Arcology

Arcologies are the megastructures that most Aurorans live in. It looks like a tapered tower with a large base and three glass vertical flower petals at the tip. Each one has the capability of housing billions of humans (the first arcology on Cibella houses eight billion).

Specs[]

Arcology Demographics — Arcology demographics by Vivaporius, based on the 4km diameter base and a substantial sublevel. It's projected that the 4km Arcology could (comfortably) house 2 billion.

Arcologies have a footprint of 1-4km diameter and they also tunnel underground for a distance. Power is provided by either a fusion generator or geothermal power. Food comes from recycling-driven production of fungus/yeast/algae in various genetically engineered forms to produce the amino acids and proteins necessary for human survival. Aurorans use yeast because they can make beer and vegemite from it. This provides basic sustenance, but the real food comes from food planets such as Aria, Sorvad and Stlap. Still, every arcology can fend for itself in case of blockade.

Spearpoint[]

The spacedocks for an arcology are nestled between the petals. Warriors and traders are the ones most likely to own a spaceship, so they would reside near the top of the tower.

Sublevels[]

The majority of the tower's population live underground, so that would be where the industry would be located. This would also have the effect of keeping the tower's poorest out of sight and out of mind. As it would be logistically impractical to transit a large number of people up and down the tower, most necessary facilities would be located on every level.

Pollution[]

While an arcology is quite impressive technology from a modern human's reckoning, the supply chains needed to build one cause quite a bit of pollution and have a significant deleterious effect on the environment of any planet they're built on. This is understandable: a massive economy would be needed to build the structure which would include mines, railroads, shipping, warehousing, extraction equipment, factories and farms. Some material could be sourced from asteroids, but not all. Even just the cured concrete used to build the arcology would release a staggering amount of C02.

The geoscaping knowledge demonstrated by the Aurorans to mine the necessary materials and to excavate the underground sections of an arcology should also be appreciated.

Social Factors[]

While arcologies were essential for the survival of the Colonial Council colonists that came in Deimos to the galactic south, the stratification of arcology living is what created the class-based system that the Aurora Empire is now saddled with. The elite of Auroran society live in the tower, while the vast majority (80-85%) live underground. It may be that some Aurorans never see the sky in their lifetime.

International View[]

The factors that led to the runaway population growth and inequality in Auroran arcologies are poorly understood by sociologists in the Federation, which helps support the Bureau's desire of future warfare leading to domination of the Empire. Similarly, understanding is discouraged in the Empire by the warrior elite. However, the Mu'hari (and by extension, the Kel'ariy), have been studying this and have come up with some long-term plans to help alleviate the Auroran's social issues, but they are of course stymied by Polaran isolationism and their own social factors.

The Federation and Polaris have no examples of technological equivalents to arcologies, except perhaps for the domed cities on Kiniké, Menin and Houseless and the ring-world on Tre'ar Helonis. Though currently, they have no need for an arcology.

Warfare[]

The destruction of an arcology, such as those caused during the Bureau Storyline, would lead to loss of human life on a scale never before seen.