Mega City One

The old governments are faded relics, so indebted to their corporate masters that they no longer have the power to govern. The world is divided between the haves and the have-nots - those who have money, those who have power - and those who don’t. It’s no longer a question of what you do with power when you get it, it’s all about how long you can hang on to it.

Mega City One is the largest of all the mega cities on Terra Firma. Mega-City One's population mainly lives in gigantic towers known as City Blocks, each holding some 50,000 people. Each is named after some historical person or TV character, usually for comic effect. A number of incidents have occurred between different blocks which arose from simple rivalries, and on many occasions broke into full-scale gun battles between various blocks.

Mega-City One was formed by urban sprawl rather than deliberate design, and by 2118 it was recognised as the world's first mega-city. The UTC security force's powers reflect the difficulty of maintaining order. Mega-City One extends from Boston to Charlotte; but extended into Florida before the Apocalypse War laid waste to the southern sectors.  At its height, the city contained a population of about 1.5 billion; after the Apocalypse War, it was more than halved to about 800 million. However, immigration quickly increased the population to 1.2 billion by 2207.

Mega-City One ended the UTC policy of apartheid in the 2230s, but encourages mutants and xeno's to move to Cursed Earth townships instead of remaining in the city.

## **Places Of Interest:**

### **Black Rock Prison**

This thirty-story prison looks like a medieval tower on the middle of Mega City One. The prison contracts with the Guilds and other extraterritorial entities to hold criminals the organizations do not have facilities to hold themselves. MC1-PD cannot exercise legal control over the prison, leaving it a black site of sorts, where the only laws applicable are those created and upheld by the prison ownership.

### **Government Zone**

Comprising most of downtown Washington, the Government Zone is bordered on the west by the White House Exclusion Zone, and on the east by the UTC Capitol Enclosure. Both buildings are now heavily fortified and surrounded by walls and barriers to restrict access.

It also contains the Watergate Armageddon Bunker remains. Home to the Illuminates of the New Dawn Grand Lodge, The George Washington University, and the Counters Guild headquarters and UTC embassy to the FoS. The neighborhood has changed considerably since the early 21st century when many large structures outside of the GWU property limits were eliminated and replaced with single-family housing for the rich and powerful of what was once DC.

### **Kansai Village**

The area that includes the Waterfront and southern areas of what used to be the southern edge of the Government Zone. It is accessible to the public, but the whole area is owned and operated by the Guild of Engineers, and includes the global headquarters of said Guild.

### **Chicagolands**

The Chicago megaplex has been turned into a lawless zone overrun by gangs, xeno filth and the general scum of the UTC. By 2162 Chicago became an urban hellhole with violent gang turf wars, a large smuggling ring, a high population of SiNless and other societal outcasts.

Despite politicians running on campaigns to clean up and rebuild Chicago, very little came of it. O'Hare Airport was given to the Guilds, who ensured the airport stayed operational under heavy military control and enforcement.

### **Inwood**

It has earned the nickname "The Singer's Slum" as many opera singers, musicians, composers and simsense actors live in the area. Its main local thoroughfare is Broadway, its main highways are the Henry Hudson Parkway and the Harlem River Drive, and its main shopping areas are Dyckman Street, Broadway and West 207th Street. Inwood is a largely residential neighborhood, consisting mostly of city blocks and parkland. It also houses an aboveground subway yard, a bus depot, a Sanitation Department facility, Columbia University's athletic fields, and the Allen Pavilion (an annex of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell).

### **Strivers' Row**

The term Strivers' Row refers to three rows of townhouses in western Newtown, in Manhattan. The houses sit back-to-back with each other. Today, the back areas are used almost exclusively for the parking of cars and drones. Strivers Row houses are among the very few private homes in Manhattan. This means, however, that they are among the few townhouses that do not have gardens in the rear. Middle Managers and guild members live here in this gated community.

### **Sugar Hill**

Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in the northern part of Newtown, in Manhattan. It was a popular residential area of rowhouses for wealthy African Americans before the Judgement Day Wars. Sugar Hill was made a municipal historic district by the Manhattan Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2160; now it is home to a more integrated population. Along with a small remnant of Afro-American and Latino residents, there is a growing number of: Arab, Eastern and Central European, English, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Balkan, Scottish, Azanian, Ukranian, and West Indian Humans, though some mutants and xeno live here, too.

Sugar Hill is primarily known for its pastry shops, thus the name, and is *the* place any New Yorker knows they can go for the best *Elaishón* in town -- you know, that delicious xeno pastry with strawberry filling and rosepetal/blueberry paste mix. Eastern European eateries from Free Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Brasov-Covasna, and Dalmatia can be found on the ground floors of the biggest condo and office high-rises.

Supply Depots and shipping centers line the Harlem River. Scandinavian and Welsh pastry shops; upscale Balkan, Soul Food, and African restaurants; family-friendly media stores that sell AR for the kids occupy every other block, and are nestled between blocks of gated communities and 50-200-story city blocks.

The area is well-served by numerous subway lines, grocery centers and retail shops. There is also a UTC Post Office, a New York City Public Library, a CUNY campus, and several guild branches, fast food places, and gas/recharge stations. The Nightingale Corp-owned Newtown Medical Complex is only a few blocks to the east.

The streets are still filled with ghetto-tech rappers and raphop street performers. Rap group The Sugarhill Krew and ghetto-tech raphop record label Sugar Hill Mediaworks pay homage to the neighborhood's roots in their names.

The ***Albanian Fares*** seem to be the puppet masters pulling the strings of the few gangs in the area. The ***Vory*** also are powerful here behind the scenes, but they are more out in the open about it. About 7 out of 10 Mom and Pops here pay protection cred to the Vor. The Vory and the Albanians are currently engaged in a strange shadow war against each other for the various Black Market rackets: drugs and chips, protection, prostitution, etc. Sometimes, a crew can be working for one against the other, yet all the while they find the situation may be reversed, or worse yet, their target and their employer are collaborating. Watch your back if you want to play on Sugar Hill, friends.

### **Rockefeller Center (Midtown):**

High Security. Human Caucasian area. Congested and expensive business district.

### D**iamond District (Midtown):**

Tight security. Caucasian neighborhood with a major mutant minority. Crowded and bustling business district.

### **Neon City & The Garment District**

Neon City is a series of interconnected, mall-like structures. Whereas Times Square is the AR and VR Tourist Mecca, this is the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Playground. Glass-enclosed crosswalks that rise high above the traffic link the buildings. There are many open-air spaces, some several floors above the street, where people can meet and look out at the marvelous views of the city.

Lush grassy square blocks surround Neon City, filled with slender trees and inviting green chairs. As well as free synthjazz in summer months and several outdoor eateries, there's also a rather aggressive happy hour singles scene at the Bryant Park Café. All corporate, all sponsored by the Guilds.

### **Swan & Mallard:**

A bar chain of specific taste and intrigue.