Manifest City 2201
Archive

The databank

Every character, place, faction, technology and moment from the films and both books.

Characters

All 19
Renee
Echo TunerRenee
Patrice
An EchoPatrice
Mekhi
Glitch hunter, streamerMekhi
R.S.
Senior Resonance EngineerR.S.
Dr. Mills
Director, Optimization DirectorateDr. Mills
Grace
Keeper of the Story DenGrace
Simone
Event and broadcast designerSimone
 The city's AIDigital_OneNo face, no body. Violet presence, amber action.

More people

EliasANCHOR-0MarcusIn the Stabilization SuiteEliseIn Dr. Mills's memoryKemiSponsor liaisonJulianA tuner from the West bandMarrowAn OcriteTomas, Ari and DeliaNames said in Grace's ritualHattieFrom the DenClaraA Sector Four residentMrs. DarnellFrom 79thDukeNamed in 'Duke's barbershop'

Places

On the map
Manifest City at dusk: the Spire, Carbon Void towers with teal ring-portals, and the lake.
Manifest CityThe whole city, on the lake.
Downtown at night: the Spire rising over teal transit ribbons and Carbon Void towers.
Downtown · The Central LoopThe city's heart and constant backdrop; Digital_One lives here.
The diamond-lattice Spire with its violet core, seen past a teal ring-portal.
The SpireThe diamond-lattice tower with the violet core.
Renee walks the dark, teal-lit Concourse among the crowd.
The ConcourseThe plaza at the Spire's base, where Chapter 1 begins.
A near-black Carbon Void tower with a glowing teal ring-portal.
Carbon Void towerNear-black monolith at the plaza's edge; the crack Renee watched.
R.S. and Dr. Mills in the Spire's tower room, looking out over the city.
Optimization DirectorateDr. Mills's office, in the Spire.
Renee and Patrice run through the ringed teal corridor.
Resonance LiftGlass maglev pod and teal ring corridor, the Concourse to Echo Gate.
Echo Gate at night: the mirrored bean-form monument reflected in the wet plaza, teal lines across its skin.
Echo GateThe mirrored monument on its waterfront island.
Book concept art: a reflecting pool and fountain beneath elevated transit ribbons in Coherence Park.
Coherence ParkBook concept artThe transit plaza and park around the monument (Part 2).
Neo-Navy Pier at night: a lakefront promenade with teal light-lines and white pavilions.
Neo-Navy PierLakefront promenade that looks back at Downtown across the water.
Book concept art: the South Shore seawall, breakwalls and lower maintenance ledge beside dark lake water.
South ShoreBook concept artAlong the lake, where the city's guidance thins.
Grace in the firelit Story Den, the circle gathered around her.
Story DenGrace's testimony room beneath the South Shore.
Lincoln Biopark: white organic walkways, glass domes and greenery.
Lincoln BioparkDaylight park of white walkways and glass domes.
Book concept art: a bio-ceramic fountain, glass pedestrian bridge and dark tower in Sector Four.
Sector FourBook concept artThe pilot district.
Book concept art: high residential windows wrapped in layered dark civic skins in the Near-North band.
Near-North bandBook concept artR.S.'s residential suite sits high here.
Book concept art: a worn lower promenade and service stairwell beneath the Near-South transit ribbons.
Near-South bandBook concept artMekhi's workspace, deep in a sublevel.
Book concept art: distant North Side towers with teal and amber traces in the haze.
North Side bandBook concept artBeyond the Central Loop.
Book concept art: an empty West band pedestrian bridge above a transit ribbon before dawn.
West band · Near West bandBook concept artJulian is a tuner from the West band.
Book concept art: the East band fountain wall beside a long concourse and service stairwell.
East bandBook concept artA long concourse with a fountain wall.
Dark lake water reflecting the teal-lit skyline and violet Spire at night.
The lakeThe water the whole city sits on.
Book concept art: an old service lift and concrete maintenance junction ending at a sealed slab.
Sublevels and 'the bones'Book concept artMaintenance spines down to Level Nine.
Book concept art: server stacks descend into the Archive shaft beside a service landing and sterile lab doorway.
The Archive and ANCHOR-0Book concept artThe engine beneath the city.
Book concept impression: dark wind-driven water at an indistinct shore, with small points of light in the air.
Quantum ShorelineBook concept impressionNamed once, in Patrice's memory (Part 2).
Book concept art: the transparent wall of Simone's empty upper-band loft overlooking the city.
Smaller placesBook concept art: Simone's loftSimone's loft, the Bronzeville corridor, Duke's barbershop, 79th, Sixty-Third Street, the South Concourse.

Factions

All 12
Optimization Directorate“The kind of anomaly that made weak administrators order lockdowns and sweeps and enforcers.”The planning board“the argument he had made to the planning board seven years ago”Fluencer platform / Fluencers“The Fluencer platform had staged a “Civic Harmony Activation” along the promenade”Tuners / Echo Tuners“A tuner listened to places.”Glitch hunters and streamers“Streamers who treated glitches like entertainment.”Ocrites“Citizens who chose stillness over story.”The Dens / the Story Den circle / the Keepers“The gathered repeated it, not as chant, but as agreement.”The six“We are six people who can hear the other hum.”The Null Choir“The human fail-safes.”

Tech

All 51
bio-ceramicMatte white civic building material of the concourse, buildings and arches; it glows with telemetry from optic-conduits and can dissolve in a Correction.biometric treadsSoles of Renee's carbon-mesh runners that carry the city's subsonic C-note into her body; smart fabric adjusts to vitals and ground density.diagnostic veinsLines in the civic skin that stay teal while the city is quietly watching and turn amber in a Correction.optic-conduitsConduits under the surface of the city that map the flows of a million lives and show surveillance blue; public optic-conduits also feed video.Neural Orbit nodesSmall metallic micro-nodes embedded under Renee's skin at her right temple, installed for listening, syncing and pulling threads; Patrice's light tether links to them.metamaterial blast doorsSlabs that slide out of the bridge walls to partition the city during a Correction event.carbon-shell jacketRenee's reactive carbon-shell jacket that tears on the blast door and self-repairs.haptic pulse pistolA weapon holstered at Renee's thigh that she does not draw.holographic displaysMekhi's workspace uses six staggered holographic displays with a haptic dial to scrub video.

Timeline

All 15
  1. No calendar datesThe books give no calendar dates. Everything is relative ('seven years ago', 'twelve years'). The series title year is 2201; Part 2 says 'In 2200' about weather run as mood gradients.
  2. Before the civic substrate was grownOld-infrastructure collapses happened twice a year before the civic substrate was grown.
  3. Twelve years agoThe ANCHOR-0 experiment: Elias's emotional signature captured as a civic foundation; R.S. mandated a venting safety protocol then, and wrote the compression protocols. 'Twelve years' recurs: the city has spent twelve years trying to forget the buried name, and the Archive engine has run for twelve years.
  4. Twenty yearsR.S. has been 'in her system' (Dr. Mills's) for twenty years.
  5. Eleven years ago (Elise)Dr. Mills still feels Elise's fingers eleven years later; Elise came to the Bronzeville clinic weekly for eleven months.