Paris would be the most logical choice for the Masters to make, but destiny might have a different fate in store for it. I’m personally inclined to think that the Sixth City mentioned in a certain silvery destiny is actually 1920s or 1930s era New York. This on account of "the strangeness of its sharp-edged shadows." Sharp edged shadows…
I imagine Wall Street has an earth shattering crash, the country falls into depression, and the Masters step in and offer to bail everyone out provided the city be signed over to them. Knowing the Masters, they may very well have engineered said crash with that explicit purpose in mind. The Neath shall reverberate with Harlem jazz and the Devils will no longer be so cutting edge.
This passage about cathodes and shadows begins “When the Sixth City falls, I will be safe in Parabola.” It’s a little ambiguous whether you’re peeking through at the Sixth City as it falls, wandering around a Parabola that’s taken on some Sixy aspects, or even looking at the newly arrived Seventh. The sharp-edged shadows could just be from the strange not-light of Parabola.
No, it’s not really ambiguous at all. Your character is in London and either imagining or having a premonition of themselves walking the streets of the Sixth City sometime after it falls. And there’s good reason to believe that your character knows exactly what the Sixth City looks like.
It’s the identity of said city that is ambiguous, given the sparse details your character chooses to convey. But "sharp edged shadows" kind of screams New York to me.
edited by Anne Auclair on 1/26/2016
[quote=Anne Auclair]No, it’s not really ambiguous at all. Your character is in London and either imagining or having a premonition of themselves walking the streets of the Sixth City sometime after it falls. And there’s good reason to believe that your character knows exactly what the Sixth City looks like.
It’s the identity of said city that is ambiguous, given the sparse details your character chooses to convey. But "sharp edged shadows" kind of screams New York to me.
edited by Anne Auclair on 1/26/2016[/quote]
I think New York would be a fabulous choice for the Sixth City. It already has an underground level. It has a medical institution that included (and may include again) a mental hospital–Bellevue. I’d call the game "New York Below" and the new player would begin the game, in a strait-jacket, in Bellevue.
So er I was exhausted when I wrote that last post and somehow interpreted “fall” to mean the fallen Sixth City breaking apart to make room for the next one. You’re completely correct.
[quote=the truthseeker]
I’m leaning towards Los Angeles as the Seventh. It’s literally named "the Entertainment capital of the World" for the (Delicious and Scandalous) Stories it generates.
if anything the contemporary era has taught us, we crave its news on everybody we want to hear stories from, and Humans are great at manufacturing Love Stories from "true" events the best (even if there somehow is nothing left of the original event when done as all movies teach us.)
Many of us know the disastrous events when Masters try to manufacture events to make stories; this is not a problem for (at the time in 1948, which may or may not need an adjustment depending on when the city falls,) the eight million stories in The Naked City (stop giggling Snow, this is a serious topic!)[/quote]
I also agree that an American Seventh city is most likely (geographic removal makes the American timeline easier to insulate from the falls of London and Paris); however, I think that you are a bit off on the choice in Los Angeles. While Hollywood does certainly boast an impressive entertainment industry, that is largely because California gives filmmakers an idyllic setting for working the craft (sunny, consistent weather; more breathing room for studios than Eastern American cities). Put Los Angeles in the Neath and it loses what makes it so powerful in storytelling: its resources.
I would instead propose New York as the ideal candidate. First, it makes a better "seat of empire" than Washington D.C. It is home to Wall Street and the United Nations, placing it in a position of prominence among the world’s cities. Second, it is arguably the capital of American culture. Hollywood may make use of Los Angeles, but New York makes an appearance far more in film. The city is the muse of artists. Broadway continues to shape theater, America’s major television networks make New York their home, fashion professionals flock there, jazz and hip hop were centered there. New York doesn’t simply produce stories: it is one. The Masters shouldn’t want a city full of people who produce stories. For their final city they should pick a city that continues to generate stories, that captivates, that is itself a character. And think about how New York can conform to just about any -punk style you can think of. So I think if the Masters turn to America, The City that Never Sleeps will be their choice in story engine.
