OneClassyBanana
kilroy was here
- Joined
- May 1, 2016
- Messages
- 2,961
- Nebulae
- 7,227
Hey, nerds. Welcome to Repost City. Population? Probably. This is an old previous-iteration document of mine that, while not currently particularly relevant on Asheville, may be a piece of """literature""" that'll come in handy for the future. Or for character bios or something. Anyway. I'm not 100% sure how much of this I even still subscribe to, or how important it when you consider how few phones there are hanging around at the moment, and it may at best simply be good conceptual fodder for people to pick and choose from as we find our footing lore-wise in this new timeline.
However, counter-argument, we've already had one payphone call another on Asheville, and fucked if I'm not ready and willing to use that as an excuse.
Introducing SOME EXHAUSTED, MISERABLE BASTARD'S TUTORIAL TO CONTACT INFORMATION IN A POST-POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD NO LONGER ENTIRELY RULED BY OUTER-SPACE TELEKINETIC JUMPING BEANS; (OR: CLASSY'S BACK ON HIS SHIT 2 - THE REPEATQUEL.)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Right. Okay. Let's start with an example number.
17-017-01-00001
So, you're no doubt wondering what the flying fuck you're looking at here. Well, stop interrupting me and I'll tell you. Dad. This is the public line to the main desk of the Residency Office in District 01, City 17. Let's dissect this baby a little bit by breaking each part of the number down into its simplest meaning.
First up is the sector code. In this case, City 17 was the heart of Sector 17 and the poster city of the occupation. So, Sector 17. Easy enough.
Secondly is the city code. With three digits to accommodate every currently-established urban center on the planet, this is another fairly simple one to work out on your own.
So, you've got your sector, you've got your city. But you can't make an individual number out of that, can you? That's still pretty broad. So that's when you get to the final two quarters of the number, which contains all of the district-specific information of the line you're trying to reach. These segments may seem complicated, but it's actually a fairly simple format. You absolute rubes.
The first digit of this segment denotes the type of line being reached, and can be one of four numbers, each of which denote one of four different Union-approved categories. For simplicity's sake, I've broken it down into the footnotes below.
0 - REGULATED. If the first digit is zero, then it's a number recognized as belonging to an institution under or otherwise affiliated with the Combine Civil Authority, including the Civil Administration Board and all public offices of the Metropolice Force.
0XXXX numbers generally range from 00001 (Residency Office, through which the majority of citizens arrange appointments or audits for the myriad of quotas and residence checks they are required to do, along with all other general matters of bureaucracy and paperwork), 00002 (Public Information, a Dispatch-esque automated helpline that serves as a general directory for citizens in need) 00003 (The direct line to the local municipal board's reception desk), and 00004 (The only public line to the Civil Protection District Office).
However, beyond this point, 00005 and up referred to specific Metropolice Force precincts, generally only utilized to serve as means of confirming one's whereabouts with a specific precinct's protection teams or for officers in different parts of a district to communicate information on ongoing investigations or crackdowns.
Overwatch and its nonpublic subsidiaries (a sector's Transhuman garrison or AirWatch MAINCOM, etc.) do not have - and have not had - any numbers in this system.
1 - RESIDENTIAL. 1XXXX numbers are numbers that connect the various apartment and housing blocks and sub-blocks in a district. These are by far the most numerous and personal to a specific individual, though it should be noted that they are attached to a specific room in a housing block, not the occupants themselves.
If the first digit is a one, then the following four digits represent the specific housing block and room within the residential telephone grid. Room 2 in Residential Block 1 would thus be represented as 10102. A fairly simple system that can go up to Room 99 in Residential Block 99 (19999) in a given district code.
2 - COMMERCIAL. 2XXXX is the mandatory range of numbers for a district's commercial infrastructure. Though not every business enterprise in a district is licensed or even listed on a map - statistically, more of them probably slip through the cracks - those that dwell within a recognized distribution block will always be listed under the same consistent number, regardless of owner, much like residential numbers.
The format for this line is as follows: the range number (2) is then followed by the store number - the registered store number, not the CivPro DB number - and then the number of the specific phone in the establishment that one is trying to reach.
An example of a number in this range, then, for the backroom phone (phone 3 in this specific building) in an electronics repair shop renting out store 9 from one of the numerous contracted commercial liaisons (large umbrella corporations like the Civil Workers Union, Commercial Interests Board, and the infamously lax Distro-Net logistics firm, or more specific institutions like the Burnwood railway tycoons in the American Southwest) would be reached by the number 20903.
3 - PUBLIC. 3XXXX is the range utilized by the many payphones, flip phones, open-air phones, and other such means of recognized and loosely-serviced - but generally ignored and 'unofficial' - means of communication in a district. In contrast to the semi-organized lines of the previous two ranges and the never-ending surveillance and screening of the 0XXXX range, 3XXXX lines tend to be rather 'free' - though they're often nonfunctional, derelict, have poor quality, lack much in physical privacy, and are generally just shitty heaps of junk in every shape and size you might find them in.
Interestingly, this has had the unintended benefit of allowing payphones and other stationary phones to direct-dial one another.
A favorite of gangbangers and telemarketers alike.
The four digits after the 3 refer strictly to the number of the phone being reached, with no denominator based on block or location. Phone 30125 and phone 30122 could be on other sides of a district entirely. Better have a phone book ready, or consult the Public Information line for a redirect.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
So, I dunno. That's a thing you people can use if you want. Sure, City 17's already been blown to shit and back, but for those of you who might be inclined to write documents in other cities - or perhaps in the event of a substantial map change - maybe this relic of a bygone age'll be useful to you again. Or maybe not. Who knows, who cares, it's four in the morning. Use it, don't use it, I just wanted to bring this over into the new era for the sake of having it available for the interested and inclined.
Enjoy, kids. Or don't, I'm not your boss.
However, counter-argument, we've already had one payphone call another on Asheville, and fucked if I'm not ready and willing to use that as an excuse.
Introducing SOME EXHAUSTED, MISERABLE BASTARD'S TUTORIAL TO CONTACT INFORMATION IN A POST-POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD NO LONGER ENTIRELY RULED BY OUTER-SPACE TELEKINETIC JUMPING BEANS; (OR: CLASSY'S BACK ON HIS SHIT 2 - THE REPEATQUEL.)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Right. Okay. Let's start with an example number.
17-017-01-00001
So, you're no doubt wondering what the flying fuck you're looking at here. Well, stop interrupting me and I'll tell you. Dad. This is the public line to the main desk of the Residency Office in District 01, City 17. Let's dissect this baby a little bit by breaking each part of the number down into its simplest meaning.
First up is the sector code. In this case, City 17 was the heart of Sector 17 and the poster city of the occupation. So, Sector 17. Easy enough.
Secondly is the city code. With three digits to accommodate every currently-established urban center on the planet, this is another fairly simple one to work out on your own.
So, you've got your sector, you've got your city. But you can't make an individual number out of that, can you? That's still pretty broad. So that's when you get to the final two quarters of the number, which contains all of the district-specific information of the line you're trying to reach. These segments may seem complicated, but it's actually a fairly simple format. You absolute rubes.
The first digit of this segment denotes the type of line being reached, and can be one of four numbers, each of which denote one of four different Union-approved categories. For simplicity's sake, I've broken it down into the footnotes below.
0 - REGULATED. If the first digit is zero, then it's a number recognized as belonging to an institution under or otherwise affiliated with the Combine Civil Authority, including the Civil Administration Board and all public offices of the Metropolice Force.
0XXXX numbers generally range from 00001 (Residency Office, through which the majority of citizens arrange appointments or audits for the myriad of quotas and residence checks they are required to do, along with all other general matters of bureaucracy and paperwork), 00002 (Public Information, a Dispatch-esque automated helpline that serves as a general directory for citizens in need) 00003 (The direct line to the local municipal board's reception desk), and 00004 (The only public line to the Civil Protection District Office).
However, beyond this point, 00005 and up referred to specific Metropolice Force precincts, generally only utilized to serve as means of confirming one's whereabouts with a specific precinct's protection teams or for officers in different parts of a district to communicate information on ongoing investigations or crackdowns.
Overwatch and its nonpublic subsidiaries (a sector's Transhuman garrison or AirWatch MAINCOM, etc.) do not have - and have not had - any numbers in this system.
1 - RESIDENTIAL. 1XXXX numbers are numbers that connect the various apartment and housing blocks and sub-blocks in a district. These are by far the most numerous and personal to a specific individual, though it should be noted that they are attached to a specific room in a housing block, not the occupants themselves.
If the first digit is a one, then the following four digits represent the specific housing block and room within the residential telephone grid. Room 2 in Residential Block 1 would thus be represented as 10102. A fairly simple system that can go up to Room 99 in Residential Block 99 (19999) in a given district code.
2 - COMMERCIAL. 2XXXX is the mandatory range of numbers for a district's commercial infrastructure. Though not every business enterprise in a district is licensed or even listed on a map - statistically, more of them probably slip through the cracks - those that dwell within a recognized distribution block will always be listed under the same consistent number, regardless of owner, much like residential numbers.
The format for this line is as follows: the range number (2) is then followed by the store number - the registered store number, not the CivPro DB number - and then the number of the specific phone in the establishment that one is trying to reach.
An example of a number in this range, then, for the backroom phone (phone 3 in this specific building) in an electronics repair shop renting out store 9 from one of the numerous contracted commercial liaisons (large umbrella corporations like the Civil Workers Union, Commercial Interests Board, and the infamously lax Distro-Net logistics firm, or more specific institutions like the Burnwood railway tycoons in the American Southwest) would be reached by the number 20903.
3 - PUBLIC. 3XXXX is the range utilized by the many payphones, flip phones, open-air phones, and other such means of recognized and loosely-serviced - but generally ignored and 'unofficial' - means of communication in a district. In contrast to the semi-organized lines of the previous two ranges and the never-ending surveillance and screening of the 0XXXX range, 3XXXX lines tend to be rather 'free' - though they're often nonfunctional, derelict, have poor quality, lack much in physical privacy, and are generally just shitty heaps of junk in every shape and size you might find them in.
Interestingly, this has had the unintended benefit of allowing payphones and other stationary phones to direct-dial one another.
A favorite of gangbangers and telemarketers alike.
The four digits after the 3 refer strictly to the number of the phone being reached, with no denominator based on block or location. Phone 30125 and phone 30122 could be on other sides of a district entirely. Better have a phone book ready, or consult the Public Information line for a redirect.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
So, I dunno. That's a thing you people can use if you want. Sure, City 17's already been blown to shit and back, but for those of you who might be inclined to write documents in other cities - or perhaps in the event of a substantial map change - maybe this relic of a bygone age'll be useful to you again. Or maybe not. Who knows, who cares, it's four in the morning. Use it, don't use it, I just wanted to bring this over into the new era for the sake of having it available for the interested and inclined.
Enjoy, kids. Or don't, I'm not your boss.
Reactions:
List
