rapturecity | somewhere beyond the sea [open to all]

When the bathysphere doors creak open, Rapture’s Welcome Center isn’t exactly a hub of activity. The red light of a silent radio blinks innocently from its position by the bathysphere door, then crackles abruptly to life. The words the broadcast utters are far from welcoming.

It would be simple enough to pry the radio loose and pocket it for safekeeping. No one would be the wiser.

The red carpet is plush beneath the feet, running from the Bathysphere Station to the lounge, resplendent with its rich decor and a distinctly 1950’s aesthetic. Rows of lamps illuminate the room with a soft, auburn glow. The faint strains of a placid violin drift from speakers invisible to the untrained eye. The walls are lined with ads, the falsely cheery sepia-toned grins of vacant-eyed men and women promoting PLASMIDS BY FONTAINE FUTURISTICS - EVOLUTION IN A BOTTLE! COMING SOON to the public. TELEKINESIS! announces another, MIND OVER MATTER!

There is no orientation, no tour guide waiting to explain the city beneath the ocean to any new arrivals or elaborate on the ominous words from the recent broadcast. What few denizens are present in the lounge area or the atrium keep their wary distance, several murmuring furtively to each other from behind cupped hands. Beyond them, there's simply exposed glass, open sea. The water is dark and rich and green and clear, kelp trailing lazily as it strains for rays of sunlight it will never touch. Schools of silver fish ripple sleekly past. The passage of time is relative here, impossible to guess with the city's well-lit interior.

Whatever happens next, one thing is patently obvious: this sure as hell isn't Kansas anymore.

Welcome to Rapture.

Opportunity awaits.

[ooc: We are opening this intro log to ALL players and characters, regardless of whether or not they’ve apped into the game (yet, possibly?). If your character is newly arrived, feel free to give them a top-level here (the Welcome Center), in any number of the location-specific top-levels, or anywhere else within reason. They can stay in one part of the city or wander from one to another, to the player’s discretion.

If you like, you can choose for your character to have already been in the city for a time. The maximum time for this is a month, meaning they had to have arrived in early August or later. Characters who have been living here have more freedom in terms of where they are or what they can be doing in their top-levels or subsequent tags - they may have already found a living space, started a business, or found other employment. Be sure to check the state of the city post in the OOC comm to get caught up on what's happening.

If you'd like to interact with any of the NPCs, drop the mods a line and we'll get on it!]

Threaded | Flat

Unlike the atypically empty Welcome Center, Apollo Square is rife with citizens of the unlucky middle- or working-class variety, flooding the tram lines and the metro station as they depart for whatever meager jobs they’ve managed to hold onto. Yet a sizable chunk of those denizens seem to have broken off from the dense-packed majority, drifting to the southern end of the city where some nameless activist seems to have mounted an impromptu protest, or possibly an advertising campaign in front of a derelict building. Despite its apparent state of disarray, the sign labeling it as Fontaine’s Home for the Poor is starkly visible above his head.

"You think Ryan's gonna be there for ya when you're down n' out?” hollers the man to the accumulating crowd. He scoffs. “No - Fontaine, Fontaine's the man with the helping hand!"

Incensed, many of them begin to nod eagerly. Others depart much the same way they arrived: scornfully, mouths turned downward in distaste as the train rattles on, indifferent.

With its quiet stream and soft-lit paper lamps, the tranquil calm of the Tea Gardens is nothing like the bustle of activity that seems to suffuse most every other part of the city. A few straggling couples can be glimpsed embarking on a romantic stroll, meandering here and there throughout the Waterfall Grotto and the Tree Farm and the concourse winding all about. For the most part, this part of Rapture is silent.

By contrast, Fort Frolic radiates the same wild energy that has become such a prominent draw to Rapture’s denizens. Sander Cohen has opened his gates to the newcomers, seemingly unbothered by their manifold origins - admirers can only manifest if they are first exposed to his genius. Despite the ill-advised nature of the act, he’s allowed his guests free reign of most of Fort Frolic. Maybe he’s really as cracked as they say, but with rich alcohol flowing freely from the taps and the whirr-buzz of gambling slot machines jangling away, does it truly matter?

Explore his galleries or sit in a show; regardless of what anyone chooses, tonight visitors are welcome to enter and peruse the offerings of Rapture’s artistic community at their leisure.

The wharfs may not be as luxurious as most of the living areas catering to Rapture’s upper-class, but there’s something to be said about the restaurants and taverns available to the workers here. Newcomers might even be able to snag work, though there seems to be a certain wariness to many of the employers and employees alike. Whispers of smugglers and contraband pervade even casual conversation. Anyone who’s been in the city for longer than a minute has probably heard the name that’s on everyone’s lips these days - 'Fontaine.' And sure enough, Fontaine Fisheries has its own vital spot in the port’s economy.

The Fighting McDonagh’s Tavern is open to the visitors, and anyone desperate for a place to stay might even be able to bargain for a room. Neptune’s Bounty isn’t the most well-to-do one can do for oneself, but it makes no lies about what it is.

It’s an unfortunate fact, but any new arrivals who don’t end up at Fontaine’s Home for the Poor are likely to have to scrounge up a place of residence in the Drop. It’s its own, self-sufficient town, but the residents don’t carry themselves with quite the same elitist, slightly smug air that seems to be the norm for most of Rapture’s higher-class citizens. People here keep to themselves, darting looks at anyone they might not recognize and wondering if they could be one of the new arrivals, wondering if they might become part of the competition for the best housing available in the Drop.

No business here has the courtesy to even provide the semblance of being welcome. No restaurants or shopping centers have opened their doors in greeting or offered discounts, and no denizens are overly eager to approach anyone who might become a new, unwanted roommate. It might be best to find a room in Sinclair Deluxe and lay low.

APOLLO SQUARE;

ARCADIA;

FORT FROLIC;

NEPTUNE'S BOUNTY;

PAUPER'S DROP;