PORTOFIRO

"What are you doing here in Portofiro, anyway?"

PORTOFIRO CENTRAL <--> SHRINE TO THE DEATHLESS HEROES

BY THE TIME THE PARENTS OF PORTOFIRO REALISE THAT THEIR CHILDREN HAVE BEEN RADICALISED BY ILLUMINADO CARTOONS, IT WILL BE TOO LATE. THE DAMAGE TO THEIR MALLEABLE BRAINS WILL BE IRREVERSIBLE.

"I've met literal fascist diplomats during my time in Portofiro, but you are still somehow the fascist-est."

"Of course. You stand before the first permanent structure built in Portofiro by the Illuminated Empire."

This is a pretty sick cup. It's a shame you didn't find any others during your time in Portofiro...

Sometimes they try. There was a rather notable broadcast during Nestor's second deposement where Portofiro's top radio host called for that exact thing.

"But Portofiro owns this hill, right?"

Images spin past as you turn the rack: A map of the city during the annexation period; a chain-gang of cartoon prisoners above the caption, "Hard time is a good time in Portofiro!"

This is it -- our comeback tour coat. Post-scandal. Post-overdose. Post-prison. Portofiro 96, baby. Half the crowd dies, the other half name their kids after you.

La Luz, the techno-fascists. Why would they send Operants to Portofiro?

"Back before Essilk burned down, that is. But we are still proud. And we still have the docks! Portofiro belongs to Quisach."

"Ah, yes. I remember that one. But bastardo Nestor thought Portofiro could be different."

Sweet Nestor, Portofiro's supreme leader from the years 28 to 80.

"Oh, yes... when that bastardo Nestor ruined the city. Carmuna witnesses all the sorrows of Portofiro."

Portofiro's rampant privatisation has hit its public infrastructures too.

A mere four-hour flight, but there are no commercial flights between Portofiro and the Illuminated Empire.

"Sounds like Portofiro lacks a strong hand to hammer you kids into something useful."

A bourgeois district, in the northern parts of Portofiro.

Auntie going on trips to La Luz? Must be a highflyer, rare in Portofiro.

"He had no idea why we were in Portofiro?"

"Let me ask you this: why do you think he was assigned to Portofiro alongside you, back in 91?"

He's one of the only people in Portofiro who has benefited from free market capital enough to afford this kind of luxury.

"Not a whole lot of them in Portofiro, but those few are rotting in money."

Portofiro's doomed space program, as you well know.

Portofiro's failed space program. These toys are yet another remnant.

Project AUTONOMÍA was the name of Portofiro's space program. A national disaster.

A national tragedy for Portofiro; an excellent quarter for EMTERR.

Portofiro's supreme leader for the better part of the century. He seized power in 28. Project AUTONOMÍA would've granted him a few more years, but...

Project AUTONOMÍA was Sweet Nestor's idée fixe, meant to establish Portofiro as a spacefaring nation. The mission was first announced in 75, and its inaugural launch was set for 77.

"I hear a lot of people come to Portofiro for the phone sex."

"You're saying you only stick around Portofiro for the phone sex?"

Sweet Nestor, famed dictator of Portofiro from some forty years back. Loved and reviled in equal measure, there's no denying he was a larger than life personality.

Luzian meaning from 'La Luz'. Officially 'The Illuminated Empire'. The technofascist power just across the strait from Portofiro, and one of your principal enemies.

"What do you make of Portofiro?"

"Wait, Portofiro's specialty is phone sex?"

It holds many territories throughout the surrounding regions, including, at one point, Portofiro, which used to be a Luzian penal colony.

The characteristic taste of Portofiro's local schnapps is as foul as ever, its effect as soothing.

"They think Portofiro's their territory. If they can take it back, they will."

Were the talks not currently on hold, Portofiro would be being carved up by the drunken and otherwise degenerate diplomats representing the two rival powers of EMTERR and La Luz even now.

"You think the Reunión is coming for Portofiro, too?"

He must have kept watch on you during your last outing to Portofiro. Who knows what stories he might have conjured up of the two of you over these years.

"Commemorative photo, remember your trip to Portofiro forever!" (Raise the camera.)

"I told you, I have no political inclinations. Nestoristas are for the good of Portofiro, that's all."

A race of primitive sophisticates wanders through the vine-covered ruins of Portofiro. Impeccably dressed in fabrics the secrets of whose production has been lost, they skulk around judging each other's fashion while the day's strip of rat meat dries on the line.

"Of course, 'fascism' is a dirty word nowadays... But despite what people say about La Luz, the Reunión wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to Portofiro. Would put some order into this place."

In year zero, the masses burn calendars in the streets. In 13, the People's Republics open to foreign investment. In 56, the first lunar cadmium deposits are discovered. In 61, you're born. In 62, the city-state of Portofiro accepts a loan it will never repay. In 79, you fall in love for the first time. In 85, the consumer-grade audio disc hits the market. In 89, Quisach PC wins its last pelota championship.

The threat of La Luz has been passed down for generations in Portofiro, the colonial boogeyman in the night -- the shadow that bore them, beat them.

Right here. In an armchair in a safehouse above a 24-hour photo shop. In the city-state of Portofiro.

Right here. In an armchair in a safehouse above a 24-hour photo shop. In the city-state of Portofiro.