“The original city, the cradle of pokemorph civilization within the underground. It is here that untold wonders can be found, and terrible secrets are kept at bay where they can do us no harm. Canal City feeds the underground and its ample water supplies those nearby. The nobles have overseen all of pokemorph kind from their ancestral homes at the reservoir.” -From “A Guide to Canal City”
Canal City, sometimes referred to as the Original City, is the center of the world below. Against the wall of an unbelievably gigantic cavern, the largest known in the underground, the massive reservoir that feeds the three canals that the city itself is built around: the origin of fresh water for the city, the fields, and many of the caves beyond. In the same cavern outside of the City are vast mushroom fields that provide much of the food for the underground. This whole space is softly lit from the blanket of moonstones on the ceiling above, providing a dim but serviceable day-night cycle.
The city’s architecture and manufacture is a combination of centuries of work by its crafters and builders, and the knowledge and techniques of the nobles. Electricity is available throughout the city, and nearly everyone is afforded at least a comfortable, if basic, lifestyle.
Just stay away from the slums past the Exbow district, if you can.
Inspiration: 1910s Europe, particularly Venice.
City History #
Canal City was founded about 500 years ago, built by the group of pokemorphs who left the surface to survive underground. This group of ‘morphs were led by a leader so charismatic that to an outsider, the early city may have seemed like a cult.
But he wasn’t popular due to underhanded manipulation; rather, he was the focal point of a lot of beliefs that were very popular among everybody, especially due to the circumstances that led to the Pokemorphs living underground.
Many of his beliefs stem from this core concept: all people desire to do good and are inherently good people. However, all people are also inherently flawed. Problems can not be solved by getting rid of bad people or fighting until the bad people go away. The right way is through great empathy and unity, strengthening the whole even when it doesn’t benefit you.
Much of this very early history was not recorded, so the details have long been forgotten, but the tenets have been passed down. The most important: because people are inherently good, charity must be treasured above all else, so that people are held up where they can improve and not succumb to their flaws. Philosophies of forgiveness and mercy round out the city gestalt.
Because of this philosophical core, Canal City prefers exiling ‘morphs over execution, prison, or forced labor. Over the years, these exiles have ended up being the ancestors of many living in Scrap Town, Basalt City, and other towns today.
These philosophies have twisted over time as Canal City has become more hierarchical. Nobles claim their “purity” means they’re “less flawed,” justifying their power, but flawed enough that they expect unconditional forgiveness of any grievances the commoners might have. They also justify their position by highlighting their charitable works, giving the people education, food, and employment, largely through sponsoring the Guild. In turn, they expect the citizens to work hard to be good.
The culture of charity is still alive and well despite that. Returning to those core roots is what inspired the founding of the Guild itself. Their funding mostly comes from successfully appealing to the heartstrings of the right nobles of Canal City, but their success in improving the citizens lives and outlooks gives them the receipts to demand said funding. This selfless spirit is what draws many to join the Guild.
There’s one other tenet that has also been passed down in Canal City’s history: an aversion to human artifacts. It is unsure why this came to be, though the untimely death of the first adventurer to claim one probably didn’t help. To this day, Canal City’s central government—an organization that even many nobles aren’t privy to—care very much about upholding this belief.
Architecture #
The architecture of Canal City is like a modern reimagining of ancient Venice. Buildings are constructed of sturdy stone with mushwood fascias and metal inlays. The buildings are artistically decorated; extremely so where the elites live over by the reservoir (to say nothing of the secluded noble villas) and less so as you move outward, but only the slums lack any decoration at all.
Being built around the canals, most buildings have a dock available for the ferries and gondolas to stop at, making that the primary mode of transportation in the city, while electric mopeds scurry about on the canal-side streets and across the many bridges.
Open park-like areas with benches and decorative flora are also available. Bioluminescent mushrooms are used for mood lighting, rocks are carefully arranged, statues serve as centerpieces. Most hubs of activity have at least one nearby cafe with outdoor seating area both canal-side and streetside; with a constant cave climate outdoor seating is common. The general feeling of the architecture is storied and comfortable.
Towards the edge of the city, where the heavy stone buildings make way for all-mushwood construction, the architecture starts to take on a bit more of a Tudor slant, which indicated that the less affluent part of the city has been entered.
Social Life #
Canal City is a city defined by order, defined boundaries, and unfortunately, classism. The nobles, the most powerful and wealthy of the city, live outright segregated from the common citizen on the other side of the reservoir. The commercial and civil services buildings spread out from the reservoir to the west in a lazy ring, marking another boundary. The commoners live in clearly defined districts where wealth gets you closer to the reservoir.
The divide is starkest when you consider the poorest wretches in the city, forced by circumstance to live in the outskirts where the very infrastructure is designed so few notice their plight. In a city built on charity, the cognitive dissonance of wealth inequality is resolved by simply making the poor invisible.
Despite that situation and the social rigidity, Canal City isn’t snoresville when it comes to social life and entertainment. Down Canal, famous for its cafes, is where most of the action happens. Serving a variety of brews of mushroom coffee (and occasionally harder drinks), they create a nexus where normally segregated classes intermingle and discuss news, philosophy, and even radical ideas.
Some cafes are venues for entertainment themselves, and it’s common to take drinks and watch the public performance arts that play on the streets and in the theaters. Even deeper in the metaphorical underground is an art scene that outright values chaos in defiance to the city, constantly seeking the latest in the avant-garde.
The rest of the city in comparison is a bit more quiet and mundane. The shopping districts themselves have a consumerist atmosphere to them and tend to attract the most traffic. Up Canal is in a way a polar opposite to down canal: A quiet, peaceful waterway overlooking the beautiful cavern farms Canal City supports. A great place to crack open a book, or simply contemplate life, as long as you’re away from the busy Guild hall.
Technology #
Canal City’s very structure charts the slow change of technology from the Founding of the First City to the modern era. The noble district, dam, and inner ring are all built like Venetian buildings out of materials of incredible strength and durability that cannot be duplicated. As you move away from the dam, the materials change to what ‘morphs know how to build today: concrete, mushwood, plaster.
The electrical grid through that inner ring is all securely underground in pre-planned conduits; past that it converts to above-ground hanging wires.Everywhere, charging locations for electric mopeds are easily found, and electric lights illuminate the city when the great cavern above goes dim. Electric trains connect the city to the farms outside, and farming makes use of many electric-powered tools to aid in planting and harvesting. While the architecture might say early, decorative Venetian, the technology available to those with means can get quite modern in the specific things that Canal City is known for.
The canals themselves, dug at the founding of the city, provide not just primary transportation to the city but also motive power to some buildings built with in-line turbines.
A new factory complex has been recently constructed to provide for mass production of complex parts.
This is designed to provide even more output of Canal City’s available technology to the rest of the underground as well as the city. It also gives the nobles a means to implement the production of some items from their libraries that the previous infrastructure could not support.
The true potential level of technology Canal City could deploy isn’t fully known. They claim to hold the great old libraries of the ancient with all their secrets within the nobles’ estates, but they aren’t sharing any details of this knowledge deemed forbidden. Still, the mood of most in the city is that incredible things will eventually filter down to the general public.
Politics #
Canal City is an oligarchy: citizens for the most part see politics as just another part of life they have no agency in.
The legislature and executive branches are an outright black box that operates completely in the dark, enacting new laws that usually benefit the nobles. The only concretely good thing that can be said about them is that their original directive is uncorrupted: even the nobles are banned from using human technology, and they enforce the ban with prejudice.
The justice system, on the other hand, is surprisingly meritocratic and egalitarian. It’s an adversarial system with no jury: While the two parties argue their case, the judge makes the ultimate decision on the interpretation of law. The appointment of judges is made within the justice system based on their ability as a lawyer previously, and the tradition is strong enough to repel any attempts of outside bribery or coercion. The nobles *can simply hire the best lawyers, but even the poorest can succeed at their day in court if they prove themselves of wit and have the facts on their side.
Education #
Canal City provides free schooling to all children through primary school. This isn’t mandotory, but generally any child that isn’t going to classes is looked down upon as a lost potential.
Noble children are given a full secondary education, specialty determined by their family. Nobles also have the option of private tutors from Canal City University.
For others, the university requires a tuition that is within reach of at least upper middle class families. Some manage to pay by working at the university, a few are vouched for by a wealthy family or even a noble.
Apprenticeship is another option, allowing one to directly learn a trade or craft from practicing experts.
The general education level of even the workers in Canal City meets a fairly high standard. Literacy is nearly universal and understanding of arithmetic and some advanced math is provided to all. There are even primary-school classes on history and art, to cement the city as the cultural capital of the underground.
Police and Military #
In Canal City, both police and military functions are mixed together under the banner of security.
Early on, when Canal City was all there was in the underground, it didn’t have to concern itself with defending its sovereignty. Therefore, its military development can’t be compared to the real world’s.
Instead of a typical military, Canal City developed a security force, which acts as a deterrent to crime and as emergency respondent. It applies to both city security and farmland security—after all, food theft has been common throughout the years due to the ever-present food supply issues. Although there is an understanding that work in these two areas is distinct, they’re organized as one force.
When Canal City and Basalt City went to war, the security force was expanded rapidly and began to act as soldiers. After all, the war was fought over control of the farms, and farm security was the force’s responsibility.
After the war ended, the security force shrunk again in peacetime, though not to pre-war levels. The presence of rogue ‘morphs keeps that from happening. Training in the security force can be militaristic at times, especially as Canal City anticipates the possibility of future war.