They say Rome wasn't built in a day.
Kingdom City was.
The state of the art, sprawling metropolis of Kingdom City rises from the dry plains of central North America like a flawless diamond in a platinum setting. So massive that it spreads across the borders of three states (Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma), it has the special exempt status of a free city, making it a semi-independent political entity. The man in control of that political entity is Jericho Kingdom Sayle, founder and sole owner of Kingdom Construction, a vast multinational and perhaps second only to Triland Corp. as the world's richest and most influential company. Lebanese by birth, Sayle came to America and embraced that country's economic dream wholeheartedly, eventually rising from dock worker to the wealthiest man in the United States. Depending on which of the contradictory biographies you believe, Sayle's career may have been a stellar rise of fortune and talent, or years of hard, painful labour and deprivation. The man himself is usually evasive on the matter, and his rare comments seemed designed to muddy the water further. Equally mysterious is the source of his powers; some claim he was involved in a secret space exploration project; others that they are naturally emergent; and some of his detractors that they result from a pact with nephandous and malevolent entities. What is sure is that Sayle is a telekinetic of great power and extreme finesse, capable of lifting objects weighing hundreds of tons, while simultaneously stacking bricks, mixing cement, measuring distances and laying foundations in a dozen places at once.
That is how his masterpiece, Kingdom City, was created. In the wake of the Gateway Wars, the US government was nearly bankrupt, faced with the task of rebuilding trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure across the country damaged in the conflict. They needed Kingdom Construction's expertise and resources, thus putting great bargaining power square in Sayle's hands. After securing special rights to a large, desolate piece of land spread across the fringes of three states, Jericho Kingdom Sayle went to the middle of the desert like a man seeking hermitage, and set to work. Gradually but inevitably, over 29 hours (he is frequently self-deprecating about the overshoot), a gleaming city of sculpted skyscrapers, wide whitestone plazas, silver malls, interlinked office blocks and pale marble apartment buildings rose from the assembled construction materials, all according to the perfect mental plan in Sayle's head. His city was designed holistically; wide streets unburdened by the shape of the land or old settlement patterns allowed full and free access by public and private transport; all infrastructure was in place, from trash disposal to waterworks powered by telekinetic pumps that tap deep aquifers, all the buildings ready for their occupants to come.
And come they did. Lured by cheap housing, a pristine environment, incredible caretaking and support systems and a wide range of jobs available (80% of which are in Kingdom Construction or one of its subsidiaries), hundreds of thousands flocked to the empty metropolis, many hand-picked and invited by Sayle himself. Kingdom City is a clean wonderland of technology, industry and prosperity. Over a hundred countries have consulates in the slightly misnamed Ambassadors Quarter, along with the Primacy's Embassy, and any corporation that doesn't have an office or outlet in Kingdom isn't worth talking about.
Still, it is not without flaws. Kingdom City can feel very soulless at times, all shining white and steel-grey, curved edges and glittering blue glass. Few artists call the city home, and many decry the stylish capitalistic coldness and excesses it embodies. It is also not a place to live if you do not trust Jericho Kingdom Sayle; rumours say he watches every event in the city through hidden cameras or a telaesthetic link with the city itself. He also plays a very real and critical role in the maintenance of the city of which he is mayor and founder: many of the buildings simply cannot stand on their own. For instance, Brunel Tower, the head offices for Kingdom Construction and also the centre of municipal government, features a gap on level 101. Put simply, there is no level 101 - the bottom hundred floors of the tower are separated from the top thirty by a twelve foot space, with no beams or other supports.
Sayle's telekinesis alone holds the upper floors of the building in place, as steady as a rock at all times, even when he is asleep. The same phenomena is repeated in key buildings and public locations throughout the city, making parts of it seem eerily open, as if it should not exist outside of a computer simulation.
| Regional | |
|---|---|
| Africa | The Pact |
| Nigeria | The Ministry of Extraplanetary Technology |
| X-town | |
| Asia | Ubyezhich |
| Europe | |
| Germany | Free City of Hamburg |
| North America | |
| United States | Kingdom City |
| Oceanic | |
| Pacific Ocean | Pacifica Prison |