Nomad City

1. Ziemia
2. Collapse
3. Nomad City
4. Stygium
   • Stygium Arts
   • Evoker
   • Metastatic Stygium Conversion Syndrome
5. Technology
   • Transportation
     • Landships
   • Telecommunications
   • Weapons
     • Warfare
   • Robotics
6. Ziemians
   • Ziemian Phenotypes
7. Eurasia
   • Ancient History
     • Still City
     • Eurasian Union
   • Nations
     • Bretonian Palatinate
     • Rheinland Federation
     • Eridu Republic
     • Kingdom of Vérone
     • Náströnd Dominion
     • Omphalos Theocracy
     • Kitezh Union
   • Notable Unaffiliated Factions
   • Flora and Fauna

Cross-section of an example Nomad City unit. A Nomad City will typically be composed of upwards of ten such units.

Driven by the need to evade the recurring Collapses, civilization on Ziemia has adopted a nomadic existence within colossal, treaded vehicles known as Nomad Cities. These mobile metropolises are usually composed of multiple vehicles, individually known as Ark Units, which are joined together for extended stops. Such a process, conducted by hundreds of engineers and workers, often takes several weeks, which means it must be done with premeditation, based on predictions from weather stations and scouting units. Despite these efforts, the unpredictability of Collapses means safe deployment periods are not always guaranteed. Furthermore, while most Nomad Cities would ideally prefer to remain in motion to evade the storms, the unavoidable necessity of extensive maintenance periods forces them to spend significant time stationary, leaving them potentially vulnerable.

The social structures within Nomad Cities reflect real-life societies. Each city belongs to a nation that dictates its operational area and governance. These states, numerous and diverse, sometimes exist as singular cities. Commerce and cooperation is commonplace between cities within a state, but there can be complications when it comes to interacting with foreign polities. The world is not at outright war, but tension and conflict is common as these states struggle for limited resources.

Sustaining these massive mobile communities involves a multifaceted approach: trade agreements with other cities, internal hydroponic farms and water filtration systems, and specialized miner-harvester vehicles for extracting minerals from the environment. Though their sheer size deters direct assault, Nomad Cities remain vulnerable to raids targeting their vital supply convoys by desperate individuals who live outside city walls, scavenging and stealing for survival.

While Nomad Cities house the majority of Ziemia's population, smaller mobile communities, often referred to as caravans, also navigate the ravaged landscape. These groups typically operate under the governance and protection of a specific nation, utilizing smaller vehicles and trailers to traverse Ziemia. The umbrella term used to refer to all groups of people travelling across the landscape of Ziemia, whether in colossal Nomad Cities or smaller caravans, is a "settlement."