Step City

Court Luxe
Alignment: Bandito
Contributed by: trashbaby

This is a seedy(ish) strip club located in the Research District within a renovated industrial building. There is a trashy classy vibe to the venue, with tacky decor and neon lights. It is owned by Noir and Renard, and employs a few folks from RD including Vel and Dwight. There is an open door policy on the venue, which means anyone from any faction can enter, but if they start shit they will get hit. As a result a lot of throwdowns happen there. However, the club mostly caters to Ditos, and is often a meeting spot to socialize and conduct business. In the basement there is a facility to produce drugs, and selling these substances at the club pads Noir's cred income. Currently, he is trying to make the venue into a defensible position in case the factions decide to push their weight around in RD.

Cat Cafe
Alignment: Bandito/Square
Contributed by: pizzasprite

Though the pink-and-green, half-broken neon sign outside says Bonnie's Place, it's known colloquially in the RD as the Cat Cafe. This is due to both the kitschy cat decor that lines the restaurant's walls, and the herds of stray cats that lurk in the alley behind the restaurant, often wandering into the restaurant itself. The owner doesn't seem to mind the cats at all... in fact, she seems to be the one that's keeping them all fed.

The Cat Cafe is a small space, with a short dining counter that can seat six, and four window-facing booths. It's open 7 am-3 pm, Wednesday-Sunday... or whatever days Bonnie feels like working. Beyond the dining area is a simple, somewhat shoddily-maintained kitchen, and Bonnie's office. The decor is all pink-and-teal 50's diner. Yes, there is a jukebox. NO TOM JONES ALLOWED.

Compared to dining establishments found in other districts, the food here is simple and comforting. The menu is a mixture of your greasy spoon staples - pancakes, pies, burgers - and some of the home cooking Bonnie grew up with - matzah ball soup, latkes, pickles. It's the kind of food that hits the spot when you're feeling sad or hung over; food to fill your belly so you can go home and take a nice long nap. While the "elite" of the city may turn their noses up at such "low brow" cuisine, for Step City's lower-income population, it's one of the few "family-friendly" venues in the RD. At the Cafe Cafe you can sip a black coffee to start off your workday, or enjoy some pancakes after a long night partying at the Luxe.

For those without financial means, Bonnie gives free food to anyone willing to wash dishes for an hour or two. Skipping out on the bill will earn you dish duty AND an ass kicking.

FM and UG are welcome here too, as long as they keep the politics or fighting outside. The peace is strictly enforced.

Current employees:
Bonnie - chef, owner
Maxilith - dishwasher
Velina - part-time server
Benson - ???

Playlist
Pinterest

Thirsty Mermaid
Alignment: Bandito
Contributed by: pizzasprite

A nautical-themed bar located by the Research District docks. In its prime, The Thirsty Mermaid was the go-to spot for Banditos and RD delinquents. Nowadays, its clientele is mostly divorced dads, sad alcoholics, and lonely fishermen.

FM and UG are "not welcomed".

Pinterest

The Manor
Alignment: Bandito
Contributed by: pizzasprite & Lime

A decrepit old mansion in the Research District, rumored to be haunted by the family that used to live there. The Manor is known among Step City's paranormal activity aficionados as one the island's most haunted spots. But are there actually ghosts here? Or is that just a rumor started by 'ditos to keep looky-loos away? Regardless, The Manor is clearly condemned and should remain unoccupied.

Recently, the Banditos seem to have reclaimed The Manor as an event space for themselves and "cool" Squares.

Spotlight Arts Center

Alignment: Square
Contributed by: Lime

A theater space in RD specializing in low budget productions and performance programs. Dance, music, films and plays. This community space is deemed as a safe space in the rundown district for kids events.

In spite of its often rough appearance one one or two letter lights going out, the place is very well kept on the inside with diligent staff making sure it feels warm and welcoming.

Keep the Bandito nonsense out of here.

The Observatory
Faction: Helion
Contributed by: NativeK
Constructed when Step City was built, the Avrasol Research Observatory is a large domed structure located on the south side of the Research District. Originally intended to monitor the range of their frequency experiments, and to observe potential interactions with stellar and interstellar radiation, the Observatory was heavily damaged in the aftermath of V-day. Though it's data was lost, and most of the instruments damaged beyond repair or outside the expertise of anyone who has taken a look, the basic mechanical functions of the Observatory, including its telescope, remain to modern times.


Structure
The Observatory has a teardrop shaped footprint, the point jutting out over the top of the front door and the circular dome shape making up the majority of the space it occupies. It's roof is flat, with three distinct tiers like long, shallow steps that surround the central dome which houses the telescope. Originally the building was glazed with a coat of light grey paint, and the dome was copper, however time and damage eventually wore the concrete bare and the dome patinaed. The heavy metal doors at the front of the Observatory seemed archaic at the time, but have stood strong of years.

The interior of the Observatory comes in two tiers: A ground floor which leads to the many rooms that once housed small offices, a planetarium, the side entrance to the adjoining smaller theatre hall, the old labs, and kitchens. Access to these all stem from a great foyer fitted with a kinetic sculpture of the solar system. Stairs from the foyer lead up to the second floor, and the first aid station, roof access, common area, and observation deck. The interiors were originally painted in black and white, avant garde shapes evoking ideas of space.


Structure (in detail)
Foyer
"It was enormous. Perhaps fifty feet tall, or more, and much wider. The vast space, once black and white monochrome to emphasise the expansive nature of the void beyond the sky, was now painted in an array of reds, whites, and yellows. The roof directly above was painted with a pictographic representation of the sun, surrounded by the gladiation of crimson morning light, who’s effect was enhanced by the orange beams of genuine sunlight that peered through large fractured windows. There were two levels to the foyer, a downstairs that had signs that, though part of the structure itself, had been hand painted with new words such as ‘classrooms’, ’living quarters’, and ‘kitchen’. On either side of the huge room we’re staircases with metal railings that lead to a balcony that took up the entire back half of the room, and curved around to follow the cylindrical tube in the centre of the structure that, one could assume, led into the deeper recesses of the Observatory.

At the centre of this room was a giant kinetic sculpture. A giant inverted mobile depicting the solar system as the planets orbited the sun, and between each planet a ring of energy that could draw its origin to the centre of the piece at Sol."

"The upstairs ceiling and walls were an extension of what (could be seen) from downstairs. Up here, most of the space was tinted by the stained glass façade of the upper building, bathing the area in hues of red, white, and yellow. The broad painted patterns that had been visible from below branched into complex circular reliefs and lexicon that made abstract, sun and moon like shapes across the roof and down the walls, all leading to a point directly opposite where they were, past a fountain half sunk into the floor in the style of a Roman bath.

A door, on which the spiralling text became a black hole that was crowned by rays of blissful emptiness. And at the centre of everything, two handles: the sun and the moon. Of course there were other things here, other doors that lead to hallways and walkways up above. But all the focus from every aspect of every corner of the room was artistically pulled inwards to those doors."

"They passed some other people; a gardener working on a small section of plants they they kept off to one side, another person in long, light linnens reading a book on a bench under the light…"

"“This…” they started, gesturing around them “…is the hall of reflection. This is the hub of our little gathering. We have areas to sunbathe, a little garden, and the decor of course. Off to the left over there we have the kitchen and dining hall. Then those stairs lead up to the roof where we sometimes hold open air meetings and classes. To the right is our clinic, and past that we have the start of our big garden, that Maxine here is also working on.""


The Observation Deck (the Chapel/Sun Room)
"The Sun Chamber was resplendent. The domed structure was originally copper, as anyone looking at the Observatory from the outside could tell you, but inside what could be seen of the spaces that would have been the original walls was painted bright, refractive yellow, like the safety jackets of electricians of decades prior. The dome lay open, the telescope staring out longingly at the sky. Golden ornaments hung from beams and poles that served both structural and decorative purposes. Handmade signs and symbols, and many, many medallions like those the robed people had been wearing. The most striking feature of the entire room however, and the reason for its obscene brightness, were the hundreds, if not thousands of tiny shards of mirror that jutted at different angles, mosaicking almost the entire space, and reflecting sun after sun after sun in a dizzying array of blinding, twinkling lights that seemed to follow wherever someone went. Even near the entirety of the floor was covered, making no surface safe from the solar light."


1st floor hallways
"The hallway was tall, with a curved ceiling that sat somewhere between a modernist and medieval aesthetic. Mirrors, strategically placed at intervals let the gushing light that flooded the foyer floor at least partly down the hall in a slowly fading spectacle of gently dancing rays. The almost blank white walls were interspaced periodically with metal doors, also painted over in the reds and yellows of the foyer. Most of the doors were closed, but those with open doors (…) were clearly living spaces. Each one was big enough to sleep in, maybe live in, maybe even enjoy on an evening. As they made their way down it became apparent that the whole hall curved gently as well, seeming to go on and on, revealing more doors as they rotated around the building."


Planitarium
"(…) a simple steel door that opened up into another oversized room. This one, unlike foyer, was only one level, but was packed almost wall to wall with small living spaces; bunk beds four high that almost touched the ceiling, and an area around the bottom for storage and some seating. Each had its own form of entertainment: be that radios, board games, or magazines. Put together, each one was a block of floor space that made a small maze like pattern that was only broken in one straight line that crossed directly to another door on the other side. It would have been an overwhelming sight to take in all at once. Those living spaces that were occupied were currently lit by small crank powered lanterns.

"Silver lights poked through the black ceiling to give the impression of stars, and rim lighting around the lip of the ceiling and skirting of the wall and floor shimmered slightly, giving the impression the room was in a perpetual, bright night."


History
After it's creation in X075, the Observatory was handed over to a division of the Scientists running the Step City experiment that were tasked with cataloguing any local, atmospheric, or interstellar, non-biological responses to the frequencies being transmitted across the island. Though the details of their research has been lost to time, it's safe to assume they noted *something* that kept their department running up until V-day.

After V-day, the majority of the Scientists who had been working in the Observatory fled into the confusion and potential retaliation, and the Observatory was abandoned.

In X104, a micro faction called the Reds rediscovered the Observatory as a secure place to stage raids out of, and repainted it's exterior to match. Though the Reds died out, the Observatory remained inhabited from that point onwards, with a regular cycling of folks who were looking for safety in numbers but not feeling secure within its walls, as well as rumours of a cult.

Starting in X110, the Observatory began to spring to life, with redecoration and reconstruction efforts making it look almost brand new within the year. A group calling themselves the Helion Initiative began to run community projects using the Observatory as a base of operations, and the area around the Observatory has been revitalised.

In X113, the finishing touches were put on the Observatory: it now has constant power and a working telescope.

Seasonal business open for only a few months in the Summer and a bit into fall if it stays warm enough. A small shack on the beach that remains closed the remainder of the year.


A fisherman and seller of fresh sushi to beach goers. In addition he has surf board rentals. But if you break is board prepared to pay up full price or throw down.

Silver Dragon-

Alignment: Square
Contributed by: Soot

Exdaro’s fishing boat is a 35ft vessel held together as best it can be. Featuring both sails and motors. Large crab cages line the side, and there is clear evidence of continuous repairs.

The crew travels to deep unsafe waters fishing up the largest and deepest water fish available before the storm is too wild to take any longer. They are known to come back with injuries, and videos of various sea life with vibes attacking the boat. These vibe fish are often the best tasting fish delivered.

Exdaro offers low to no cost fish to people in RD depending on need. For example Makoa buys sushi grade fish at below usual price for Fish n’ Bones, but someone who is only on the UBI will likely be able to get fish for 0 Cred.

He also offers high end fish to faction members, but at a much, much higher markup. Up to 10-15x the price depending. However he’s comfortable doing that because no one else will go for those fish in particular, so those who want the finest will need to pay for it heavily. Most of these costs go to boat repairs, crew pay, and Vendy costs for crew injuries.

The crew of the Silver Dragon is known to throw community days, giving away food and supplies bought with anything Exdaro has leftover after his expeditions every few months. It can be anything from school supplies, to toys, to blankets, to even just paying for everyone to see a dental Vendy for a dental cleaning.

Ditos are welcome to these things, but any trouble caused is noted, so they are asked to be on their best behavior. Please do not steal the free food or items meant for everyone, or your ass will be kicked. Any Ditos found to be terrorizing the people living in RD can be cut from this charity. Anything done to UG or FM members are not the same thing, but the Ditos are asked to not involve the Silver Dragon crew in any way.

Dr Cecille's CC's Medical Clinic

Alignment: Square (Dito friendly)
Contributed by: AJ

A pretty grey business card with a subtle rainbow sheen and tasteful scifi holo pop-out text that reads: