Editing Paradise City:Urban Geography (section)

===Westside Deadlands: “The Westside Nation”===

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The Westside Nation is a confederation of urban survivalists, in which gangers are the warrior-aristocracy.  The area is mostly composed of neighborhoods that were flattened twenty years ago by police with emergency powers in a “war” between the Westside and the cops.  Most of the Westside concedes that the police won the war, but in the Nation, it is accepted that Nation won, on the grounds that the police eventually went away and the Westside Nation inherited the turf.  The war gave the locals a hatred for the police, and a loyalty to the Westside.  Wartime alliances had given the locals a sense of community, and a tradition of standing together against outside incursion.  In the aftermath, the locals managed to cooperate sufficiently to do some rebuilding.  The various old communities largely survived, even if conditions became harder and authority shifted from the police to the gangers.  The Westside Nation produces its own power and its own hydroponic food.  The population is not large, but is larger than any other area in the warzone.
Each gang has independent rule over its own territory, but each gang also sends representatives to a central ruling body – the “War Council”.  The War Council is vaguely democratic, although the weight of each representative’s vote is determined by a Byzantine and patchwork set of rules.  The strongest gangs ultimately rule – the council makes decisions about what should be done, but has no power to enforce its decisions.  If the gangers enforce the rule, it sticks – otherwise, it doesn’t.  Gang feuds are common and inevitably, hostilities sometimes break out.  The War Council has no authority to take an official side in these disputes, although they can praise and condemn particular acts. Despite the limitations on its authority, the War Council remains a very powerful body – gangers gain face for having the council on their side.

Weapons:  Weapons of LR 1 or above may be worn openly.  Weapons of LR 0 or below are forbidden to everyone except gangers with turf in the Nation.