ZENITH CITY
Zenith City is a mid-size mountain city located in northwest Wyoming.
HISTORY
Zenith City started out as a small rest area used by mountainmen, traders and explorers in the early to mid-1800s. The area was a naturally sheltered depression that provided protection from the elements for travelers, and was the location of a freshwater spring. Old stories say that due to the sheltering rock walls of the area the spring was only visible when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, or zenith, and this was the origin of the Zenith name for the region. The first settlement to use the name Zenith was established to support miners digging coal in the region. The spring continued to be the main source of water for the settlement until it dried up from overuse, after which water was brought in from the river valley to the north.
Though not as bad as the Rock Springs Massacre, Zenith also saw a wave of violence against Chinese immigrant miners by the white miners, which drove out the Chinese from the area. Zenith City was officially established in 1889 when the railroad came through the area, bringing a new wave of European immigrant settlers. Coal mining continued to drive the economy, alongside cattle ranching and farming in the nearby valley. The Mooney Dam opened in 1911 and the reservoir became a source of water and irrigation for Zenith City, allowing the city to expand greatly. Coal remained the primary economic driver into the 20th Century, until it was supplanted by oil drilling operations by mid-century. When the wells ran dry in the late 1990s the local economy also dried up, resulting in a decline in the population.
Zenith City did not have much superhero activity in its history, the most notable until recently being a few decades ago when a villain called Dr. Cyclops used caves near the city as his hideout while using high-tech lenses to commit robberies. He was stopped by Robby Reed, the original owner of the mysterious H.E.R.O. dial. Just over a year ago, the city became a target of the artificial being called OMEGA, who was enacting another of its misguided themes to "save" humanity. OMEGA had developed technology that would transform people into living digital data, who he would then place in a computer simulation of the real world, a simulation he controlled and thus where he could keep humanity safe from harm. Zenith City became the largest test of this technology to date, after OMEGA had made several smaller scale tests on remote villages in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Using an advanced satellite-based version of his "Digitizer", OMEGA converted the entire population of Zenith City in one go, trapping them in a digital recreation of the city in his virtual reality.
The digitizing process had been virtually instantaneous, so the people of were unaware anything unusual had happened to them. By all appearances to them, they were still in Zenith City. In the real world, the Enforcers of Justice thwarted OMEGA's plan to convert the rest of humanity to digital form. The heroes took custody of the computers housing the virtual world with Zenith City and its trapped inhabitants so they could keep it safe until they could find a way to restore the people to normal. The United States government took control of the now abandoned real city of Zenith in order to cover up what had happened and prevent a panic. The official word was that Zenith City was under quarantine and a media blackout was put in place to prevent any details from leaking out.
To help keep the people of Zenith City safe in the virtual world the cyber-witch Mystère, assisted by the three teenage computer hackers of Quantum, created a trio of artificially intelligent security programs to protect them. Inside the virtual world the three programs would operate as superheroes, with avatars presenting them as real people. The three new heroes were called Alpha, Beta, and Gamma and their programmers had based their abilities on Superman, Power Girl, and Green Lantern respectively. Inside the virtual Zenith City these three were on constant patrol to prevent anyone inside the city from coming to any harm, for though the simulation was designed by OMEGA to be relatively safe the people still had free will and the simulation was a near perfect duplicate of the real world. Being run over by a car in the virtual world could prove just as fatal, and physical violence taken against each other just as harmful, as it would in the real world. The virtual heroes were there to keep everyone as safe as possible. With her powers Mystère could also project herself into the virtual Zenith City, so would visit occasionally to check in. Quantum would also occasionally visit the city using advanced virtual reality interface gear built by Mystère. They went so far as to create super-powered avatars for themselves as well, operating as a superhero team also called Quantum.
Eventually Mystère discovered a way to use her techno-magical power to restore the people of Zenith City to the real world. The plan involved linking a virtual techno-magical gate in the Zenith City simulation to another techno-magical gate constructed at the site of the real Zenith City. When joined the gates would open a portal through the various dimensions separating Cyberspace and the real world. Several members of the Enforcers of Justice were digitized so they could help explain to the people what had happened to them and help them travel safely through the gates back to the real world. The plan was successful and after several months unknowingly trapped in the digital world the people of Zenith City were restored to the real world.
The local government, after the populace had recovered from their ordeal, decided to leverage some of the publicity the revelation of what had happened to the city had garnered. They have begun transitioning the local economy to a tourism-based one, using the publicity as an initial draw while building out a sustainable tourist economy for Zenith City. The time spent in virtual reality has also spurred a small tech boom in the city, though it remains to be seen if this burgeoning technology sector becomes a major economic driver in the long term or not.
GEOGRAPHY
The modern Zenith City is built up around the cross-country rail line and interstate highway that pass through it. The city sits in a valley at an average elevation of around 5.000 feet, with mountains on three sides providing stellar views to inhabitants and visitors alike.
Points of Interest
- Mountainview Zoo
- Zenith City Coliseum
- Trailblazer Stadium
- Zenith City University
- S.T.A.R. Labs
- Edward James Memorial Plaza
- Zenith City Park
- Mooney Reservoir (12 miles north of Zenith City)
- Wood Observatory
- Hartwell Field
The caves around Zenith City have frequently served as hiding places for outlaws and criminals for much of the city's history, from cattle thieves and train robbers to bootleggers and smugglers all the way to the occasional supervillain.
