Written and Illustrated by Crux © 2015

ABOUT THE COMIC

Megapolis Outside Authorial Works Bible

Part I: Rules for Writing and Maintaining Continuity

These rules are in case a creator, of any craft, may produce a work of art within the setting of Megapolis and remain considerate of other works, maintain continuity, understand the lore of the setting, and avoid conflict with other creators while potentially creating a canon piece.

1.) Any work with multiple characters that are not of the author's creation, are borrowed from other individuals, and are not covered under the fair use clause within Megapolis' setting require that the author consult and obtain permission to use those characters from their actual creator. If a character's creator or owner doesn't respond after two weeks, then the author doesn't have permission to use that character. Also, while certain characters may be covered under fair use within Megapolis' setting, authors are encouraged to request permission anyway, or at least provide notice to the character's creator or owner that they will be used.

2.) A work shouldn't interfere with the continuities of other authorial creations set within Megapolis by including large-scale or world-changing events without Crux's permission. This includes, but is not limited to, anything that would have a plot changing effect on any major pre-established events, settings, or alter any characters.

3.) A work should be able to stand on its own.

4.) The super-technology and fantastic elements of the Megapolis setting, including its inhabitants, are acknowledged, but treated with mundanity by most of the populace.

5.) Magic is possible, available, accessible, and allowable within Megapolis, but it should be used as little as possible. If a task can be done without magic, then it should be done so without magic.

6.) Characters based on outside copyrighted or trademarked franchises are not allowed. This avoids potential legal gray-areas. (This means no pokemorphs, digimon, etc.)

7.) All characters must be an appropriate size within Megapolis for the architecture to stay consistent. Microcitizens are 1 inch to 3 inches tall (or 2.54cm to 7.62cm tall), with an average height of 1.5 inches (3.81cm). Terracitizens are between 2ft to 12ft tall (or 60.96cm to 3.6576m tall), with an average height of 5 and a half feet tall (167.64cm). Macrocitizens are between 75ft to 200ft tall (or 22.86m to 60.96m tall), with an average height of 150ft (45.72m). These measurements are primarily for young-adult and adult characters, and do not take infant or children characters (who may naturally be smaller) into consideration. These measurements do not include anatomical elements such as horns; however, doors do have different minimal height clearances for each size classification, so anatomical elements such as horns or wings should be considered when determining a character’s height. Doors for Microcitizens have a clearance of 3.5 inches (8.89cm). Doors for Terracitizens have a clearance of 15ft (4.572m). Doors for Macrocitizens have a clearance of 225ft (68.58m). These height restrictions are part of Megapolis’ laws, so, if a character would be unwilling to compromise and follow these laws, then they are likely not fit for this setting.

8.) No character is treated specially within Megapolis. To clarify, in regards to societal hierarchy, no character is above anyone else in Megapolis. A deity character follows the same rules as a mortal character, and vice-versa.

9.) While antagonist or villain characters are allowed, they must have a reasonable and/or sympathetic purpose for their actions. Ideally, no character is pure evil.

10.) Violence should be avoided. Problems and conflicts should ideally be resolved without violence. If violence is portrayed, it should not be glamorized, and, if it is glamorized, the violence should be scorned upon, or have consequences.

11.) It should be understood that violations of law within Megapolis are eventually punished.

12.) Any harm that may be done to another character, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional, should be discussed with and approved by the character’s owner first. This is to prevent any unwanted interaction, or unwanted damage (temporary or permanent.)

13.) If there are mysteries within the setting that do not have an official explanation yet, do not try and demystify them. If a creator wants to demystify something established within the setting, they should ask for permission and clarification about that mystery first.

14.) Even if a work set in Megapolis is deemed non-canon, the creator is still encouraged to go ahead and make and post it, so long as they clearly mark and identify it as non-canon. Furthermore, if a creator wishes to repurpose elements of their non-canon story, such as plot, characters, etc. and make it a unique work, completely separate from the Megapolis setting, they are welcome to do that as well.

Part II: Basic Lore

Megapolis History

Megapolis is a nation-city with a total area of 639,157sq mi (1,028,623.48km) and sits on the east coast of a continent known as Northern Geosis. It is also the impact site of two meteors, one which formed the eastern gulf, another which is now covered by the ancient forest. The city was founded over 2000 years ago, in the year of 957 BIC (Before International Calendar), by a Microcitizen, Terracitizen, and Macrocitizen, with the guidance of the first Deific Counsil. Most history before that point, before 1615 BIC, becomes much more vague and inconsistent amongst records. Anything before 1763 BIC is completely unknown. Most present day scholars believe this dark age is attributed to whatever events caused the earlier civilization of giants, whose ruins dot the ancient forest, to vanish.

In the present year (1046 IC.), Megapolis has become a thriving, densely populated, beacon of civilization, ingenuity, technological development, and a marvel of infrastructure.

The Torii

Megapolis has a unique element known as Yggdrasite, a solid, crystalline, element that creates distortions and instabilities in space and time; however, these instabilities require a “threshold” or “door” to be formed before they can have any real effect. This specifically requires a ground, two posts, a head, and a substancial piece of yggdrasite. When these conditions are met, the threshold changes into a portal, commonly called a “Torii,” leading to another point in space, or space and time, potentially even leading to alternate realities or universes. Yggdrasite is named after the Yggdrasil Tree, or World Tree, which is known to connect worlds to each other. Evidence suggests that a gigantic tree, potentially the origin of yggdrasite, may have sat at the center of the ancient forest; however, there are no public records of any concrete findings.

These instabilities and Torii used to be naturally formed and common, leading to migrants from other regions to accidentally end up in the area. Some migrants can trace their origins to different timelines or realities. This has caused the population of Megapolis to become extremely diverse, including humanoids of all kind, anthropomorphic, human, daemon, mortal, and everything in between.

After the founding of Megapolis, the Avalon company, later called Avalon Industries, was formed to research yggdrasite and the ancient forest. Eventually, they learned how to harvest and harness the element to stabilize, monitor, and control the natural space-time distortions caused by the unique element and manufacture Torii for travel. This has turned Megapolis into a modernized multidimensional nexus.

BIG Power Co. and Max Treasures

Besides Avalon Industries, Megapolis has two more large companies that play an integral role within the city and help motivate its constant push forward in technology, science, and improved living.

BIG Power Co. manages the city’s power systems, trash collection, and water systems. In 252 IC., BIG Power Co. was founded as BIG co. and was a construction company with the purpose to help plan and create the infrastructure of Megapolis, as well as tear down, relocate, renovate, and update old buildings to better suit a more organized and inclusive infrastructure for a dense city population. Later, in 505 IC., they were employed by the city to help find a solution for the resource management issues that came with its steadily growing population. This caused the development of advanced agricultural techniques, sophisticated waterway and drainage systems, as well as technological developments harnessing wind power to help with labor. As time passed, the company continued to find new sources of energy, officially changing the company name to BIG Power Co.

A booming economy with gas power occurred within the terracitizen markets, microcitizens utilized electricity, and macrocitizens used power collected from burning waste into fuel to power their homes. BIG Power Co. was in the middle of reworking their waterway systems to better handle flooding scenarios, when they decided to also update them to act as mini hydro-electric plants, constantly gaining power from water as it flowed throughout the city. The city’s power capabilities later expanded as windmill parks were created to harness wind energy in the plains areas around the city. Eventually, nuclear and solar energy began to help power the city. Solar panels became a common sight on building rooftops. Large solar panels were eventually installed along the coastline of the city, capturing the morning sunlight and turning throughout the day to follow the sun. Soon, eventually see-through solar panels were created and have steadily replaced windows.

Perhaps the biggest, and most recent, developments were the Crucible and Cauldron. The Crucible utilizes a powerful initial ignition and burst of energy to break down and burn any material and produce a greater energy output. The Cauldron is able to take any material broken down into its most base elements and reconfigure them as needed. This has been utilized to take the city’s impressive waste output, break it down in the crucible, and recycle it using the crucible to form collections of materials as needed. Any materials too dangerous, toxic, or unstable are refocused back into the crucible and burned away to produce energy for the city. These inventions have allowed the city to never run short on materials or sources of food.

Max Treasures presently focuses in the manufacturing of “charms” in Megapolis, or devices that help protect citizens from the distortions created by yggdrasite, as well as protect against and regulate seismic and auditory forces, as well as forces of inertia and pressure. Charms, which contain a component of yggdrasite, also act as a link to any magic user’s source, if that source is exclusive to their homeworld.

Originally, Max Treasures was a company called Divine Jewelers, formed as a small jeweler in 154 IC. Later, it expanded into accessories and, eventually, clothing. In 254 IC. Divine Jewelers was bought and transformed into a large corporation, expanding its products into charms. It was also later discovered that charms could even be prepared so they could translate language back and forth.

Seeing the positive effects of charms in a society which included macrocitizens and microcitizens, Max Treasures began to incorporate charms into all of their products. Eventually, the development of charms got to a point that they could function automatically and on a microscopic level, allowing them to be weaved into clothing, even clothing for microcitizens, without being noticed.

General Architectural Aesthetics

Megapolis’ architecture has numerous influences. Primarily, their old architecture, which is uncommon, is inspired by classical and baroque architecture. More modern architecture within the city is inspired by art deco, modern, and postmodern architecture.

Examples to reference for inspiration:

1.) Glass House by Philip Johnson

2.) Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

3.) Falling Waters by Frank Lloyd Wright

4.) Charles Ringling Estate

An interesting thing to note about all architecture in Megapolis, is that the first floor of any building which macrocitizens use is built halfway into the ground. This reduces the amount of elevators needed for the smaller citizens to move throughout a building.