Timbuktu
The "city in gear" motto can be seen in many travel guides, information pamphlets and civic advertising in Timbuktu, referring to the various military and automotive companies that make their homes there. With a large quantity of prominent manufacturers located within the city limits, Timbuktu has come to reflect its corporate masters, with whole neighborhoods serving as company-owned compounds or cells, as they are known in Timbuktu. The center, home to the administrative and financial departments of the city-state, as well as public relations departments for the resident megacorps, is comprised of an octagon of huge skyscrapers. The presence of these towers alone would separate Timbuktu from standard Republican urban planning, but the cellular division of districts between the various conglomerates makes it truly unique in the SR.
The premier series of cells, due to their proximity to the city's center, has developed into a lavish dining and hostelry district designed to accommodate visiting officials and business people. Eight boulevards radiate from the city core, providing easy access to the nexus from all areas of the city. The pie-like sections created in this manner define the corporate sectors, which are then subdivided into districts owned and maintained by a corporation. The corporate districts house manufacturing plants, employee and executive residences, corporate offices, research and development complexes and, in extreme cases, an airway or heli-pad. The districts' boundaries are delimited by the boulevards and the area required to accommodate the controlling company.
Citizens of Timbuktu that are not recipients of corporate-sponsored housing live in various moderate to low-rent housing complexes in state districts around public utilities. Notably, the middle-class residential area of Cascade, built to encircle the water works, boasts a spectacular view of LaFontaine Park with it's dazzling array of waterjets and pools. On the other extreme, Timbuktu's red light district resides in the area around the city's sewage treatment plants.
Timbuktu can best be described as cities within a city due to the divisive attitudes of the various corporations. Each company prefers to keep their employees within their own compound and under the watch of their security corps to avoid possible leaks of corporate secrets. With so many companies practicing corporate sabotage and espionage, the whereabouts of employees privy to sensitive information is closely monitored. The corporate paranoia has produced a general nervousness amongst the population, with many citizens fearful of extortion and the outright strong arm tactics employed of late.
Demographics
Life in Gear
The citizens of Timbuktu, by virtue of their environment, are productive but only semi-social. The ever-present possibility of being inadvertently charged with corporate corruption due to a conversation with an employee of a rival firm has removed much of the incentive for socializing. The people of Timbuktu battle their fears by living and playing as hard as they work. Citizens slack their tensions in the numerous showbars, brothels and clubs that can be found in the noncorporate districts. The perpetuation of this sort of recreation has led to the highest rate of alcoholism in the Southern Republic. Unfortunately, since there has been no serious (or at least evident) effect on productivity, the issue has yet to be addressed by the firms or the High Commissioner.
Timbuktu's determination to distract itself from fears of corporate espionage also make the city home to the Republic's most avid sports fans. Gear dueling is unquestionably the most popular sport in the city (see sidebars on the next page) but soccer, high-performance auto-racing and martial arts competitions are also wildly popular. Illegal pit fighting has also become common, a predilection shared with Siwa Oasis. A championship of sorts occurs between the two cities every cycle, its location protected by underworld powers in both municipalities. Gambling totals on the three day event are thought to be in the millions of dinars.
The presence of so much technology, money and greed in one city has proven to be fertile soil for a black market. Many people feel that the market is no more than a SRID cover to supply sensitive equipment for operatives on shadow missions, but the possession of high quality weapons by apprehended criminals has altered some opinions.
Government
Industry & Trade
- Diversified Heavy Manufacturing
Districts
The Black Market
As much as legal business is dealt with in boardrooms and around conference tables, illegal business is handled in clubs, show bars and abandoned warehouses. The Timbuktain underground is a complex web of street gangs, protection rackets and illegal entrepreneurs controlled by a half-dozen important crime cartels. The cartels are in a constant state of lowlevel warfare, each awaiting a moment of weakness before making a major move. Small-time raids and street fights are a daily occurrence. A legion of illegal bars and illicit clubs serve as semi-neutral meeting grounds between the various gangs and cartels, allowing them to carry on business.
The current center for delicate inquiries into illicit business is the Weird But Erotic Show Bar. The show bar capitalizes on its location in the lightly policed red light district to cater to the seedier population of Timbuktu. Many of the laws that form the core of Republican society are suspended at the door. Serving as an underworld outlet for information and vices of all kinds, the show bar has gained a reputation that gives all but the hardest of individuals reason to avoid entrance. Contracts for illegal arms, assassinations and "pit" dueling - the Timbuktu underworld dueling style - are signed over glasses of rotgut around the clock.
Little is known of the show bars proprietress except that her name is Nickie and she occupies the lavish apartments above the club. It is rumored that she monitors all activity in the bar from her office via the club's security system, collecting a tariff from agents and dealers on each transaction. Of the staff, only the daytime and nighttime managers have contact with Nickie, if she actually exists. Rumors abound that the show bar is either a SRID operation or possibly a shadow empire for TA Skunk Works to unload excess arms for "special project" funding: it may even be both.
Law enforcement in Timbuktu is a very confused affair, leaving the underworld plenty of room to maneuver. Each corporation patrols its own compound and contributes to a municipal peacekeeping force known as the Timbuktu Combined Police. TCP unfortunately suffers from chronic corporate infighting and intrigues and, despite the presence of many wellmeaning officers, is quite ineffective. Even serious crimes can slip through the cracks. SRID director Justinian Salazar has instructed his Public Interaction Unit to direct resources toward Timbuktu in an effort to pick up the slack and show locals that Republican justice cannot be escaped. PIU Commandant Luther Montrose, put in charge of SRID law enforcement i n the city-state, has had to deal with intrigues of his own - Salazar has ordered him to stay away from certain cases because of "political considerations." Montrose has obeyed these directives so far, but is beginning to be frustrated by the limits on his ability to pursue criminals.
Tourism
Timbuktu's Industrial Dueling Circuit
It has become a point of pride to have a corporate team representing Timbuktu on the Republican Federation of Duelist Circuits. There a re two spots alloted to Timbuktu on the RFD roster, which are filled by the first place finishers of both divisions on the Industrial Dueling Circuit, formed to fairly determine those representing the city. The league divides the city into Eastern and Western divisions. Territorial Arms and Territorial Arms Skunk Works are situated in the southern portion of the city, with one on either side of the East-West division line. Territorial Arms presently dominates the weaker western division, receiving token competition from Obelisk Electronics and a combined team from Windchill Engines and Rucker Group. The combined teams are well equipped, but lack cockpit talent, so in general they serve as a promotional unit for their various products. The eastern division is competition at its best, with teams from Mandeers Heavy Industries, Territorial Arms Skunk Works and Dynamic Systems. The team from Skunk Works is favored in the eastern division due to their performance and the acquisition of Rork Griffin. Wulf Sixsmith, the Director of Special projects at Skunk Works, is the man receiving the accolades for the success of his team, The Goblins.
Maps
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Timbuktu
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