Canterbury
Situated in the foothills of the Downing Range, Canterbury is the most cosmopolitan city in the wildly diverse UMF. Tourists from across the globe rub shoulders with media stars and movie moguls in the carefully planned city, engrossed in the self-perpetuating image of glamour and extravagance. The city sprawls along the eastern flank of the mountains, stretching from the hilltop homes of the rich and famous, the destination of numerous tourist outings, to the slums and industrial parks of the plains, carefully avoided by tours.
Founded in the eleventh century as a support base for petrochemical drilling operations in the Sangar Basin, Canterbury continues to play a significant role in that industry. Even in its heyday Canterbury never rivaled Petropolis (now part of the NLC), and industry in the city slowiy diversified. The city council made a number of grants available for companies to relocate to the city, and one company attracted away from now-lost Salisbury was Terranovan Multimedia Projects (TMP), a producer of educational software and documentaries about the new world. The company slowly metamorphosed from a producer to a local broadcaster, and when Earth abandoned Terra Nova, the staff of TMP chose to stay. After Canterbury joined the Lyonnesse League in TN 1528, TMP became a major supplier of trideo and video material to the allied cities, and as the company expanded to keep up with the demands placed on it, so did the special effects companies, costumers and duplicators that supported them. By the early nineteenth century Canterbury had become the heart of the Federation's media industry, the home to most of the UMF's trideo, video and holomovie companies. I n the meantime TMP had grown beyond all recognition, renaming itself the Federation Broadcasting Corporation in TN 1842. With controlling interests in a number of CNCS broadcasters and film studios, FBC is one of the biggest companies in the UMF and currently has a seat on the Corporate Council.
Today many CNCS and some southern media agencies have offices in the city. Combined with the millions of tourists who visit the area, this makes Canterbury an ideal clearing house for intelligence gathering in the Northern city-states. The problem for the government and agencies like the FIA isn't as much stopping the flow of intelligence through Canterbury, but doing so without disrupting everyday life. The movie, trideo and tourism revenue generated by the city and the region around it is staggering, and the corporations divert a considerable portion of it into the government by buying large blocks of electoral vouchers. Even the quest for profit must occasionally take second place to security that benefits the whole Federation, however, and with the outbreak of the Interpolar War, companies affiliated with the Allied Southern Territories were asked - politely - to close up shop and leave.
Demographics
Where streets are paved with gold
Nowhere in the UMF are the divisions between rich and poor so apparent as i n Canterbury. The rich live in large houses and walled estates on the hills overlooking the city while the less well off congregate on the valley floor. Several downtown areas have become virtual ghettos, particularly south of the Strip and in the River District, that serve as the focus of crime in the city.
Many people flock to Canterbury seeking fame and fortune, hoping to be 'discovered' and star in the next blockbuster. A few find the success they are looking for, but for every one who finds fame, hundreds of others do not. Some of these keep at it, working at part time jobs, while others give up the idea of a media career and return home. Yet others find themselves drawn into the sordid pleasure industries of the eastern Strip.
Rivalries between the groups on the Strip often spill over into violence, and of the dozen or so gangs responsible for activities, half are locked into an ongoing series of feuds and gang wars. "Queen" Marianne Straker heads the largest group, the Undertow, an affiliate of the Forzi Cartel of Wounded Knee based in the River District. The group dominates illegal activities in the city but have recently come under pressure from the Kolson-sponsored Braeson's Blackguard, a slick bunch of killers.
The FIA maintain their largest office outside of Lyonnesse in Canterbury, ostensibly to deal with the problems of organized crime and the gangs, but in practice they are there in an espionage role. Their operatives stage a two-prong attack on enemy powers. Their spy-hunting operations are well known, hunting down and intercepting enemy agents in the city. However, they also seek to recruit agents from the transient multicultural population, using kompromat gathered on visitors whose guard is down while they are relaxing in the city's theme parks, bars and hotels. Corporate intelligence operatives are also active in the city, gathering information that can be used as leverage in business negotiations and elsewhere.
Government
Trial by Trideo
The political system used in Canterbury is a down-sized version of that used for the national Caucus elections, with electoral vouchers purchased for 100 marks and used to elect representatives from each of the city's twenty districts. The emphasis on money results in the promotion of corporate interests and the virtual exclusion of certain groups from the city council. Indeed, nine of the councilors are corporate employees, directly working for their company's interests, while another two are suspected of having links to organized crime. The previous mayor, Coran Jesse, attempted to remedy this situation by proposing the elimination of corporate block voting, limiting every individual or organization to a single vote. However, Mayor Jesse's resignation following a sex scandal exposed by FBC destroyed all hopes that the council would approve the bill.
The Canterbury police are funded by donations from big businesses and are widely regarded as corporate stooges. Their corporate funding ensures they have the best training and equipment as well as sufficient numbers to carry out their duties. Furthermore, their excellent pay and benefits packages ensures few succumb to the lure of organized crime. There are three distinct groups within the police. The first deals with the whole range of crimes, from littering and petty crime to robbery and murder. Though the largest department by far, they usually work behind the scenes and have a poor public image. Better known are the "presence" squads who operate in the principal tourist areas. Hired as much for their looks and charm as for their policing abilities, they are intended to be the public face of Canterbury policing. The last group are the assault teams, made famous by real-life and dramatized trideo shows like Stop or I Shoot! and Halton and McLean: Gear Police. A paramilitary unit, they are trained in the use of a wide range of weapons, from handguns to Gears, and are charged with handling violent crime in the city. Their duties are often seen as glamorous, but the physical and psychological stresses of the job means few serve with the department for more than three cycles.
Industry & Trade
- Entertainment
- Tourism
Economics of the Blockbuster
Almost half the city's income is generated by the entertainment industry or tourism, either directly in the studios or theme parks, or indirectly in hotels, restaurants or the transport services. Even the local UMFA troops have been involved in the film-making process, often hired out to film studios to provide authentic military equipment for films or to advise on the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the same.
Canterbury serves as a regional transport hub, with road, rail and even air links to neighboring cities. Most tourists arrive by rail, either from Marathon, Rapid City or stations on the maglev line. The most extravagant can choose to travel in luxury aboard either the Sangar Princess or the Byerst Princess, passenger landships that travel between Rapid City and Canterbury. Though slower than the rail routes, a journey on the Princess-line vessels i s considered the trip of a lifetime by many Mercantile citizens. However, with the outbreak of war, the Sangar Princess has been commandeered by the UMFA and is currently serving as a hospital ship in the Western Desert.
The city has also gained something of a reputation for higher education. Gibb's University, located along Prospect Boulevard in the south of the city, has a reputation for research in the hard sciences - physics and chemistry - as well as in engineering. Its graduates are well regarded, though larger institutions such as the University of Swanscome or FTRI in Marathon receive more public attention.
Tourism
The Winter Wolves
A cult classic, John Kaidou's "'The Winter Wolves" is a tale of passion and intrigue set against the backdrop of the invasion of a far off arctic world. The movie was shot on location near Pioneer and on sound stages in Canterbury. It follows the exploits of Gear pilot Jym Wang (played by Anatole Kuratin), a soldier in the armies of Earth General Thaddeus Murasaka. Wang is Forced to come to terms with his commander's megalomania and must choose between his duty to Murasaka and his love for a native girl, Kristin (played by newcomer Claudya Gohl). The film's popularity has been Largely attributed to its stunning visual effects, including the alien cabal known as the "puppet masters" created by effects company Believe It!. There have been many attempts to match the success of the Winter Wolves, but in the thirty cycles since its release, few have matched its commercial success. In recent cycles the film industry rumor mill has suggested that despite his age, Kaidou is planning a sequel.
The "Winter Wolves" was one of the first of a new series of "high technology spectacles," as they are often touted by the critics. Productions of this type have historically come and gone throughout the ages, depending on the means and the moods of the societies producing them. The resurgence of the genre on Terra Nova points to a near-total recovery from the horrors of the War of the Alliance; immense means are once more available to entertainment groups, and the public is again yearning for high emotion and excitement
Born in Canterbury in TN 1825, Kaidou has retired from active film making but serves as consultant to a number of Canterbury's largest studios. His approval - or disapproval - is one of the key factors in deciding whether a project goes ahead and he is thus courted by many up and coming writers and directors. However, he is widely reviled by critics who blame the success of his films like "Sons of Destiny" for the studios' fixation with blockbusters. Kaidou's daughter, Samika, once a child actress, is one of the most senior members of the UMFA, commanding the Strategic Forces Directorate.
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