Albion, Gateway to Otherworld
ALBION, GATEWAY TO OTHERWORLD
Albion was the first colony established in Otherworld by the Otherworld Expeditionary Force around 1860 AD. At first it was a few simple buildings clustered around a Multiversal Gate and surrounded by crude defences but over time has expanded and has become perhaps the largest city in Otherworld.
THE SECRET COLONY
Albion was founded in 1861 AD to establish a foothold in then unexplored Otherworld. Only the Conclave knew of its existence and it was a secret they killed to keep. At first it was a simple fortified area around a Multiversal Gate but with each year that passed would grow into a small village, then a town and finally a city. The Tennyson family, a wealthy family with close ties to the Conclave, were chosen for the governership of Tennyson. Its protection against the understandably hostile Otherworld natives fell to the recently founded Otherworld Expeditionary Force which was at that time made up of convicts from Earth led by officers with long ties of service to the Conclave. Many OEF soldiers lives were lost as the pacifcation of the region around Albion expanded and the Conclave asserted their dominion over the local inhabitants.
As resources such as coal, lumber and precious metals were found in abandunance in and around Albion the city grew into an industrial powerhouse causing the Conclave to send more settlers through, again from families in generations long service to them. The OEF became less a penal legion and more a proper army, though there would always be a battalation of penal soldiers, and was granted to access to more advanced weaponry and equipment to better combat the myriad dangers of Otherworld.
As Albion expanded and the OEF become more and more effective groups of Otherworld natives approached with offers not just of peace but trade. With the blessing of the Conclave the Tennyson family accepted and Albion would grow into a bustling cosmopolis of trade where humans and Otherworld natives lived largely in peace alongside one another. Attacks from natives continued as the people of Otherworld were, as diverse in species though they were, are just as fractious and prone to violence as humans, but as Albion grew in size and strength many nations opted to co-exist. To the people of Otherworld, Albion and its people did not belong but there was little that could be done about their prescence and they were a force it was better to be peaceful with rather than at war.
By the year 2045 AD, a mere six years before the Conclave implemented the New World Order, Albion was a thriving city with a large population of human and Otherworldian governed fairly by a popular family.
ALBION TODAY
It was not until the dawn of 2110 AD that the Conclave revealed the existence of Otherworld and that of Albion. To the oppressed and miserable masses of Earth the existence of worlds beyond Earth with non-human life was mind blowing and for many it meant a chance for a better life away from the cramped, polluted and crime riddled hellhole that most of the megacities of Earth had become.
The Conclave established the Otherworld Emigration Program to facilitate the massive flux of requests from citizens to start a new life in Albion. To get a visa for oneself or an entire family is a long, laborious and costly process. Each year there is a finite number of visa and the tests are rigurous with notoriously high standards the majority cannot hope to achieve. Everything from pyshical, mental and IQ is tested and failure by a small margin in any means failure. Only those with needed skills may avoid the beaucratic nightmare of the Emigration Program. The other option for the physically fit is to enlist in the Otherworld Expedtionary Force which is portrayed as a noble calling to protect the future of humanity instead of the grim, soul crushing reality.
The Otherworld Emigration Program exists to provide the illusion of escape whilst being too difficult a task for the majority to wish to embark upon. The Conclave could easily facilitiate a mass exodus to Otherworld but choose not too. Earth remains integral to humanity in their eyes and they do not wish a population they have worked hard to make compliant see Earth as a sinking ship they must flee.
Once a year the Otherworld New Life Lottery is held, rewarding a hundred randomly drawn numbers and their families a chance to emigrate to Albion all expenses paid and with housing provided. The New Life Lottery is very popular and its annual draw has become a major event. For many wishing a new start this is a dream that despite the infitesimal odds of winning keeps them going.
As for Albion itself, it is a now vast metropolis in its own right; a melting pot of cultures, religions and peoples. Humans coexist with the non-human and human natives of Otherworld in peace and do so mostly peacefully. There is a large number of Elves in the city who, naturally, enjoy an elevated social status over say the Orcs and many of the humans. That is just the Eleven way, they always rise to the top and do it with grace and snobbery that other races may grumble at but rarely do anything to challenge. Dwarves are held in high esteem as they helped expand and improve Albion over the years, adding their natural engineering skills to turn the city into a much more functional and grand looking place. Orcs and the smaller Goblins are everywhere and have adapted well to living in an urban setting. They are found in not just physical labour jobs but also as guards and law enforcement. To the Orcs outside Albion the urban orcs are traitors and it should be noted that the Otherworld Orcs remain a constant threat to Albion and clashes between them and the OEF are still fairly common. Both sides consider such skirmishes good practice and a good way to make sure niether grow too complacent.
In start contrast to the megacities of Earth Albion is clean, spacious and open. It has heavy industry certainly but unlike Earth it has not reached the level that it has harmed the enviroment and polluted the air and water. There has been some pressure from Earth bounding industrial groups to expand mining and wood harvesting across Albion controlled territory but the Tennyson's have long opposed such actions, citing the increased industry would rile up the so far benign forest races as well as possibly angering the Dwarves consider the underground mining their province.
HELENA TENNYSON, GOVERNOR OF ALBION
The most powerful figure in Albion Helena Tennyson is the latest in a long line of her family to serve as Governor of Albion. She, like her father before him, is well liked by the citizens of Albion and as she is remarkably photogenic her picture is everywhere. She rules firmly but justly and has worked hard to keep crime and poverty at an all time low during her seven years of governor since taking over from her ailing father. The various factions and peoples of Albion respect her and thanks to some shrewd politicking she is able to keep most of them at each's others throats whilst still seeing her as an ally.
For many of the human citizens of Albion the Tennyson's and not the Conclave rule Albion. That the family governs with the approval and guidance of the Conclave is a fact most are unaware of or choose to ignore. If Helena were to declare indepedence she would have the full support of the overwhelming majority of Albion.
Some have long speculated that the reason the Tennyson's allowed Otherworld natives into the city was done to secure the trust and loyalty of a potential army that should Albion declare indepedence would fight tooth and nail for. The OEF has numerous garrisons around the city and most have more loyalty to the city than the distant tyrants of Earth. There is still the matter of a Praetorian garrison right next to the multiversal gate; a fortified bastion of Conclave authority that would be difficult to remove. If that garrison were removed however, there would be little to stop Albion destroying the Multiversal Gate and cutting itself off from Earth.
Of course, all this is mere speculation. Helena Tennyson is a loyal servant of the Conclave and would never even dream of insurrection.
Besides, it would be rather naive to assume the Magisters did not consider this very situation and have numerous safeguards in place.
Just in case, you understand.
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