Seacast

Seacast is a large city located on the southern bank of Culldrome Bay, in the Culldrome Isles. Located on the mainland, it is the second largest city there, behind Culldrome City, which is located a few dozen miles south. The Seacast Metropolitan Area surrounds most of Culldrome Bay and has many sea ports, as the city is largely dedicated to sea trade.

History
The area of Seacast has been explored as far back as the establishment of the Culldrome Isles. The first ships that arrived to settle on Culldrome arrived in the general area. However, due to the lack of fresh water and food nearby, a settlement there was not established. Soon in 1878, during Culldrome's ninja ocupation, a small village was built in an inlet, named Seaston Cove. The village acted as a small dock for ships to unload their supplies.

Seaston Cove was destroyed in 1892, after a devastating raid that burned the village down. The destroyed village was forgotten and abandoned. It was not until 1968 when another settlement was built there. Seacast was built slightly south of the original location of Seaston Cove. The city aimed to give Culldrome Island a large coastal city, so that much more goods could be traded via sea.

Within the first year, the small town of Seacast only had a population of 500. Most of those who lived in the village were fishers, who set out from a single pier in the middle of Seacast. The position of the town attracted many sailors, who began to set off from Seacast. The population began to grow as more and more sailors called the place their home port. Around the same time, oil was discovered far north of Culldrome. All of a sudden, there was a large influx of sailors into the town, since it was a good launching point for ships. Seacast grew from a population of 500 in 1969, to 2500 in 1970 and then to 4000 in 1971.

Seacast's small pier soon grew into a massive ship yard. Soon, many big ships began to pull into port, to change crews and load up on supplies. In addition, Seacast also became a major trading port. Many goods, like oil, coal and shipping containers, were transferred on and off the ships. Seacast eventually grew larger and larger, becoming a booming economic and trade city. The city became the gateway of mainland Culldrome to the sea, as the national capital, Culldrome City, was landlocked and located inland, unable to conduct sea trade. Today, Seacast is the second largest city on the mainland, with around 200,000 citizens, and the largest in terms on size, encompassing most of the Culldrome Bay region.

Locations
Seacast can be divided into two different areas, the Seacast City Center (SCC) And the Seacast Metropolitan Area (SMA).

Seacast City Center


The SCC is the heart of Seacast. Located on the southern banks of Culldrome Bay, it was the site of the original village and the oldest part of the whole city. It is home to several of the city's major ports and warehouses. There are many cranes in the city harbor, which unload ships' cargo on or off to the nearby complex of warehouses. It is also where the city hall is located, as well as many other interesting places, buildings and monuments.

Straddling the coast line is an artificially constructed island, called Aries Island. Built in 1999, Aries Island is entirely dedicated to shipping trade. It has four very large ship docking ports where large ocean liners come in to load or unload. There are many large warehouses located on the island; there are not many other buildings. Not only do these ports cater for cargo needs, but also for passenger needs. A large building called the Culldrome International Sea Terminal. The terminal can accommodate 5000 passengers, who come in or out of Culldrome from ships.

The city is also divided into four districts: Aries Island, Bay Point, Lower Seacast and Upper Seacast. Lower Seacast is located in the southern part of the city, and houses most of the governmental buildings and important landmarks. Upper Seacast is the more modern and newer portion of the city, which contains several skyscrapers. Bay Point is located on the geographical area of the same name. It houses most of the city's population, which have a wide view of the ocean to the north and west.

Seacast Metropolitan Area


The SMA is an extremely large area, situated in the area around Culldrome Bay. The Seacast Metropolitan Area Houses the majority of the city's population. however, since it is spread out in a large area, the population density is extremely low. There are also many sea ports located around the coast, but not as much as in the City Center.

Around 170,000 citizens live in the metropolitan area, whereas only 30,000 citizens live in the city center. There are many commercial buildings scattered around the area. However, there are some large areas dedicated entirely to shops and malls. Many penguins flock to these shops from afar to buy their goods. There are also some industrial areas around the metropolitan area. These buildings are mostly modern and clean factories; not producing much pollution. Nearly all of the items made in the industrial areas (furniture, simple electronics, etc) are transported to the ports to be shipped overseas. In addition to these factories, there are also some oil refineries, which refine oil that has been recently extracted in the oil fields to the north.

Places of Interest
There are several places of interest in Seacast, especially in the City Center. The Seacast Marina and Docks, for instance, is the launching and parking point for many civilian boats and yachts. On a normal day, there can be as many as a hundred boats parked and dozens more sailing in the harbor. The docks are also a popular tourist destination, as the beautiful views from all around can be seen. There are three bridges linking Seacast to Aries Island, which also attract some tourists. The bridges (Seacast Bridge, Mossy Bridge and the Bay Bridge) were constructed in a period between 2000-2007.

There are also two monuments in the city. One of them, the Discovery Monument, is actually an old sailing ship. The ship, called the Discovery, was built in 1852. It was first used as a transportation ship between coastal settlements. In 1857, it was redeployed as an explorer ship. It was one of the first ships that sailed to the Culldrome Isles. The ship was later redeployed again as a war ship during the ninja occupation in the late 1800s. The Discovery was severely damaged during a battle and was placed into storage. The ship was forgotten about until it was found again in 1986. The ship underwent heavy restoration and became a monument ship. Today, the Discovery Monument is permanently located in the Seacast harbor.

The other monument, the Ocean Monument, is also located in the City Center. The monument is a large stone statue that depicts three sailor penguins, pulling a rope attached to a crate. The penguins and crate are standing on a ship's deck. The monument was built in 1983 and represents the big effort that the sailors put in to drive Seacast's economy and development. The monument attracts several tourists and is a major and iconic symbol of Seacast.

Geography
Seacast is located on the coastal area of Culldrome Bay. Many of the settlements of the city are located directly on the coast, with some larger areas stretching inland. The majority of the land is located on a flat plateau. There are few hills and no mountains. Most of the coastline is lined with sandy beaches, but the highly developed areas do not have this. There are also rocky and cliff areas, which sometimes pose risks to passing ships. Before Seacast was founded, most of the area it occupied were filled with forests. Today, the forests near the city have been taken down and replaced with buildings.

Road
There are many roads in and around Seacast. Cars and trucks regularly travel around the network of roads around the city. In the less denser areas of Seacast, the road network is not as extensive. Instead, there are only a few roads. A long highway, called the Coastal Highway, runs from the Seacast City Center and follows the coast northward. The Coastal Highway is the main road link for the Seacast Metropolitan Area to the rest of Culldrome. All of the roads around the Metropolitan Area link to the Coastal Highway.

There is also another major highway in Seacast, which is the Seacast Super Highway (or SSH). The SSH starts at the City Center and runs east towards the other parts of Seacast. The highway then turns south and heads to Culldrome City, eventually joining up with the Culldrome Highway 3. The two highways link Seacast with Culldrome City and is one of the most traveled roads in Culldrome.

Sea
Sea transportation within the city is basically non-existent. However, sea transport from Seacast to other places are very prominent. A lot of Seacast is dedicated to ports for ships and boats. Both cargo and passengers come in and out of ships from far cities. Seacast is heavily dependent on sea transport and is very centered around it.

Rail
Seacast is served by the Inter-Rail Company for it's rail transportation needs. It is located far from Culldrome City, the main city that the IRC serves, so Seacast is served by the RegionLink network. This, unlike the rail network at the capital, has fewer services. However, the IRC's speedy ShuttleRail service operates in the city, allowing for very quick travel times between highly populated areas of the city.

In addition to this, there are also several freight train services operating. These trains bring cargo to and from the sea ports. The cargo is usually brought down south to the capital. The cargo varies a lot, but shipping containers and are the two most transported freight items on the rail network.

Economy


Seacast is a major trading city. It has dozens of sea ports, where hundreds and thousands of ships sail in from many locations and conduct trade, which the entire city's economy is driven by. The ships both load and unload produce at these ports, which are then transported down south to Culldrome City or shipped to other locations. The city is vital to the livelihood of the capital, as it is the only major port on the Culldrome mainland and provides the landlocked capital with sea access. The city allows for vast amounts of bulk or container freight shipping as well as imports and exports that feed the entire country. Seacast is very similar to Pirate City in the Treshurr Isles; the two are big port cities and are both responsible for a lot of sea and ocean trading.