Wheel City

Wheel City: General Info

Wheel City population: 2,985,036
In the center of Wheel City is an area known as the Hub
- Hub diameter: 5 miles
- Perfectly round platform, raised atop a giant pedestal
- Includes a huge obelisk in the center named the Quatnum Stone
- Quatnum Stone behaves like a giant sundial every day
- Once per year, on Quatnum Day, a beam of sun shines through the Quatnum Stone and onto a statue of Dr. Quatnum surfing
- Serves as social/travel hub and common area for all of Wheel City
- Many shared spaces including shopping malls, sports stadiums, concert halls, parks, etc...
Surrounding, and below, the Hub is a giant bowl of water known as the Reservoir
- Reservoir diameter: 11 miles
- Serves as the water supply for all of Wheel City
- Doubles as recreational water space for all
- Includes a massive wave generator, under the Hub, that produces continual waves throughout the Reservoir.
Surrounding the Reservoir is a giant ring of land that is Wheel City
- Wheel City diameter: 25 miles
- Divided equally into 36 themed sectors
- Area of each sector: 11 square miles
- Each sector is like a smaller city that serves some purpose for the greater Wheel City

Rail Transport System

Spoke Rails: Each of the 36 sectors has a two-way transportation rail that continually shuttles between each sector and the Hub
- Each Spoke Rail transports people from a sector, over the Reservoir, and into the central pedestal underneath the Hub
- Each Spoke Rail consists of a double rail that shuttles cars in both directions at once
- Each car on a Spoke Rail is a linked double car, carrying up to 50 people in each, or 100 total, at once
- Travel time between sector and Hub: Under 15 minutes
- Travel time from one sector, to the Hub, and out to any other sector: Under 30 minutes (2 stops)
Up Rail: There is a single rail that shuttles people around Wheel City
- Travels clockwise, stopping at each sector in ascending order
- Potentially allows for faster travel between adjacent sectors
- The Up Rail contains a total of 6 double cars, evenly spaced along the rail, traveling continually
- Typically results in slower, more relaxed travel
Down Rail: Another rail that shuttles people around Wheel City in the opposite direction
- Identical to the Up Rail, but traveling counter-clockwise, stopping at each sector in descending order

Professional Marco Polo (PMP)

Popular sports league where each sector hosts a representative PMP team
Sector teams come together in the Hub where most games are played
Each team consists of 5 players who are both stalkers (on offense) and creepers (on defense)
Gameplay has 1 stalker and up to 5 creepers on the field at one time
Each player gets a 5-minute turn as the stalker while the opposing team fields all 5 players as creepers for this turn
The stalker wears a blindfold and tries to tag the creepers, called a fondle, gaining points for each successful fondle
The creepers are trying to avoid the fondle
The stalker chooses to wield a 6 foot long corn stalk, a 3 foot stalk, or barehanded to fondle with
A 6 foot fondle earns 1 point, 3 foot fondle 2 points, and bare fondle 3 points
Once a creeper is fondled, they leave the current round of play
Creepers wear a wacky team hat, nylon team jersey, baggy windbreaker pants, and solid clog-like molded shoes
At the end of a round, the creeping team earns 1 point for every remaining, unfondled creeper

BFF Pass League

Another popular sports league, loosely ogranized in pockets throughout the city
BFF stands for Baseball, Football, Flying Disc
Each pass is between 2 players and each league consists of 3+ players
The game is both cooperative and competitive
A pass is played with 2 players positioned apart at one base distance, 2X that base distance, and 3X that distance - typically 30/60/90 feet
Each completed throw+catch awards 1 point to each player at the base distance, 2 points at 2X, and 3 points at 3X
A baseball, or any round ball with optional catching/throwing equipment, is passed between players 5 times at each distance
A football, or any oblong ball with no additional equipment, is passed between players 5 times at each distance
A flying disc, frisbee, or any style of flying ring, is passed between players 5 times at each distance
All points are added up and awarded to each player for a total possible score of 180 per pass
In a league, each player passes with every other player, earning points from each pass
After every player has passed with every other player, the one with the most total points wins the league

Donkey Hole

A popular backyard, party game played throughout Wheel City
The game is played by 2+ players surrounding a donkey hole
The donkey hole is a 4 foot tall round cage on top of a round bowl-shaped base, called the hoof
On top of the donkey hole is a caged bucket, called the hole
To start a game, the hoof is loaded with a bunch of horseshoes, called shoes
For each player's turn, they take a shoe, from either the hoof or the ground, and toss it into the hole
After a player's turn, the player to their left goes next
By transferring the weight from the bottom to the top, the donkey hole becomes incresingly top-heavy
Play continues until the donkey hole is toppled by the winning player
If a player starts their turn with no shoes available, they can kick the donkey hole to topple it and win

Royal Garrison

A popular card game played throughout Wheel City
The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and 2-4 players
All of the royal/face cards (A, J, Q, K) are removed from the deck, leaving only number cards in the deck
Each player chooses a suit to defend and lays out their suit's royal cards in a row in front of them
Everyone is then dealt 6 cards from the remaining number deck, used to build their garrison attack/defense
4 of the 6 cards are placed above each royal, serving as the sword for that royal when attacking or defending
The remaining 2 cards are placed, lengthwise, above the 4 sword cards - 1 above the left two and 1 above the right two - serving as a shared shield for defending royals
This structure of 4 royals, 4 swords, and 2 shields serves as a player's garrison to defend
Players determines an attacking royal and draws 2 number cards, adding the values to their attacking royal's sword value for a total attack value
That player then announces which opposing royal they are attacking and that oppnent draw 1 card to add to their shield and sword values
Drawn value cards count as: Same suit = 3X face value | Same color = 2X face value | Opposing color = 1X face value
Both attack/defense value are totaled and the royal with the higher total wins the battle
The losing royal is removed from play and the attacker earns 1 point in the process
If a player defeats the final royal for 1 opponent, that player earns 2 points
If a player defeats the final royal for all opponents, that player earns 4 points and the round is over
Play can then restart, with point totals carrying over, and continues as long as players wants
At the end of play, the player with the highest point total is the champion

Grid Golf

A popular board card game played throughout Wheel City
The game is played with 1+ players and needs only grid-lined paper, a pen, and 2 dice
The player draws a ball in any square on the grid and draws a hole anywhere else
The player then rolls the 2 dice and can advance their ball, in any direction, the number of spaces found on either die
The ball is then moved, in any direction, the number of spaces found on the other die
Play continues until the player's ball reaches the hole exactly, with no remainder of value
The objective is to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of turns
If a player rolls 2 of the same value, the next turn isn't counted toward their total number of turns
On their turn, a player can optionally travel in one direction by combining, and doubling, the total value of both die
Before play, players can draw obstacles on the grid and lose a turn when landing on one
Multiple players can challenge others by either playing the same grid/course for lowest score or designing courses for their opponents to play

KOB

KOB is a popular corn-based drink in Wheel City
As of now, there are 5 different versions of Kob
KOB is a plant-based drink, made almost entirely of natural corn
KOB BUB is a carbonated version of KOB
KOB NRG is a caffeinated version of KOB
KOB ALK is an alkaline version of KOB
KOB ALC, not to be confused with KOB ALK, is an alcoholic KOB drink

Yesterlife

The predominant, existential belief system in Wheel City
Yesterlife depends on the underlying idea that everyone has a Generous Interaction Tally, or GIT Sum
A person's GIT Sum is the value of their generosity that ranges from 0-7000
A GIT sum bottoms out at 0 and tops out at 7000
In life, if you help someone, you earn 1 point toward your GIT Sum - you can only earn 1 point per person helped
Harming another person will subtract 1 point from your GIT Sum, limited to 1 point per person harmed
When one dies, they are immediately reincarnated into their next life with the quality of their new situation determined by their running GIT Sum
A GIT Sum of 3500+ in one's yesterlife, or past lives, grants them an above average starting situation in their next life
A person with a 7000 GIT Sum will have the best possible start to their next life
A person with a 0 GIT Sum does not reincarnate and is lost forever
A key person in Yesterlife is Dr. Quatnum who is a mythical figure used to describe many of the core concepts in Yesterlife

Dr. Quatnum

Dr. Quatnum is a mythical figure who exists in all quantum realities at once
He has the ability to observe and predict all outcomes to any decision and how it will effect one's GIT Sum (Yesterlife)
Dr. Quatnum is often depicted as a wormhole surfer, wearing a towel, who can surf from one reality to the next at whim
Dr. Quatnum is the only one with ability to observe one's total Yesterlife, their GIT Sum, and their future path
Often used as a storytelling device to explain many of the core concepts in Yesterlife
A giant statue of Dr. Quatnum, wormhole surfing in a towel, stands next to the Quatnum Stone in the center of the Wheel City Hub
Once a year on Quatnum Day, a day that exists outside of time, the sun shines through a hole in the Quatnum Stone to illuminate his statue

Kibbi's Office

A Kibbi's Office is a dumping ground for quantum garbage
Sometimes there is a quantum by-product left behind as Dr. Quatnum surfs through wormholes - this ends up in a Kibbi's Office
It's impossible to imagine the shape or contents of a Kibbi's Office, but it is necessary to the smooth function of a wormhole