This article is currently being worked on. Information may be incomplete or inaccurate.
NeoCities
As a web hosting service, NeoCities is akin to a country consisting of various other websites in its geography. As such, the landscape of NeoCities comes off as an endless metropolis whose night lights are a seductive mirror of the stars above. As with websites anywhere else on the net, NeoCities’ sites take the appearance of whatever the creator wants it to, both internally or externally. It could be as straightforward as a penthouse atop a skyscraper or space-defying as a convention-sized nightclub inside a phone booth. The only real restriction is that the site resides within NeoCities’ land.
For much of its time in existence, NeoCities was somewhat decentralized, and the only sites that most people were aware of were those that were already popular. This rather disorganized structure of NeoCities made it a bit difficult to get around, as any site that travelers walked by would simply be blurred and lost in the mix of neon signs and sparse landmarks. Without taking the time to look around the casual visitor could only find new sites by going through the affiliates of whatever sites were linked to others’ pages. Even then, a majority would only link to the most popular pages that they were inspired by; pages that the average web roamer would have already been through dozens of times.
It was in 2017 when NeoCities was divided into 10 districts by a zoning group that, fittingly enough, went by the name of Districts. Although the group had no affiliation with NeoCities’ governing host, neocitizens embraced the group’s zoning plan and Districts acted as the private group who oversaw NeoCities’ infrastructure for the next 6 years. The districts were zoned as follows:
Arcadia: The western portion of Akiba Island, which lies East of the NeoCities mainland. The buildings in Arcadia were mostly pixelated, voxelated, or low-poly 3D models.
Arles: Located along the coast of the East Channel in the NeoCities mainland, and the Southeastern portion of the Creative Tri-District Area. Every building in Arles was unique in its own way; some were painted, some were pixelated, some were sketched, 3D-rendered, photomoshed, etc.
Hollywood: Located in its own peninsula on the NeoCities mainland. Perhaps the least varied in its architecture, Hollywood consisted mainly of two types of buildings: studio lots for those who created their own independent films, and standard office or apartment buildings for those who would critique or otherwise just discuss film.
Oxford: A large campus in the Northwest region of NeoCities' mainland. Most buildings were built in classical structures; Baroque, renaissance, classical Roman, etc.
Petsburg: The Southwest region of the NeoCities mainland. Architecture was few and far between, as it acted mostly as a parks district for neocitizens and their pets. Buildings that were present would usually be in the form of pets’ homes; doghouses, elaborate hamster playpens, underwater buildings in the East Channel, etc.
Purgatory: Purgatory was set up as a buffer between the NeoCities mainland and the GeoCities Wastes. Those who lived here would reside in… Well, anything, really. Houses, high-rises, abandoned shacks, sewers, alleyways, cardboard boxes…
Silicon Valley: The Northeastern district of the NeoCities mainland. Architecture here was a bit peculiar, as it all came together to the appearance of a titanic motherboard when viewed from above and afar.
Silver Lake: Named after the lake which the district was zoned around, located North of Arles. It’s classified as the Northern district of the Creative Tri-District Area Architecture was almost exclusively concert venues and recording studios with almost no high-rise buildings to speak of.
Stratford-upon-Avon: The Southwest district of the Creative Tri-District Area, Stratford-upon-Avon is zoned around Avon River, which runs off Silver Lake and into the East Channel. The architecture is close to the Victorian style, ranging from quaint cottages to extravagant mansions and castles.
Tokyo: The furthest-East district of NeoCities, located in the more mountainous East side of Akiba Island. Its architecture boils down to every Japanese city put together.
In late 2023, Districts would be completely dismantled by an unknown party. While most sites still keep their designations displayed, all links would lead to the calling card of whomever or whatever dismantled the zoning group: “One rat” or “Erratically Spinning Rat.”
Neocitizens weren’t sure where to go next. Districts had been inactive for a full year before its collapse, and even during that time, some Neocitizens believed that it was no longer in operation. These suspicions were confirmed, of course, when the Rat Event took place.
Four years prior, however, another zoning group was being made: Neo-Neighborhoods. Their zoning plan was made to be reminiscent of the GeoCities neighborhood directory to the point of copying its welcome centers. Over the following years, Neo-Neighborhoods would expand its zoning plan to a staggering 38 districts, re-designated as neighborhoods.
In spite of the somewhat excessive number of neighborhoods, the popularity of Neo-Neighborhoods led to it being the new group in charge of NeoCities’ infrastructure. As such, various websites across NeoCities would shift and rearrange to fit the new zoning plan.