Nowhere to Run
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out lore for the city-world of Denon.
- Image Credit:
Sakedo Tower: Cyberpunk City by Tiago Sousa on Artstation
The 301: The Mall by Phade01 on DeviantArt
Seventh Square Gardens: Diamond Brown on OMGFacts.com (Photoshop manipulation by me)
The Loft: Alex Figini on ConceptArtWorld - Canon: No
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Denon
- Structure Name: Sakedo Tower
- Classification: Shopping Mall
- Location: Seven Corners, Denon
- Affiliation: Luminous Sun
- Accessibility: Open to the public, it's the most notable point on Denon within the Seven Corners district.
- Description: Sakedo Tower once rose kilometers above its siblings, a cloudcutting beacon of the Seven Corners district. Nowadays a few upstart skyscrapers ring its border, vying for a dominance that they have yet to achieve, but ultimately framing Sakedo Tower as an enduring symbol of prosperity for the area. Its 5 kilometer height alone does not draw the most value for the building, instead it hosts a vibrant shopping mall within its glowing exterior. Merchants and artisans stock Sakedo Tower with a multitude of stores, boutiques, showrooms, event venues, arcades, museums, galleries, and a wide variety of other establishments which call the tower home, offering services, sights and products to any customer willing to stop and spend their credits. Besides the vast space devoted to commercial space, there are floors dedicated to offices who spend top-credit for the reputation that comes with the business address, and residences with high-priced, luxury accommodations.
SECURITY
High - A permanent CorpSec contingent is stationed here to ensure the safety of this strategic landmark. Private security complements their role and looks out for shoplifters or physical altercations. Shoppers are rarely stopped or questioned during their normal course of lawful activity, but there are always eyes lurking.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
It's not certain exactly when Sakedo Tower was constructed. By the time the Gulag Plague had faded from recent memory, Sakedo Tower stood, bold and tall, rising from the skyline of Denon as a literal high-point of the region's commercial interests. The topics of the day revolved around restorations of the open-market bazaars that once littered the building's floors, a marked change away from the cloistered, restricted venues established to ensure the health of workers and visitors to the Tower during the plague. The 301st floor was completely turned over to this venture, creating a expanse —and expensive— boardwalk-style marketplace that quickly became a popular shopping and tourist destination in the Tower.
Though located in the disreputable Seven Corners district, the Sakedo Tower has long resisted the infamy and authority that often stained the rest of the region, flagrantly operating as best befit its owners and stakeholders. That attitude made the Tower a magnet for economic growth in spite of its surroundings, and as the area began to flourish again, newly constructed or expanded skyscrapers in its neighborhood joined with the Tower as a loose coalition of autonomy. In 835 ABY, Trajden Leatham Corp held ownership of the Tower, and with proxies on the boards of a few other companies which owned neighboring buildings, as well as the support of local criminal elements, embarked on an aggressive assault to consolidate power among the region's commerce.
By 839 ABY, Trajden Leatham's conquest was nearly complete. It owned controlling shares in much of the neighboring skyscrapers, using its influence to ensure that Sakedo Tower remained the tallest building among them. From its vantage point, Trajden Leatham entered into a de-facto leadership position in the Seven Corners district itself. What profits and influence the district brought in were funneled through Trajden Leatham, and Sakedo Tower. Renovations of the district's wards were put on hold in favor of opening the Seventh Square Gardens, a massive indoor park that took up several floors of the Tower's interior.
The Gardens drove a wedge between Trajden Leatham and the rest of the district, and they struggled with bureaucratic hurdles thrown their way. Construction on other expansion projects for the Tower were mired in delays for years, leaving the executives to funnel money into their own pockets instead. Tactics between the Tower and the district escalated, sometimes by violent means, and this lead Trajden Leatham to send their contracted security into the district itself, instituting a de-facto occupation.
It didn't take long for the criminal elements of the district to become increasingly upset at interference from Trajden Leatham, and in 847 ABY, they suddenly lashed out and toppled the board of directors of Trajden Leatham in an explosive coup. The end of so many executives in the company, and those of nearby buildings, left a power vacuum that was quickly filled by gangs and crime lords, and Sakedo Tower eventually fell under the control of the Gangsta the Hutt.
Gangsta's control of the Tower was something of benevolent exploitation. He didn't mind if companies did business in his Tower, and he strongly encouraged the reputation of the Tower as a secure location in the midst of a questionable region. But Gangsta was ruthless about ensuring he received his cut. A tax, rather. Rates rose, though much of it went back into Sakedo Tower itself, funding innovation and infrastructure projects. The Tower cultivated an image of glamour and elitism, converting more of its residential floors to upscale accommodations —to be rented at luxury rates— and fostering an eclectic selection of shops and clientele to keep the credits flowing through the Tower and into the Hutt's voluminous coffers.
The Tower waned in prosperity as Gangsta's coffers grew, its high fees squashing out businesses that could not attract the highest paying customers. Though exhaustive extortion rankled the minds and wallets of the Tower's occupants, it wasn't until a Direx from the Corporate Authorities set her eye on the Tower before things would change. After overtures and offers from the Corpos were rejected, Luminous Sun herself arrived in 857 ABY to entreat upon Gangsta the Hutt in private. What occurred between them is not known, but Gangsta the Hutt left the Tower soon afterward, passing ownership to Luminous Sun and the Corporate Authorities in his wake.
Sun and her regime relaxed some of the fees and taxes, creating subsidies to fund establishments catering to the middle and lower classes as well, re-establishing the broad allure of Sakedo Tower in markets and minds alike. Visitors of all kinds flock to the Tower once more, and it is a destination as much as an opportunity to spend some hard-earned cash.
In 860 ABY, a group of pirates took over The 301 in what has become known as the Red Hostage Crisis. Through the efforts of CorpSec and a few courageous civilians, the pirates were repelled and their leader captured, but not before the pirate crew succeeded in blowing up the structural columns holding the mall ceiling up and collapsing the floors together. Other floors suffered massive damage, but The 301 was almost completely demolished.
With the profits brought in from a targeted scheme Sun rang from her new casino on Bovo Yagen, The 301 was rebuilt. Reinforcements were built into the structure of the mall, and new security was added, both tech-wise and with the permanent addition of a CorpSec force to protect the building. A new nightclub was added above part of The 301, a retrocession of the original 302 floor that had been cannibalized to create the mall's lofty atmosphere. The restored 301 and the new Loft club were re-opened to the public in the same year, returning retail and patrons to a landmark that has always drawn a diverse crowd of people willing to be parted with their money.[/B]
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