History
Worldweep Opening History
When the Weep opened and the Alchemist unleashed her wrath upon the civilizations of the world, Goka was ready. Years of preparing for kaiju attacks helped the city weather the oncoming storm of projectiles, monsters, and unnatural disasters.
Unfortunately, Goka wasn't ready for the onslaught to continue for years on end. As one of the shining beacons of civilization the alchemist so heavily despised, it was granted no reprieve from the Weep's eternal assault. Disasters battered at Xu Hong Bay for years, until even the Bank of Abadar was razed to the ground. The bay became completely uninhabitable from both constant monster attacks and warped, befouled waters that ate away at all nearby plant life.
Still, Goka persisted. It just had to move.
Age of Collapse History
Goka took business underground. Making use of earthen magics learned from the Darklands, the city carved out massive sections of the mountains surrounding Goka, burrowing into the Wall of Heaven. The massive range would shield Goka from above, not around.
And yet, the principal problem remained: how would the inhabitants survive underground? Unlike Darklands denizens, the citizens of Goka were by and large surface dwellers, with little to no biological adaptations for subterranean life.
That was when Hao Jin, the Ruby Phoenix, came up with a plan to light and warmth for the city forever. She would use her ability to revive in a burst of flame to create power for Goka. Her soul would be reborn again and again, creating an eternal blaze at the heart of Goka that flared and waned with every death.
That wasn't all. Hao Jin knew every single mote of her essence could help save a life. Her ashes contained regenerative properties of their own, either mixed into ointments, salves, or tonics. They also emitted heat, warming Gokan homes, and acted as powerful magical catalysts. When mixed with soil, the ashes acted as a sunlight substitute even more effective than alchemical sunlight, allowing farms to flourish underground. Later, the precious dust would come to be known as Ruby Ash.
When all her calculations were complete, she realized that she would have to die approximately twice a day to provide enough energy and material for the citizenry to survive. She worked with her trusty assistant, Qiu, to establish the Phoenix Energy Group (PEG), a company meant to distribute Ruby Ash and ensure the people of Goka would receive their fair share.
Unfortunately, receive their fair share the people would not, for problems quickly arose. The population grew too quickly. Refugees from Lingshen, Quain, Shanguang, and Kaoling poured into the underground city in droves. Goka was running out of space. Excavating more was difficult, for cave stability was a grave concern. And so, rather than expand outward, Goka grew more and more cramped. The streets became smaller and smaller, and the population density grew and grew.
Life in underground Goka is claustrophobic and oppressive. Tiny apartments grow from cavern floor to ceiling, often without windows or air vents. Makeshift bridges of rope, bamboo, or scavenged Darklands timber connect one block of dwellings to another, crisscrossing the upper city like a web. Hallways are narrow and crooked, some no wider than a man’s shoulders, twisting in perpetual shadow. Neon-like lanterns powered by Ruby Ash glow red, their light refracting against dripping stone walls. No space is wasted: families of five or six live in rooms the size of market stalls, their beds doubling as dinner tables and storage compartments. Maps prove useless: new structures wearee added, collapsed, and rebuilt in an endless cycle.
By the end of the fourth century of Collapse, Goka's population had grown to over 3 million inhabitants. The demand for Ruby Ash rose exponentially, and with it, PEG's power. Soon, the company controlled nearly everything in Goka, carving out more and more of the city's economy in its own name. The company justified it through reasons like "ash market stability." At this point, the Ruby Phoenix had disappeared from the public eye, becoming more icon than leader, more myth than woman. She hasn't been seen in public for over six hundred years.
Age of Renewal History
When Mathesis was finally defeated, her legacy remained written into the land itself. The once-proud surface districts of Goka were left in ruins—blocks collapsed into the sea, avenues buried under landslides, and the whole bay poisoned by alchemical runoff.
Seventy-five years later, the surface is still scarred but no longer uninhabitable. Other nations rebuild faster. Goka does not.
The Phoenix Energy Group insists that the surface remains unsafe. Its engineers and researchers issue endless reports on “toxic instability” and “structural hazards,” warning that surface reconstruction would collapse within a decade. Any attempt to resettle is quietly sabotaged: supply caravans vanish, scaffolding crumbles, funding evaporates.
In truth, Xu Hong Bay could sustain life again, but not PEG’s monopoly. Underground, the corporation controls the flame, the quotas, the rations. Aboveground, sunlight, wind, and trade would loosen their grip. For that reason, PEG keeps the city below.
Goka now has a population of 7 million, with a density of 3 million per square mile.
Government
Real power in underground Goka lies with the Phoenix Energy Group (PEG), the corporate-state that controls housing, food, and above all, ash quotas. On paper, rations are distributed by census; in practice, wealth and favors dictate who receives warmth and who goes cold. Bribes move shipments. “Lost” packets reappear in private gardens or at black-market stalls.
The Guard Corps enforces PEG’s order, cracking skulls at ration riots and ensuring shipments flow to the right districts. But many officers are on other payrolls, and here the Golden League thrives. The League has embedded itself into the city’s foundations, smuggling Ruby Ash, fixing quota ledgers, and running protection rackets in the outer warrens. To most citizens, the League is more reliable than PEG. They're corrupt, yes, but they're also predictable.
Real World Inspiration
Worldweep's Goka takes heavy inspiration from the Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong, once the most densely populated place on Earth. Its cramped streets, improvised construction, and reliance on black markets for survival echo Kowloon’s reputation as a city-within-a-city. Thematically, Goka also draws on dystopian images of overpopulation and corporate exploitation, where human lives are reduced to quotas and survival depends on navigating corruption.