Gloria - Even Utopia Needs Maintenance

[LD]

Small Update.
Why this and not a Choir? ... A mere choir seemed a bit too predictable. And this suited Gloria's Jazz and entreprenurial inspirations better. :)

[ic=Chastity Human Emblematics]
The Clique - High-pitched voices and twittering sounds travel in the sound-tunnels of the Clique. These monks of harmony travel together, bound within a tunnel of sound. Everywhere they go, they project their music and remain protected from the defiling views of the world. They walk surrounded by a plaster and paper-mache model; and tirelessly heft the structure around them wherever they go.

- Several traveling Clique Harmony troupes often perform at the Faith's functions. Others have been known to perform at high society events.

- Several noble-women have made a game of it to try to flirt with one of the Clique and draw one away from his Harmony. Cliques who stray are often abandoned and ostracized by all Harmonies for having lost their purity. Some have become constant lovers, others are quickly discarded by their coquettish temptresses and then wander the world alone, their eyes burdened by the harsh sun.

- The abandoned Clique members are not completely lost to society however; Hijra have been known to take some into their society since they look so interestingly alike. Others have tried to survive by making personal performances. These performances are not as good as a full Clique performance, but the lower middle classes and upwardly mobile lower classes enjoy hearing the individual Clique tunes; patronizing the lone former Clique-member allows the proletariat to have a feeling of wealth.[/ic]

[LD]

Evil Socialist Lands have begun to be fleshed out:

Introduction to the Socialist Lands:

When you die, your estate is taxed at 100% and then redistributed to all, with regard to their need.

The weak, the poor, the huddled masses, the eyeless, the armless, the half-witted are given the most, and the able bodied are given the least.

Everyone is made equal and lifted up to have the same opportunities, except in Svain which believes with an almost religious-zeal that they have found a more efficient way to achieve equality.


[ic=Morbyl]
You have a duty to the whole world.

The Beggars of Morbyl
- When someone asks for money, without which they would go hungry, citizens are required to give or else they will be liable to indigent for any discomfort suffered from their inability to procure food. This stringent policy has led many in the city to avoid the poorer parts of town; and has lead others to wear blinders and ear plugs to avoid being accosted for payment.

Policefolk patrol the alleys and streets and identify citizens who refuse to feed the hungry. At the end of the night, if the hungry have not located a target, they will be taken in by the police, bathed, fed, and put up for the night in sleeping cots, with costs spread between all taxed citizens of the city.

The Obsequiousness of Morbyl
- In Morbyl, each neighbor is her neighbor's keeper. If a neighbor notices a fire spreading in someone's backyard, or sees that a fence is broken, or that a rusted nail is sticking out of a gate, they are required to warn that person of the danger and alternatively may be required to correct the dangerous instrumentality themselves. Similarly, if there is a fight in a dining establishment, every Morbyllian is required to intervene to stop the pummeling.

If a Morbyllian neglects to intervene and it is proven that the Morbyllian noted and understood the danger, then they will be held liable as if they had caused the dangerous instrumentality.  

Lack of Stores, Farms
- Morbyl is a city of tiny patches of greenery. Half of what everyone grows is to be shared with others in the city, so most people grow about twice what they need. Some hide the excess and may try to sell it to others. This act is highly frowned upon, and when a citizen commits such a crime, they will soon be visited by the local block patrol committee who will sit down with them and discuss, in detail, how much harm they are doing to society by holding back the fruits of the city's labor.

- Stores do not exist in Morbyl; there is little point in selling or buying items when everyone is supposed to share in equal amounts. Instead, there are redistribution centers, run by the city block governing council. There are four such centers placed around the city. In them, people can trade items, or present petitions for necessary objects.
[/ic]

Phaede-Oestral (Scientific-Development)
Svain (Sacrifice)
[ic=Svain]We Must Become As the Greatest-Least, Lest They Be Scorned

In Svain, the able-bodied weigh themselves down, much as those do in Vonnegut's tale Harrison Bergeron, in order to sacrifice and ensure that none discriminate against the disabled and sickly in their society. In Svain you can see thin, lithe runners weighted down by chains so they will walk slow, you can see women who wear mounds of makeup to look more homely, you can see strong men who willfully break their arms and cripple themselves so that they can only carry as much as the least of those in Svain's society.

Svain is occasionally wracked by famine since the society's non able-bodies are often unable to harvest crops or conduct strenuous activities. However, Svain's citizens are often saved from starvation by distribution from moral Morbyl denizens. [/ic]

[Llum]

I'm not sure if Vonnegut's tale of Harrison Bergeron is the same as I'm talking about, but I seen a trailer for a movie where everyone with abilities shackle themselves to be "equal", the strong wear waits, those with good eyesight wear glasses to make them see worse, etc.

This reminds me of that trailer quite a bit.

[LD]

It seems someone may have adapted the short story to a movie.  

[Llum]

Here it is, first video. Its called 2081.

[LD]

[ic=The Glick]
"Oh, to be as quick as a Glick."

The positive-energy Glick are fey and wild; they float in the lightning and the thunder, arcing from one blast to another; they live in the sparks of hammer on stone, they emerge new-born from shimmer extracted and scraping against the walls of the bore-hole. These picayune creatures are hermaphroditic in nature and gain pleasure from certain interactions; but like a mule are unable to reproduce. Instead, they are created by lucky spontaneous generation. Sparks, electricity, and explosions are all likely to create new Glicks. When "Interacting", Glicks glow like a lightning bug and warm to super-heated temperatures that have been known to start fires.

In ancient Gloria, Glicks were captured in jars and used to provide light at night. Some old Glorians even used Glicks as incendiary devices. After capturing a Glick in a tube and wrapping the Glick tight with twine, the Glorians would rotate the tube around their head like a bolo and then toss at the animal or enemy they wished to harm. On impact, the Glick would explode and send out a wave of heat, radiation, and flame.

Glicks are rarely captured, except by guile. Glicks can be attracted by sparks, and draw near when they believe that others of their race are about to be birthed.

In some parts of Gloria, entrepreneurs have taken to creating Glick-Factories, where the creatures are produced en masse, then marketed in jars to the citizens who need lighting, and to the armies who need ammunition for their newest weapons (DISCUSS LATER).

But why are Glicks lucky, one asks? Well, allegedly Glicks never age. They can only die by explosion- which happens fairly often. Or they can perish by losing their charge. A Glick without access to lightning or spark is a Glick which soon whithers and fades. Still, Glicks often do not need to fear lack of lightning or sparks, in rainstorms, lightning tends to seek out exposed Glicks and strike them due to ionic attraction, which is quite lucky for the Glicks. There are some Glicks older than centuries who live on the highest mountains and who dance around the stratosphere, up and through the stratus, to the black and heavy cumulonimbus hammerheads.

The Glicks are a simple race, without writing or a spoken language. Still, they seem to have a rudimentary method of communication. When a Glick wishes to express an emotion, they will change color. A yellow Glick is quite happy and excited; a red Glick is nervous or angry or worried, a blue Glick is tired, and a green Glick is sick.[/ic]

New Race! The Glick!


---
And the Etterati:

The Mystical Etterati
- The Etterati "stand" about three feet tall. Their Etterati's heads, legs, and bat-like velveteen wings protrude from  grey birthing-eggshells which remain attached to the creatures for their entire lives, shielding them from the elements and from predators.

- The Etterati feast on nectar, blood, sweat, and bile. They can only ingest liquids.

- When threatened, the Etterati retract their head, legs, and wings into their egg, which may then roll.

- The Etterati can fly, albeit clumsily and lopsided due to the weight and shape of their relatively heavy eggshells.

- The Etterati tap to communicate, from whence their name originated. The tapping sounds like (ett-ett-ett). Their writing is a form of "Etterati-Scratch", a collection of scrawls and scribbles that has meaning in its intricacy. The Etterati's beaks are extremely strong, able to scratch and embed into stone tablets. (In ancient Gloria, humans would sometimes kill Etterati to use their beaks as hunting tools. The Etterati have not forgotten this insult.)

- The Etterati are on average two to three feet tall (in SI measurements)

- Etterati live between 15-30 years, on average. The oldest Etterati was 46. A fully formed, reproductive Etterati can be as young as 4.

History
- Why are the Etterati Mystical?, Why are they asserted with Pluck?

- The Etterati are Gloria's most persistent denizens. They can be found in most any biome, seeking food, companionship, and wisdom.

- Etterati are known for their scrawled rock carvings, their obsession with numerology and predestination, and their collections of knowledge of astrology.

- The Etterati believe that the world's climate can be foretold from variations in the position of the sun and the moon and the stars and that the world's seasons and history is cyclical, like an egg. The Etterati were also the first to propose that the world was round, also like an egg.

- Long ago, during the time of the Demons, the Etterati were one of the few races unshackled by the Demonic Chaos. The Etterati hid within their shells and secreted themselves in the highest mountains and lowest caverns. The Etterati as a species observed the Demons, noted their movements, and made numerical calenders and predictions. They gathered data from the Floaters, from the Humans, and from others who would communicate with them, then generated a "Probability Web" which mapped out likely places Demons would be and actions that Demons would take. The Etterati discovered the method to the madness and chaos of the Demons, inventing the study of Chaos Theory.

- The Etterati scoff at human claims to have exorcised the Demons. Although the humans dealt the demons their death-blow, the only reason the Faithful humans were able to even strike at all was because of numerological predictions made by Etterati sages and related to the human survivors who had escaped the Demonic influences.

- Etterati are rightly proud of their accomplishments during the Order War. and they are forever vigilant, should the Demons come again. Sadly, the astrological signs indicate that the second coming of Chaos is nigh, and the Etterati are currently very concerned about this coming. They have begun to make preparations to deal with the demons, contacting their non-human allies. They will not make the mistake of notifying the greedy humans of their discoveries this time and often become quite reticient when discussing ideas with humanity. Far too many times they have been taken advantage of.

- Their plan for dealing with the demons, when they escape, is complicated. The Etterati believe that by teaching the other races (sans humans) the secrets of numerology and Chaos Theory, they can avoid the demons and render the chaos irrelevant. Few take the Etterati seriously, for most believe the Demons nearly eradicated, and if the Demons are not eradicated, then they would rather just kill the Demons outright. The Etterati know better- the Demons can never be truly slain, only avoided.

-And so the Etterati preach and study and think, mostly alone, but not in vain.

---

--
Also did some reorganization.

[Steerpike]

The Glick are pure comedy... could they be generated by, say, a flintlock weapon?

What makes the Etterai mystical?

There's a slightly cartoonish quality to both creatures I find refreshing - they strike me as very Carrolesque, as I mentioned in reference to some of your other creatures.

[LD]

Oh, and also Floaters!

The Floaters
The Floaters are a sentient race of literally string-thin creatures. Every inch of the Floaters is used for some genetic purpose or another. They stand about three feet tall and unless weighted or tied down, float off into the air. The floaters fear high winds which can tear apart their fragile bodies. They evolved in underground reservoirs from annelids, but retained neither the annelids' mass nor their stickiness. When the occasional gust of air traveled down to the caverns, Floaters were transported out through cracks in cavern ceilings, then across the world until they crawled to other caverns where they founded new communities.

Floaters have a long thin string for the center of their body and from that string there sprout thousands of tiny digits which can manipulate objects. The Floaters have two eyes that are connected to the string by long, movable antennae. The eyeballs can twist to allow Floaters to perceive objects behind them. The eyeballs are very vulnerable, though, and are often kept concealed, tucked, and wrapped behind the Floaters' digits. As a secondary sensory mechanism, the Floaters are highly attuned to tremors and the feel of different variations in dirt quality.

The Floaters subsist on nutrients often found in the soil. They have evolved a highly sophisticated shape language which is also written. When communicating, they twist themselves into pictographs. When writing, they sketch diagrams of their ideas. Throughout caverns, the geometrical diagrams of the floaters can be found. The diagrams often discuss soil quality, dangerous underground denizens, magma vents, and most importantly, shimmer boreholes. Shimmer is poisonous to Floaters so they strive to avoid it.

Many a Shimmer wildcatter has used the Floaters' diagrams to extrapolate the best places to drill.

Floaters' main form of art is that of performance. By manipulating the airflow in enclosed rooms, the Floaters find ways to shape themselves into myriad aesthetic forms.

---
Zoology
Sentient
(73%) Humans (Playable)
(12%) Etterati (Playable)
(8%) The Floaters
(3%) The Demons
(2%) The Hijra "The Endless" (Playable)
(1%) The Slake

Constructs
Colour-Work Creatures (Golem Things) (Arguably Unsentient) (Playable)

Flying-Things
The Glick (Fey-Elemental Things) (Barely Sentient)
The Pica (Hummingbird Things) (Animals)

[LD]

-Thank you Steerpike. :)

-I posted the Etterati before I finished writing everything  about them, and I apologize. Now the writeup should be more complete and tied to the history of Gloria.

-The Glick could certainly be produced from the explosion of a flintlock pistol of our world if the spark were great enough. (More likely, they would arise from exploding fireworks.) In Gloria, however, I sort of imagine the pistols to actually "BE" powered by Glicks, and Glick-sparks cannot, sadly, produce other Glicks. (Or else the world would soon be overrun by frentic, dancing Glicks!)

-I suppose you are right. It seems that Lewis Carroll is an influence for Gloria. He wrote a very political and bizarre farce, which seems to be similar to what I am attempting here. Similarly, L. Frank Baum's Oz series and CS Lewis' Perelandra and Screwtape Letters could probably also be counted as an influence.

It is difficult to walk the fine line between farce and dramatic steampunk when writing up a compelling Roaring Twenties world that parodies/is a pastiche of our real world's history and politics, especially when I am attempting to write something generally positive and hopeful, that nevertheless is weird and wonderful and strange and foreign.

You have given me something to think about regarding how much of Gloria should be amusing and just how fine a line I can walk with humour.

I think Gloria should be amusing to some degree, it is a Utopia with bizarre, inane, little problems, and its way of thinking is a bit alien. But, that being said, I do not want it to be a joke... Just like Carroll and Baum and CS Lewis certainly wanted a sense of underlying humor, but Lewis at least did not want the world to be a joke.

[Steerpike]

I don't think its as absurd as Carrol.  It is very, very strange, to the point where at first glance I'm alienated from some of your creations.  I had an identical response to Mieville's creatures when I first encountered them (cactus-people?  Women with entire scarab beetles for heads?  What the hell?), and he became my favorite author (or one of them); they have an ecology and a logic rather than being merely weird, which is where your creatures, like Mieville's, transcend the cartoon/absurd dimension which nonetheless makes them so distinctly otherworldly.

Its a hard line to walk.  I don't think, for example, that my races/monsters ever truly accomplish it; they're often disgusting and sometimes, I hope, quite creepy but I don't think they achieve that particular alienating effect.

[LD]

Tikal updated slightly... with a character!

And Tientan!

[ic=Tikal]
Everything is for sale

This city of hustlers exists in a constant state of creative destruction. Oddly though, other than incremental designs, it boasts few inventors. The lack of intellectual property protection means that Tikal is a city of theft; of ideas, of goods, and of human beings.

Shisters, scammers, medicine-men, traveling freak shows, itinerant magicians, mystical etterati, and more make their homes in or near Tikal.

The etterati make their homes in the mountains just north of the city, feasting on the nectar therein. Some entrepreneurs have attempted to claim the nectar and the plants and sell those to the etterati. Most of those entrepreneurs have ended up pecked to death. Other entrepreneurs returned with weapons. The etterati's shells, however, were too tough to penetrate. And, rolling in their shells, they were difficult to capture. At night, the etterati would steal the entrepreneurs' provisions and weapons. Generally the whole proposition became too expensive to conclude and the etterati were allowed their nectars.

Several fast-running citizens, however, stole nectar-plants' seeds and sow them in the ground closer to the city. Managing the plots of land, they were able to coax some of the sweet nectar-plants. From the nectar, they distilled potions and teas that helped cure disease and colds. The tea-nectars are in high demand. The brand name for most is "Mystical Tea."

http://www.morocco-holidays-guide.co.uk/meknes/img/meknes-souk.jpeg (The markets) ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Entrance_Souk_Hamidiyya_near_Masjid_Ummayid.jpg (Market Entrance); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Bazaar_Istanbul_2007.jpg (An Inner Courtyard... a "Mall") ; http://www2.hiren.info/desktopwallpapers/natural/the-ruins-of-machu-picchu_peru.jpg (The scenery... Imagine the ruins here is a bustling city)

http://imagecache.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD/BN16146_20-FB~Fresh-Spices-for-Sale-at-Sunday-Market-Pisac-Cuzco-Peru-Posters.jpg (Tikal Spices) ; http://img5.travelblog.org/Photos/93638/336709/t/3004875-Peruvian-Market-0.jpg (Tikal Chickens) ; http://www.letsgoistanbul.com/images/galata2.jpg (View of City and ocean)

Description of the city : 1. The sea-side city is a place of stone, and brick, and change. Always baking in the hot sun, new adobe bricks are slapped on old with wild abandon. No building codes reign, and people expand where they will and when they want. The only limit is that of gravity- and the rich with magic can sometimes shore up building's strength to overcome even that great force.

2. The city's largest buildings, however, are not too tall. Most boast but two to five stories, and the ones with five are somewhat shaky, though supported with beams of forest-wood.

3. City of Enclaves. Tikal is a city of enclaves, enclosed by tents, to shield the place from the sun's harsh glow. Tiny little courtyards dot the land with goods for sale at every corner. Tolls have been set up on some non-public alleys, for maintenance and protection while travelers walk on shortcuts through the warrens. Little boys act as guides, and then pick people's pockets. Maps, both true and false, of the city proliferate.

4. City of Signs. Signs. Everywhere in Tikal there are signs. The signs direct people to places to buy goods, or services, and advertise directions, prices. Some even dispense advice. The Tikalese take the art of sign making, and sign placement contracting to a high-art-formed level. Some Tikalese even wear signs on their bodies, on their clothing, advertising the fashion-designer, or describing where to find good food. "Eat at Rho's" is perhaps the most commonly seen garb, advertising Rho's Rhudimentary Restaurant, a place where one can pick up high-quality simple food for a simple price. The other famous sign is that of Merremeck's Caverns, a place of natural beauty that is tramped on and seen by thousands of tourists each month. The place boasts vast geological formations such as stalactites, crystal formations, and stalagmites.

5. Undercity The city also, however, builds down. And in fact, this is where, in the simmering summer months, the majority of things get done in Tikal. Aboveground is often too hot in the equatorial sun for people to turn out of their beds and alight to conduct business during summer months. But underground in the Summer is the place of commerce. Underneath the city is a network of tunnels that are lit intermittently by skylights, as well as lanterns. Far far beneath the city in the mine shafts, men mine peat, and tar and salt. At sea, the Whalers make a good living killing and bringing in tons of blubber to fuel the lantern-fires.

6. The Saltmines The saltmines are the lowest part of Tikal in more ways than one. The saltminers are isolated from the rest of the society, so deep do they delve. They work hard and then work their way up to another job. Saltmining is a deadly, dangerous job, with constant threat of collapse. After working 80 hour weeks for several years, most miners will have amassed enough of a fortune to buy their way into a better line of work- but each saltminer must replace themselves first with a willing take. Often, the abandoned orphans find their way down to the saltmines, because none will take them and in Tikal- idleness leads to starvation.

6b. Grig- The Saltmaster "I smoke the cee-gar because it's poison. And poison makes the salt grow. I know that because the gases kill tens o' my men each year. The 'spolsions when they crack through a weak wall wrack the city 'bove 'n have led to mild distruption. But tha' topdwellers, they put up with things. Leastways they gotta, if they wanna have their salt. N' without tha' salt, food ain't gonna be preserved. An' if food ain't gonna be preserved, it'll rot, and that whole lot'll starve ta' death." 51 years old. Black hair with white streaks. Squints and prefers to wear two eyepatches, one covering each eye, while he moves around sensing the sounds of the underground. His Hands are black and his fingers are stunted. He has worked and managed here for longer than any other. He started as a saltboy, worked his way up to saltforeman, then instead of buying out and moving up, he stayed  and bought into the managing class. He is perhaps the lowest ranked in the class, but he is the one on the ground who does the reports of how much salt is coming in. He controls the initial counting, and even though he does not manage the ledgers, he can direct the salt to wherever he wants it to go- the other rich managers do not want to risk their lives by trudging into the sooty, dank caverns, so they only send representatives. Grig is the only saltmaster tough enough to deal with the work.


Description of fashions : The innovations of Tikal are myriad, and the fads flash though the city so quick that by the time Well-fjord's deepest denizens of the salt mine learn the latest, the merchant-class and the upper crust of society have already changed their styles (having worn them for less than two weeks). The profusion of scrappers, and untaxed inventive forces fosters a cauldron of creativity as people throw together styles and fabrics slapdash in an attempt to appeal to the locals' overtaxed sensory nodes. On the streets, all types of styles can be seen- from peacock-stuffed Mad-Hatter top hats, to shaved heads with silver dice bored into the skin above the skull (a painful fad inspired by the Dicemen), to a brief flirtation with public nudity, and a slightly longer fascination with body paint (that persists among many denizens today), to the somewhat bizarre "Refusewear" and "Toilettarb" periods.

1. Some of Tikal's most famous trend-setters are the Lord Rothmyten, a flamboyant bedazzler, magician, and importer of fabrics. He is the best-known stylist of "edible clothing" in which he weaves beef jerkey and salted preservatives, along with sprouts of vegetables that may grow in the cloth's embedded soil. On some days, he can be seen walking about town, wearing a bowl-shaped hat and intermittently taking a scoop of soup from the bowl on top. The invention, he argues, can save time- the soup cooks in the hot sun, meaning that no time is needed to heat or to wait at a restaurant-- and as everyone in the world of Gloria knows, time is money. (The soup-hat has, regrettably, not caught on. Although a thick layer of cotton does protect against burning of the head, many are skeptical.) That being said, there are rumors in one of the innumerable penny broadsheets of Tikal that the soup-hat is due to sweep Society in a craze.

Lord Rothmyten stands about six foot three, and he towers above most in Tikal. He is from Gloria originally. His father was taken by a pirate ship on which sailed his mother. While his mother raided abroad, the father stayed home and cooked and raised the son, so Rothmyten took on many of Gloria-bred-people's characteristics. He is frugal, and not a spendthrift like most of Tikal, he is organized, he believes in order, and he is more cautious.

He also quivers when approached by most women, remembering the lash and branding prongs his mother so expertly handled when punishing him and his father during the periods that she descended into a drunken rage, which was nearly every time she set foot on shore-- thus, why she usually spent her time out at sea. She has not been seen in several years. Some say she was taken captive by the Octogram, and others say her ship was lost in a storm. Rothmyten's father passed away peacefully eleven years ago after being poisoned by a poorly-extracted blowfish consumed at a backalley Blowfish and Piranah snackstand. To this day, Rothmyten refuses to eat seafood and many of his daring designs involve violence against fish.

2. The Church of the Intelligent Designer also has its hand in fashion. The Church has no set meeting-house; instead the members spread the good news (that the world is beautiful and it was designed to make everyone and everything within it beautiful and that the only way to achieve eternal happiness is by embracing the beauty and spreading its gospel) by word of mouth, and attempting garish new fashions that are inspired by The Designer's will. On sunny days, they will strut in the nude, or paint themselves, or wear silks. On overcast days, some will walk around in lifelike pinatas. When it rains, they will cover themselves with mud. The rewards for their toil are few, which is why many consider them mad. However, several, during their more lucid states, find themselves employed as harlequin actors.

Although they inspire many designs, few are paid for their toils- because they gift the fashions for free, all can see them as they strut.

3. Bing The Iron Man. He walks throughout the streets with needles stuck in his hand, his head, and his body. Needles cover him every inch from head to toe. Several stick around his eyes and one would think that they obscure his peripheral vision, but he says they only force him to see more sharply- and see sharply is indeed what he does.

People make room for him, and he needs no body guards. Someone once tried to cut off his head, but the sword caught on the needles and bent. The sword remains lodged below Bing's neck. Bing is a connoseuir of fashion. He says very little, but his word is gospel. He can make or break a designer. Every day, he travels through the markets, from east to west, north to south, up to down, and he evaluates and he samples. Behind him tag his coterie, two ladies (one old, and one young; one fat, and one thin) and two men (likewise). They try on the styles and Bing sits, hand on chin, and thinks (like Rodin's The Thinker).

Few can withstand the needles other than Bing, and he has told no one how he had so many implanted in his skin. Some postulate that he may have been inspired by the Etterati and their work with needles and numbers. It is rumored that he speaks the Etterati's obsfucatory language. Before his hermitage, Bing claims to have been a coconut driller from the southern side of the peninsula. He left, one day, he says, driven by the need to seek inner peace. He claims he has not yet found that peace, but that he is always looking. Perhaps, he postulates, in some of his more lucid moments, inner peace can be found in simple, abstract, and marvelous beauty.

Why his words are valued so much is a bit of a mystery, but one day he appeared, walking out of the jungle and he sat and ordered people to bring him clothing. Then he judged the clothing and bought nothing. But the spectators around him saw what he liked, and they rushed to purchase all of the merchant's stock (Perhaps thinking that such a cool-looking guy would have to possess an amazing sense of fashion). In Tikal amongst the youth, there are no Chuck Norris jokes- instead, there are Bing rumours. And so began a legend.

http://static.jewelry-weblog.com/jewelry-weblog.com/imgname--jewelry_bargains_at_breast_cancer_site_store---50226711--images--fashion_jewelry_31eec62708179b807ef32c7319669f74.JPEG (Silver and Opal)
http://www.overstock.com/images/products/T10825854.jpg (Colourful Clothing; motley in many aspects; the more colours in each ensemble, the better.) ; http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://coloranddesigntrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/tights41421.jpg&imgrefurl=http://coloranddesigntrends.com/tag/colorful-tights/&usg=__WnMZ97zn-9xvyv-9hLqxUfgh7rI=&h=741&w=549&sz=213&hl=en&start=497&um=1&tbnid=2oa2gzIUQrgdqM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolorful%2Bfashion%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D486%26um%3D1 (Yes, even stockings.)

Personality of Tikal: Gren Haciendarez ; "The Trickster of Tikal" ; "Oh, That Bastard"
"I made this flame dance from fingers. No shimmer. No cost. No nothing. Just let me teach you this. One upfront payment. It help you well."

Haciendariz is often running scams, and they often work quite well. He usually works alone, but has been known to hire a fall-guy from time to time, just in case things go wrong.

Haceindariz is of average height, and is a master of disguise. He can appear to have no legs, one leg, one eye, no eyes, scars, no scars, brown hair, black hair, blond, or white. He can be everything and anything. He can sing sweet, he can dance, his manners are impeccable, and his cursing, colourful.

The Trickster of Tikal knows a little about everything, and can talk forever about nothing. He stutters, he slurs, he stammers, he equivocates, he speaks fast, he drolls. He is kind, he is jovial, he is sour, and he is mean. He is a thousand things to a thousand people.

Haciendariz may not even be a real person, his name has become synonymous with being tricked out of one's money. For some, it is a badge of honor to become "Haciendized", or taken for a ride.  

The Trickster's career started about twelve years ago, so at the youngest he could be 21, but he can seem any age from a very tall ten to a very ancient one hundred and seven.

Tikal produced Haciendariz, that much is certain. He is a product of its boiling inventiveness and parasitic creationism. He takes and he takes and he takes, but he does it inventively. He even authored a book, some say. Although the book is less of a book than a collection of pamphlets. After every con, Haciendariz writes a short piece of advice; on paper, on vellum, on bark, on stone, on flesh... with chalk, with pen, with needle, with etch, even once in sand with urine.

Haciendariz' works were collected by inspired followers, two of whom were subsequently arrested and interrogated by one of Tikal's roving groups of thugs whose protection-target had been ripped off by Haciendariz, causing them to lose their contract. Within two days, however, the followers were freed by a strange man of medium build, but portly gain. The man claimed to be a slaver of the Continent, interested in houseservants. His documentation checked out and his coin was good... Except that the thugs had not believed his tale, and after one coin turned out to be made of chocolate; each had bit a coin to test for reality. Soon thereafter, the thugs found themselves poisoned, and lethargic. They collapsed on the floor, and then the targets were gone, and a note, sewed into the undergarments of the lead thug was discovered. It spoke of "Tasting victory is best done by the losers."[/ic]


[ic=Tientan]This mountain citadel is the gate to heaven, or so the locals say.

Tientan is a hub of tourists, coming to see the hometown of ancient philosophers, and purchase the latest in philosophical writings. Throughout Gloria, economic philosophy is much in demand. People display pages and cuttings from economic philosophical texts on the walls of their homes in the same way that other people display art. And much of these economic texts are works of art in themselves. The economic models, statistical analyses, expected-valuation charts and revenue curves are of great interest. People collect the proven economic models of successful businesses, and prints are often sold.

Tientan, through the use of shimmer magic, is also Gloria's largest producer of "correction ink" which can be used to 'write over' a previously written-to document. The "correction" can be removed by wiping it off, which will reveal the information below, but will destroy the information above.

Tientan is home to Tientan University, one of Gloria's most famous. It was the home of Ilsildur the Elder, and Orrerey the Econometrician. Current lecturers include Wendy Qwaven, an expert in large-crowd psychology, and the eccentric Tybald Glissifur, who specializes in expanding markets and who studies the sociology of the Socialist lands. He often goes on trips to the North, and some slanderous accusations state that he has gone-native and is not trying to indoctrinate his students into vile Socialist learning.

The Trol of Tientan is an interesting place. The Trol is a fey unsleeping being who appears to be trapped within the bounds of Tientan University. the Trol is three meters tall (nine feet) and is a very dour creature. The Trol continually walks from one end of the University to another, trolling and searching for an escape from the University's bounds. Every time the Trol hesitates, it begins to harden into stone, which hurts it with excruciating pain. The Trol appeared in Tientan some time ago during the descent of the Demons. Some argue that the Trol itself is a demon, but that remains to be proved. The Trol claims it is a transdimensionary creature that exists on several planes of existence and is currently imprisoned on one so it astrally projected itself to this world. That theory has become the most accepted one, but it is unprovable. A small group of people suggest that the Trol really is a minor demon that has managed to cloak itself in a more benign form. The Trol often executes "miracles", crafting stone or other minerals from claps of its hand. But each day the Trol may only create a minor amount of miracles. With each miracle, the Trol hardens and gasps in pain.

The Trol has not, to anyone's knowledge, ever consumed any food, nor has it ever threatened anyone. No one knows exactly WHY the Trol is or what it really is doing within the bounds of Tientan. For a brief time, Professor Gillickuy of the Radicality Department taught a seminar class on Trolism, but when Gillickuy and the Dean (who came from the Rationality Department) had a falling-out over teaching styles, Gillickuy transfered to a third-tier university in Gloria.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

I very much like the sound of Tikal, but I'm curious what it looks like.  Mongrel architecture (stolen?)?  Fashions?  Is it a cramped city of towers and gantries or a bustling sprawl?

Also, how does religion operate in Gloria and surrounds?  We've had hints of a kind of deism and Intelligent Design, and a few erferences to the Faith, but with the predominance of fascism/existentialism and its ilk, atheism would seem to be the norm (?).  Was religion once prominent, now in decline?  The world's politics are, obviously, fairly right-leaning, so are there any kooky theocracies out there to correspond to the religious right?  I don't know that much about Mussolini-type fascism but from what I recall his take on fascism was less anti-religious than the Nazi branch, right?

For example, does Tikal have any temples/churches?

[LD]

The vision of Tikal has been expanded in the post above yours.

Re: The discussion of my chart and fascism... I have thought long and hard about it and am a bit concerned that my chart may have been misleading. After re-reading historical information, my understanding is thus:

1.) Early Fascism - 1920s. Belief in small businesspeople/Personal empowerment (Mussolini works with other parties.) [Brown Shirts begin- presaging later troubles]
2.) Middle Fascism - Mussolini finally gains power, believes in the need for larger state-involved businesses/starts the brown shirts' reign of terror.
3.) Later Fascism - Hitler. National Socialism. Agrarianism is much approved of, but in the cities, a rigid structure is imposed.

And yes, you are right that Mussolini embraced religion. After considering everything, I think that my pegging of Mussolini in the center square is wrong- he was too much of an absolutist and consolidationist to be directly associated with Jefferson. Perhaps early fascism belongs in the center square- but early fascism may not even rightly be called fascism because it was never implemented into real government for very long at all.

Note: I realize some of these classifications of "pinpoint alignment" are going to be controversial-
Fascism (The Middle Type) has been moved down to Moral Prescriptionists.
Jeffersonianism Small Business/Agrarianism remains in the middle.
Carnegie is in the "Moral" category because of his charity work establishing a library system.

[LD]

And I would not necessarily call Gloria a place of extremism or a place where ideas are stifled. In Gloria, ideas are spread, and welcomed- for only through accepting ideas can people attain progress.

Religion and belief has been ebbing for the past several hundred years. Most Glorians will tell you that is a good thing. It has been a peaceful decline, almost utopic, into atheism, or (for the most part) agnosticism. Glorians live for the here and now.

The Socialist Lands are much more into pseudo-religion and real religion.

The Faithful are the real adherents to the old religion. They are mostly seen as very strange, sad people who do not really understand how to live and to enjoy life- like many people nowadays see priests who choose not to marry. The Faithful, for the most part, are dedicated to their choice and are happy with their lot in life.

[LD]

Perhaps a discussion of the city of Gloria will help:

Gloria - Gloria has no gates, for it needs none. It is open to the world and the world is welcome to enter it. There are no guards at the exits and the city flows seemlessly into the countryside, growing and encompassing pieces of it. Some wise investors purchase the land surrounding Gloria when in middle-age, then sell when they are old, and then retire comfortably in villas skirting the outside of the city.

[ic]1. The Aeries The Aeries are a geodesic dome-like structure for part of their location; other parts are massive glass-enclosed structures that hold birds of every species from around Gloria. (FINISH)

The Stairway to Heaven What began as a side project by a ConsumerArtist blossomed into a full-fledged extravaganza. The melding of steel and the welding of discarded steel upon steel began as a design for a roost for birds in the zoological portion of the Aeries. what it evolved into was something exceedingly amazing and slightly strange. The Stairway is a series of beams and boom wires that ascends hundreds of feet into the air. Soaring high, the Stairway is encased in a wire mesh that raises as the structure soars higher. At several points, the artist has built waiting points and places to sit or stand.

After seven years of building, tourists to the Aerie clamoured to ascend the Stairway and more construction was ordered. An actual staircase blossomed and more steel was added. Then grass and trees and leaves were brought in to fit on the staircase and flowers bloomed and more life came to the staircase.

The staircase is still growing. And some visitors, it is said, never leave. They subsist on fruits that grow on the Aerie. The artist too always labors, always building higher and higher until one day, people say, he will reach the sky. The Staircase is Gloria's tallest structure- taller even than the Stock Exchange.[/ic]

[ic]2. The Agrocology The Agrocology is a tiered structure built on a hill in the midst of the newest outgrowth of Gloria- Saintly Sandal. The Agrocology is over 250 acres large on one level and is simply gigantic. But beyond the one dimension, the agrocology also makes use of tiered wooden structures on which it grows its crops. The structures are canted to allow for the greatest amount of sun to penetrate to the ground floor. On the top layer, wheat grows, on the bottom layer, in the fertile soil, rice grows along with watermelon and raspberry vines (in the sunnier areas). The Agrocology's food feeds a good portion of Gloria's citizens and its usefulness cannot be underestimated. The Agrocology's owner, the Agronomist, is always searching for new and better ways to nurture and grow crops.[/ic]

[ic]3. The Neighborhood Watch What makes Gloria work and what keeps it mostly free of crime is the Neighborhood Watch. Basically, all of Gloria's citizens have been deputized to make citizen's arrests. And many of them do. The penalty for robbery is a slit throat- but only if the person is caught in the act, and only if three disinterested witnesses are present. If only two can swear to have witnessed the crime, then the thief must be tried to a judge.

But if three are present, then the thief may be disposed of. This hard-core policy has done wonders for reducing the crime in the streets. But it has also escalated it. Murders of storekeepers are relatively high. And breaking and entry often begins with the murder of the the homes' occupants. However, Gloria's citizens believe that the policy of vigilanteeism has worked for them for the large part, so they continue to support the cheap, and effective, Neighborhood Watch.

Songs are sung about the Neighborhood Watch, and people are proud when their children enter into unions with Watchpeople, or when their children themselves join the Watch.

[ooc]Sander Thomas- Captain of the Watch 53 years old. Sander Thomas rose through the ranks of the Watch after stopping an assassination attempt on the Illuminated Mayor while only a Private. He was immediately promoted to Lieutenant, where he showed a remarkable head for numbers. Within but a few years, the Glorious Hero was raised to Captain.

Sander is good natured, and often partakes of snuff, tobacco, and alcohol while on the job. He is quick to offer a sip to subordinates and to arrested malfeasants. He finds that liberally passing around the intoxicants generally makes aggressors more pliant and restful. (The alcohol he carries often sports higher than 30%).

Sander often walks around in a haze, and is known to make many paperwork mistakes while under the influence. This would be a large problem, except that he realizes he can be rash or foolish while zonked out. So, he hired a Mishu- a private secretary, spending his own coin for half of the investment. The Mishu anticipates Sander's needs and double-checks all his figures and work.

Sander is married to a noblewoman, the Lady Gwendolyn Wexley, a beauteous green eyed lady who met Sander the Summer after he saved the Illuminated Mayor's life. They have one child, a daughter who is 17 years old and who currently attends University in ____.[/ooc][/ic]

[ic=4. The Financial District] This is the heart of Gloria, and the soul. The Financial District is (literally) a cauldron of invention and speculation. From the Seaport Commodity Exchange, and the Empyrian (Celestial) Stock Exchange to the Aerial Nerve Center, information is at a premium, and knowledge flows. The Color Work Creatures push through the crowds to deliver up-to-the-minute information, all the time bleeding their jazz-like music as they snake sinewy through the masses. Far from the masses, Shimmer-Workers sequestered in metal-encased research facilities work on using Shimmer to prognosticate about rainfall, days of sun, and other astrological events.

At the Seaport Commodity Exchange, Investments may be made in crop types; farmers and their representatives come from miles around pitching their particular geography and explaining why businessmen should invest in their land. Investments also, of course, go into Shimmer technologies, and in shipping ventures. A few adventuring companies have also made names for themselves, and are publicly listed- they are funded by businesspeople and out-kitted, then they distribute profits amongst their investors.

[ooc]
The Floater's Rogues - Consisting of one of the few Floaters who has deigned fit to explore above-ground and to associate with humans, and four humans, the Floater's Rogues is one of the premier adventuring companies. The Floater has extensive knowledge of the crystal and shimmer formations in caverns surrounding Gloria and has done battle with the massive underground Alghoi-Khoroki worms and has stood strong against the Glimmerwyrms which "blink" and flit around cavern cavities.

The Floater's predictive diagrams have saved the party many a time; and its almost prescient predictions and foreknowledge of the flows of energy underneath the land have served it well in battles.

The Floater's Rogues have recovered vast amounts of wealth from the deepest depths, excavating ancient pirate stashes from bygone ages before Gloria achieved its current sophistication.

Currently, on the stock exchange, the Floater's Rogues are valued the most. They may not bring in the largest sums- The Hoarders probably hold that distinction- yet, despite numerous assassination attempts against the Floater; the people have the most faith in the Floater and his human allies' continued subterranean successes.
[/ooc]

The Empyrian (Celestial) Stock Exchange is a  bit different from the common Commodity exchange. The Empyrian Exchange is more cerebral, more abstract, more philosophical. The Empyrian exchange trades in predictions. There are some who believe that its Seats can shape the future through use of Shimmer.

The Exchange sits on massive trigrams-- carved from stone as deep as a tall-ship mast. The stone was quarried and hauled from mountains to the city's east. At night, the molds glow with the after-light of prior filled shimmer-magic. The trigrams are moved when needed, rotating on a turntable that slowly, but reliably can be cranked around and around by a team of elephants and Color-Work creatures.

The entire structure, from the color-work creatures at its base, to the trigrams themselves, to the magic and light at their summit, glows with neon lights as the trades conduct- every night from darkfall until daybreak.

The predictions that are traded in can only be afforded by the richest of Gloria's citizens. Whether or not a storm will ruin the crops in coastal regions can be effected-- people buy and sell possibilities during set bidding periods of days, weeks, months. The winning bid will then shape the prediction of the Seats (or the traders/mystics who operate the massive trigrams and who manage the Exchange's massive stores of excess shimmer), and often-- the wish will happen; or else there will be a refund.

The large magical trigrams are the strongest in all of Gloria. The entrepreneur who ordered them quarried and placed them in the city- Titus Empyrean- is considered one of the world's shrewdest businesspeople and it is rumored he is the world's most powerful man. Yet, he is rarely seen. It is said that he has a debilitating fear of open spaces and of sickness and murder by business rivals and that he spends his days ensconced in a tiny room filled entirely with feathers. He communicates with the outside world and purchases provisions entirely by Color-Work Creatures who deliver his desires. There are some who say Titus perished several years before, but a stream of prostitutes to his quarters and the stories they tell tends to insinuate that the man yet lives.

Bankers set up shop in the Financial District as well, offering rates that range wide from cut-rate interest to usurious amounts of 100% on some astounding short-term and risky loans. Default is dealt with in many ways, sometimes resulting in indentured servitude, sometimes garnishment of wages, sometimes garnishment of limbs (listed as collateral), sometimes accepted slavery (in the Jungles of Shimmer, or within the Colosseum, or on the Galleys at sea.)

The Bankers' buildings are generally tall, angular, and strong-looking. Many extend down several stories into the ground and almost all soar high overhead- the only taller buildings are those of the Commodity and Stock traders. Bankers are almost universally known for their ostentatious displays of wealth. For students, to gain an internship at a bank is one of the greatest achievements to which they can aspire.

[ic=Notable Banks]The Cooperative - A socialist experiment. The people who borrow from the cooperative enter into a way of life. They agree to lend all their possessions to everyone else in the cooperative. Each member gains a list of each other member's address and all their known possessions, from their home to their dining utensils. Everything is shared, from items, to marriage partners (if willing). The Cooperative is gaining in popularity, all of which is part of an expatriate Socialist-Lander's (Sevastus Stierpiek) nefarious plan to gradually subvert the city's selfish capitalist values.

Crazy Crow's - Crow's, a one-man operation out of a pushcart specializes in crazy investments. Crow is an eccentric wealthy old man who boasts a six-foot long beard. He sits cross legged, one foot drooping off the side of his cart and listens to petitions for loans from sunrise until noon-time every day. In the afternoon, he meets with the most promising of the recipients.

Eve's - A simple bank with simple terms. Eve's most unique loan is the "growth policy" loan where they lend money to purchase crops and then take "in kind" payment of crops for the future-- but they do not limit themselves to lending to farmers. They even lend to people creating personal gardens in their homes. As collateral, they require receivers of loans to collect their urine and household waste. Eve's then resells the waste to dealers who specialize in acid and in fertilizer.

The Good Neighbor - Loans "in-kind" and facilitates people's transactions and "trade downs"; the Good Neighbor fixes up damaged goods and resells it to other people who need those goods in turn for cash. Less a bank than a rummage market, the Good Neighbor is quite popular among Gloria's underclass and boasts some of Gloria's more skilled repairspeople.

Illych, Jaworski, & Krom - Founded by three ex-adventurers, this bank is a rough-and-tumble place made out of wood. It boasts a big bouncer by the door who also acts as a collection agent. Their slogan is "Few Questions Asked; Low Interest Loans... But We're Interested in Full Payment"

ITC (Ilimden Trading Company)- ITC also operates massive stock operations, trading in cattle futures and property. ITC owns a great deal of property around the city and is constantly trading the property to its bank members- convincing them that the investment will always increase in value since more and more people stream into Gloria each year. This ponzi scheme seems as though it will continue to bring in revenues at least for the next few years since IIC has not yet gotten greedy; a usual guaranteed "flip" to other IIC members is only a gain of 5% on investment per year. The company is uniquely well managed and has yet to have gotten greedy with its investment promises-- perhaps since its CEO, Mars Ilimden lost much of his inheritance thirty years ago during the waning days of the great "stone animal friend" pyramid scheme trading and collecting scam.

Indentured Incorporated - The preferred loan collateral is the labor of the person asking for the loan, or a pound of flesh-- which is considered quite the delicacy by some denizens of Gloria.

Shimmer - The highest end bank. Its logo is a black trigram encircled by floating crystals on a diamond band. Shimmer takes on massive amounts of risk, but has massive amounts of reserve. They are, nonetheless, picky about who they lend to. Their headquarters is one of Gloria's most strongly defended places- boasting guards, mercenaries, traps, surveillance, and more. Many a thief has been found impaled on the walls of the safe- and tens have been caught wandering the halls attempting to impersonate guards. Perhaps some day the safe will be robbed, but that day will not be any day soon- at least as long as the chief of security, Majordomo Schnell is on the job.[/ic]

Arterial Nerve Center - The heart of the city and the place where people come to talk, come to buy, and come to gawk. The Arterial Nerve Center has a dizzying array of the newest styles, the shrewdest inventions, and the most boisterous bowyers of merchandise. Constantly rotating, the Center boasts tiered stages where people construct elaborate displays and attempt to move merchandise. Scanty clothing, amorous aromas, and vibrant colors attract customers.

At the other end of the nerve center is the Speaker's Corner where anyone can speak, for a price. After paying the fee, a person can speak and earn coins from passers-by who debate, or listen. Many new ideas have started in the Speaker's Corner- because the price for speaking is not cheap- so the words must be well-thought.

News also is paramount in the Arterial Nerve Center. Located underground are the massive printing presses, run by Color-Work creatures. From thin holes in the ground poke out broadsheets, which may be purchased by inserting coins into slots. The broadsheets advertise news, and products for the consumers. Some are distributed free of charge, others for a pittance. Each broadsheet, of course, attempts to be louder and attract more attention than the last. Some have included scratch and smell advertisements in an effort to appeal to more senses of the readers. Some broadsheets are experimenting with edible paper. The alchemists, however, have failed to produce such a wonder that is not toxic. Shimmer-Workers have been said to be working on the problem.

The Nerve Center is at the middle of the Financial District and each day thousands pass its streets, walking to and fro to banks, to stock exchanges, law offices, and trading floors. The Nerve Center is kept impeccably clean by scavengers who earn money for reselling every scrap of trash that falls to the ground. They may not earn much, and in fact they live a life on the edge of nourishment and existence, but they can survive by cleaning the district's streets and have organized themselves into a guild of Street Scavengers.

Near the Arterial Nerve Center is the monument to the Shimmer Molds (See Below).

The Shimmer Molds A historical museum that is half indoors and half outdoors. The Shimmer Molds which honor the first pouring of Shimmer into the holy trigrams are placed in the Plaza in front of the Arterial Nerve Center.

Each night there is a display of Shimmer-pouring and magic.  Mostly, the shows make use of Soul Sanguinate Shimmer and produce vaporous and alluring illusions of intertwining color, and rarely odor. The shows are not, however, free. The streets are roped off for the nightly shows, admitting only those who have the coin to enjoy the display. Excess revenue from the viewing-fee goes toward improvement of Gloria's public works.

The Chambers of Commerce
The Chambers of Commerce, a glorious 35-story building, and one of the taller business structures is located in the Arterial Nerve Center. On their exterior wall, they project Shimmer-fueled illusions of product advertisements, and at all hours color-work creatures can be seen ascending and descending the Chambers' exterior gear powered lifts.

Inside, the lifts are more safe- they are controlled by pulleys, levers, and color-work creatures which monitor stability and strain and pull to keep the lifts aloft. The lifts are exceptionally fast in bringing workers from the basement to the building's apex.

The building contains about 3,000 workers (and hundreds of temporary workers such as chefs, concierges, busboys, who are not counted in the total). The workers' specialties range from advertising, to networking, to expertise in beginning (incubating) small businesses. Inside, they shuffle papers, organize seminar presentations, host conferences (on floors 2-5), and assist small business people in gaining loans and determining where to locate their businesses.

On the first floor is a massive map powered with shimmer-magic that dynamically changes to demonstrate the traffic flow of pedestrians in the Arterial Nerve Center- which has been ringed with Shimmer-Sensors to determine foot-traffic. Once the information comes into the Chamber of Commerce- 5 workers analyze the pressure on the ground to determine if the pressure is from foot-traffic or from vehicles, or color-work creatures. The workers, then input the data into a "braille" machine that stamps the information into dots that are then read by the map. Eventually, the Chamber hopes to dynamically construct a traffic-flow pattern for every street in the city, but their current plan is quite expensive and so they are limited in what they can accomplish.

The map (The Commerce Map) also demonstrates the location of all businesses in the city. It displays important information such as revenue (given in a range- the exact data is proprietary information), customers/day (another range), and time of day most active. Businesses also have small flags sticking out from them to indicate if there are several businesses in the same place. All businesses are color coded. The map can become quite overwhelming to the beginning entrepreneur, and the Chamber boasts several guides who explain the functions and who can help a beginning entrepreneur make decisions about where they wish to locate their store. The guides are called the Commercialists- they know a virtual library of information about who lives where, who demands what, which areas of the city need what, and more. The Commercialists are in high demand once they leave the Chamber's employ... but the chamber pays well and requires all Commercialists to sign a 12 year minimum contract. Still, most Commercialists leave for private practice after their stint at the Chamber.

The Chamber is a semi-private organization that operates based on donations given by companies and individuals which make use of its services and expertise. Thousands of Gloria-Residents travel to its outposts which are scattered throughout the city to seek advice and help in starting their businesses and in learning the tricks of advertising and in seeing its help in gaining connections and mentors in the business community.

Although others have tried to set up their own advertising-lesson classes, the Chamber's are seen as the most prestigious and the certificate for attending a class is highly prized among small business people and their customers. A certified certificate for the area of business done by the businessman is often posted on the store or restaurant window.

[ic=Some Classes]Some Classes
Restauranteering 101, Maximizing Space Potential, Attracting Customers, A Better Aesthetic, Managing Employees, Disciplining Employees, Making Your First 10,000, Buying Your Next Store, Freeloaders and Your Store, Shoplifiting?, Dealing With Disasters, Franchising?, Dealing With Rude Customers, Maximizing Yearly Returns, Long Term Planning, Short Term Planning, Estate Planning, The Family Business, Investing In Properties, Advertising For Beginners, Using Shimmer To Maximize Your Potential, Outsourcing?.

Tracks Include: Accounting, Advertising, After Retirement, The Family Business, Franchising, Investment, Overhead, Personnel, Restaurants, Scaling, Selling Out, Shimmer and the Store, Shops, Sourcing, Transport.  [/ic]
[/ic]

[ic=City Parks in Gloria]City Parks City parks are funded by user fees. The fees are relatively low, but everyone pays them to enjoy the open spaces. The parks are generally kept-up very well and there are no poor people sleeping on benches (they cannot afford the price.)

A family can often enjoy a happy day lounging at the park- tossing frisbees, throwing balls, or exercising their family pets.

There are only three "Public" parks where people do not have to pay to enter them in Gloria. These parks include the Northern District Park, which is slightly dilapidated since no one pays for upkeep. The brick sidewalks are filled with overgrown weeds and no one has ever cut the grass.

The Open Park, in the South is in better shape, since its community bought the park about seventy years ago and opened it to the public. The community continues to maintain the park and assess a yearly fee against all residents for use. Periodically there are votes to close off the park- but no one wants to pay for a fence-- which would likely cost 3 years of fee wages-- when the trespass of people into the park has yet to become a problem.

The New City Park is a vast park at the edge of the city which bleeds into farmland. The New City park is free to enter but inside it, the facilities cost money to use. From the volleyball fields, to the bathrooms, to the numerous shops-- the Park is littered with opportunities to spend money. Also, the owners collect all trash from its guests and resell and reprocess the waste.[/ic]

[ic=Public Works in Gloria]Taxes. Why would Gloria have taxes to support roads and sewage. Would not taxes harm the entrepreneurial spirit? Indeed, they would. But all benefit from public services like roads and sewage and police and fire protection (albeit in Gloria the police protection is managed publically without imposing costs on any, see the Neighborhood Watch above.

Private Security and Fire Others may hire private security forces; fire is managed by volunteerism as well- although there have been calls to establish a professional fire-fighting force, those calls have often been shouted down.) In Gloria, the roads and sewage are first assessed against the use of the building. Then, excess fees gathered from city museums, musical shows, the Shimmer Mold shows, City Parks, and other public events, all go towards payment for the roads and for salaries for the city's leaders. The lack of excess money in the improvement game goes a long way towards reducing opportunities for cronyism or overt corruption in the government.

Contractors Still, the government must choose contractors to repair or construct roads. How do they choose these contractors? The government allows the block that is having the construction being done on review the applicants at a meeting of the local chamber of commerce. At that meeting, the bids are made and the people decide who should fix the roads; then the repairs are made.

Corruption?This democratization of government that is run by the capitalists who both pay for the correction and who benefit from it has proved highly efficient and has lead to Gloria being one of the most famous, corruption-free governments (the Chambers of Commerce, however, can at times be favoritist and game the system toward business allies by tinkering with their advice.)
[/ic]

[ic=Adventures in Gloria City]
1. Defend/Rob the Shimmer Bank Seemingly impenetrable. Can you break the bank, or prevent the crime of the century.
2. Hunt Corruption You have been hired to hunt down corrupt officials. Follow their trails, expose them, and bring them to justice. (Hunt corruption at the Chamber of Commerce and follow a seedy trail into the underworld of dark alleys, shady bars, abandoned office-buildings, and construction yards.)
3. Open a Business in Gloria It is an adventure, it is a struggle. Go it alone and confront business traffic and customer interest dilemmas. Advertise, compete against copy-cat competitors, and more! Get help from the Chambers of Commerce. Attend business classes and level-up your skills. (Bribe?) (Fight?) or follow the more traditional paths of out-working and out-thinking your competitors. Open franchises and expand your empire. Invent new and amazing products!
4. Foment A Socialist Rebellion Read the writings of Tybald Glissifur at Tientan University and get inside the mind of a socialist. Then meet a real expatriate from the socialist lands! Sevastus Stierpiek of The Cooperative Bank. Work with him to overthrow the settled interests and establish a socialist paradise. (Strongly Not Recommended.)
5. Crush A Socialist Rebellion Dark forces are working in the underbelly of Gloria-- seeking to take away the wealth that has been created by the productive classes. Infiltrate their organization, discover their leaders, their governing structure, then crush them with extreme prejudicial force.
[/ic]