Invasion of the Hawfax: Hawfax City

The capital of Hawfax civilization, Hawfax City is a shining paradise where about half of all Hawfax live, as well as a substantial number of humans. Hawfax is among the most alien places on earth. Its also one of the most important: the decisions made in the city affect the rest of the world just as much as those in London or Paris. Adventurers in the Hawfax universe hoping to make a difference will eventually make their way to the capital!


Hawfax city is as much of its own environment as a steep mountain, a ship, or any other strange setting.

The Residents

Approximately a quarter of a million Hawfax live in the city. This is a relatively small number, as far as cities go, but Hawfax City makes up for it with abundant resources, as cosmopolitan feels, and a large number of non-Hawfax residents.

The Hawfax of the city consider themselves apart from the humans below, and many of them go weeks without seeing a human. But many others interact with humans on a daily basis. The denizens enjoy the active social scene, but just as important as physical contact is virtual: the aliens are avid users of their internet, and contact with each other happens primarily though that channel. Its also one of the ways humans are less visible to mainstream Hawfax society: few of them use Hawfax social media.

The number of humans in Hawfax city has steadily grown throughout the history of the city, and most of its growth has been through human migration.  The most welcome segment of the human population streams in for health reasons. They have deep pockets and a variety of ailments, many of which are life-threatening. Many of them are also leaders back home, and Hawfax city has an active human political scene. Other humans are tourists, come to see the sights, both grand and intricate. Many tourists come just to see the sights, but others choose to live there specifically to take advantage of things no other place can offer, such as internet. Businessmen both earnest and ruthless travel to buy and sell goods, and to ensure deals go smoothly. The landing district is staffed largely by humans, and all of this requires an infrastructure and yet more people.

No description of Hawfax city would  be complete without mentioning the monkeys. They stream in from the surrounding jungle to feast on the crops of the Hawfax. To a Hawfax, a monkey is at once a pest and a precious creature: they wiped out most similar creatures on their home world, and are determined not to destroy these. On the other hand, monkeys are the same size or even bigger than Hawfax, and can be quite aggressive -- the largest ones would be the equivalent of bears. And they aren't just big, they live in troops.

The City

Hawfax city is built in the trees, and thus exists in three dimensions. While this could have made it a tight city, different parts of it are intentionally distanced from each other. The Hawfax intend to have room to grow, and at heart they're a colony of idealists: which means the city was impeccably planned before a single structure was built.

The Park District is what many refer to as 'Hawfax city'. The upper center of the park is taken up by Government buildings, Museums, and the very best attractions are found here. It has intentionally been left wide open and built only using the natural trees. Its also one of the most accessible areas for humans.

The rest of the park district is the business district, full of office space.  It is one of the engineering capitals of the world, and one of the business and industrial capitals as well. The hospitals that cure so many of the worlds wealthy are also situated here. The forest floor of the park district is a human city, in latter years sprawling beyond it.

If any district is dominated by humans its the docks at the landing. Hawfax are quite hesitant to turn over service industries to humans and most factory work is better performed by machines or by those with a Hawfax education, but the Hawfax have let humans handle the majority of bulk transportation. Few Hawfax live at the landing, but many work there.

The industrial district is as ground-bound as landing, but while landing swarms with humans, the industrial sector keeps the large majority of them out of all but around the tracks. This is were the mysterious power plants are kept. This is were the Hawfax turn raw biomatter into the fantastically strong materials they use instead of metal. This district has a air of mystique to humans. The Hawfax display their alien technological superiority in the park district, but its in the industrial district that these wonders are created and protected. To most the Hawfax, its the least pleasant place they can end up working.

The Hawfax grow their food in agricultural forests. There any many types of crops: some trees bear fruit by themselves, but many more crops attach themselves to trees -- or artificial girders that are easy to harvest from. The Hawfax also rely on biomass to build pretty much everything, and have species of quick growing tree that is grown and harvested quickly.  Among the strangest structures in this area are the green houses: giant glass domes that grow plants that find the central amazonian basin 'too temperate'. They're also too wet and warm for humans to stay there long without suffering severe overheating.

Government

The city of Hawfax is governed by the Hawfax citizenry. Its technically possible for humans to gain citizenship, but rare, and while it doesn't officially require learning the language and becoming a vegan atheist, most the people who gain the status fit that description.

Portuguese is the official human language of the city, though efforts are made to make official signs and documents intelligible to Spanish speakers as well.

Law enforcement requires members of both species. There is a preference for tasers, but guns are in circulation. Humans are armed with hawfax produced tasers but firearms are procured in human sizes. Hawfax officers can't carry enough weight to carry both weapons in sizes useful against humans, and generally prefer to use tasers and human backup. Human officers are closely watched by the Hawfax. While only a small percentage of human law keepers are citizens, almost a quarter of all humans to gain citizenship have served in the legal system.

Criminal cases are decided by a panel of legal experts: no jury is involved. 90% of hawfax criminal justice is forensic -- they generally put little stock in witnesses. During the investigation the criminal is required to walk around bugged. The punishment is usually imprisonment. The Hawfax currently have a major issue with crowding in their prisons, and are turning to deporting and reporting the offense to the authorities. This is controversial, but its unknown which way the populace will decide the issue.

Alien Architecture

A basic Hawfax building is an insulated shell around a portion of a tree. This has been augmented with lots of  artificial materials and technology, but The Hawfax love having trees in their dwellings. Its a compromise or an industrial building that has an 'artificial tree' holding it up. Dwellings are filled with a scaffolding of sorts. Most of the time humans can barely squeeze through the  bars. The exact pattern of the bars is a matter of fad and fashion, always changing and myriad in variety. Lights are mounted pointing down.

one of many stylish if simplistic patterns of Hawfax latticework

If its necessary to allow admittance for humans, walk-ways are provided for humans. This is very expensive to the Hawfax , who weigh a fifth of what a human does and require less than a fifth of the space. Private homes almost never admit humans. Some Hawfax are against putting any human accessible structures in their city -- if the humans can't enter a building, they can't attack those in it. Generally, official  government buildings have walkways and spaces for humans, as do large numbers of restaurants and displays catering to seekers of the exotic.

The reverse situation, a dwelling made for humans with accommodations for Hawfax , is much more common, and most human structures in the city at least make nods to the fact that a Hawfax may enter it. The simplest way to make a building Hawfax friendly is to put in railings on all of the walls. Getting the railings to work right with traditional doors is tricky: The Hawfax themselves use smaller doors or sliding doors, but humans that go to that much trouble don't usually don't content themselves with a single railing. Some put the equivalent of cat flaps in the doors and railing on the doors themselves. More extensive work means more railings, and beginning to angle and cross the perches. Those who go all out essentially have scaffolding running around the edges of the room, three or four feet deep. Some places even hang runs of scaffolding from the ceiling. While humans regard these as truly mixed species structures, the Hawfax see them as merely accommodations for Hawfax in a human building.

Building materials throughout the city vary, but are generally wood or synthetic.  -- metal is expensive.

Just as different buildings suit humans and hawfax, they also use different transportation systems. Hawfax rails twist and turn through the heights of the jungle, often going up inclines at 60 degrees or more, carrying cars too small to fit humans, while humans are mostly limited to  elevators and fairly level trains.

Adventuring in Hawfax City

Hawfax city is full of trouble for anyone willing to seek it. Its a center of both Human and Hawfax politics and business. Thieves wait to take the possessions of the visitors, whether merely gadgets or the very technology itself! The hawfax often find themselves strapped for man-power but unwilling to use human labor -- at least to officially use it.

This write-up should be useful for more than just the hawfax setting. You can use the city as a template for any arboreal aliens, or for a friendly high tech civilization sticking a city on a low tech one.

I hope you enjoy this setting. This is part of a series on the Hawfax, and more is coming!