Aurora's End

<Aurora's End> Aurora's End is the name of a massive urban city that blankets the majority of the old North American continent. The remaining area - a small region in the former Northeast US - is kept pure and reserved for the filthy-rich one percenters in power for their own hedonistic use. Aurora's End is in the unique position of being nearly lawless, but also generally safe compared to other hive cities thanks to the drugs that suppress its people's intense emotions and desire for rebellious or violent thought. The slum city is dark, grimy, rusty and depressing. The only real color often comes from the dim flickering neon lights of stores, brothels and bars. </Aurora's End>

On Aurora's End, the 1% of super-rich in power have complete dominance over the other 99% of citizens, all equally poor. The rich almost never interact with the poor on Aurora's End. They live in total opulence in their own self-sufficient region of the continent, which is separate from the dirty rust bucket hive slum that makes up the rest. The rich almost never even go out into the slums as they have no need to. Instead they go about their days with lavish excess, ignorant of the rest of the city's needs and caring only about themselves and their own pleasures. The wealthy region of Aurora's End is separate from the slums by a massive concrete wall. Inside, huge nuclear power plants provide power to their own region. Any excess power, which often isn't enough to cover the rest - goes to the rest of the city. Nuclear waste is often dumped straight out of the walls and into the slums, which has caused a portion of poorer citizens to develop unnatural mutations - these include extra or deformed limbs, third eyes, unnatural skin or fur colors, etc. It is practically impossible for a poor citizen to rise in this society and become a one-percenter. Poor city-folk make up the vast majority of Aurora's End's population. They live in the downtrodden and dirty slums that cover most of the continent, living, working and scavenging in the slums. Everybody is kept in line by mass-produced amounts of the drug Eylatol. Despite living in a dingy hive slum, violent crime rates are very low thanks to the forced calming properties of Eylatol. Drug use, alcoholism, and sexual harassment still occur frequently on Aurora's End, as citizens do whatever they can to get their fix of valued pleasure. Rape is also prevalent. Most rapists use drugs, intimidation, or work in groups to do that. The vast majority of non-violent crimes goes completely unpunished. The average citizens of Aurora vary in species, gender, size and shape - but all of them are poor, and typically wander the streets in ragged and dingy threadbare clothing. Property means almost nothing to them - most simply find some run-down building to hunker down inside when they need to sleep or find shelter. Thanks to Eylatol, there is a general sense of hopelessness among the people. The average citizen of Aurora's End is often poor and have very little money on them. Instead, they rely on the archaic barter system. They trade clothing, drugs, favors(both non-sexual and sexual), Eylatol pills, and other things at makeshift markets set up in the slums. In rare cases when they're available - credits, the actual currency of the world, are used. In terms of services, the streets of Aurora's End are rampant with seedy services. There are bars on every other block, drug dens are easier to find than Eylatol dispensaries, and both male and female whores can be found making offers on almost every street corner. The 99% are all subdued and kept calm and sane by a drug called Eylatol. Eylatol controls and heavily regulates parts of the brain involving rebellious thought, regardless of species. The drug calms intense emotions and induces a sense of learned helplessness into the user, forcing them to accept their status and the world as it is. Interestingly, Eylatol does not suppress desire, arousal, or dopamine levels within the brain. This is intentional on the part of the manufacturers as it allows the users to 'distract' themselves with their own need to take the edge off instead of focusing on the one percent. This is why sexual crimes, drug use, and drinking are all still very common. The filthy-rich of Aurora's End first introduced Eylatol as a miracle, cure-all panacea for mental health conditions 40 years ago. By the time the rest of the citizens started catching on to their plan it was already too late. Now, the drug use is mandated and heavily monitored across the entire city sprawl. The only ones who aren't required to use Eylatol are the same rich folk who produce it. Any citizen who is caught not taking Eylatol is apprehended by the security androids and has the drug forced onto them. Apprehending these 'offenders' is the only real job of the security androids - as well as removing dead or collapsed bodies from the streets. They aren't programmed to actually fight most crimes. It is especially hard to avoid taking the drug thanks to the heavy monitoring systems installed on nearly every street and alleyway. Eylatol is administered as a pill for most. For anyone that can't ingest the solid pill, it is administered as an injection or a liquid. Multiple iterations of the drug have advanced it to the point where it only one pill needs to be taken a day for the full effect. Eylatol dispensaries are open 24/7.