New Cap City
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- For information on the city from the re-imagined series, see New Caprica City.
New Cap City was a virtual recreation of Caprica City in the years prior to the First Cylon War. A near identical reproduction of the Caprican city, New Cap city featured a darker atmosphere, and allowed holoband users to engage in violent, gangster-style game play.
Overview
New Cap City grew out of the underground movement on Caprica before the Fall of teenagers hacking pay holoband sites to create free virtual environments like the "V-Club". New Cap was widely known for its violence, a corrupted version of the real life Caprica City that updated to reflect current events in the physical world including the bombing of MagLev 23. Unlike the genuine article, this version of Caprica City reflected a bygone era of propeller aircraft and was patrolled by an enormous, well armed dirigible that would, at times, shoot indiscriminately at users on the streets below (CAP: "There is Another Sky", "The Imperfections of Memory").
Despite being pure fantasy, New Cap City followed the rules of the physical world (users could not fly for example), but portrayed none of the consequences of drug and alcohol use and promiscuous sex that would be experienced in reality. Death, in New Cap, was also a painful sensation and resulted in the de-resolution of the user's avatar and permanent exile from the game (CAP: "There is Another Sky", "The Imperfections of Memory").
New Cap City was accessible through a series of virtual tunnels, like sewers. Real world locations including Little Tauron and Atlas Arena - serving as a venue for brutal hand-to-hand combat - were represented in the game, albeit distorted and, at times, severely rundown by its users (CAP: "There is Another Sky", "The Imperfections of Memory", "Ghosts in the Machine", "End of Line", "Things We Lock Away").
Television personality Baxter Sarno charged the game with contributing to the moral decline of Caprica that led, in part, to the bombing of MagLev 23 by the Soldiers of the One (CAP: "Gravedancing").
In-game Locales[1]
Rise of the Deadwalkers
Tamara-A
Following the attack on the Caprica City MagLev train system, wealthy scientist Daniel Graystone created a virtual duplicate of one of the bombing victims, Tamara Adams. Hoping to eventually bring the avatar into the real world by implanting it in a robot body, Graystone allowed the simulation to languish within a private virtual space, unaware of its own demise. Encountering another avatar of a bombing victim, Zoe Graystone, inside the space, the Tamara avatar was released to wander the Virtual World alone (CAP: "Pilot", "The Reins of a Waterfall").
Finding her way to Vesta, a powerful figure in V-World, Tamara pleaded for help in escaping back to the real world. Believing Tamara was simply asleep or in a coma and unable to remove her holoband, Vesta shot her with a virtual gun, thinking she would de-res and awaken. However, the holographic bullet neither de-resed Tamara, nor killed her. Intrigued by the possibility of having a user within her circle ostensibly invulnerable to injury, Vesta promised to help Tamara, but for a price. Sending her with Herecles into New Cap City, Vesta charged Tamara with sneaking into the vault of a wealthy user, Chiron, and stealing his money (CAP: "There is Another Sky").
Successful nabbing Chiron's money, Tamara and Herecles returned to Vesta, who revealed to Tamara that she had died in the real world some time ago. Faced with continued use by Vesta and her cronies, Tamara shot and de-resed Vesta. Sparing Herecles, Tamara instructed him to find her father in the real Caprica City (CAP: "There is Another Sky").
The Search for Tammy
Having learned that his the avatar of his daughter lived on in the Virtual World, Tamara's father, Joseph Adama, sought out and forced Herecles to bring him to New Cap City. As Herecles introduced Joseph to life in the game, the dirigible appeared in the sky over New Cap and fired on them, de-resing Herecles and leaving Joseph to fend for himself (CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory").
Alone in New Cap City, Joseph took to wandering the streets in search of Tammy. There he encountered Emmanuelle, a young user who claimed Herecles had sent her to find Joseph. Helping Joseph better acclimate to New Cap City and introducing him to amp, the performance-enhancing hack, Emmanuel aided in Joseph's search, vsiting locations like the virtual version of Adama's own Little Tauron apartment and the Mysteries club (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").
Leaving Her Mark
Meanwhile, Tamara herself continued to make her way through the labyrinthine New Cap City, leaving a graffiti "T" where she went. Finding his daughter's mark outside the Mysteries club, Joseph was further compelled to find Tammy, devoting his life to searching New Cap City (CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine").
Watching Joseph's life spin out of control, Emmanuel devised a plan to draw Tammy to her father's virtual apartment. Setting up a light bearing Tammy's mark, Emmanuel finally confronted Tamara, asking her for assistance in setting Joseph's life right. Leading back into New Cap City, Emmanuel finally reunited him with the avatar of his deceased daughter. The reunion, however, was brief, as Tammy fired a gun into her chest, seemingly committing suicide and then turning the gun on her father, de-resing his avatar and ejecting him from the game (CAP: "End of Line").
Now known within the game as a "Deadwalker", Tamara forged alliances with some users tattooing her mark to their foreheads and serving as protection. As the Zoe Graystone avatar appeared for the first time in New Cap City, Tamara's forces clashed against her, marking the beginning of a rivalry (CAP: "Unvanquished").
Notes
According to the podcast commentary of "There is Another Sky", the concept of New Cap City has been compared to the real-world video game Grand Theft Auto, while its title resembles that of the 1991 crime film New Jack City. The design of New Cap City was based heavily on the look and feel of the Wikipedia: Film noir genre, being shot at low angles and featuring 1930s and 40s styles as well as a nearly black and white color scheme. [1]
According to materials provided to the 2010 Emmy Awards voters, the Caprica visual effects team were given great latitude in the creation of New Cap City, with numerous test renders in various lighting conditions to "evaluate and explore the city's canyons, textures and vistas. [2]
The sound of the dirigible seen floating above New Cap City in "There is Another Sky", "The Imperfections of Memory" and "Know Thy Enemy" was created through the use of Gregorian chant recordings. [3]
New Cap City appears under the title card in the opening credits of Caprica, dating back to "Rebirth", two episodes before it was even introduced.