Story:Invisible Cities/Hanji

Nights without darkness and days without clouds. Instead towers of glass and neon paint the skyline of a city that refuses to rest. More importantly, however, Hanji is a city of machines. Machines that perform almost every role.

There are machines that hover in the air, producing sound for everyone to enjoy. Or... perhaps they are recording those below. There are machines that hug the walls of buildings and produce the various goods and currency that everyone enjoys on their daily life. There are machines beneath the ground, working silently to operate the cables that act as the life veins and arteries of Hanji.

Machines crowd within the homes and offices of Hanji’s residency. Machines to keep food cold, dispense liquids, or interface with other machines. Machines that speak, listen, record, and autonomously perform tasks. Machines that rest in people’s pockets, allowing them infinite potential knowledge at arms reach.

These machines even handle the production and manufacture of every product within Hanji. People in her walls do not work jobs spreading or generating wealth, but instead provide a service. It is only in the jobs these machines cannot complete that men still work. Even some social and scientific functions have been assigned to these machines.

And yet, with this wealth of information and convenience, the people of Hanji are quite unlike any other city. Their lives are focused on the social elements that aren’t governed by machines. What happiness they can syphon from others, or gain from artforms created with machines.

Through their machines, men have become like gods. Yet their greatest divine aspect is not how the machines allow them control over the fate of the world around Hanji, but how individuals become idols to be worshiped. Within Hanji science became the new religion, yet celebrities became the new saints.

But fear not, for there are those within Hanji who utilize these machines to their fullest. Scientists, doctors, and leaders continue to look ahead at how machines can further improve the lives of Hanji and her people.