Explaining Safe Haven

In the early 2000's major corporations based throughout the United States petitioned Congress as one party to be allowed to expand in a controlled, restricted environment without federal interference. It was a request, a demand, that the corporate world be allowed a trial to govern themselves. The proposition was quickly dismissed, but later resurfaced by an even larger conglomerate of not only business owners, but everyday working citizens eager to see where such an experiment would lead. A stunned House and Senate, ever cautious of an Orwellian world ruled by corporate tycoons, carefully weighed the possible consequences. Eventually, they made a decision, and one that narrowly passed: a city-state, established in a remote region of northern Maine, would be declared an independent territory under of the protection the U.S. military for "an isolated experiment" where corporations would be free to establish civil and economic order as they see fit.

Today, in 2013, an entire metropolis of beautiful towers, high-tech industry, ergonomic infrastructure, and an ecologically sound environment exists as a sovereign and economically-independent city-state. So far, the contained experiment (dubbed Safe Haven by its grateful citizens) has proven to be an outstanding and surprising success. Civil rights within the city are higher than those of any other nation, and considering the city is run by large business and free from federal programs, the economy is off the scale. But U.S. political officials are still wary of allowing "their little petri dish" to expand beyond its legal borders. Because the Safe Haven is governed and run by corporate tycoons with an extreme laissez-faire agenda, there are very few political freedoms. The government institutions that oversee civil laws and judiciary punishment are restricted to a centrally-located district, and have very little say in the affairs of the businesses that fairly own the city-state. As a result, white-collar corruption is, without a doubt, an ever-existing and ignored truth.

Safe Haven is divided into four districts; each with a unique characteristic and style of distinctive architecture and infrastructure. The districts were founded by the corporation that claimed "ownership" of the area, and named after the corporate-head. Each district's leading corporation bares a similarity to the smaller businesses that fall under its geographic influence. For instance, the Rossplain district, named after Thelma Rossplain - CEO and founder of Seris - is dominated by businesses and institutions of the liberal arts; such as fashion and art studios, museums, libraries, theaters, higher education centers, and film & music studios for the rising (and famous) celebrity icons. The other districts are Westbank (which consists of a multitude of commerce and industry organizations), Evenway (the epicenter of medical, science, and technology firms), and Madison (centered in the middle of the pie, home to the government offices and public institution HQs).

There is no sole political leader, and there is no congressional committee of bureaucratic fools. Instead, Westbank, Rossplain, and Evenway decide, as a group, the major laws of the land and how they are to govern and oversee the continued success of Safe Haven. Other government tasks that considered "minor" or "tedious" are delegated down to their appointed officials in the Madison district.

Even though Safe Haven is "politically sovereign" it is still under the "federal protection" of the United States. Thus, for reasons of national security, and under the terms of Proposition 1984 (the name of the bill passed by the United States Congress, allowing for the establishment of the Safe Haven experiment), the FBI, CIA, NSA, and all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces maintain full jurisdiction.

Welcome to Safe Haven

Safe Haven is a free-form role playing world designed to host both static and dynamic plots. In some instances, the writers may wish to pursue a (or stumble upon the preconceived) plot with a single, linear direction. At other times, there are story lines with multiple plots embedded, requiring the adventurous author to unravel each intertwined mystery to learn the whole truth. This is the difference between "static" and "dynamic".

As a free-form role play, the author does not always have to have their characters interact the characters of another author. Plots (whether they be dynamic or static) can be independently authored, or collaboratively developed; and don't feel restricted to only take on one plot at a time! Write what you can handle. Note, however, that even though Safe Haven is "free-form", it is also persistent. Events in a single plot will send impacting ripples to all other plots, big or small. Thus, while characters of different authors don't don't have interact, actions they perform in the world can indirectly impact each other. Due to this principle, the law of time is: you may write of the past and present; but never the future.

Your characters can be business tycoons, middle-class citizens (due to the extremely favorable economic stability of Safe Haven and high standard of living, "low-income" is a virtually undefinable term), white collar criminals, corporate spies, and so on and so forth.