Thono

Thono
The emblem of Thono.
City
Country	T'vaqi
Established	6-6 475 TT
Government • № Magisters • % Est. Population	316 0.038%
Area (km2) • Total	432.5
Est. Population • Total • Density	830,000 1,919
Nickname	The Big Dump
Demonyms	Thoni, Thomi

Thono is the second-largest city in T'vaqi.

History

Widely regarded as the island's first true industrial settlement, Thono was established in 475 TT a few decades after the invention of steam-powered technology. The city's name is derived from the native phrase "new light" (thona ivo). Its establishment was heralded as industrialization's first success of many; the city briefly acquired the nickname "the new light forward". Thono, built with construction and manufacturing in mind, quickly became an industrial hotspot, and remains the city with the highest number of factories in the modern day. The island's first dominant companies relocated their operations to Thono. As industrialism expanded, the city itself began to condense. New factories and living quarters were built on, around, and sometimes within preexisting buildings. Midair hallways were constructed to connect buildings to each other; soon, entire sections of the city could be navigated while entirely indoors. The incredibly dense infrastructure of Thono rivaled that of no other settlement at the time. Soon, Thono had become the most populated and dense area in all of T'vaqi.

The rapid inward expansion of Thono caused living standards to drop considerably. Thousands of factory workers moving to the area to find work were forced to live in cramped, unsanitary conditions. The city was suffused with ash and soot, and near-constant cloudy and rainy conditions resulted in generally low visibility even during the daytime. The city earned the still-common nickname of "The Big Dump". Average salaries declined sharply, and the governments of existing faction-states passed little to no wage regulation. As the island did not yet have a standardized currency, many workers were paid in meager amounts of food and water. In 439 TT, a highly contagious flu swept the island; Thono was disastrously affected by the virus due to its crowded and filthy living conditions. The city reported a death toll in the tens of thousands, placing severe strain on its economy.

The Second Unification of T'vaqi marked a period of improvement for Thono. The introduction of Magisters as bureaucratic operatives reduced the abundant crime the city had become known for. By this time the city of Ishiq, the capital of the newly-created Nation of T'vaqi, had surpassed Thono in both population and population density. The crowded conditions in the city decreased as many of the factories operating in the area shut down. Access to electric power was widespread, and much of the now outdated machinery of Thono was abandoned. Thono's population and economy began to plateau.

Post-Calming, Thono experienced a brief surge in population and economic growth as the demand for boats and other associated machinery increased exponentially. With the introduction of T'vaqi to the Attu Archipelago in 53 PC, Thono became the city's largest distributor of the nation's manufactured exports. Though this resulted in growth for the city, international exposure caused Thono to become a hotspot for the nation's underground drug trade. In 62 PC, illegal substance consumption was measured to be the highest in the cities of Thono and Qopi. The recently created Substance Distribution Monitoring Agency, led by Gmr. Loqa Pili, declared a "crackdown" policy on the two cities. Mass incarceration ensued, with Thono's own prison infrastructure reaching maximum capacity in weeks.

Emblem

The emblem of Thono depicts a four-pointed symbol with an eye in the middle. The arrows pointing away from the symbol represent Thono's foreign exports, while the eye represents the city itself. The symbol is surrounded by a domed barrier. The city's emblem and its contrasting colors are generally viewed as tacky by the populace.