Metropolitan (novel) - Setting

Setting

Metropolitan is set on an unnamed world where, in the distant past, some agency or agencies enclosed the planet in a barrier known as the Shield. The Shield emits light and heat, incinerates all matter that rises above a certain altitude, and absorbs all electromagnetic energy directed into it. As a result, the world has no day, night, or seasons (although it does have weather phenomena like clouds and rain). Its inhabitants divide time into "shifts", which appear to correspond to about eight hours (as they are referred to as "work", "service", and "sleep" shifts). The nature of who placed the Shield around the world, and why, is a major part of the theology of the world's many religions.

Over the millennia the population of the world has grown and all available land surface has been covered with a single city, divided into areas called metropolises that are analogous to nations. The metropolises have governments that span the gamut from democracies to dictatorships; "Metropolitan" is used as a title for powerful individuals who rule entire metropolises.

Life on the planet would be impossible without the existence of plasm, an energy responsive to human will that is created by the arrangement of matter (such as buildings, or the structural elements within buildings) in certain geometric patterns. When plasm arises, it can be tapped and used directly by humans, but is usually channeled into batteries so it can be used safely. In almost all cases, plasm sources are under the control of the metropolitan government, which either keeps the plasm for its own use or sells it to its citizens, like electricity or water. Plasm use is essentially a form of magic, and its users are referred to as mages; among many other effects it can be used to create or transmute matter (for example, to manufacture food), perform medical treatments or genetic modifications, enhance senses, create illusions, and kill people with energy blasts.