Red and white stamp with text: City map of Chainzoku

THECITYOFTŌDAI

Map of the town Chainzoku, different zones and buildings are depicted

Tōdai,meaning“lighthouse”inJapanese,

wasgivenitsnameasasymbolofhope,

alightshiningthroughthedarkness.

Yearsafteryears,thetwoclansworked

onrebuildingwhatoncewas,oncreating

anewmegalopolisreflectingtheirvery

differentvisionsoftheworld.

Theiroppositionresultedineachofthem

takingasideofthecity.TheOni’s

settledontheWestside,overlookedby

themountains,andtheBoso’smovedtothe

Eastbank,borderedbythesea.Thecanyon

whichappearedin2030shapedthecity

asthemythicalYin&Yangsymbol.

TheOniZokusideishighlyinfluencedby

traditionalJapanesearchitecture,

reminiscentoftheancientcityofKyoto,

withwoodenhousesandbuildings,

erectedfollowingtheirancester’s

know-how.Itisatoncepeaceful

andchaotic,withtheOni’sbeing

veryopinionatedandalwaysfollowing

theirownpath.Eastoftown,though,

ismuchdifferent.Blindingneons

lightupskyscrapersgoingabovethe

clouds.Denselypopulated,itisan

endlessflowofpeoplezoomingby,

yetneverbumpingintoeachother,

andperfectlysilent;linkedtogether

bythehivemindthatis“TheNetwork”.

2030

The ground… it.. took everything!

A gaping hole opened under their feet and swallowed almost everything around. The city is torn apart, split in two, with a giant canyon in the middle.
Gen Station Meeting

Where the clans first got created.

The survivors, who managed to take shelter during the tragedy, start to come out of their shelters and discover the ravaged city. They meet at the only place still standing in the now torn apart city: Gen Station, to the south.
Unable to find a compromise, half of the population decides to follow the genius scientists, and the other half chooses to go back to their roots, in the mountains.
Over the next century: opposing visions

In the previous era, any kind of trading between the clans would need to be done underground, in dark alleys & sketchy places.
Members of opposite clans wouldn’t speak to each other, clan leaders wouldn’t allow it - it was illegal and frowned upon. Many battles were fought, a lot of deaths ensued. Ties between the two clans were inexistant.
Yet, as years went by, conflicts settled down, and both clans realized that they needed each other’s wisdom & technology in order to grow and move forward. Clans progressively began to cooperate.
The first step towards reuniting both sides of Tōdai was the creation of several bridges over the canyon - physical limit between each clan’s sides.
Thus began what we now call the Bridge Era.
The Bridge Era

Time to officially reunite.

In the past, journeying to one side from the other was done through a single place : Gen Station, which was the last remaining common place for both clans. In an attempt to make it more convenient to get across the canyon, new bridges were built. One of them, the largest one, is located right in the center of the city and drives the major part of the traffic. Its name: Heiwa Bridge, or “Bridge of Peace”. Its construction sealed the official reunion of the clans.
Later, and further sealing the cooporation deal, each clan’s Embassy was built directly on the eyes of the emblematic Yin & Yang figure, on each side of the city. A symbolic gesture.
The BosoZoku shared their technological knowledge, and the OniZoku brought the fruit of their agricultural labor and ancient wisdom; each clan making a step towards the other and building trust as years went by.
Current Day

From a macro point of view, both clans are now at peace. Yet in daily interactions, there is still palpable tension between them, due to the very essence of their beliefs.
Today, the vending machine from Gen Station is still the symbol of the understanding between the two clans. It is the most neutral territory where the leaders from both sides still meet to make all the most important decisions.
Since the events of 2030, the vending machine fills up by itself, without any help from the two clans. This remains a mystery to this day and contributes to its status as a mystical and inalienable symbol.

Onizoku
clan

the story

"The only way for us to survive is to reconnect with nature. We have gone too far with technology and the depletion of resources."

During the Gen Station Summit, two self-claimed leaders spoke of a place where humans have always lived in autarky and hold some ancestral knowledge as to how to truly reconnect with nature and find one’s true self.

They recreated a society based on this doctrine, limiting their progress to only electric appliances, but no internet, and absolutely no smartphones.

To become an OniZoku, one has to go through a transformative shamanic ritual which grants them powers such as the gift of communicating and having some control over the fauna and flora.

BOSOZOKU
clan

the story

The BosoZoku clan’s forefathers are a group of scientists who survived 2030.

As it turns out, before the event that destroyed the whole city, they had been working on an avant-garde, transhumanist technology: chips, allowing to connect AI and the human brain, enabling people to enter "The Network”. They created the next step in shared intelligence between humans since the inception of the internet.

After 2030, they decided to finish their work and start their mission to implant their chip in all humans, thus making them as strong and intelligent as ever. They believe that technology should be pushed further, knowledge shared between everybody, as the only way to allow their race to survive without destroying their environment.

GOENS

ThegoenisthelocalcurrencyofTōdaiCity.

Itwasinspiredbythefortunecoinsthat

existedthroughoutAsia.Goensareaccepted

bybothclanswiththesamevalue,although

onesidewillprefertheDigitalGoens,

andtheotherthePhysicalGoens.

Economy

Goens is what makes Tōdai City go round.

Zokus use them to purchase everything, from fashion items to homes, from food to medecine.

Tōdai being a progressive & utopian city, every citizen gets a universal income in the form of goens, issued by The Central Bank of Tōdai (CBT), and can spend them as they please.

As in every economy, people can also choose to work to get more goens - different sets of skills allowing for different salaries.

Craftsmen can sell their goods, artists their art, and humble citizens can work in one of the many businesses the city holds, may it be giant corporations like The Network or Kusiri, or smaller shops, like Kiru’s restaurant.

local celebrities

Best Chef in Town

Born into a family of fish farmers, he grew up the hard way. To him, life does not make any gift, and neither should it.

"If you want something, do what it takes to get it. Hope is good for the weak, wishes are for lambs!”.

As a little boy, he dreamed of being able to talk to the fish and ask them about his father, who disappeared while fishing in the Sea of Gamera.

Both in despair & hope, he had bought a daruma, and crossed an eye, wishing for his father’s return. His mother having taken over the modest family business, in mourning, alone and having to raise her child, his wish never came true...

One day, he grabbed a knife and scratched the eye of his daruma; something that should only be done upon a wish being granted.

He promised himself to never expect anything from life again