Mankato

## Greater Mankato "DNA: Darn Nice Area"

* **Population (as of 2070):** 113,694
* **Government:** Greater Mankato has a charter form of government with a council-manager plan. Citizens elect the City Council, which consists of one Council Member for each of the city’s nine wards, a Council Member At-Large and the Mayors of Mankato and North Mankato. The Council Member At-Large serves as president of the Council. The Mayor is a member of the City Council and is the ceremonial leader. Council members serve staggered, four-year terms. The City Council hires the City Manager who oversees the city’s day-to-day operations. The current City Manager is former EVO-4M middle management Monroe Pineda.
* **Territoriality:** Greater Mankato is part of the Counties of Blue Earth, Nicollet and La Sueur in the UCAS state of Minnesota. Major Extraterritorial holdings include Taylor 3D Industries (a wholly-owned subsidiary of AAA Evo-4M), Immanuel St. James Hospital (a campus of AA biotech corp Mayo Health Systems) and the KongWalMart Distribution Center (a division of AAA Aztechnology) and the University of Minnesota – Mankato (a part of the Minnesota State Education Consortium, a semi-public contractor [CCID: 342-B]).
* **Law Enforcement:** Greater Mankato Enforcement is a branch of Tri-County Public Safety Inc, which is jointly owned by the city governments of the cities of Mankato, North Mankato, the countries of Blue Earth, Nicollet, La Sueur and the corporations who have major Extraterritorial holdings in the area (Evo-4M, Mayo Health Systems, KongWalMart etc.)
* **Transportation:** Transit services are provided by the Mankato Transit System, another division of Tri-County Public Safety Inc.
* **Demographics (by Metatype):** Human 87%, Ork 5%, Troll 4%, Dwarf 2%, Elf 1%, Other 1%

So, the question most of you are asking ‘Why in the drek are we talking about Mankato’. About all most people know about Mankato is that its not the MSPlex. And it has some nice parks and stuff around it (which it does, to be fair).

But as you’ve probably guessed by the fact that this entry even exists, the important parts (at least for scoundrels like us) are the parts that aren’t listed in the stats above. See, the thing is that Mankato is to southern Minnesota and northern Iowa what Alexandria is to the north and central. Yeah. We’re talking about smuggling. Mankato has the location on the local trade routes and its a quiet town. It’s the last place people would expect and that’s the point.

Mankato is pretty much the transit hub south of the ‘Plex these days (largely thanks to the KongWalMart Distro center) and that goes for the illegitimate, as well as legit side of the business. It forms a conduit south for the BTL’s and telesma from the ‘Plex (as well as stolen medical supplies from the Mayo Complex over in Rochester).

Now the Family has a pretty big stake in what happens down here, and those interests are looked after by Jackie Darwin, head of Chapter 192 (the police code for vehicular manslaughter) of the Menace, and an old friend of Sonny Catarone from his biker days. These are hard guys and they know that their best interests are tied up with the Family’s. And are pretty ruthless about making sure nobody gets in the way of their good times.

Naturally, with this much honey, it draws a fair number of flies. And the Menace aren’t the only game in this town. Among the other players in this town are the Mahkato, I hate these guys, *tbh*, which is only fair since they hate pretty much everyone else. The Mahkato are local good-ol’-boys who got kicked out of the Humanis Policlub (which is pretty active around here) for being too bigoted. Yeah. Let that sink in. Not just Metahumans (although, do not get this wrong, they still hate them too), but Changelings, Technomancers, Mages, North American Natives and, really, anything that isn’t them. But there’s enough ‘Them’ (anglo, human, mundane, nationalist, etc) to make trouble. And they do, as well as cooking Awakened Meth and doing stick ups. When their busy ‘bashing everybody in nearly every category’ schedule allows it.

These guys are, in my mind, actually worse than the Jacks. And, oh, yeah, Mankato has a problem with Jacks. Not a lot to elaborate on there. But keep your eyes open, right *omae*?

The other major player on the board is the infamous ‘Belle Born’. This is one of those figures that has more rumors than facts about them. It is known that she is the center of the hospital trade. Pharmaceuticals, cloned organs, bio- or cyber-ware, etc. She’s got some kind of direct line there and everybody buys from her, not just locals like the Menace and the Jacks (not the Mahkato, there’s some kind of old grudge there, surprise, surprise), but out of towners as well, as far off as the Chinook, Fire Girls, Terror Frogs, even the Ferrall family down in Des Moines. She doesn’t have what you’d call a ‘mob’ exactly, but she has enough friends and contacts to make up the difference. Also, seriously, the Don up in the ‘Plex likes her so don’t frag around with her, huh?[1]

### Some Hot Local Spots

* **Happy Chef**, a good old-fashioned diner, with a 30 foot cartoon mascot (*see below*) which houses a state-of-the-art AI
* **Good Counsel Hill**, the center of Roman Catholicism in Mankato, a religious school, a convent, and the local chapter house of the Order of St. Sylvester
* **Lorin Cray House,** an old and lovely mansion, only a ***little*** bit haunted, and headquarters to Belle Born
* **Sibley Park**, very pretty, too bad it's still sealed off 'cause of the ghosts of the 38 Sioux hanged there back in 1862 by General Sibley...
* “Central” Mankato Central Complex, an enormous ~~godsawful eyesore~~... er, mixed-use entertainment/condo/retail complex that dominates downtown
* The New Saulpaugh Hotel, not just the best accommodations in town, but also the best place to do shadowbiz...

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