Part Three:
The Brodican and Uln

Gant Haverstick represents the Brodican race in the city's Collected Council...   It was 45 years before the movie begins (ten years before Nik Wayland was born) that the first Brodicans happened upon DarWest.  The Brodicans are a pacifist but technologically advanced race with genetically engineered bodies. 

Ian Brenneman represents the native Uln in the city's Collected Council.   Ian took the councilship after the assassination of Trevor Wayland, Nik's father.   He upheld Trevor's controversial open-immigration policy and adopted Nik.  As the movie opens, Nik is about to succeed Ian in the Collected Council. 

Part Two
The Plu'an and Ranine

When Nik Wayland was nine years old, many Plu'an came to DarWest seeking asylum. The Plu’an are a bulky, amphibious race that had lived in a war-torn star system. In a desperate attempt to annihilate its enemies, the Plu’an leaders ordered all its military leaders on what many considered a suicide mission against overwhelming forces. Many of these Plu’an captains felt their efforts were futile and unneccessary, since there was no immediate threat to their homeworld. The Plu’an leaders, however, were hell-bent on displaying their brute force and continuing their dominance over nearby civilizations.  After much contemplation, a dozen military captains joined forces and defied their leaders, sacrificing their citizenship and becoming enemies of the state. These captains, led by Camaar Asuul (shown above), went to DarWest with no intention of forcing their entry. Nik’s father, the Uln councilman at the time, was moved by their reluctance to use force and decided to endorse their asylum.  He saw the heart in these warrior creatures, but would pay the ultimate price for his beliefs...

A small number of Ranine came to DarWest when Nik was sixteen. The Ranine are an Egyptian-like people steeped heavily in ritual and ornamentaion. They saught shelter in DarWest because their homeworld was growing hotter each year and food supplies were dwindling. The once strong and proud race had grown small and frail. It was a relatively young ritual master named Ra Kalnu (shown above) who encouraged a few hundred of his emaciated people to swallow their pride and go to DarWest’s collected council. The council welcomed them. The Ranine hold the smallest percentage of DarWest’s overall population. The few remaining members of this race feel the burden of multiplying and continuing their way of life. Most of them are very sad people who feel all hope is lost.

Part One
City on the Sea

The city of DarWest was modeled in several ways after America.

Like America, DarWest was once inhabited by a native race, the Uln. Several decades prior to the events of the movie, other races came to DarWest seeking freedom from political and religious tyranny. The compassionate Uln leaders decided to grant these races (the Brodicans and the Plu'an) asylum, though much to the dismay of several Uln factions who would later incite a tragic rebellion.

The city still shows many signs of its Uln heritage, particularly at its highest point, Bantu Circle. The circle is filled with ancient stone architecture and the sidewalks are still lit by torches, despite the city's growing technology. The tallest structure in the city is Bantu Tower, now a government building for the Collected Council which also houses medical facilities and Network's surveillance and strategic planning groups.

The peninsula on which DarWest stands is one of the only inhabitable places on the planet of Darshudha. Most of the planet is covered with water, and its two continents are primarily barren. The Uln survived for hundreds of years on what the sea provided. Today the environment has been modified by the technology of other races and food supplies have been artificially expanded.

As the population of DarWest continues to grow, the city has expanded beyond the peninsula, into the mountains beyond. The expanded areas of the city are an amalgamation of architecture, as various races have formed their own ethnic townships. The new-world humans contributed much of DarWest's military technology, primarily the six floating Network stations that hover around the city.

The temperature is always below seventy degrees Fahrenheit in DarWest, and sometimes reaches a low of thirty. Winds from the surrounding Lenek ocean can create a significant wind chill on some evenings. In addition to this, the atmosphere is sometimes lit up with the sparks of tiny meteors, most of which are reduced to ash before the ever hit the ground. The "spark rains" occur a few times each year and sometimes require preparation on the city's part.

While most of the city's population live peacefully with one another, racism does exist in certain places. Network and the Collected Council maintain racial harmony as much as possible. Several social scenes, including the night club Kir Gava, have zero tolerance for racism and welcome no one who holds a racial grudge. Much of the racism stems from people's disapproval of free immigration. The city's resources are finite, and at the time of the movie's start the Council is granting asylum to a sixth race of beings. A significant number of Uln are the most vocal in the objection to further immigration. Six months before the movie begins, an Uln man is found responsible for a terrorist bombing at Network Station 4. On the whole, however, violence is not something DarWest contends with on a regular basis.

The social dilemmas that DarWest's people endure are inspired by problems we encounter today, in our own world, specifically prejudice and intolerance. To put this issue in perspective, it was decided that the nemesis in DarWest would be one who saw no difference in superiority of race, religion, gender or social standing.

The Ti'Leek would be an equal-opportunity annihilator...

© 2000 Dan Dixon, Scott Schirmer, & the DarWest Team.