Dyfed

Dyfed, as viewed from above (left) and below (right)

Usually located in the vicinity of 37°48' S, 34°24' W in the waters southeast of Westcape Island, Dyfed (pop. 6,200; called "Dyfedd" in earlier editions of Blue Planet) is Lavender Organics' crown jewel on Poseidon and one of the planet's most popular tourist destinations.

Construction of Dyfed started in 2185, and the first platform (now Hywel) was officially opened for business on 1 June 2185 (327.86 SP).

Physical layout

Designed as a modular city, Dyfed is currently built on seven hexagonal bioplastic rafts, each with a 500-meter circumradius and up to 20 meters thick before adding the height and depth of the buildings. By standing convention, each of these rafts has two names:

• The Arcology (Hywel in official Lavender documents) is Dyfed's central raft, dominated by the Lavender Organics Administrative Centre and the standard arcology housing for most of the LavOrg personnel.
• Gwydion is Dyfed's leeward raft, containing the city airfield and storage warehouses. Most new arrivals in Dyfed touch down here before immediately being shuttled off to other, more visitor-oriented neighborhoods.
• Manannan, Dyfed's industrial district, is rarely visited but tourists. It contains the all-important bioplastic farms and factories needed to maintain and repair Dyfed, as well as housing for most of Dyfed's long-term noncitizen residents. Compared to some Incorporate housing on Poseidon the conditions in Manannan are almost decadent, but space is at a premium.
• Because importing food would be prohibitively expensive, Taliesin is dedicated entirely to meeting Dyfed's domestic needs. Swarming with remotes and packed with greenhouses, packing plants, tissue-culturing vats, and aquaculture pools, the Hydroponics District is home to plants found nowhere else on Poseidon, and is becoming a tourist attraction in its own right.
• The windward raft, Myrddin, is Dyfed's Commercial District. It also contains Dyfedd's Hydroshot arena, though the LavOrg Polypods have a cult following rather than any actual successes to their name.
• Rhiannon is Dyfed's most exclusive raft, catering to the city's wealthiest and most decadent tourists. Its hotels (most famously the Royal Waterway) are among the best anywhere, and El Pez de la Luz boasts the highest Michelin rating on the planet. Non-Incorporate visitors are practically unknown, and anyone without serious money to spend is politely redirected to other parts of the city.
• Currently starboard of Hywel, Ceridwen is Dyfed's R&D center and the heart of the city's economy. Strictly controlled by Lavender Security, Ceridwen is also home to LavOrg's best genetic, cyberware, and bodysculpting clinics planetside; access to most of these is by scheduled appointment only.

For stability reasons, each of Dyfed's rafts is built deeper than it stands tall, giving the city an extensive underwater dimension the locals call Down Town. Lit by shafts of sunlight through the canals and thousands of lights in the massive shadow of the rafts overhead, Down Town is populated by cetaceans, aquaforms, submersible vehicles, and the ecology that has sprung up around Dyfed. A cityscape of airlocks, moonpools, and breathtaking viewing ports eventually gives way to the so-called "Morlock layers," where the light is too dim to bother looking outside and spaces are dominated by machinery, desalination plants, and overworked technicians who keep Dyfed running.

Government

If you spend any time in or around Dyfed, you're familiar with this logo already.

Dyfed is run by the City Governors, a board of directors responsible for overseeing a facet of the city's operations from R&D and manufacturing to security, agriculture, waste management, and the citizen's council, and (most recently) the Office of Tourism. The City Governors are joined by a number of non-voting Incorporate officials acting mostly in advisory capacities; their constant jockeying and lobbying for influence keeps the city's affairs exciting.

A two-thirds majority is required for any vote to carry, and by company policy deadlocked votes and all decisions on certain sensitive topics are referred either to the Adelaide office back on Earth or to one of Dyfed's most important assets: Hugo D-4. One of the most advanced metro expert systems anywhere, Hugo is involved in almost every facet of Dyfed's infrastructure and administration, from official records and navigation to the legions of remotes responsible for mail delivery, street sweeping, and tour guides. Regardless of the City Governors' politics, Hugo is the public face of Dyfed's government, and any citizen is on a first-name basis with him.

Economy

"If it can't be grown, implemented, transformed, or programmed in Dyfedd, it doesn't exist."

Dyfed's economy is founded on three basic pillars: R&D, tourism, and subcontracting.

Dyfed is the seat of Lavender Organics research on Poseidon; its biomods, bodysculpting salons, and genetic clinics are among the best humanity has to offer. The raw expertise of LavOrg personnel means that at any given time many of them are working under contract for other Incorporates, the GEO, or even HIST (whose Oceanography Department is based out of Dyfed and the best-equipped in human history.)