North Minneapolis

## Don’t Breathe The Air in Murderapolis

Posted by: Juba

North Minneapolis has a rough reputation. It’s definitely darker and grimmer than your average Nokomis wageslave is used to, but it’s not a bad place for street professionals to do business, as long as they use some common sense.

The area most people are thinking of as “North Minneapolis” is the official “Near North” community, just to the north/northwest of downtown and the Warehouse district. This includes all the smaller hoods that any Minneapolis ganger is going to have heard of, Hawthorne, Jordan and the like. It’s perhaps the closest Twin Cities parallel to Seattle’s Barrens, as unlike most of the Cities’ rough neighborhoods, it’s not densely populated and is on the edge of the city proper. The roads are at best poorly maintained, and with the weather here have degraded dramatically, impeding travel, so gang territories are small and numerous. It’s a mostly orc  and troll  area, so with the neighborhood

   so close to the Warehouse District clubs, it’s no surprise this was the center of the Cities’ Goblin Rock scene at the height of that phenomenon a few years back. The recent rise of Black Fangs  ganger Nabo  to stardom shows that it isn’t necessarily over, either. Still, this neighborhood’s got a long, long history of gangs, poverty and street warfare, and it remains to be seen whether the legitimate wealth from the music industry can fix that.

*Knight Errant ’s recent attempts to do some actual serving and protecting here makes one inclined to think that they believe it’s possible to get the ghetto back under control.*
- Red Hawk

*If they’re still doing it after their contract is confirmed for renewal, I’ll be surprised.*
- Fight Owl

   North of this area, in the farthest northwest part of Minneapolis, is the Camden area. Even more polluted, but less violent, due to a bunch of corporate industrial facilities in the area bringing employment. What non-squatter residents are here are employed at these places. Several corps haveplants and such here, but probably the most notable facility in Camden to a runner is Ares’ General Mills cereal plant. On bad days, the air here burns the lungs of those who aren’t used to it, and I doubt it’s too good for permanent residents, so if I were you, I’d drop in for runs and out again quick.

*Ares ’ physical security at the plant is tighter than a <unnecessary>. They don’t want nobody slotting around with the food supply.*
- Wirefrog

*You have a way with words, omae.*
- Nodewalker

*Camden and Near North have most of the places that have been used in the Cities for Urban Brawl. A runner with the right skills might be able to make some nuyen on one of the local teams, as a substitute or regular, although obviously, I’d recommend nanopaste disguises so you’re not recognized.*
- Fight Owl

*Horizon ’s tied to the televised matches pretty closely. I would think twice before taking FO’s suggestion if you’ve pissed them off lately.*
- Wired Rose

The northeast corner of Minneapolis, creatively known as “Northeast” or “Nordeast”, is also known for industry, including a small Ares aerospace complex, as well as a few facilities by smaller corps. Also, it’s traditionally Kirillov Vory  turf, so they’ve got plenty of their own shadow activities going on. This is especially true in the Quarry area. Originally a mining quarry, it was run as a shopping center up until Crash 1.0 , when the legitimate businesses went down. Now it’s really low-end stuff; the “legitimate” business in the area is pawn shops, cheap cyber clinics, tech surplus stores, and at least one lousy dwarven restaurant . Mixed in are Vory brothels, streetdocs, and a no-question Vory bank. The neighborhood as a whole is blue-collar, and contains the core of the Cities’ dwarf community.

*There’s been talk of extending the rail lines out here to the Quarry and beyond in hopes of gentrifying the area. The Vory might not be so pleased with that, but Ares’ transportation division is probably salivating over the idea.*
- Hyasynth

*Probably not going to help you as a runner, but if you want to make a girl feel special, take here out on one of the riverboat cruises out of Boom Island Park. Even with North Minneapolis’ “intoxicating” aroma, you still get a wizzer romantic ride.*
- Iab Npauj

*You need to start giving my boyfriend some pointers, nee-san.*
- Hyasynth

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