Freedom City Geography

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Freedom City, Massachusetts is the birthplace of American Liberty and the heart of the United States' economy. It is wrong to say that the entirety of the United States revolves around Freedom City, it's more accurate to say that the world flows around Freedom City in many respects.


The City is detailed in Green Ronin Publishing's Mutants and Masterminds' Freedom City supplement that is available as an ebook from their site. All the material in that book is considered to be canonical for Freedom City in Halt Evil Doer! and this to be supplementary to it. In short, this is additional information and a summary of some elements for those who haven't gotten to read the book yet.


Nicknames[edit]

The City, The Big Cherry, Freedonia, Crimeville U.S.A., The City of The Future


Population[edit]

18,490,230 residents call Freedom City home and they're a diversified bunch as existing in any other place in the world. They're a diversified bunch with large variation in ethnicity, religion, and wealth. For the most part, the various races and creeds commingle in downtown but a large number of districts are instead devoted to a single group that has managed to congregate together. This can make traveling through Freedom City a bit like traveling through Epoct Center's World Tour at times.


Mayor Michael O'Conner is the current leader of Freeport and (secretly) the son of Freedom City's former champion the Freedom Eagle. A surprisingly non-corrupt and admirable mayor whose a bit overwhelmed with the massive crime in the city and needs to call on the city's defenders to protect them if he wants to stay in office.


Crime[edit]

It is an unfortunate truth that Freedom City is crime ridden despite it being the city of tomorrow. Huge numbers of criminals are generated from the poorer districts of the city and the fact that Arch-Villain August Roman (former enemy of the Centurion) once ran the world spanning Circuits Maximus from the city. Thus, there are a substantial disproportionate number of gangsters in Freedom City in addition to regular street crime. The current leader of the Underworld is "Big Al" Driogano but most simply view him as holding the place for August Roman (in truth he's little more than front man for the world spanning Illuminati-like Labyrinth that has taken over most of the Circuit Maximus' businesses).


Freedom City criminals tend to be decidedly not misunderstood victims of society and pretty much brutal thugs. The city's Underworld encourages professional criminals with no loyalty to their communities and a brutal willingness to do whatever they want. Freedom City's prisons are clogged up, but its not with drug users or victims of racism. Sadly, only a few superheroes focus on the extensive crime problem.


Mentioning crime in Freeport without mentioning Super-Villains would be like mentioning Chicago gangsters without mentioning Al Capone. Super human criminals are drawn to Freedom City out of the belief there's easy money to be made (true) and that they can win a reputation for themselves by defeating one of the world's superheroes (False- This usually just lands the amateurs in the slammer). The most successful group of villains is the Crime League that have conducted numerous world-spanning plots over the past couple of decades that no one has really been able to stop permanently. Thankfully, none of them have shown much inclination to engage in wholesale murder.


Disturbingly, a group called The Foundry has recently shown up in Underworld rumors. Apparently, its a high technology criminal gang that has been providing even low level crooks in Freeport with cutting edge energy weaponry and genetic techniques to turn even two time losers into super humans.


History[edit]

Freedom City's history roughly resembles Boston's crossed with New York. Founded at the start of America by Dutch and English settlers, Freedom City was the center for the Freedom Witch Trials and later was the heart of the American Revolution (The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought here on the present day site of Centurion Statue).


Freedom City's real history arguably begins in the early 1900s when a space ship arrived from an alternate reality of Earth (A Utopian Super-Advanced Civilization created by a peaceful version of the Roman Empire that never fell). The baby inside, named Mark Leeds, was adopted by a rural couple on Freedom City's outskirts who promptly raised him with all the moral values expected of a human. The child realized he was gifted with abilities beyond that of ordinary mortals and debuted in the 1930s as a champion of the people. He was The Centurion.


Whether because of Mark Leeds or not, superhumans soon began to appear alongside the Man of Titanium. World War 2 was witness to the first time that superhuman fought superhuman with Hitlers own Ubbermensch attempting to give him an advantage against the United States and Europe's own assembled teams. Afterwards, the Liberty League was formed with champions of justice carrying on until McCarthyism destroyed them.


Later, a new version would appear during the 1960s and 1970s called the Freedom League that many people would consider somewhat silly and hokey. They had innocent and largely optimistic space adventures while dealing with social issues of the time. Unfortunately, crueler and more brutal vigilantes appeared and Freedom City outlawed superheroes in the 1980s under the corrupt and evil Mayor Moore. For nearly a decade, the evil Mayor blackened the name of superheroes and chased them while psychotic vigilantes claimed to be heroes.


1993 brought an end to that with the 'Terminus Invasion.' Intergalactic Space Conqueror and Demigod, Omega, finally tracked down the world with the last surviving son of New Rome and attempted to destroy the Earth. Freedom City was the heart of his invasion and much of the city was laid to waste before the Centurion ended 60 years of service by sacrificing his life to drive Omega back.


The past 15 years have seen the city slowly rebuilding but damage is still seen in places as the Terminus invasion also has empowered more young humans with superpowers than anywhere else in the country. With the Freedom League's announcement that they are leaving the city permanently, the city is in need of them more than ever.

Districts[edit]

The Fens: The worst place in the whole of Freedom City. A center for Projects, Waterfront Bars, Gangsters, and Corruption you'll find nowhere else in the city. Gang Violence is endemic in the fens and the police are unable to even enter the location. It is a place that desperately needs superheroes but unfortunately has mostly extremely well armed thugs holding it like their own personal fiefdom.


Freedomwood: The replacement for Hollywood in this district (which still exists to a certain extent), every major motion picture is made here with a classy 1920s style Mogul scene and surrounding homes of the rich and very gauche. Actors, being the second most popular people in Freedom City after superheroes, are frequently the targets of crime. The Freedomwood sign lies just above the tremendously swanky disticts and studios. It is just beyond Hannover and on the city's Northern edge.


Hanover: The university section of Freeport with the FIT (Freedom Institute of Technology) and similiar prestigious businesses and university. Microsoft has its headquarters here instead of California but even its a smaller business compared to Delphic Enterprises and other "Nova" invention groups.


Mid Town: A center for middle class existence and old mansions in Freeport. It gives the charm of Boston and a Harvard like atmosphere. It is also where the occult forces of Freedom City, whether Wiccan New Agers or ancient mystics, tend to gather. It is a nice spot away from the largely huge congestion that covers much of the rest of the city. Harvard and Yale are both located here.


Wading Way: Downtown Freedom City's Business District and filled with High Street, Freedom City Island, and huge amounts of ultra-modern architecture with the penthouses of the extraordinarilly rich. A mono-rail handles the transit for the workers of the various super corporations and this is a city that looks somewhat more at home with Flash Gordon than it does with regular people.


Waterfront: Every single foggy Waterfront and Shipping District in Film.

Notable Locales[edit]

Claremont Academy: A school for the gifted run by Duncan Summers (the first Raven unknown to most). It is a place that refuses most students and seems to choose almost randomly its candidates. Oddly, no one has noticed that some superpowered 'heroes' resemble its students....


Blackstone Prison: A gigantic sprawling Alcatraz like island that's filled with every imaginable super-crimminal and creep in the world plus the worst offenders imaginable. A break out here would be bad on a level of Biblical proportions.


Lantern Hill: A local tourist site for the equivalent of Paul Revere's ride. It is a center of weird mystical convergences and bizarre rites by everyone from Satanists to the mysterious Order of Light. It's a bit of a Colonial tourist trap but it doesn't prevent the locals from being DAMN WEIRD. Silent Hill like fades to Hellish and Fairy-like worlds are not uncommon for some unlucky visitors.

It's patron ghost is Lantern Jack.


Sentry Island: Home of the Sentry Statue. A gigantic Goliath of Steel that's in the image of the fallen Centurion. It is built on the island of Bunker Hill and a place with its own museum to the Sentry and Superheroes in general.


Halt Evil Doer!