Exeter
According to the brochures, Exeter i s the only perfect place on all of Terra Nova. Its streets are clean, its people are happy, and the unemployment rate is just 1.1%. The buildings are always in immaculate condition and crime is limited to minor infractions, usually committed by teenagers or visitors. The city's pristine, white marble public buildings and the citizens' ready smiles, while pleasing at first, have been known to unnerve more than a few tourists who are accustomed to a bit more "grit." Norlight flags fly on public buildings, and religious tolerance is a fact of life. All in all Exeter is the "perfect place to live."
Many people have fabricated their own theories as to why Exeter has developed into this near utopia. The Northern Inquirer, among other trash tabloids, regularly has articles about mind-controlling drugs in the water supply, laser hypnosis beams from outer space or subliminal messages broadcast over local trideo stations. While these claims are considered outlandish, many people take vacations in Exeter only to see the controversial city for themselves, creating a small, but lucrative tourist boom. Several prominent sociologists and anthropologists have devoted numerous hours to study the city in an attempt to uncover how Exeter has succeeded where so many other cities have failed. Though many theories continue to circulate, both outrageous and serious, a definitive answer has yet to be uncovered. Local take all the attention in stride, taking a perverse pleasure in leading tourists on and approaching them with bogus offers to join ancient arcane orders or participate in hypnosis experiments.
Most citizens trace the "perfection" of their community to its peaceful and uniquely privileged history. Exeter began as a small colonial era farming and fishing community on the eastern tip of Lake Cleamater and actually prospered during Reconstruction. Isolated by the water and the Exeter Hills from most of the violence, the burgeoning city-state regrouped the local villages into a defensible community which engaged in trade with Franklin Harbor. Only the rise of the United Mercantile Federation in the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a real military threat to Exeter and the city state rapidly joined the NLC to ensure its protection. The creation of the CNCS led to a great decrease in military presence and the city-state went on to escape almost alleffects of St. Vincents Plague (hence avoiding the maniacal fervor of the war), was the site of no major Judas Syndrome betrayals and was spared occupation or orbital bombing during the war of the Alliance. Historians claim that this peaceful history has created a peaceful community; conspiracy buffs claim it to be evidence for their arcane theories.
Exeter and the surrounding region are also home to an unusually high number of Stoneheads, including several of the largest in the northern hemisphere. This coincidence is the center of many theories about the city-state. The most famous was popular in the TN 1850s and held that Exeter was built atop a huge "Stonehead graveyard" that contained evidence of a race of super-aliens inhabiting Terra Nova.
Demographics
Exeter is a democratic city-state, with elections held every five cycles (the next election i s scheduled for Spring TN 1936). Presently, Exeter's government is headed by Laurent Belli, who in his first term has already shaken up the political scene. Not content to solely manage his home city, Belli has become a major player on the national scene, leading one of the major factions within the Council of Mayors. Belli's relaxed manner, sharp wit and occasional burst of flirtatiousness have been criticized by some of the more conservative elements of Exeter, but most locals seem to like the young mayor who has been able to move beyond the straight-laced image of city. Internally, Belli's greatest concerns have been to keep his city clean and peaceful. He has successfully held off numerous heavy industries which have attempted to develop facilities within Exeter, keeping pollution levels well below the average, instead attracting smaller industries producing consumer goods and high-technology equipment. Belli's principle concern is keeping the religious schisms that are currently cutting up the rest of the NLC from dividing his community. His city council includes both Revisionist and Jerusalemite members and he wishes to see peaceful coexistence continue. He has attracted the attention of Chief Justice Stark] and the two have begun cooperating to identify the divisive religious elements in Northern society. Belli has begun trying to piece together the complex web of relationships within the The Prophet's Shield, thus far with only limited success.
Those who feel Exeter is simply too good to be true point out that Belli seems to have done a good job hushing up any negative press about his community. Of particular interest was the discovery at the end of TN 1931 of a small cult among teenagers on the campus of Clearwater College, Exeter's small Liberal Arts university. Press coverage was sparse at best, but rumors have surfaced that the students were involved in an ancestor cult centered around Yuri Gropius, the man who attempted to create a utopian society with the Humanist Alliance. While no definitive ties between the discovery of this cult and Exeter's peaceful society have been made, more than a few have speculated on possible connections and stories of Humanist mind-control gas have become popular in the tabloids. Belli has been surprisingly efficient in isolating and quarantining any physical evidence about the cult.
Government
Industry & Trade
Pride of Exeter
Exeter's economy is based largely on agricultural and dairy products, including the highly popular Pride of Exeter brand of ice cream. The Pride of Exeter recently won a libel case against the Northern Inquirer over the paper's report that the Pride of Exeter contained mind-altering chemicals. Several cutting edge software and hardware corporations have also set up shop in Exeter over the last fifty cycles, while medium-scale manufacturing has also moved into the region over the last few cycles.
The endless supply of conspiracy theories about Exeter also make a bizarre but significant contribution to the economy. The most obvious by-product is the arrival of curious tourists with disposable income. Several hotel and resort chains have opened branches within Exeter while several restaurants and nightclubs cater to tourists who are interested in seeing the "mind-controlled" city. One night club in particular, The Mesmro, draws huge numbers of youngsters - tourist and local alike - with their controversial advertising campaign. They advertise that their music is laced with subliminal messages, their light show is an elaborate mind-control experiment sponsored by the government and that all their drinks have mind-altering chemicals. Some people have argued that this advertising campaign is immoral but The Mesmro has no intent of stopping as it continues to draw huge crowds to its doors. Even more extraordinary is the so-called Exeter Project. Based in the UMF capital of Lyonnesse, the Project is dedicated to cracking the secrets of Exeter through "the application of science." The project has attracted the patronage of several top executives in need of entertainment and so has a great deal of disposable income to spent on satellite photography analysis and field research. Teams of bizarrely equipped "researchers" and overly theatrical "paranormal investigators" can be spotted around town at almost any time of year. Most members of the Project have very eclectic (and often not-quite-legitimate) training and seem willing to spend large amounts of money in Exeter on facilities, equipment, interviews and test subjects. Locals consider extracting large payments from these visitors a sort of profitable civic pastime.
Natural Resources
- Agriculture
- Dairy
- Fishing
Maps
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Exeter
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