Editing Paradise City:Urban Geography (section)

==The Lockdowns==

===Eastside Lockdowns:  “The Habitats”===

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The corporations go to great trouble to keep order here and there is very little personal freedom.  Citizens spend a great deal of their time physically locked inside their dwellings in order to keep the streets safe and searches for weapons and drugs are commonplace.  Passes are required to enter or leave these communities, although it is significantly easier for an outsider to obtain a pass that will allow them to visit than it is for a resident to obtain a pass that will allow them easy access to the outside world – usually, an outsider can gain at least a temporary pass for about $10 a visit.  Despite these measures to enforce control, the frustrated citizens of the habitats are famously violent.  Because of all the security measures, there is a lot of profit to be made from drug trafficking here and gang warfare for drug-selling territory is a common event.

Transport:  The Habitats are served by the subway system that runs through most of Paradise City.  The subway system is not extensive, but there will be at least one station in each walled community.  The corporations generally fund efficient bus systems to make sure that their employees can get to work on time.  In some neighborhoods, buses may require that identification be shown demonstrating that the passenger is a corporate employee.  There are also corporation-run and/or corporation-sanctioned taxi services, all heavily policed.

Police:  The corporate police have great authority here and are a class apart from the ordinary citizens.  Anyone who wants to do regular illegal business here has better be cutting the local cops in, or they are looking for trouble.  Police generally carry stun batons and sub-machine guns.

Gangs:  The gangs are powerful here and, as long as the police get their cut, effectively rule the streets.  Tattoos and fashionware are common ways in which gang-members identify themselves.  Even gang-members will rarely carry weapons unless they are going to war or expecting trouble.  Weapons that are used tend to be improvised from tools.

Organized Crime:  Despite the widespread poverty, The Habitats are valuable territory.  Corporate prohibitions drive up the price of contraband and there is a lot of money to be made supplying people with things that they cannot obtain through legal channels.  The gangsters here have a reputation for pragmatism, with little concern for the ideals of honor and face that gangsters elsewhere at least pay lip service to.  Old friendships are less important than profits and there is a bewildering network of constantly shifting alliances as the groups compete.

Entertainment:  The corporations have failed to control the people’s access to the internet and the locals enjoy whatever they want – mostly mindless music, pornography, game-shows, sports and saccharine dramas.

Sports:  American football and soccer are religions and are the cause of many a brawl between opposing fans.  Combat sports are also popular, particularly events taking place in The Habitats itself.  Different corporations impose different rules, but will generally allow anything that doesn’t involve the use of weapons or the destruction of corporate property.  The most popular full-contact sports are boxing, karate, kick-boxing and muay-thai.  There is great interest in more extreme combat sports from elsewhere and footage from almost any sporting event in the world is easily available on the internet, despite periodic attempts by the corporations to ban it.  Illegal “medieval” events involving melee weapons are often held in the Habitats and are popular.

Points of Interest:

The Crystal Cathedral is a huge and impressive steel and glass church.  It belongs to Pastor Bill Ireland and it is from here that he broadcasts his television program “The Word of Hope”.  Pastor Ireland has an international following and has accumulated many millions of dollars. His local cult is extremely loyal and he effectively controls the blocks around his church as his personal fife.  Pastor Ireland teaches that forgiveness is available to anyone who repents, but he is also heavy on the punishment of unrepentant sinners.

The towering apartment complex Cherry Hill is host to a community that devotes itself to physical and particularly sexual pleasure. Apartments are only sold to those who swear abstinence from drugs, alcohol and religion.  The community is disliked by local gangs and police alike and there have been incidents of violence from all sides.  Some radical elements of the community want to see alcohol banned throughout their entire Habitat, which has lead to conflicts with other communities.

Weapons:  Citizens are strictly forbidden to possess weapons of any sort here.  Even tools are forbidden in residential areas, unless special permission has been granted.  Knives, bats, chains, even loose lengths of pipe require a special license that is almost never granted.  Violent inhabitants find it almost impossible to obtain weapons from the outside, but often turn to making their own from hidden materials.  Homemade clubs, knives, and hand axes are all common among criminals, but bulky weapons like swords, battle-axes and considered to be too hard to hide.  Periodically, a resident manages to machine simple one-shot handguns – famously, these guns show up easily on police scanners and sometimes explode in the owner’s hand.

Cyberwear:  Cybernetic weapons and cybernetic body cavities (such as flesh holsters), are strictly forbidden, as is any cyberware that makes the user harder to detect.

Smuggling:  All citizens wishing to enter the territory must pass through checkpoints where they are scanned for illegal items and cyberwear.  The system is effective in detecting drugs and while there are plentiful drugs available in the area, they are locally produced and famous for their negative side-effects.

===Southside Lockdowns:  “The Crypts”===

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These lockdowns are probably called “the crypts” due to the extensive subways that honeycomb them.  Such public transport is necessary as private ownership of vehicles is usually banned for residents.  The locals tend to be highly insular, possibly because of sheer lack of mobility.  They don’t use the term “the crypts”, don’t consider themselves to have anything in common with their neighbors and generally do not see themselves as part of any territory that extends beyond their own neighborhood.

Police:  The corporate police care little for protecting the local citizens and extended families form into clans for mutual protection.  While traditional street gangs are known here, after the police, it is these clans who hold most power on the streets.

Gangs:  Much of the ecological role of gangs has been taken over by the clans here, but youths with no family (or no inclination to follow their family’s rules) do form more traditional gangs.  The can rarely contest with the clans for turf, but will engage in hit and run operations to get what they want, or take control of territory that the clans don’t particularly want.  Gangs will generally carry melee weapons, ranging from flick-knives to katanas, depending on how well the neighborhood is policed.

Organized Crime:  As in any lockdown, territory is valuable here, since heavy corporate prohibitions make illegal supply very profitable.  Organizations tend to be run along family lines and the distinction between a clan and a criminal gang is often impossible to draw.  Notions of honor and loyalty to friends and family are central to the culture of most of these groups, although there is more hypocrisy and lip-service to these ideals than genuine commitment.  It is usual for organizations to present themselves as benefactors of the community, protecting them from abuse by criminals from outside.  Territory is divided geographically, rarely with divisions being made by racket except in business districts.

Entertainment:  The residents enjoy all the entertainments of the outside world through their internet connection.

Sports:  Sports in general are popular here, although American football is particularly adored, often leading to brawls between fans.  Combat sports are an integral part of sports culture and events are frequently held.  The rules depend on the disposition of the ruling clan.  Generally, the clans insist that nothing must happen that would offend corporate security, such as the use of weapons.  Dirty street-fighting tactics are generally allowed.  Some clans hold illegal events involving unblunted melee weapons.

Points of Interest:  

“Cloud City” is the name the locals give to a stretch of the Crypts that is so polluted by smog from local Durocorp factories that the air is often not breathable without a gas mask and visibility is often reduced to a few feet.  The many workers who live in the area take great care to make sure that their windows are properly sealed.  As disgusting at the climate is, it provides some protection from surveillance and is a favorite haunt of people who need to hide, people looking to make a secret deal, or people looking for a victim.

Taylor Field lies at the heart of Paradise City’s obsession with American football.  The most financially successful football field in Paradise City, it hosts city, state and sometimes even national championships.  The merchandising empire that has been set up around Taylor Field is enormous and fan obsession there is sometimes hysterical.  People rarely take families to Taylor Field anymore since mob violence between supporters of different teams has become so endemic.  The owners certainly don’t seem to do much to discourage the violence, leading to speculation that they like it because it makes good television.

Weapons:  It is illegal to bring weapons into these neighborhoods and generally very difficult to do, although a low-tech melee weapon can usually be bribed in for $10 or so.  Citizens are forbidden to carry weapons in the street.  Residents are, however, permitted to keep low-tech melee weapons in their homes for home defense.  In practice, this means that most adults hide a small melee weapon, such as a knife, on their persons when they go out in public, and keep larger melee weapons, such as clubs, axes and machetes, in their home.  When a community is going to a battle, they are liable to take their large weapons with them in defiance of the law.  The police tolerate such attacks up to a point, as long as damage to public property is kept to a minimum.

Cyberwear:  Armor that does not look natural is forbidden, as is any weapon that cannot be retracted, and any ranged weapon.  Such cyberwear is rarely found in the territory.

Smuggling:  All citizens wishing to enter the territory must pass through checkpoints where they are scanned for illegal items and cyberwear.  The system is not effective in detecting drugs.

===Westside Lockdowns:  “West Hollywood”===

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These lockdowns are famous for the great proliferation of police and corporate security cameras – the streets and public places are carefully monitored, as are many work places and common areas.  Police manpower is not particularly great and the cops generally have little interest in preventing violence that is not causing public disruption or destroying property.  Still, the system does keep some kind of a lid on the destructive tendencies of the locals.  West Hollywood is the most economically successful of the lockdowns - pay is low and goods are scarce, but the relative order is good for business.

Transport:  The subway system serves these communities.  It is not extensive here, but there is almost always at least one station in each gated community.  The corporations generally provide bus services to make sure that their employees arrive at work on time.  There are also corporation-owned taxi services.  It is standard for both buses and taxis to require that identification be shown, with all information being automatically forwarded to corporate security.  There are illegal pirate taxi services that do not require identity to be shown, but they are expensive.

Police:  The police accept that worthless citizens will feel the occasional need to rob, assault or kill one another.  They are not likely to interfere if they can pass an interaction off as a “private matter”, although they will take action if illegal activity begins to look like it will cause general destruction or disorder.  Ironically, police corruption is relatively low on the street level in West Hollywood, since the officers themselves are frequently effectively under surveillance.

Gangs:  The gangs of West Hollywood usually don’t wear identifying insignia, or choose means of identifying themselves that are not blatantly obvious to a security camera.  Even gangsters aren’t usually carrying weapons and weapons that are used are liable to be improvised.  Gangers usually are quite stealthy and favor quick hit and run tactics.

Organized Crime:  There is little centralization of organized crime, which is mostly a patchwork of tiny dictatorships.  The turf is profitable due to heavy corporate prohibition, but not many people are actually getting rich, since the eternal warfare between mistrustful, ambitious and uncooperative neighbors gets in the way or well-organized business.  Gangster culture revolves around cults of personality directed at local leaders, usually based more on fear and flattery than genuine feelings of admiration.

Entertainment: The locals effectively have unlimited access to the internet, despite constant attempts by the corporations to stamp it out.  They choose a steady diet of sports, pornography and reality television.

Sports:  The locals enjoy all of the major national sports, particularly American football, leading to frequent brawls between fans.  Combat sports of all kinds are a popular television choice.  Different corporations have different rules about what kinds of combat sports events they will permit to actually take place on their property.  Many have a simple ban on all combat sports, some will allow boxing and nothing else, while others permit any vicious brawl as long as no weapons are involved.  Illegal underground events involving knives, chains and other improvised weapons are often held.  The locals have a peculiar love of altering the rules of older sports such as football, baseball and soccer, to allow for more violence.

Points of Interest:  

The McDonald-Douglas-Nguyan Park is the name given to a walled community belonging to the McDonald-Douglas-Nguyan corporation.  The factories here produce vehicles that are exported all over the world.  They are particularly famous for their military aircraft, but also produce a wide variety of civilian vehicles.  The corporation holds regular tests in the wastelands to see how their products hold up under combat conditions.

“Shit Street” is a complex network of old sewers that humans have taken over to use as homes and small businesses.  There are many disadvantages to joining the community that lives in Shit Street, but it does give you somewhere to get away from the constant surveillance.  The heart of Shit Street is well supplied with electricity, fresh water and internet connections – conditions in peripheral pipes may be more primitive.  More than one gang has attempted to claim the Shit Street colony as territory, but the inhabitants prove to be extremely tenacious when defending their home.

Weapons: Citizens here are forbidden to carry weapons.  Weapons that are available are almost all improvised – knives, tools, pipes, chains, and so forth.  Weapons are never worn openly in the street, and are only carried if they are intended for immediate use.  Bats are forbidden and generally unavailable, as is any other item of sporting equipment that could be used as an improvised weapon.  There are many places where a citizen may not even carry a tool that might be used as a weapon, such as a screwdriver.

Cyberwear:  Cybernetic weapons are forbidden as is armor that is not natural in appearance.

Smuggling:  All citizens wishing to enter the territory must pass through checkpoints where they are scanned for illegal items and cyberwear. The system is effective in keeping drugs from entering the neighborhoods.  Locally made drugs are available for the streetwise, but are famous for their negative-side effects are often lead to arrest.