Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Citadel Skyscraper Fortress as Mega Dungeons For Your Post Apocalyptic Old School Campaign






These incredible images are of a series of designs for a Citadel Skyscraper  fortress chain for Japan & coast lines like it wrecked by disaster, military action, & various other disasters  They can serve as a great location adventure for Mutant Future, Metamorphosis Alpha or any old school science fantasy games. In the words of the arch daily website: 


"The design for the Citadel Skyscraper by Victor Kopeikin and Pavlo Zabotin is a symbiosis of a skyscraper and a residential tank creating a defensive shield to protect the island from the inside against external natural and anthropogenic influences.  The project provides carrying the residential functions of cities in the land out to self-supporting residential units located in the sea (residential skyscrapers, citadels).These citadels interact with each other on the shoreline, forming a single closed defensive chain that operates both on the surface and underground. Thereby proceeds the mastering of new territories for the human life."

The images are striking & remind me of something out of Logan's Run or the more recent movie the Island. 
In the words of their creators : 

"The main idea of the project is a creation of a “defensive shield” around , graphically resembling a fortress. The so-called “defensive shield” is designed to protect the island from the inside against external natural and anthropogenic influences." 





Taken as a location in a post apocalyptic or science fiction world the creators go on to outline the basic form & function of these sorts of adventure locations: 
"The project is directed on the establishing of a new residential area and the creation of new economic nodes in the territorial structure of Japan. The whole residential function shall be carried out of the bounds of modern cities and it shall be concentrated along the coastline. It is suggested to relieve the overcrowded cities in Japan in such way, concentrating in it only economical and social function (enterprises, companies, state. institutions). Thereby a new functional area is forming.
- Economic Zone: (a city in a modern context), infrastructure and government buildings will be left untouched
- Residential function will be taken outside the cities.
- Economic (“agrarian”) zone will be located between the two previous zones (orchards, gardens, greenhouses)." 
They might be used on any number of colony worlds where resources are at a premium & the characters have to expand the colony by acting as scouts or monster hunters. A cyberpunk game might see these as a megacorporation's location or headquarters. 

The locals themselves might provide an entire campaign's worth of adventure by utilizing all of these towers as part of a defense grid against ecological disaster or part of a campaign world's military early warning system. 
"The defensive shield
Earthquake and arise due tsunami – a centuries-old problem in Japan. The height of waves produced by an earthquake sometimes had reached 50 meters (in year 2011 – 10 meters).This problem is especially urgent for Japan, because country is situated in a seismically active zone. It is proposed to create a single “sheet” of the planned skyscrapers across the shoreline at a distance of 2-3 km from the shore, which will serve as a protective function for the whole island. Skyscrapers themselves are connected by a system of breakwaters and drainage channels, able to withstand waves up to 50 meters that prevent the destructive waves to reach the shoreline." 

The Citalels themselves are incredibly complex & interesting set pieces for any number of adventures. These pieces of ancient technology might provide resources for a star spanning humanity or as relics of a bygone age. The towers have about them an air of the fairy & enchantment that would draw adventurers like moths to a flame. 
" Skycraper – Citadel
Obvious is the fact that changes occurring to the planet today, eventually will acquire disastrous scale for human. A person may not prevent or affect these changes. But a person can accommodate to life in a permanently changing climate. In our opinion modern design should be aimed at building safe structures, bearing a protective function in the first place. As in the Middle Ages people were hiding from the enemy by the defensive wall, now the skyscraper serves as a defensive shield, but this time from the destructive forces of nature. The system of skyscrapers is connected with each other and it is located at a distance of 2-3 kilometers from the coast. The skyscraper is divided into three main functions:
-  Residential function
-  Protection people against natural disasters
-  The formation of a protective shield for coastal zones"
These structures extend far into the ground & provide a dungeon master with  hundreds of rooms, rough places for locations, & a perfect array of spots for the placement of relics, treasure, & of course monsters
"The structural system of the building is a solid metal frame system, that is similar to the frames. At the same time laying the foundation depth is 1,200 meters with a building height of 500 meters. At the same time laying the foundation depth is 1,200 meters with a building height of 500 meters. This system is the root of the tooth structure in the nature. In this form of the building it is almost impossible to influence seismically on it. The main feature of the building is the fact, that it is completely self-sustaining themselves with electricity."
The Citadel Skyscraper Fortresses For Use In The  OSR 

There are any number of games where these adventure locations can be used! The use of these within any science fantasy game would add a layer of the weird & unusual to any world. However I can see these being added to the following with little problem at all. 
Mutant Future - These ancient monuments & temples to the ancients might beckon adventurers to their doom for centuries. Left behind these places call to others. They might be ruled over by ancient A.I. or be the perfect base for any number of cults, mutants, or far worse. Given their nature as a sources of clean water they will not however be empty for long. 
X Plorers - These places might be the perfect alien relic left over from who knows what alien civilization? These towers might be sending out ancient radio signals powered by the actions of the tides. Could their original inhabitants still be alive & awaiting your party? Who knows? These would make the perfect vault for all manner of weird alien technology 
Carcosa - Given Carcosa's coastlines are mostly unexplored these towers could be waiting for the right group. They might be a base for a dangerous cult of ancient deep one worshiping fools. A source of alien weapons or merely another alien left over waiting for the right group of fools to come along.
The location is the key with the sea being the true abode of the Great Old Ones & the Elder Things. They could be self powering elder thing locations that might hold the horrors & secrets of the Shaggoth. 
Labyrinth Lord -  These might be hold overs from the time when science ruled the world. That time is over & now these towers are the bases for a dangerous power of sorcery that has entered the world. They might be still working & providing for their occupants. However there are several parties who want to take them over. Given their location on the coast line of any fantasy world the military locations of these places could hold untold importance. 
 The original  article for these incredible  pieces of art appeared right here & contains even more resources that a dungeon master can use right  Right Here
Cite:
Furuto , Alison . "Citadel Skyscraper / Victor Kopeikin + Pavlo Zabotin" 01 Apr 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed 07 May 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/221560>



2 comments:

  1. One of these is, without a doubt, the Black Abomination of Nyarlathotep in hex 0211.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Big Smile! You want to guess where the next party is going to be teleported to when they reach Carcosa?! Thanks for the great comment & the wonderful suggestion!

    ReplyDelete

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