Horizon City

The Ultimate Arcology

Rising from the landscape like a monument to human ambition, Horizon City stands as the world's largest man-made structure - a self-contained arcology 26.8 miles in diameter and 1.5 miles high at its peak. Conceived by the genius programmer Benjiro Takahashi and brought to life through the business acumen of Jules Hope and John Whitmore, this massive dome represents the physical manifestation of Benjiro's revolutionary vision: "One city sized dome, four cities tall, stacked on top of each other! All sharing infrastructure, all of it connected, all of it powered by the energy in the ground! Forever!"

Made possible by Benjiro's programmable metamaterials that could "store energy up like a battery" and "heal itself" when under stress, the city houses millions of people in a stratified society that transforms economic and power dynamics into literal physical levels - exactly as Benjiro envisioned.

Physical Environment

Horizon City's physical structure embodies its social hierarchy:

• Gold Level: The uppermost level where the wealthy, powerful, and corporate elite reside. Characterized by luxury, space, advanced technology, and spectacular views from the dome's highest points.

• Green Level: The middle tier where professionals, skilled workers, and the middle class live. Offers comfortable living conditions, good services, and relative safety.

• Red Level: The lowest habitable level, home to the working class, poor, and marginalized. Densely populated, with limited resources, higher crime rates, and closer proximity to the industrial areas.

• Below Red: The industrial foundation of the city, including ToxPower's geothermal plant and the dangerous Feynman batteries that provide energy to the entire structure.

The city's physical infrastructure includes advanced transportation systems between levels, controlled access points, and comprehensive surveillance networks. The entire structure is built using Benjiro Takahashi's revolutionary programmable metamaterials, which were later commercialized by ToxPower's meta-materials division. These self-healing materials that can "store energy up like a battery" allow for the unprecedented scale and stability of the dome, making Benjiro the true architectural genius behind Horizon City's seemingly impossible structure.

Governance and Society

Horizon City operates as a semi-autonomous city-state governed by its own board comprised of corporate leaders with significant interests in the city. This governance structure blurs the line between government and corporation, with public services often indistinguishable from corporate offerings.

Key aspects of Horizon City's society include:

• Clone-Based Immortality: Unlike in Japan where cloning serves as genuine life insurance, in Horizon City it functions as a mechanism for economic exploitation. Genetek Revival has exclusive rights to provide cloning services, with facilities only on Gold level. The system requires purchasing an initial clone and then paying again if that clone is activated, creating a stark divide between those who can afford effective immortality and those who cannot. This system is further controlled through the "banished list," which determines who can and cannot be revived.

• Corporate Justice: The Horizon Justice Force (HJF) serves as the city's law enforcement, but ultimately answers to corporate interests rather than democratic oversight.

• Immigration Control: Entry to the city is tightly controlled through gates, with new arrivals (known as "immies") subject to extensive screening and often exploited upon arrival.

• Gang Territories: Particularly in Red Level, various gangs control different territories, including the Sinners, Razorboys/Razorgirls, and Yakuza.

Economic System

The city's economy is built around corporate control of essential services and resources:

• ToxPower: The foundation of the city's economy, providing energy and developing advanced materials.

• Genetek Revival: Controls the clone technology that enables the immortality system.

• Level-Based Economy: Different economic activities dominate different levels, from high finance and corporate headquarters in Gold to manufacturing and service industries in Red.

• Vertical Mobility: Movement between levels is both physically and socially restricted, with economic advancement rarely translating to literal upward movement in the city's structure.

Cultural Significance

To the outside world, Horizon City represents the ultimate expression of technological achievement and visionary design - a city conceived by the genius of Benjiro Takahashi and brought to life through the business acumen of Jules Hope and John Whitmore. It stands as a testament to what becomes possible when revolutionary technological innovation meets entrepreneurial vision and resources.

The city serves as both utopia and dystopia depending on one's perspective and position within its hierarchy. For those in Gold, it offers luxury, security, and near-immortality. For those in Red, it can be a prison of economic exploitation and limited opportunity. Yet the city's sheer scale and complexity create niches where unexpected forms of resistance, community, and innovation can flourish.

Perhaps most significantly, Horizon City stands as the physical manifestation of Benjiro's original vision - a world where "moving up in society" is not just a metaphor but a literal description of changing one's physical location within the massive structure. The vertical stratification that Benjiro envisioned ("one city sized dome, four cities tall, stacked on top of each other") has become a reality that shapes every aspect of life for its inhabitants.

This makes it the perfect setting for exploring questions of power, class, identity, and resistance in a technologically advanced future - all within the framework of a structure that would have been impossible without Benjiro's revolutionary programmable metamaterials and Jules Hope's ability to transform theoretical innovation into physical reality.