Editing Paradise City:Urban Geography (section)

=THE CITY=

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“The City” is the name given to the central commercial district of Paradise and is the jurisdiction of Central CityPol.  The area roughly takes the form of an elongated oval, running north-south.  The further north one goes, the more exclusive the businesses tend to be and the safer the streets are, while the further south one goes, the seedier the businesses tend to be and the more dangerous the streets are.  This stretch is roughly divided into three areas – uptown, midtown, and downtown.  Downtown snakes its way between the gated corporate sanctuaries to the south and finally peters out in the Southside projects.

===Uptown===

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The uptown district is the northern end of “the city” and is the business hub of Paradise.  The offices of the major corporations are here, as are the most expensive and exclusive stores.

Checkpoints:  Cars must pass through checkpoints in order to enter the uptown area from midtown.  Many buildings here scan everyone who passes through the door.

Transport:  Uptown is served by the highline.  It has a well-funded public transport system for the workers and a wide variety of shuttle fleets run by individual malls and shopping centers.  Taxis are clean, safe and plentiful.

Police:  Central CityPol presence is heavy and the officers are well-supplied, well-paid and highly professional.  However, there is also a heavy presence of corporate police, often licensed to carry weapons in the street.  Both city and corporate police are liable to be issued with weapons of LR 2 or above, typically submachine guns. Corporate police are unlikely to attempt to interfere with crimes that do not take place on corporate property, but are quite likely to let the city police know what is going on.

Gangs:  The police have a zero tolerance policy towards gangs so gangs here are rare and usually don’t last for long.  The gangers must blend in to the crowd, which means that they must look fairly affluent and cannot adopt dress that too clearly marks them as a unit.  Since being caught with a weapon is likely to lead to jail time, gangers here usually carry none.  When they do carry weapons, they are liable to be improvised and easily concealed, such as knives and razors.  These gangers are rarely dangerous unless they catch you alone and mug you.

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

Points of Interest:  The malls and shopping centers of Uptown can extend for miles and include thousands of businesses.  The prices may be outrageous, but you can get almost any legal thing you want here.

Weapons:  If you are carrying a weapon but not wearing a uniform, then both city and corporate police will assume that you intend to commit crimes and need to be taken off the street.

===Midtown===

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The midtown area mainly services the technical-class residents of the Eastgate and Westgate “Burbs” that surround it.  It contains businesses and stores of interest to the middle classes as well as the offices of small corporations that are not affluent enough to purchase real estate in the uptown area.  The area is generally regarded as respectable, boring and relatively safe – gangs do sometimes drift up from downtown (or ride in from the Southside) but Central CityPol tends to make short work of them.

Checkpoints:  There are few checkpoints here, although a number of buildings will scan everyone who enters.

Transport:  The Midtown transport system is essentially the same as the Uptown transport system, though with fewer luxury options.

Police:  The midtown area is highly profitable real estate and the Central CityPol officers here are plentiful, vigilant and well-supplied.  Because the important corporate offices are further north, there are relatively few corporate police here and they are rarely permitted to carry anything more powerful than an LR 3 handgun, typically an auto-pistol.  The police here see themselves as holding the line against the relative anarchy of the downtown area – they are generally polite to respectable looking citizens, but will be suspicious of those who look poor or otherwise disreputable.

Gangs:  Gangs may be tolerated by the police if they stick to the back streets, pay sufficient protection money, and don’t cause too much of a disturbance.  However, they are quickly dealt with if they stray onto the main roads, so gangs who want to claim those areas as their turf need to be careful to disguise themselves as ordinary citizens.  Obvious weaponry is not tolerated anywhere and most establishments have well-maintained metal detectors in place, so gang weaponry tends to be small and easily concealed.  Gangs going to war may carry heavier arms, typically auto-pistols and shotguns.  Fully automatic weapons are sometimes used, but traditionally the police will kill any ganger they catch with such a weapon, which tends to discourage the practice.

Organized Crime:  Organized crime in 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. 

Points of Interest:  If a crime is committed in “The City” or in Eastgate or Westgate, it is liable to be tried in The Justice Complex, a hulking stone network of courthouses and administrative offices in the Midtown area.  Accused prisoners are generally held Downtown (often for a long time), but are brought here for a swift and efficient trial.  Middle class citizens famously get much lighter treatment than working class citizens, although the complex is known for having a generally punitive attitude.  Central CityPol officers with sub-machineguns and gyroc pistols stand guard at regular intervals around and inside the complex.

Weapons:  If you are carrying a weapon but not wearing a uniform, then the police will assume that you intend to commit crimes and need to be dealt with.  Respectable looking citizens may simply be asked to return home and lock their weapon away.  Disreputable looking citizens are liable to be arrested.

===Downtown===

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The Downtown area is the “market” at the heart of Paradise, a bright neon wonderland devoted to trade in all of its forms.  While the Uptown area to the north contains most of the corporate offices, it is in the Downtown area in which most money actually changes hands.  The streets are packed with people and are lined with stores, bars, casinos, and entertainment venues.

Checkpoints:  There are no regular police checkpoints here, although many business put restrictions on weapons and some businesses scan everyone who enters the building.

Transport:  Downtown is served by both the Highline and the subway.  The rudimentary public bus system is supplemented by a wide variety of private bus and taxi companies and it is rarely difficult to find a convenient ride to wherever you wish to go.  Private cars often choke the roads, extending travel times.  

Police:  There are more opportunities for a police officer to make money Downtown than anywhere else.  Local businesses bribe Central CityPol officers to protect business, which the officers do by keeping the peace.  The police share the streets with the gangers, but leave no doubt about who ultimately rules here.  Central CityPol accepts that gangers are going to kill each other, but will not allow fighting in important public places and will arrest any citizen found in possession of a weapon of LR 2 or below.  Generally, gangers toe the line, but not entirely, and Downtown remains a dangerous place for officer and citizen alike.  This is especially true in the seedier and less profitable sections of Downtown, where CityPol protection is less enthusiastic.  Police officers here are usually issued with submachine-guns, auto-pistols, and stun batons.  The department is well supplied with any other weapon of LR 2 and above.

Gangs:  Gangs are drawn to the Downtown area like flies to crap.  Of all territories, it promises the most money, the most fun, and the best chance to find a weaker gang to attack.  Central CityPol has accepted that it can’t get rid of the gangers and the gangs are flamboyant and wear their weapons openly.  Gangers on the street generally carry an auto-pistol and a backup melee weapon, but there is considerable variation.  Gangers going to a battle are likely to be carrying illegal weaponry, typically shotguns, but often machine pistols and submachine guns.

Organized Crime:  Downtown is the hub of illegal business in Paradise City and the most profitable place for a criminal organization to establish itself.  Competition is fierce here and territory is less often measured by blocks or rackets than by businesses and buildings – an organization might count its assets as two large advertising agencies, three casinos and a strip club.  Different criminal groups specialize in different businesses, but the most powerful bosses are likely to have diverse holdings.  The culture of organized criminals is patterned on the culture of the honest corporates that they pretend to be, and organizations are usually run like businesses, if unusually dangerous and violent businesses.  Family usually matters a lot less than competence and it is rare for an organization to share any particular ethnicity – those that do are generally the local representatives of foreign bosses.

Entertainment:  Downtown is the main provider of news and entertainment for Paradise City.  More successful television stations, record labels and entertainment venues are found here than in all other parts of the city combined.  The popular news programs are effectively reality shows, providing footage of crimes and accidents, mostly those happening in Paradise City itself.  Corporate interests determine which stories get play on the major stations and which do not and the news is usually spun in whichever direction the owning corporations require.  Most popular music is generic mindless pop, commissioned by corporations to meet the carefully studied needs of teenagers.  However, Downtown offers almost everything somewhere, musically and otherwise.

Sport:  Almost any sport can be found being played in Downtown somewhere.  However, traditional games like football and baseball are more frequently played in the residential areas, while events Downtown tend to be more exotic.  Races and combat sports are particularly popular with the crowds.  The more respectable combat sports venues play by “Takanawa rules” as originally laid down by the Takanawa corporation for the Takanawa arena.  The rules stress that the safety of the athletes must always be the first concern.  Protective sports equipment must always be worn and athletes with cyberware should rarely or never matched with athletes without cyberware.  There are many restrictions on what may and may not be done in combat.  The rules require that only melee weapons may be used and they may not have sharp edges or points.  Striking to kill or maim is forbidden as are attacks to the nose, vitals and groin.  Vehicles may be ridden in while fighting but may not deliberately be driven into anyone or anything.  Even with these rules in place, death and injury are inevitable, but an honorable venue is expected to sue any athlete who deliberately kills, maims or seriously hurts another competitor.  On the street, the phrase “Takanawa rules” has come to mean “fair”.  Less respectable venues have more brutal rules or no rules at all.  The police will generally tolerate anything that is “Takanawa rules” and may tolerate more extreme sports if the money is right.

Points of Interest:  

The Downtown area is home to Paradise City International Airport, by far the largest airport in the city.  All weapons are banned on airport property.  Around the airport is a ring of businesses dedicated to providing visitors with the legendary pleasures of Paradise – hotels, bars, brothels and drug dens compete to satisfy all desires, tastes and budgets.  The locals call this ring “Sinland”.

The Takanawa Arena is the single largest entertainment venue in Paradise City.  It is a huge coliseum, mainly used for sporting events, bubblegum pop concerts and sales events.  Not all of the music is bubblegum pop and any music with a sufficient following is liable to be heard here eventually.

Channel 12 News is the most successful and most watched news station in Paradise City and has an even greater number of viewers worldwide.  It feeds the viewers a steady diet of sensationalized crime stories, sports results and celebrity scandal.  Police are never criticized on Channel 12, but are held up as heroes who protect the city from the evil elements who seek to hurt their fellow citizens.  Criticism of corporations is carefully muted.  Analysts on Channel 12 generally conclude that greater police powers are required to combat crime and terrorism in Paradise City.  Channel 12 News is a subsidiary of the Yosho-Noshi corporation.

Number 78 Collins Street houses Central Citypol headquarters.  It is from this skyscraper that Downtown is ruled, if loosely.  The profits are enormous and the corruption extreme.  Contrary to urban myth, relatively little of this money comes from organized crime – it is the corporations who are the truly generous donors.

Weapons:  About one in ten citizens carry visible weapons in the street.  Central CityPol officers frowns on the practice, but will tolerate a handgun (LR 2+, typically auto-pistols) carried in a holster.  CityPol will immediately arrest anyone found with a longarm or with a weapon of LR 2 or below, even in the seedier parts of town.  Most downtown businesses require that weapons be left at the door and the more respectable and prosperous the business, the more likely that the request will be made.  Bars famously have enacted a variety of rules for the sake of safety and flavor - rules run the gamut from a total ban on weapons, to a ban on anything but medieval Japanese weapons, to a rule that only those packing a handgun will be permitted to enter.

Smuggling:  Citizens may enter and leave the Downtown area without being scanned by the police.  In fact, police scans are rare in the territory and generally only occur if an officer is already suspicious.  The system is not effective in keeping anything much out, although military hardware, such as assault rifles, is generally felt to be too hard to hide.  Private establishments often scan to keep weapons out, although security measures vary greatly.