New Cap City

New Cap City is a virtual recreation of Caprica City in the years prior to the First Cylon War, circa YR42. A near identical reproduction of the Caprican city, New Cap city features a darker atmosphere, and allows 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 is widely known for its violence and corrupted version of the real life Caprica City. It is periodically updated to reflect current events in the physical world, including the bombing of MagLev 23. Unlike the genuine article, this version of Caprica City reflects a bygone era of propeller aircraft and is patrolled by an enormous, well armed dirigible that, at times, shoots indiscriminately at users on the streets below ^{(CAP: "There is Another Sky" and "The Imperfections of Memory")}.

Despite being pure fantasy, New Cap City follows the rules of the physical world (e.g. users cannot not fly), but portrays none of the consequences of drug and alcohol use and promiscuous sex that are experienced in reality. Death, in New Cap, is also a painful sensation and results in the derezzing of users' avatars and permanent exile from the game ^{(CAP: "There is Another Sky" and "The Imperfections of Memory")}.

New Cap City is 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 - are 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" and "Things We Lock Away")}.

Television personality Baxter Sarno attributes 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")}.

Deadwalkers

Following the attack on the Caprica City MagLev train system, Daniel Graystone creates a virtual duplicate of his deceased daughter Zoe Graystone and another victim of the bombing, Tamara Adams. Hoping to bring the avatars into the real world by implanting them robot bodies, Graystone allows the simulation of Tamara to languish within a private virtual space, unaware of her own demise. Encountering Graystone inside the space, the Tamara avatar is released to wander the virtual world alone ^{(CAP: "Pilot" and "Reins of a Waterfall")}.

Finding her way to Vesta, a powerful figure in V-World, Tamara pleads for help in escaping back to the real world. Believing she is simply asleep, in a coma, or unable to remove her holoband, Vesta shoots Tamara. Instead of derezzing, however, Tamara is injured, but quickly heals. Intrigued by the potential of having a user within her circle ostensibly invulnerable to injury, Vesta promises to help Tamara for a price. Sending her with Herecles into New Cap City, Vesta charges Tamara with sneaking into the vault of a wealthy user, Chiron, and stealing his money ^{(CAP: "There is Another Sky")}.

Successfully nabbing Chiron's money, Tamara and Herecles return to Vesta, who reveals that Tamara died in the real world some weeks ago. Faced with continued use by Vesta and her cronies, Tamara shoots and derezzes Vesta. Sparing Herecles, Tamara instructs him to find her father in the real Caprica City, before setting off in New Cap City alone ^{(CAP: "There is Another Sky")}.

The Search for Tamara

Learning that the avatar of his daughter lives on in the virtual world, Tamara's father, Joseph Adama, persuades Herecles to bring him to New Cap City. As Herecles introduces Adama to life in the game, the dirigible appears and fires on them, derezzing Herecles and leaving Adama to fend for himself ^{(CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory")}.

Adama wanders the streets of New Cap City alone in search of Tamara, encountering Emmanuelle, a young user who claims Herecles has sent her. Helping Adama better acclimate to New Cap City and introducing him to amp, the performance-enhancing hack, Emmanuelle aids in the search, visiting locations like the virtual version of Adama's own Little Tauron apartment and the Mysteries nightclub ^{(CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine")}.

Meanwhile, Tamara herself continues to make her way through the labyrinthine New Cap City, leaving a graffiti "T" where she goes. Finding his daughter's mark outside the Mysteries club, Joseph is further compelled to find Tamara, devoting his life to searching New Cap City ^{(CAP: "Ghosts in the Machine")}.

Watching Joseph's life spin out of control, Emmanuelle devises a plan to draw Tamara to her father's virtual apartment. Setting up a light bearing Tamara's mark, Emmanuelle finally confronts Tamara, asking her for assistance in putting Joseph's life right. Leading back into New Cap City, Emmanuelle finally reunites him with the avatar of his deceased daughter. The reunion, however, is brief, as Tamara shoots herself, then turns the gun on her father, derezzing his avatar and ejecting him from the game. Believing his daughter has killed herself, Joseph Adama gives up his search ^{(CAP: "End of Line")}.

Now known within the game as a "Deadwalker," Tamara forges alliances with New Cap City users, tattooing her mark to their foreheads. As the Zoe Graystone avatar appears for the first time in New Cap City, Tamara's forces clash against her, marking the beginning of a rivalry ^{(CAP: "Unvanquished")}.

Tracking Tamara to the ruined, New Cap City version of Atlas Arena, Zoe battles Tamara in a brutal, but ultimately pointless fight. Tamara, blames the Zoe avatar for the bombing that killed her real life counterpart as well as her mother, and unleashes angry New Cap City users against her. Finally, Tamara and Zoe fight each other, both withstanding horrible injuries. Ultimately, however, Zoe is able to convince Tamara that she is not the original Zoe Graystone, nor the bomber, and that together they can fulfill a greater destiny in New Cap City (CAP: "Things We Lock Away).

Avenging Angels

Acknowledging it as a breeding ground of moral decay and corruption, Zoe and Tamara take it upon themselves to "clean" New Cap City. Appearing nightly at the den of iniquity called "Sinny McNutt's Slash & Cut," Zoe and Tamara engage in combat with its patrons, opening fire on those who are unwilling to leave and derezzing them from the game. The notion of encountering the girls at the bar is a draw to users hoping to either kill them or be killed by them: either way becoming famous ^{(CAP: "The Dirteaters")}.

The prevailing belief in the real world is that the Zoe and Tamara avatars are simply fakes and the notion of the "Avenging Angels" spreads into popular culture. As T-shirts spread throughout Caprica City bearing the likenesses of Zoe and Tamara, Daniel Graystone becomes aware of the phenomenon and suspects that it is in fact the real Zoe ^{(CAP: "The Dirteaters")}.

Afraid of being captured by Daniel Graystone, Tamara suggests leaving New Cap City for other parts of V-World. Zoe, however, rejects this idea, saying that the two had become gods there. Vowing to "forsake these motherfrakkers," Zoe and Tamara use their ability to control code to reconfigure the urban setting, destroying New Cap City and turning it into a fortress upon a mountain, surrounded by dense, Kobol-like forest (CAP: "The Dirteaters," "Here Be Dragons").

In-game Locales

Mysteries (The Caprican: "New Cap City: Get Thee to Mysteries"; Caprica's "Ghosts in the Machine")
Eleusinian Theater (The Caprican: "The Top 5 Entertainment Options in New Cap City)
Shooting Range (The Caprican: "The Top 5 Entertainment Options in New Cap City)
Airfield
Tattoo parlor
McAnn Shoes ^{(CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory")}
Quality Jewelers ^{(CAP: "The Imperfections of Memory")}
Sinny McNutt's Slash & Cut ^{(CAP: "The Dirteaters")}

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 film noir, 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.

References