The Springs 九泉

Nine Springs (九泉, Jiǔquán), or just the Springs to the people who live in it, is a self-sustaining arcology sunk about three kilometres into the rock. It was built to shelter three million people from heat, storms and war. When the Grey swallowed the surface, the gates were sealed. They have stayed shut for eighty years.

Around 200,000 people live there now, spread from top to bottom among failing machines.

The name

The Springs was sunk to reach nine aquifer springs, and they still feed it. Water is the currency of the Springs.

九泉 is also the old Chinese name for the land of the dead. 九泉之下, “beneath the nine springs”, means in the grave. Three million people moved into the grave to survive.

Places and depth

People know places by name and by how deep they are, not by numbered tiers. Places known so far:

Place	What it is
The Gate	The top of the Springs, held by the Balance Bureau. Clean air is rationed from here.
The Market Square	Where the player starts: stalls, clinics, shrines and trouble.
The Walled City	Stacked homes, noodle stalls and alleys, watched by a boxing hall’s street patrol.
Jishi Hall	A three-storey clinic run by rogue doctors in the Market Square.
The Wind Wards	Home to the Vajra Court’s fighting monks and the Bureau’s academy.
The Works	The engineers’ district, where the Mohists keep the pumps and filters alive.

Daily life

• Family and floor matter more than anything. Your floor is your village.
• Debt and favours (人情) run the economy as much as grain coupons do.
• No sun: the Bureau dims the corridor lights at “night”.
• Food is hydroponic rice, vat protein, mushrooms and insects. Noodle stalls are where people meet.
• Old festivals survive in new forms. At Qingming, people clean the memorial shrines. In Ghost Month the network is unsafe, and people burn paper code as offerings.