Editing Paradise City:Urban Geography (section)

=THE CORPZONE=

===Nirvana===

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Nirvana:  Nirvana is the home of upper management and the independently rich.  Most residents are servants, though the rich mix with them as little as they can.  PCs may not be from Nirvana and it must not be taken as a “Background”.
Checkpoints:  The walls around Nirvana are the most carefully protected walls in Paradise, and internally, Nirvana has far more checkpoints than any other region.

Police:  Northside CityPol has a very high presence here.  Every officer in CityPol wants to work in Nirvana.  These are the police assigned to live among the affluent, and they appreciate their fortunate position.  Of all police in the city, they are the best paid, best-supplied and least often killed in the line of duty.  The police work hard to ensure that the residents are kept safe and happy.  The officers are usually issued with weapons of LR 2 and above, typically submachine guns.  Some residential buildings may be protected by corporate police licensed to carry weapons of LR 2 or above on the premises, typically submachine guns.

Gangs:  The police have a zero tolerance policy regarding gangs and there aren’t many of them around.  Those gangs that do form tend not to last for long before the police decisively take them in hand.  Gangs here try their hardest not to look like gangs.  They do dress alike if they wish to, since the currents of fashion often lead the children of the rich to dress alike, but they dress to look like normal members of society.  None of them openly carry weapons and most of them carry no weapons at all, since being caught with a weapon here is likely to result in prison time.  Any weapons they do have are likely to be improvised and easy to conceal, like knives and razors.  Items of LR 4 or lower are rare and generally only carried if the gang is going to battle.  The gangs are usually not much danger unless they catch you alone and attack you for fun.  A few of the gangers are bored rich kids from this territory, but most of them are children of live-in servants.

Weapons:  If residents see that you are carrying a weapon of any sort, they are liable to conclude that you are a criminal and call the police.  As far as the police are concerned, your right to wear a weapon does not extend to anywhere in the Corpzone.  It does not matter to them if you are actually breaking the law or not – you are clearly up to no good so they will just charge you with something to get you off the street.

Points of Interest:  Paradise is ruled from the vast Arcology One, lying in the heart of Nirvana.  Arcology One is a sealed building containing the richest and most powerful citizens in all Paradise, along with their families.  There are few human servants in Arcology One – robots are more convenient.

==The Burbs==

===Eastgate and Westgate===

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“Eastgate” and “Westgate” are the unofficial names given to the technical-class residential areas to the east and west of the midtown area – both of these areas constituting “the burbs”.  Despite the moniker “the burbs”, there is little that is genuinely suburban about this area, which is mainly comprised of high-rise apartment buildings and is as urban an environment as is to be found anywhere in the city.  Appropriately, Eastgate is located in the Eastside borough and Westgate in the Westside borough.  There is not much practical difference between the two and only the relatively rare gangs care about the rivalry between the east and west sides of town.  

Checkpoints:  Like Nirvana, Eastgate and Westgate are each surrounded by well-protected walls.  There are few checkpoints inside the areas – most of them at the entrances to buildings.

Transport:  These areas are well served by the highline and contain many stations.  There is a well-funded public bus system, though it is mostly used by menial workers.  Anyone who aspires to the middle class would be ashamed to be seen using public transport and most of the residents travel by private car.  Taxis are plentiful, clean and safe.

Police:  High Presence.  This is the second most desirable territory for a CityPol police officer.  Every officer dreams of being transferred to the management neighborhoods and fears being posted anywhere else.  The police here are well-paid and well-supplied and are much less likely to be killed in the line of duty than the vast majority of CityPol officers.  They work hard to make sure that the residents can go peacefully about their business.  The police are usually issued with weapons of LR 2 and above, typically submachine guns.  Some residential buildings may be protected by corporate police licensed to carry weapons of LR 2 or above on the premises, typically submachine guns.

Gangs:  The police have a zero tolerance policy regarding gangs and the territory has a much lower gang presence than the lower-class neighborhoods or anywhere beyond the Corpzone.  Still, a few gangs do appear and they are usually of one of two distinct types.  The locals or “turf gangers” seek to blend in with the citizens around them, just as gangs in the management neighborhoods do.  They are generally young and are being supported by their parents – which is how they can afford to live in such a respectable neighborhood.  The outsiders or “wheel gangers” invade from less prosperous neighborhoods, especially those on the Southside.  They cannot get past the walls, but they can harass the middle-class communities that ring the outside.  Most turf-gangers travel in cars and most wheel gangers possess bikes, but it is neighborhood, not mode of transportation, that determines whether a ganger will consider himself a “turf ganger” or a “wheel ganger”.  Turf gangers may work to make money here (say by selling drugs or mugging people) but invading wheel gangers are generally just here to raise hell and get away before they get shot by the police.  Because the local police have a zero tolerance policy towards weapons and are zealous in enforcing it, turf gangers prefer weapons that can easily be concealed, usually of LR 4 or above (typically knives or micro-pistols).  Even if going to battle, such gangers rarely try to carry anything heavier than an LR 3 weapon, typically a holdout auto-pistol. The wheel gangers on the other hand are liable to come with weapons of LR 2 or above (typically auto-pistols or machine pistols).  The turf gangers are more common than the wheel gangers, but are also considerably less dangerous.

Organized Crime:  Organized crime is mainly under the control of whichever factions have influence in the Downtown area.  Professionals go to a lot of trouble to appear to be respectable citizens and are very concerned about secrecy and security, even for organized criminals.

Entertainment:  Most entertainment in these areas is the same mindless television that everyone else is watching – mostly sports, sensationalist crime news and pornography.

Sports:  The most popular spectator sports in Eastgate and Westgate are, in order, American football, baseball, soccer, boxing and kick-boxing.  “Combat sports” are illegal in Eastgate and Westgate, although it isn’t illegal to show them on television and they are popular viewing.  There is much disagreement over exactly what constitutes a “combat sport” but at a minimum, the police ban anything involving weapons or a serious threat to life.  Fencing is permitted, provided that the weapons are blunt. Racing is permitted, but not fighting while riding a vehicle.

Points of Interest:  

Eastgate and Westgate are the respective homes of UPCE and UPCW, University of Paradise City at Eastgate and University of Paradise City at Westgate.  These are the two premier universities in Paradise City and the only universities that are run by the government rather than by a corporation.  Most of the students come from the Eastgate and Westgate areas.  The two institutions cooperate very closely and there is little to distinguish them other than geography – most students choose which to attend based on which is closest.  However, Eastgate does have a famously good medical school while Westgate’s Department of Advertising has an international reputation.  There is a keen sporting rivalry between the two schools.  The traditional outlets for this have been football and wrestling, but increasingly, athletes have been engaging in unofficial and illegal underground combat sports.

Castleview Estates is a gated community in Eastgate, open only to families with cloned children.  It was establish to provide a refuge for such families if they felt like outsiders because of a cloned family member.  Castleview is now a thriving and wealthy community and houses on individual lots sell for millions of dollars.

Weapons:  The attitude of the locals and police to weapons here is essentially the same as it is in the management neighborhoods – carrying a weapon of any sort is a sign that you are a dangerous criminal and need to be taken off the street.