Sub-Tokyo

Though few know it, beneath the surface of Neo-Tokyo is a maze of tunnels, some critical to the functioning of the city while others sit abandoned. In this subterranean maze, civil servants fight to keep the critical tunnels functioning while the shunned and forgotten seek refuge in the tunnels left behind.
When the nearby Yokohama earthquake in 2061 damaged the subway tunnels running underneath Tokyo, the Emperor opted to move the city’s train system above ground. Some of the old subway tunnels were used to run utility cables under the earth, where they were less likely to be damaged by earthquake debris. Other tunnels were ordered sealed off , though with civil engineers focused on rebuilding elsewhere in Japan, most of these tunnels were poorly sealed or forgotten.

The old subway tunnels have become a sanctuary for Neo-Tokyo’s shunned people. There are entire metahuman neighborhoods in the subway tunnels, living down there because they are accepted among their own kind. But there’s also shame at their own nature that drives them to live out of sight of human Japanese.

— Janus

Shame, my ass. Why should a two-and-a-half meter tall troll be ashamed of himself? To hell with those self-righteous breeders.

— Fatima

That may be the attitude in Seattle, but it’s different in Neo-Tokyo. Being a part of the group is important here, and being different often carries a sense of shame. When you are as visible and permanently different as metahumans are, it’s natural to hide from the embarrassment you feel among humanity.

— Mihoshi Oni

It isn’t just metahumans living in the abandoned subway tunnels. The homeless also carry heavy burdens of shame in Neo-Tokyo’s work-fueled lifestyle, and the surface Tokyo-ites would rather forget the homeless exist than help alleviate the problem. They have been shoved out of every place they could find to sleep, so they have come underground.

— Traveler Jones

Further below, beneath the subway tunnels and utility shafts, there is an extensive flood prevention system under Neo-Tokyo. The paved-over sprawl can’t absorb floodwater and the filled-in bay can’t take in as much run-off, so Neo-Tokyo’s engineers have come up with another solution. Deep under the city are massive downshafts and reservoirs that collect excess water from the surface. As these massive underground basins begin to fill, side shaft s divert the water towards Tokyo Bay, where powerful pumps force the water safely out.
Lately, however, teams sent deep into the flood basins and downshafts to check for earthquake damage have not returned. Accidents aren’t unheard of that far below the earth, but fift een workers have gone missing in the past five years. Those are just the official numbers; many believe that more have gone missing that have not been mentioned.

The Sub-Tokyo metahumans claim that shokushiki live in the deep tunnels and come up to hunt. Shokushiki, for the uninformed, is the Japanese term for ghouls.

— Sticks

I fear the shokushiki themselves flee from something far worse. The spirits too cringe and warn that from beneath you, it devours.

— Arete.

Parent Location

Wards of Neo-Tokyo