Common Phrases

A Children’s Treasury of Hartford’s Common Phrases: 

HartLife:  Before the troubles, a large insurance conglomerate that had enough money, material resources, and armed guards to protect the survivors of the town of Hartford. The corporate structure eventually shifted into a governmental body, and continues to protect the Policies of HartLife from the dangers of the Outside. HartLife can also refer to the Tower and Tunnels themselves.

 Policy : A registered citizen of HartLife

 The Troubles : The time during and after the apocalyptic climate change events that devestated the known world.

Department of M.U.R.D.E.R. : Any number of departments of HartLife, each with a less-nefarious purpose than the last. No one inside the world seems to notice that virtually every department in the structure is acronymed M.U.R.D.E.R.

 The Science Fair:  The loose structure of underground peddlers of scientific knowledge. At their best, they are informal clinics and health care centers for those who have fallen through the cracks of HartLife. At worst, they are murderous street gangs who use their rudimentary scientific knowledge and vat-grown, shoddily grafted musculature to terrorize the PeopleMover system 

<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The PeopleMover: <span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New""> The poorly lit, somewhat dangerous public transportation system used in the Tunnels below the HartLife Tower. <span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"">

<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Cambria","serif";">StreetSafe <span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"">: The ever-present system of cameras, microphones, and recording devices that populate the Tunnels and Tower of HartLife. <span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"">

<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The Tower/The Tunnels <span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"">: The last known bastion of humanity, The HartLife Tower is a soaring skyscraper that juts out of the snowy plain that is modern Hartford, CT. The Tunnels spiderweb everywhere below, similar to the roots of a massive tree. These are the only habitable spaces in the immediate area. The Tower’s levels are counted up, using numbers- thus, the first level of the tower is “Level 1,” the next major deck is Level 2, etc. The tunnels below are lettered, starting with Deck A/Concourse (the level which immediately abuts Level 1). It should be noted that there are many more tunnels than there are Tower Levels. The Tower provides a more rigid power structure: the higher one goes in the tower, the richer, better fed, and higher ones prestige. The Tunnels are looser: though in general, the deeper one goes, the more dangerous life becomes. Most Policies who live in the Tunnels have never been above ground in their lives. <span style="font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"">

<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The Outside: <span style="font-size:11.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Cambria","serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"">The areas outside of the HartLife tower are a hellish, frozen plain. No one comes from outside, and no one who can possibly avoid it leaves. The HartLife establishment does everything it can to remind people how terrifying the Outside is, and how lucky they are to have the Tower and the Tunnels to protect them.

<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Cambria","serif";">MolePeople: Genetically engineered creations, these sub-human workers dig the tunnels, repair the infrastructure, prepare the coffee, and generally keep the Tunnels under the HartLife tower habitable.