I think the world population was around 100 quadrillion people.
Anyway, each super-skyscraper was completely self-sustaining and at least 10,000 stories high - with many higher than that. It would take occupants a lifetime to discover every nook and cranny of the super-skyscraper they were born in.
Not to mention the basements, would would stretch several hundred stories into the ground.
Millions of people or more would live in each one of these super-skyscrapers.
These structures were so gigantic that over time, the occupants began evolving their own language and culture so that going to the building adjacent was equivalent to entering a foreign country. You would need a passport to gain entry and you would need to obey the laws of that particular structure which could be radically different.
For example, one building required the wearing of women's clothing, whether you were male or female biologically. Another building mandated a maximum age of 30 years. Once you reached 30 years, you were to sacrifice yourself to become food for the livestock being raised.
So the super-skyscrapers basically became their own nations with their own government and military. Wars between buildings were common.
People basically spent their lives in the building they were born in. As the population increased, additional stories would be built upwards and downwards (into the earth). Because the upper stories went into the upper atmosphere, the buildings had to be pressurized and built like spaceships.
Some buildings were more powerful than others and stretched ever higher into the sky. I think one of them ended up being nearly 500 miles above the earth's surface and had a population of several billion people. Constantly building upwards.
I forget exactly how the story ends but there was some kind of massive world war and trillions and trillions of people died. It was a crazy scene. Buildings were set on fire a couple thousands stories above the ground and there were still people thousands of stories above that had no idea what was going on far below them - in the same building.
You’ve been drinking your namesake?
That sounds good..can’t remember the name or author?
Good Lord, that sounds more grimdark than Warhammer 40k that has planets like Armageddon and nostromo and those planets when you read about em are places that cannot be described as a shithole, they are worse than that.