Reunion
Reunion is a city-state unlike any other. While most of her neighbors were founded to exploit nearby resources, Reunion was conceived as a rest and recreation area. Most workers could not afford to go back to Earth for vacation so the Chantilly corporation decided to open a tourist city to supplement its mining interests. Reunion’s site was selected because it was atop a plateau crowned with breathtaking mountain ranges, was near beautiful Lake Chantilly and had a maglev line passing nearby.
Founded in TN 599, Reunion’s designed was based on an idea by young writer Alecsandra Lacshmi. She suggested the city blend in with its natural surroundings, becoming a chameleon to the landscape rather than an intrusion like other corporate enclaves. To achieve this, the city was built with marble from the quarries near Olduvai and hardwood from the North. The combination of stone and wood, highlighted by other urban elements in earth tones, makes the town look like a part of the landscape, and it has even been molded to fit the contours of the land upon which it rests. Crafted to be one of the most beautiful and peaceful areas on Terra Nova, Reunion succeeds on both counts.
Reunion has a small-town mentality which is reflected in the city’s design. As visitors enter the core of the city, they will notice that it is Reunion’s administrative area. Government and corporate headquarters, alongside small single proprietorship boutiques comprise the city’s core. Seated in the exact center of Reunion is the jewel of the core. The 20,000 seat Lacshmi Amphitheater is made completely out of carved white stone and is a wondrous site to behold.
Surrounding the city core is the main residential district where the majority of the population is housed. The living quarters are mainly low-rise, three-residence buildings, interspersed with a smattering of individual homes. The area‘s image is slowly changing, however, as hotels and shops are built to accommodate the many writers, delegates, treasure hunters and naturalists that flock to the city every year.
Outside of the residential district, apartments and cramped living spaces give way to cottage style homes. The craftsmen of the city take pride in giving each building a certain distinctiveness by carving elaborate designs onto the residences. It is a common sight to see craftsmen working to improve the esthetic of a building or park and many citizens are extremely proud of their unique homes.
Demographics
Life on the Plateau
Beauty is everything to the people of Reunion. A scarred building will be quickly repaired and dirty streets are quite uncommon. Conforming their practical laws to this vision, vandalism is not tolerated and offenders are swiftly punished with sentences often imposed as street cleaning duty. In the same vein, there is a great disdain for ugliness of character, and boisterous, unfriendly people are often unwelcome in the city. Those who pursue any violent actions in the city are often surprised by the community spirit that manifests itself in the form of groups of citizens coming to the aid of locals who are attacked.
Home to a generally trusting, good-natured population, Reunion welcomes visitors of almost all stripes. They are often invited to dinner, where stories are told and laughter is the norm. The people of Reunion also, however, firmly believe in the right and might of the Republic. This combination leads to an attitude that almost all visitors view Reunites as patronizing - the exception being those from Port Oasis who come away with a the impression that they are appreciated everywhere due to the heaps of praise piled upon them.
Recently, despite its small town mentality, Reunion has been forced to adapt to the reality imposed by tourism. Injecting thousands of dinars into the economy every cycle, the needs of these travelers must be attended to. Many clubs and bars have sprung up in the downtown core, which outsiders, and many citizens, now flock to. This has created a headache for the city marshal, who has had to hire more people on the night shift to make sure nothing gets out of hand.
Government
Current Affairs
The city is ruled by a council which is chaired by the mayor. The city has 20 councilors who represent their various ridings throughout the city and the surrounding countryside. The council is responsible for the well-being of the citizenry and plays the role of watchdog over the various corporations which have settled in the region. This function is a safeguard against corporations who are bent on raping the land of resources. CREE has hired a small number of professional local lobbyists in an attempt to increase the profits of the local members. Given the tactics that the organization has used in the past in other cities, many wonder how long it will be before stronger methods are used. Marie-Josee Leroux, president of Tuke Cawfee, has surprisingly sided with the city, and has gone so far as to hire lobbyists of her own in an attempt to counter the ones hired by CREE.
Presently, the council has had to deal with an increase in the number of plantation workers applying for jobs at the Tuke Cawfee company. The company has instilled reforms that are the talk of the Republic's plantation workers, and many outside workers are now winding their way towards Reunion to sign on. The mayor, Catherine Montpellier, has entered discussions with Marie-Josee Leroux, on how to deal with this influx of people. Unfortunately not all the workers can be hired, and some are remaining in Reunion as vagrants, which is beginning to cause problems for the tourist industry.
Leroux has suggested a retraining program for the workers to help fill the burgeoning need for trained tourist personnel, but the city council, and Montpellier in particular, have voiced reservations about the will and the aptitude of the plantation workers to complete such training. A test project of a small number of plantation workers is in the works, and it remains to be seen which woman is right.
Industry & Trade
- Agriculture (Cawfee)
- Tourism
Money and Cawfee
Agriculture is the lifeblood of Reunion, and cawfee is the most profitable export of this small city. Terra Nova's largest cawfee plantations grace the nearby plateau, and gourmets from all over the planet seek this exquisite bean to liven up their meals and drinks. Cawfee from Reunion is considered a gourmet delicacy and this has helped the local economy greatly. The plantations also make a healthy profit from growing common vegetables and grains that are staples in everyday Republican cuisine. Its proximity to the gamma maglev line has enabled Reunion to ship cawfee and other foods over long distances to expand its export markets.
Reunion's secondary industry is based on the sale of arts and crafts. Reunion's craftsmen are sought out for their ability to create beautiful works of art from hardwood and marble. It is an old tradition for a top artist, chosen through a series of competitions, to create a work of art for a newly elected Prime Minister. One of the museums in Port Oasis commemorates these fine craftspeople by displaying their works in a wing off the main exhibit after their original owners have passed away.
The city also maintains a small wood mill to cut hardwood for use in construction and renovations. The residents of Reunion trade prime cawfee for hardwood from the Norlight city-state of Skadi, but due to the great transport costs involved, the cawfee only gets about half of what it is worth in lumber. While not illegal, many outsiders have misgivings about this practice since it gives such an obvious trade advantage to a rival league. Some influential political bodies have voiced these concerns, but nothing has ever been done to stop it.
Tourism
Festivals
At the end of each cycle, cawfee fever grips the city as thousands of people from the surrounding regions (including soldiers from the nearby mountain training facility) flock to the city. Hotel bookings are a nightmare and the streets are closed off to all vehicles. The festival marks the end of the bountiful harvest season. The mayor and the CEO of the Tuke Cawfee Company give passionate speeches thanking the plantation workers for a job well done and pay tribute to the Republic for helping Reunion to become the thriving city it is today. It is rumored that Prime Minister deRouen will arrive at this cycle's festival to thank the citizens for their loyalty and for upholding the Republican way of life.
Maps
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Reunion
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