as an advertising and recruitment place for various approved guilds (advertisement here may come at a cost). The globe on its roof is magnetized and floats there. It could rotate. It would be made of bronze, though kept lovely and polished like the rest of the central and upper class districts of Wellston.
The Wellston Hotel
This building is right in the town square, and not only offers well-priced accommodation, but also a picturesque Victorian tavern where the townsfolk often meet in the evenings to gossip, meet outsiders staying in the town, and hence the Wellston Hotel is the centre of Wellston's socialization (except for the private tea parties in the upper class manors).
The Church
I personally think it'd be un-Victorian for a town to not have a church. That said, I don't think we should promote any religion in our game. Therefore, the Church will be similar to, say, a church in Oblivion. There won't be any crosses or crucifixes, or any other symbols of Christianity. We could create a neutralized game religion specifically for the game, which I think would be a good idea as it could make some interesting quests/role-play.
The Bank
The citizens of Wellston (or at least, Wellston's surface) are on average, rather wealthy. So it makes sense to have a bank. The bank is conveniently placed right next to the Hotel, and will also "bank" items.
The Mayor's House
Placed between the Church and the Central Building, the Mayor's House is home to Wellston's rather jovial mayor. It's as fancy as any of the three upper class district's mansion estates.
Langley Park<No concept yet>
Langley Park sits behind the Hotel, Guild Centre, and the Bank, and contains a pretty lake with a fountain, some trees, and alot of grassy lawn space. It's really just the Victorians showing off how much they can emulate Earth's nature in a space dome.
Row of Shops
The row of shops borders the east side of the square, hiding the tram from view. On the bottom story of each is a small shop, often open like a stall. The upper story is a small apartment that each shopkeeper lives in.
The Square<No concept yet>
It's actually rectangular, longer from north to south than from east to west. Three quarters of the way down is a fountain, which sits rather near the Guild Centre.
The Tram
The tram connects the Upper Class (SouthEast) and Central District(SouthWest) with the Middle Class (North) District. There is no other way of getting between the districts, as walls have been built to keep the central and upper class areas as idyllic as possible. The tram itself is pretty and well-kept, similar to a San Francisco tram in design, but with elements of a Victorian steam train.
Middle Class District
Streets packed with terraced housing, this area isn't as beautiful as the southern half of Wellston, but still rather idyllic. The architecture is Victorian brick, simple adornments made from the bricks in the walls, unlike the entire central/upper class side, which is plastered and painted warm, pale colours. There is little grass here, few trees, and the streets are lit with lamps that are not as fancy as the ones in the southern half of Wellston. Nestled in this side is the Police Station, Doctor’s Surgery, and Wellston School.
Lower Class DistrictUnderneath the surface, things are much uglier in Wellston. There is a poverty stricken, starving lower class riddled with crime and pollution. Wellston has sealed them under the city, the entrances to the surface (in the North) locked or under heavy guard. Most of its denizens live in cramped, tiny steel tunnel apartments, and are called "tunnel rats" by the surface dwellers. Most of them work in factories which are built in a ring around Wellston's lower class area. Below the lower class, many of them also work in the mines, digging up ore that is processed in the factories.
The Factories<No concepts yet>
Here, many lower class citizens are practically enslaved, working long hours for pennies and the odd shilling, processing ore, which is sent up to the cargo starport via a tunnel (preventing such ugly things from entering the surface districts). The cargo starport and it's tunnel are the only alternative entry to Wellston as a whole, and are heavily guarded. The factories vent their funnels upward and outward, so that no pollution passes through the dome, but out the sides, where it continually seeps out into the aether.
The Starports<No concepts yet>
The Upper Starport is in many ways beautified, creating a warm, welcome entry to Wellston. In contrast, the Cargo Starport is cluttered with junk and ore, grimy and dirty and making quite an unappealing entry to the lower part of the town. The Upper Starport is perched solidly on top of the dome, the Cargo Starport is rested halfway down a nearby canyon. This means that there is no entry into Wellston except via starship, or another flying device. Both starports are heavily guarded to prevent unauthorised vehicles from landing on the starports.
The Mines<No concepts yet>
Those unfortunate enough to work in the mines are the most unfortunate citizens of Wellston indeed. They are paid less than factory workers, and the conditions are horrid. Dusty, dirty, and claustrophobic, the miners work for long hours digging up ore, usually with just a rock pick, to be processed in the factories and shipped out to Ceres City. Rumour has it that a group of miners secretly built a tunnel that bursts out onto the canyon floor.
Please critique, and also, all images will automatically update as I work on them. Concept images will be added where missing in their places.
