The Neighbourhoods

• Sawyer Square (North West): One of the older parts of town clustered around the titular Sawyer Square, one of the biggest open air areas in town. In the middle there is a statue to someone named Sawyer, that no one remembers and no one actually cares about. Although not as old as Old Hades, it is somewhat dilapidated and run down, where someone might end up if you only have a handful of Novus in your pocket.

• Seren Street (West): The continuation of the West conurbation, it would be simply an extension of Sawyer Square, if not for the Bazaar, a miles long road of sellers, shops and stalls. If you have the Novus, you can find it here.

• South Kew (South West): One of the latest major Corps investments in the city, South Kew saw massive relocations and improvements. It is now a place of expensive shops, glittering hotels and upper middle class buildings of chrome and glass. It gets much of its energy, paradoxically, from the money pouring out of the Bazaar (whose southern reach borders South Kew).

• Corpville (Centre West): If there is a gleaming heart to New Hades, it is here. The Corps reign supreme. The streets are clean, the Corps' security details patrol the area, there's police everywhere. The shops are expensive, the food is gourmet, there are busy people moving billions of Novus everywhere you look. Most MegaCorps have their headquarters (or flagship buildings) in this area. This is where the money lives.

• Downtown (Centre): An extension of Corpville, but without the Corps, and with much more public influence. Most salaryman will live here. Posh, upscale, but without the technocratic / rampant capitalism trappings.

• HighRise (Centre): Technically still a part of Downtown, but with the tallest buildings in the city, spires of chrome and glass reaching for the stars.

• Rattown (South): Originally a slum of Old Hades, this neighbourhood developed and grew as an organic entity, and now could almost be called a city in its own right. An area of buildings seemingly budding off and leaning into each other. It is a place of narrow streets and shady deals, of criminals and outlawed scientists. A lot of the Old Hades service corridors, tube networks and sewers (all out of comission) still exist, and are simply called Below. The Corps let it all be, for the influence and money that gets moved around. Whatever deal you need, you can find it here.

• Old Hades (South): The original city, whose name is now lost to history and the War. A place of crumbling 19 and 20th century buildings and even older churches. Similar in atmosphere and philosophy to Sawyer Square, but older, falling apart and without the charm (!)

• Little Moscow (South West): As the name implies, a Russian / Slavic enclave. Should be very much more dangerous, but people here value business too much. Here you can find some of the last surviving hand-craft item shops in the city. Rich people from Downtown, or poor people from neighbouring Old Hades, if you have the Novus, the artisans here will make anything you wish.

• Chinatown (North): Founded by a convoluted mass of Far-east Asian refugees, fleeing the waves of destruction that followed the founding of the Chinese Empire in 2042. Mostly a services, shopping and eating area, it keep deep links to The Empire (something the Corps crave) and with Rust, downriver. The place to go for some cheap and filling hot noodles.

• Arkham Island (North East): Possibly the most difficult area of the city to define or pin down, no shinning core, no main ethnicity, just a melting pot of activities and cultures

• Westside (North East): Named for Jeremiah West (an american rebel from the 2020s) and not the compass point, Westside is a middle / working class area. Some light industry dots the landscape, mainly made up of decent apartment blocks and the occasional shopping area.

• The Sprawl (Centre East): When sci fi writters in the 20th century thought of the future, this is what they dreamt of. The Sprawl is the high tech core of New Hades, new programs, drugs and living things are pumped out as fast as the public can order them. Giant screens and neon signs light up the raining landscape, maintenance droids advertise anything you can think of. If there is a heart filled with light and hope to New Hades, this one is it. Just don't ask what happens behind the lights.

• Docklands (South East): Being only 2 hours away from the North Sea, sea and river trade are the arteries of New Hades. Most of the cargo gets moved into smaller ships offshore (or unloaded in Rust) and fed into the Docklands. Containers everywhere, giant cranes doing a mad dance, moving millions of tons of produce. Not the safest of areas, but you can usually find stuff at a discount. 

• Factory Sector (South East): The muscles of New Hades, the core of its heavy industry. Where the AlgSoy tanks are, and anything and everything bigger than a car is made. A quiet and dangerous place for the unthinking visitor, there are many alleyways behind warehouses and there is hardly anyone out and about....

• Scraplands (Far South East): As close to a dystopia as you get in New Hades. This area used to be storage for the Factory Sector, until the Storms of '55 ripped through it, dumping most of the containers onto the river, and downstream (eventually becoming Rust). What was left were destroyed buildings and rotting smashed containers, not even worth the price of the metal scrap. Rumours abound of old underground assembly lines snaking through the underground, rabbit warren-like.

• Redcrest, Brightgate, Ravenglass: Three 'empty' locations, with nothing really there at the moment, awaiting a narrative to make them shine....

There is a saying amongst old Hadeans: 'Poorness goes: Seren, Sawyer, Old Hades, Rattown. When you can't go further down, you're in the Scraplands'.

'If you like New Hades, why not visit.....'

Other geographical places of interest that might become important later in the game, or might get referenced by NPC's:

Rust (or Rust Town, Rustville, and many others, no official naming)

Rust sits about 2 hours down The Phobos from New Hades, where it finally meets the North Sea. Originally, during the Storms of '55, hundreds of metal containers were washed downstream from the Scraplands, ending up at this beach. Refugees quickly lay claim to these, and turned into something that could theoretically be called a settlement. There is no law, no rules, but it just seems to work. Things are kept low-tech on purpose, to keep the Corps at bay. As a neutral port, and maritime gateway to New Hades, it works splendidly.

The Adventure

A two miles-long excavated asteroid, The Adventure is a O'Neill cylinder, a space station in the shape of a long cylinder, filled with air, and rotating to simulate gravity. The inhabitants live on the inside surface, that has grasslands, fields and water features, simulating an Earth-like habitat. At the moment, The Adventure and its still incomplete sister ship, The Wisdom are in low Earth orbit, but with plans of moving it to other places in the system. It the crown jewel of Eclipse, Inc.

Viken

Viken was built in neutral ground in Scandinavia, with people from a lot of neighbouring countries. In common, they had their neutrality and wish to be left alone, or, if not possible, to not make things worse. They quickly became the finantial and trade hub for what is left of Western Europe, and a major link to CenEuro (the political union of central European states). With no war, minimal Corp influence and neutrality, it is today one of the richest and most peaceful places on Earth

New York (The Big Corpse, The Rotting Apple)

After the Black Spot epidemic of 2032 and the subsequent evacuation, New York was never the same again. The Storms of '55 further damaged the infrastructure to a point where the city was deemed non-recoverable by the Corps. Nothing is currently known about it: state of decay, inhabitants or structural stability.

Atlantica (New Atlantis, SeaTown)

A series of floating facilities off the Western European coast. Of different sizes, purposes and intentions, they are often referred to collectively.

New Lusitania (The Billion Isles, The Billions)

The accidental detonation of an experimental Peterson Heavy industries mega-weapon caused havoc in the northern parts of Portugal and Spain. Although the damage to the geological coastline was extensive, for reasons unknow the ecosystem bounced back in a mere decade. The Billions are now some of the richest fishing fields in the world and are dotted with dozens of both big and small villages.

N'Djamena

No one would have believed, a mere 50 years before, that the capital of Chad would be on the richest and more affluent places on Earth. Saved from some of the worst horrors of the War, by both centrality and lack of high-tech targets, the country reinvented itself as a safe haven. Its military was redeployed simply on border patrol. Once a stable core had been established, it expanded, linking together a number of other African countries into AfriCap. Though by no means an utopia, and with considerable Corps influence, it is still a relatively safe and please place.

Shackleton Base

Whilst Selene City focus on connecting with other Solar System locations, and Port Armstrong is the heavy industry / food production site, Shackleton base is without a doubt the New Frontier of Near-Earth space. Underneath this Lunar South Polar crater there are billions of tons of ice, unusually rich in Helium-3 (the isotope used in the ubiquitous fusion reactors). Any miner from the Old American West in the 1850s would recognise this place instantly: rough miners, underground shantitowns appearing overnight, illegal mining operations. Eclipse, Inc. rules with an iron fist, but as long and the quotas of mined ice are kept, they are happy to turn a blind eye.

The Takai Unmei (High Destiny)

The apple in Koruachi Corps. eye. A giant space station, in low Earth orbit. According to the public blueprints, it is the smallest space-borne vehicle to be self sufficient in oxygen, water and food.

'So if Chinatown is thataway, and the Sprawl is.... Where ARE we???' (Maps)

Having a pretty much non-existent sense of direction, I love maps. So I made this one. In fact, that's how all of this started, I found this picture (a neon-traced map of Boston, in case you're wondering), and I HAD to tell this story.

I HAD to. And I've been world-building ever since.

I also left empty labels, so future areas can be effortlessly moved in. Planning ahead! :)