Aztechnolgy Teocalli Arcology
Written by: Ouzo
Say it with me now: "Te-aw-kah-yee". I know, I had trouble saying it at first too, but you should get used to it before you visit the place, else the locals will definitely know you're a tourist and swindle your ass. If you didn't know before how to prunounce the name of these sort of arcologies before, I don't blame you: Aztechnology usually likes to infiltrate society at large on every level, but these specific kind of arcologies have been cropping up on the outskirts of sprawls the past few decades, and they're all so.. insular. I only left the one I grew up in a dozen times or so before leaving it for good, and even that was pretty exceptional. This isn't to do with anything really shaky like blood magic - not that those things aren't happening somewhere inside - but more to do with the Azzies looking to build up a consistent stock of 'true believers' near every major sprawl to keep the income reliable. It's a nice place if you're just visiting, even if the prices are blatantly hiked up if you don't live there. But of course, it's a different story when you're curious about the less public parts of the arcology, and believe me, there's plenty of those: not only is this place is one of the new major hubs for Aztechnology's more research-centric enterprises, but - and you won't hear about this unless you've lived in the arcology for several good reasons - there's exactly the sword of weird drek you'd expect from the Azzies going on in the lower levels of the arcology, and on top of the usual trigger-happy corpsec, you've also got a very well-funded cartel ready to gun for you if you do something the higher-ups of the arcology don't approve of.Demographics
The Demographics in the Teocalli are pretty much what you'd expect in most of North Carolina, save for a higher percentage of South-American and Awakened individuals and (mostly) unique to Aztechnology, a high number of registered HMHVV Infected citizens working on mostly equal (but subtly seperated) grounds with the regular citizenry.
Government
The organisation-structure of the arcology's pretty similar to standard corporate hierarchy, but it's got a weird theocratic stint to the whole thing: Aztechnology denies it, but you can't really ignore that the people who've got into positions of authority in the Teocalli are people who've really embraced the corporate religion, ceremonies and all. It keeps the core echelons loyal, not just in ensuring that only devoted citizens are in charge of things but in giving plenty of morally-ambiguous actions for the corp to hold over their employees' head in case they get cold feet.
Defences
You'd think a place like this would have top-notch security, but in recent years it's actually been something of a paper-tiger. Sure, having the central and security buildings right above the main entrance helps intimidate newcomers, but the byzantine system of security-clearances and maze-like architecture inside means the corpsec have a surprisingly difficult time keeping you in their sight. Just don't let them actually catch you though, because they're still packing a lot more heat than your typical Lone-Star beat, what with not having to worry about walking very far in the day.
Industry & Trade
Like I said above, the Teocalli's main reason for existence is providing a cosy place for research and development, with 14 of its 55 floors dedicated to labs alone, mostly in biotech and Genetique but holding departments in materials-research and even aerospace design. The rest of their work is done in manufacturing and mass-production for the shop-floors and local subsidiaries, which is what the majority of the residents are involved in some way or another.
Infrastructure
The arcology is mostly self-sufficient, having its own fusion powerplant along with a whole bunch of in-house production of goods, but at first glance it seems a little further from independant than others on account of how much freight it imports by the week. This is, of course, mitigated by the fact that it exclusively imports from Aztechnology subsidiaries while exporting its surplus production, giving both the arcology and surrounding businesses a boost in productivity.
Assets
The nature of the megacorp having a finger in every pie possible means that the arcology is pretty much 100% Aztechnolody-made, from the rivets holding everything together to the oodles of goods sold on the shop-floor, enough that a big chunk of the Arcology's inside-space is taken up by warehouses alone.
History
Honestly, it's kind of amazing the Teocalli even got built in the first place, what with all the struggles the corp was going on at the time, not helped by half the construction-staff needing to be replaced within a year of the start of construction because the rush to get the reactor up and running as soon as possible led to a catastrophic fuel-leak that gave a bunch of them cancer, followed by the guys in charge being found dying of ARS outside the city-limits.
The two are indeed related, in case you're wondering. Not by shadowrunners, mind you, just some good old-fashioned mob justive.After that little disaster, things managed to get back on track for a while but the staffing shortages really showed themselves near the end, with a lot of the fancier decorations being cut for budget reasons until the whole thing, inside and out, looked like a brutalist ode to victorian child-labour. Things were so creepy that the money saved on aesthetic additions was immediately spent on trying to get people to live there in the first place. But once they finally got a sizeable residence going on in the arcology, things finally started looking up as they began production and research on scales that you simply wouldn't find in stand-alone facilities. Nothing like a company town, eh chummer?
Architecture
Unusually for an Arcology, the core buildings and security center aren't in the center, or even close: Those things are are all around the outside and beneath the ziggurat-styled structure, like a rock-hard shell of reinforced concrete and concealed anti-aircraft assets protecting a gooey center of workers and residents with a series of warehouse-rooms acting as a wide buffer between the two. Power and primary R&D are found at the very deepest underground portions, beneath the shell of security-nodes, and the majority of floors above that are a mixture of shopping and residential districts, with the factories belching smoke on the very top of the pyramid.
Gotta say though, the faux-Ponce Creole architecture and the Coastal decor of the residential parts aren't exactly what I expected of the Azzies, but props to 'em for making an arcology not look hellishly bleak.
The brochures and specs also talk a lot about the arcology having a 'total-war state' built in; Basically a whole fuckton of reinforced metal shutters that can close off every opening into the arcology and lock the whole place down. I don't wanna think why they have that though...
Founding Date
2071
Alternative Name(s)
Raleigh Ziggurat
Type
Arcology
Population
Aproximately 3,300 Permanent/Registered residents
Location under
Comments