Northern Peninsula -

Alexandria

Home to Titan City’s Central Library, Ephesus University, Phoenix Plaza, and one of the nation’s largest concentrations of musea, Alexandria has long been a beacon of knowledge, the home of dramatic public buildings, and the seat of Titan City’s government. The district is devoted to culture – particularly that of Titan City itself – and is replete with bright and shining buildings of all sorts.

• Ephesus University is the in-game equivalent of an Ivy League Institution of Higher Learning. The university complex contains lecture halls and offices dating back to just after the Great Fire, with many green-spaces, sculptures, and walkways.
• The Library District is home to Titan City’s Central Library, a showpiece of architectural achievement and an uncontested volume of rare documents, manuscripts, and scrolls. Many of the structures in this neighborhood are museums or other public buildings, have a more open feel, and are set back from the street a bit with immaculate landscaping.
• Phoenix Plaza is the seat of Titan City’s government, as well as a number of other key buildings such as “Old City Hall,” which is now a museum dedicated to the history of the city. The plaza features a large open area, surrounded by buildings, and has a statue of a phoenix in the middle.
• Pharos is an older neighborhood, dating back to the Great Fire. In fact, this was one of the main turning points in the battle against the blaze that was destroying the region. The buildings are closer together, with fewer green areas, but not too heavily plagued by criminal activity.
• A multistory, outdoor park, the Hanging Gardens are about six stories tall and occupy an entire city block. EdenTech furnished the Gardens to the city in response to a request for additional greenery in the area, as well as a promotion for its ability to construct “urban green living for the new millennium.”
• The closest thing Alexandria has to a seedy side, Olympia is an older are, mostly catering to the students and professors of Ephesus University. Here can be found cheap housing, cheap bars and clubs, cheap food, and cheap criminals seeking to prey on nerdy types who aren’t likely to offer much resistance.

Aurora

Aurora is often described as sleepy, dreamlike or even nightmarish, depending on the speaker's location and circumstances. Along the border with Downtown, development consists of bland, no-nonsense mid-rises containing a mixture of offices and apartments, lending a grey, sleepy feel. As one proceeds north, west, and south, the district opens out to display its characteristic trees, landscaping, and well-maintained twentieth century buildings that can seem surreal and almost dreamlike. Many of these buildings sport decorations or features very different from their overall construction (such as homes that are part brick and part wood, or sleek modernism mixed with antennae from the 50s and gas lamps from the 1800s.) On the west side, residences (mostly townhouses) predominate, gradually shading into the larger homes of Bayview. Ironically, Light Street, the most well patrolled neighborhood in the city, has a nightmarish tangle of crime-ridden, graffiti-sprayed prison-like buildings lining its wide streets.

• A low rise in the topography of Daybreak Ridge gives this neighborhood its name. This neighborhood has been rebuilt several times over, and is now an eclectic mixture of “International”, “Post-modern” and a few surviving other styles of architecture such as repurposed factories and old Colonial architecture. The tree-lined streets are a feature throughout Aurora. This neighborhood is also a retail center, supporting both large and small corporations and shops. There are no towering skyscrapers here, but there are a few mid-rise office towers along the waterfront.
• Eos Park is ideal for most “International” style structures that are up to a maximum of 14 stories in height (mid-rise). This neighborhood consists primarily of office parks in the “International” and “Post-modern” styles, interspersed with parking lots, ornamental green spaces (trees and plants and things), and perhaps a fountain or few. This neighborhood is more open than the traditional densely packed spaces such as Downtown.
• Hollybriar brings a taste of planned suburbia, right in the heart of Titan City. A large swath of the indigenous forest has been maintained, though it has been slowly shrinking as developers encroach further and further into its domain. Most of the homes here date back to the 1940s and ‘50s, with the peaceful, picturesque setting where children can walk to school safely and block parties are the norm.
• The most built-up section of Aurora, Light Street borders the Downtown neighborhood of Common Street. Most of the structures in this neighborhood date from the 1960s and ‘70s, mid-rises in the “International” style that are primarily brick or plaster-faced, and nothing predates the Great Fire of 1908. Most of the buildings are offices, though there are a few apartment buildings, which add a more urban feel to the neighborhood, including sports courts and play areas. Grafitti when found is relatively uncommon, likely caused by the heavy police presence centering around the Titan City Police Department headquarters building.
• Named for a small, open area surrounded by brownstones, Waltzer Square is the wealthiest part of Aurora. It was originally redeveloped from farmland to townhouses in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and received an additional economic boost from wealthy individuals displaced from the city center by the fire of 1908. Today, it combines historic townhouses with well-kept, historic detached homes, interspersed with spots of greenery and a few upscale retailers. Like most parts of Aurora, Waltzer Square has retained its large, spreading trees, which shade many of the residential streets completely in the spring, summer, and fall months.

Downtown

Downtown is the commercial and architectural heart of Titan City. Packed with skyscrapers, high-rises and public buildings, it’s the place where everyone wants to have their tower, and where everyone wants to have their tower that’s bigger than that guy’s tower. Downtown is busy 24/7, always busy with activity and traffic of all kinds.

• The sight of the Titan City Skywalks brings a large number of tourists Downtown. A neighborhood over neighborhoods, the Skywalks are a series of bridges and public areas both open and enclosed that link the many towers in the center of Downtown, allowing people to enjoy themselves on the open rooftops in parks, gardens, and open-air restaurants.
• Armistice Street houses many of the largest skyscrapers within Downtown, with the typical building standing between fifty and seventy stories in height, and are of the “International” style. Most structures appear to be reflective glass and steel with echoing interiors, and are homes to the biggest of the big businesses, including such gems as the Titan City Stock Exchange.
• Common Street is the least wealthy neighborhood in all of Downtown. Developed in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, it suffered greatly in the economic downturn of the 1970s, and many of the buildings are now in need of repair, as are the sidewalks. The latest attempt to revive Common Street is a planned mixed-use development that has been under construction for a number of years. The average building height in this neighborhood is 50 to 60 stories.
• Buildings in Fitzgerald Square are eclectic in style but are often early, pre-Deco. They tend to be of a more modest size than other neighborhoods in Downtown. Some structures date back to the first few years after the Great Fire of 1908, and even some early “skyscrapers”, which are now barely tall enough to call a mid-rise. This neighborhood is a popular tourist destination, featuring the open Fitzgerald Square itself with a statue to the city’s first mayor, Anthony Fitzgerald. The average building height in this neighborhood is 20 stories.
• Built up during the skyscraper race of the 1920's, the typical building along Fountain Streetis between fifty and sixty stories in height, and are of the “Art Deco” style. Ornament and decorative features are common, providing many places for characters to perch on the buildings. There are some residential and retail locations in this neighborhood, but most of the buildings are primarily offices.

Old Bradford

This area is home for the rich, the snobby, and the strange. With buildings as eclectic as its people, it’s a place where anything goes. It is a wealthy neighborhood trying desperately to pretend it is worldly, and manages to pull this off in a somewhat superficial way. Many of the buildings are old and maintain a very carefully engineered chintziness intended to make them look homey and lower-class. On the other hand, most newer buildings are bare-bones in a very ostentatious way, embracing a sort of modern art appearance. The district in general has been about art ever since the fire; it used to be home to artists, now it is home to patrons and poseurs.

• Firetown got its name because it was one of the very first areas to be rebuilt after the Great Fire. Many of the homes were initially built for temporary habitation after the Great Fire, and again after Hurricane Atlas, so it is generally pretty cheap to live in. The neighborhood now tends towards stylized and heavily ornamented structures, with some areas having become clusters of rental housing for students at Ephesus University.
• The neighborhood of New Bradford was heavily damaged by Hurricane Atlas, and was redesigned rather than restored. Buildings here are large and built-up, in all manner of shapes and colors that can only be described as “Hypermodern Architecture”. Most of the buildings are condominium of apartment complexes and shopping centers, designed for high population density.
• The Park and Garden district consists of public parks and numerous private gardens and open-air museums. The gardens are often attached to restaurants, party rental halls or clubs, but on occasion are simply used for private meetings by the elite.
• Scholarton is an area of older residences, primarily Victorian in style, that managed to survive the Great Fire. Non-residents often refer to the street layout as “The Maze”, as the original streets remain in the parts that were not burnt to the ground, and they zig-zag and abruptly end for no apparent reason, and intersect with each other at odd angles. Many of the wealthier professors and administrators at Ephesus University have made this neighborhood their home, as have some students. Notable locations in this neighborhood include a gated community and a “Certified Haunted House”.
• The Theater District is composed primarily of shopping venues and clubs, ranging from old jazz halls to coffee houses with live music. There are also a good numbers of museums to be found here, mostly open to the public.

Northeastern Research District

Founded by Professor Progress and the Titan Institute of Advanced Science, the Northeastern Research District, or NRD for short, is home to The Dreams of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, Today! It is an optimistic hub of science and technology, blending the modern sensibilities of Armistice Street with a distinct retro-futuristic twist. You can see science and technology everywhere you look: holographic billboards, concept cars, and all flavors of SCIENCE! It’s a fairly optimistic zone, and the perfect place for mad science of all stripes.

• The first institute dedicated to studying the Advanced (read, superhuman) sciences, Titan Institute of Advanced Science (TIAS) is a college for the most brilliant minds in the world. Many scientific and technological heroes have a diploma from TIAS. The institution has a very retro-futuristic feel, like Tomorrowland or a World’s Fair. There are several retro style robots on campus that serve as guides and security, and it is a common senior prank to reprogram them to do something funny.
• An elevated strip of parkland, Zukunft Skypark is built along old elevated highways, which winds through much of the district. There is a lot of plant life in this area, and the walkways double as solar panels. Specialized lifts at key points carry individuals to the Skypark from ground level. Certain buildings have converted their sky terraces into cafes and businesses.
• Edentech Corporation operates the Edentech Corporate Biocampus (ECB). This area sports far more plant life, and is much greener than the rest of the district. A notable element is that the ECB contains prominent access to the Skypark.
• Slightly stranger and more industrial than the rest of the district, Pioneer Point is home to the RevTech Complex. This is the newest part of the district to be developed, and is fully dedicated to the local aerospace industry. It features a dock, mostly for moving fragile equipment by RevTech, but also home to a ferry for commuter use.
• Interwoven with the Zukunft Skypark is Innovation Center, home to many of Titan City’s labs and research complexes. The ultra-modern, sciencey feel of the neighborhood is where the bulk of the genius that is the innovative businesses of Titan City do their thing.
• A Retro-futuristic Paradise, Progress Park is much more open compared to Downtown. This area has several residential areas, shops, and restaurants.
• One of the Northeastern Research District’s many ultra-modern neighborhoods, Visionary Way overlooks the waters to the north, including the private artificial island operated by the Santiago-Yuri Conglomerate. While many of the buildings are high-tech offices and labs, the area is also known for the mysterious creatures that sometimes emerge from the nearby sea or appear from elsewhere.

Rhinehart Park

Donated to the city by an eccentric millionaire in the late 1890's, Rhinehart Park is a piece of tamed wilderness within the boundaries of Titan City. A place of beauty, city legend says that Rhinehart Park is a place of great fortune… or, perhaps misfortune. Strange things tend to happen in Rhinehart, and they all seem to center around a peculiar gemstone housed within Old Man Rhinehart’s old manor...

• Bordering the south of Aurora, South Field is one of the more popular recreational areas of Titan City.
• North Field was once home to Sigfried Rhinehart’s private gardens. Filled with botanical masterpieces. beautiful statuary, and elegant pavilions, it’s a hotspot for weddings and tourism.
• Located at the intersection of the two fields, Stately Rhinehart Manor is an imposing gothic manor built atop a hill in the center of the park. Rhinehart Manor is somewhat of a museum now. No one lives there, though the Rhinehart Historical Society maintains it as it was when Sigfried Rhinehart and his ward lived there in the 1800's.
• During the 1850s, Sigfried Rhinehart, whose estate ultimately became Rhinehart Park, famously offered his estate as a station on the Underground Railroad, establishing several small hideouts and secret routes through the woods. Most of them have been turned into a museum today, but Rhinehart was careful not to reveal all of his secrets. Today, Freetown Woods are an ideal spot for hikers, historical enthusiasts, campers, and supervillains. It wraps around behind Rhinehart Manor and is by far the largest part of the park. The actual “Freetown” part of Freetown Woods only makes up a relatively small section of the woods, though Rhinehart has left secrets (such as shelters and tunnels) throughout.

Victory Beach

• As you enter the park proper, you will find yourself on a Midway, full of games, arcades and shows for kids to enjoy in the old Boardwalk tradition.
• On the eastern edge of the boardwalk, Sun Side features a ferris wheel, rollercoasters, spinning rides, and other assorted nausea simulation experiences.
• Surf Side sits on the northern edge of the park, featuring water slides, water rides, the world’s second largest wave pool, and an open beach.
• On the southern edge of the park is an area nicknamed Wild Beach. The part of the beach that nobody can really keep under control, tourists are advised to stay away from this area due to the riptides and on occasion dangerous wildlife.
• The actual area under the boardwalks, Underside is often home to petty crooks and other ne’er-do-wells.