Holt

Holt is the largest city within and capital of RESA⁣. Like many cities its size, Holt is considered to be a global city, and has been called the world's most powerful, influential, and innovative city, as well as the media, social, and entertainment capital of the world. Holt exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. The city acts as a hub for major railway, highway, air traffic, and subway transportation, and receives the highest number of tourists in terms of international transportation world wide. The City of Holt has an estimated GDP of [879 billion] Marks.

The Surface

The Surface City of Holt contains a total population of 2,146,000 citizens, and measures 86 km², which is surprisingly small for its enormous population. The City was originally built around a massive cathedral built by the goddess Charm, but currently, the city acts as the capital city of RESA and other organizations, including the CDD. At the city's center lies a massive palace called the High Citadel. The HC houses the Führer and is the location of most of the nations affairs.
The Surface city of Holt is strangely shaped, with an over crowded center full of small buildings that house many businesses or families, while on the outside, tall skyscrapers reach to the stars. This strange architectural design its due to the city's hollow foundation, that renders most the city incapable of supporting larger buildings. Because of this, large and tall buildings were built on the city's outskirts, while the center has become overfull with smaller buildings.

The Underground

Unlike many cities its size, Holt contains very few large buildings or skyscrapers within its perimeter. This is because of several layers of winding undergrounds that make the terrain unsafe for the foundation of large buildings. Because of this, the city has an almost walled infrastructural design, as large businesses and companies invested in building skyscrapers outside the city limit, which now encircle the city.
The underground itself reaches an estimated depth of 3.7 km, and is divided into four layers; the Undercity, a large underground city that houses majority of the city's population, the Metro, a group of underground canals, sewers, highways, railways, and even rivers that are found beneath or even within the Undercity. The Catacombs are by far the largest of the four, measuring approximately 2.1 km in depth. The final level is an area the SRA classifies as Area-07, and houses Site-01, the SRA's Headquarters. The fourth level is off limits to the public.

The Undercity

The Undercity is a large subterranean city that houses the majority of Holt's population, an estimate of 4,794,000 people. The Undercity is divided into 16 Districts, each with two massive natural pillars supporting the Undercity's roof. Some of the thirty-two [32] pillars are lined with steel braces, and/or have large brick towers built around them, which act as massive apartments for housing the enormous population.

by Jared Shear

History

The Undercity itself was originally a massive underground cavern .88 km below the surface unearthed during an excavation of the Holt Catacombs in 1186. The cavern was originally utilized as a central camp for archaeologists and miners alike, and the ease at which it took to reach the surface, due to the structural integrity of the cavern, caused the expeditions to increase. The technological advancements in the 1200s and the population boom in Holt forced the city to start expanding, and property below the surface began being sold. The total number of permanent residential citizens below the surface was still under ten thousand [10,000] at the time. It wasn't until in 1260 when Führer Jeni Roth, fearing a nuclear war, began investing a large amount of funds into expanding and modernizing the Undercity [an estimated 107 billion marks worth was invested by 1273].
Although Holt itself was never bombed, nuclear war did break out. As the war grew more aggressive, more than two thirds of the city's population fled below ground. Thanks to the Führer's efforts, the underground cavern was large enough to hold one million [1,000,000] individuals, although this still wasn't enough. The people continued expanding it, until in 1279, when the war ended, the cavern had more than tripled its size, erected massive pillars to retain the cavern's integrity, and had more than 2 million buildings were dug into the floor and walls. After the war ended, most of the population returned to city, but while they were below the surface, large fires had burned entire neighborhoods down, buildings had been robbed and vandalized, and insects and rodents had spread across the city.
Although the Führer took action to rebuild, many had lost everything in the war. Homeless shelters quickly overfilled, and soon people were returning below ground. The city managed to completely rebuild by 1282, but the city faced yet another population boom, and many evacuees from the nuclear war fled to Holt following the war's end. By the same year, the city's population had doubled what it was before the war. As the city had no other place to put all the new residents, the Undercity quickly began filling.
In the early 1300s, the price of real-estate on the surface began steadily climbing, and although new buildings and homes were being built around the city, expanding its perimeter, doing so put businesses far away from the city's center, isolating them from other closer businesses. The wealthiest businesses would build a business headquarter outside the city limit, as the property was cheaper there and the companies required large buildings, and then purchase a smaller office at the city's center, closer to the people. Unfortunately, this method took up more of the city's precious space than necessary, and soon more than fifty percent [50%] of the city's real-estate was company owned rather than residential. As it was much cheaper, the people began moving below the surface.

Crime

These days, the Undercity houses almost 5 million people, almost 5/7th of the entire Holt population. Although some areas in the Undercity house wealthy and well off individuals, around two thirds [2/3rds] of the city is an unsanitary, underfed, and overpopulated ghotto. Holt retains the highest crime rate out of any city world wide, mostly due to its Undercity. The underground houses several cartels, gangs, and is overridden with drug and human trafficking. The city has an astoundingly high lethality rate, especially for new comers, and it is averaged that one in every five [1/5] newcomer never returns to the surface. The Undercity has an average daily death count of 579, 301 of which are disease or malnutrition related, 197 are suicide or homicides, and the remaining 81 are of natural or other causes.
For obvious reasons, the Undercity has proven difficult in establishing a connection to cellular towers and internet connection with the surface. Although several experimental systems were set up, most failed spectacularly, while others were to expensive to be widely utilized. It wasn't until 1451 that the first cellular tower was built within the Undercity. The tower was built at the city's most elevated point, District 16, and a direct line was established with the cellular tower above the District. Since its construction, real estate prices around the district have risen, and the wealthy now reside in the area.

The Metro

In addition to a subterranean city, Holt has an incredibly complex system of subways, underground canals, and sewers, called the Metro. Due to cave-ins and uneconomical positions, many subways and sewer lines have become completely unused, and now act as hide outs for gangs and cartels.

Holt Transit Subway

The Holt Transit Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of Holt. The railway tracks reach a depth of 1.4 km, passing even lower than the Undercity itself, which is at a depth of .88 km. The subway is one of the eldest and largest, measuring a total 298 km worth of routes stretching across the city's Underground and Surface. The Subway travels across an elevated track within the Undercity, so to prevent unnecessary destruction of the property, such as graffiti, and as a safety precaution for travelers from the surface. The subway provides 24 hour service everyday of the year, although certain tracks may be closed off due to construction, weather, or domestic issues.

Sewers and canals

In addition to a subway, the Metro has large bricked sewers that wind below the surface. Originally, from 1273 to 1393, the Undercity as divided by large open sewers that was responsible for an enormous number of deaths, plagues, and rodent issues. In 1393, construction began to seal the sewers closed, however, all open sewers were not closed until 1451.

Catacombs

The Catacombs are an incredibly complex labyrinth believed to have been originally constructed in the 400s as a temple to the Father. The Catacombs begin at a depth of 1.6 km and continue down toward an estimated 2.98 km. Excavations of the temple began after its discovery in 1186 and the site quickly became a tourist attraction and archeology site. The exploration of the temple continued until the property was purchased by the SRA in 1283. The Agency spent no time closing off any entrances and placing armed guards around the perimeter. All maps and documentations of the temple were confiscated, although artifacts were allowed to be possessed.
Historians believe that the temple was constructed as a metaphor for the deep and mysterious nature of the Father, and the temple was intentionally designed to be both confusing and awe inspiring. It is currently unknown how the temple's creators managed to build such an enormous cathedral, let alone how they did it at 1.5 km below the ground. Some experts have even proposed that the temple was created by one of the Sisters, although the architectural design doesn't align with any of the Sisters other creations. 

Area-07

Area-07 is a term coined by the SRA in description of an experimentation zone created by the Agency below even the Catacombs. The Area, sometimes called Level Five, begins at a depth just under 3 km, and based on information available to the public, reaches a depth of approximately  3.7 km. Although the purpose of the site is unknown, many believe it was constructed with the Catacombs as buffer territory, preventing escapees. Due to the accidental releasing of classified files, many believe that Area-07 also houses Site-01, the SRA Headquarters.

by Luis Humberto Briseño González

The city of Holt is surrounded in all directions by tall buildings, as they couldn't have been built within the city itself.

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Buried Towers

Type

Capital

Population

5,940,000

Location under

Albina Island

Owner/Ruler

Führer Lili Roth

Owning Organization

The United Federation of Albina [RESA]