Nine SpringsNine Springs (九泉, Jiǔquán), or just the Springs to the people who live in it, is a self-sustaining bunker-city sunk about three kilometres into the rock. It was built to shelter three million people from heat, storms and war. When the White Bloom swept the world above, the gates were sealed. They have stayed shut for eighty years, and the whole game takes place inside.
Around 200,000 people live there now, spread from top to bottom among failing machines.
The name
The Springs was sunk to reach nine aquifer springs, and they still feed it. Water is the currency of the Springs.
九泉 is also the old Chinese name for the land of the dead. 九泉之下, “beneath the nine springs”, means in the grave. Three million people moved into the grave to survive.
Depth is survival
There are no numbered levels. People know places by name and by how deep they are: “the Market Square, a kilometre down”. Depth is not rank, but it decides how easy it is to stay alive. Near the top the air is cleanest and coolest. Deeper down the air arrives used and warm, the rock gets hotter, and the water is closer.
Places
| Place | Depth (about) | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The Gate (天门) | 0–200 m | The top, held by the Balance Bureau: the sealed surface gates, the air intakes and the AI core. Almost nobody gets in. |
| The Wind Wards (风坊) | 200–800 m | Old families who held the good air, guarded compounds, the Vajra Court’s fighting monks and the Bureau’s academy. |
| The Market Square (市井) | 800–1,400 m | The main hub, where the player starts: stalls, clinics, martial schools, gambling dens and trouble. |
| The Walled City (城寨) | Market Square | Stacked tenements, noodle stalls and alleys, watched by a boxing hall’s street patrol. |
| Jishi Hall (济世堂) | Market Square | A three-storey clinic run by rogue doctors. |
| The Works (工层) | 1,400–2,000 m | Old factories, hydroponic farms and scrap, where the Mohists keep the machines alive. |
The water pumps lie deeper still, held by the Iron Scale Society.
Daily life
- Family and floor matter more than anything. Your floor is your village.
- Debt and favours (人情, rénqíng) run the economy as much as grain coupons do.
- No sun: the Bureau dims the corridor lights at “night”.
- Food is hydroponic rice, vat protein, mushrooms and insects. Noodle stalls are where people meet.
- Old festivals survive in new forms. At Qingming, people clean the memorial shrines. In Ghost Month the network is unsafe, and people burn paper code as offerings.
More terms are in the glossary.
Last checked against the design docs . Work in progress: details will change.