Chicago

## Chicago Zone (CZ)

**Chicagio** is a city of UCAS, famously isolated from the rest of the world and often called "Bug City".

## Geography

Chicago is divided into five areas: Northside, Southside, Westside, Eastside and O'Hare Subsprawl. Eastside as well as parts of Northside and Southside border on Lake Michigan.

Each area except the last has it's good and bad sides, but only O'Hare Subsprawl can at least look like it is a livable, modern city while the rest is rampant with crime, poverty and worse.

Special about Chicago is that is has Mana Spikes, areas where using magic, visiting the astral plane and such can harm or even kill you.

## History

Chicago became known as one of the centrals of Entertainment when Chicago-based company ESP Systems Inc. invented the first simsense chips.

The Crash of 2029 reduced Chicagos former glory as technological advanced a lot, setting it back drastically. Many electronic companies had to close down.

On 10th February 2039, Alamos 20.000 successfully bombed the IBM tower in a terrorist attack, causing it to collapse witht the casualties being over 25,000. The area around it became known as Shattergraves or The Noose, now housing a massive amount of both Ghouls and ghosts, making it one of the most unhabitable places of UCAS.

In August 2055, Ares failed in a undercover mission regarding Insect Spirits, causing a desastrous invasion of Bugs to invade the city. To surpress an outbreak, almost all of Downtown got demolished and the debris used to set up the walls of the Chicago Containment Zone. It is assumed that 100,000 citizens got trapped inside it at the time that the area got locked off. Shadowland revealed all this in December.

2058 ends the quarantine after Ares supposedly got rid of the Bugs via bacteria and heavy artillery. The free-again "Zoners" forcefully mingled with the rest of the population, causing a violent uproar.

By 2062, the city was effectively under the control of various gangs, with the majority of the population being SINless and rampant smuggling operations. Megacooperations bought up the right to control the Airport which is the only fully functional state building in Chicago. The Government officially disbanded after filing bancruptcy in 2063 due to The Crash 2.0.

## Politics

Each street and corner is under the control of one of the various gangs and smugglers.

Northside is controlled mostly by elf gangs, with a few Changelings thrown into the mix.

Westside is mostly Orc, Troll and Dwarf territory, with each sub-area being specific about who they accept and who will violently get thrown out. Racial minorities are the majority here, be it black dwarfs or philipino orcs. King Vlad is ruling over most of the area, especially those dedicated to Orcs.

Eastside has Chinatown which means: you don't have any friends in the Triads, Yakuza or such? Best stay away.

Shattergraves in the northern center is mostly devoid of any (un-)life. Barely any ghouls, ghosts or other beings are there anymore, leading to it getting slowly reclaimed by the homeless and Coyotes.

Southside is mostly Orc and Troll, filled with Factories and Chemical Plants. It is poor, broken and dirty, but not as violent as Westside.

The O'Hare Subsprawl and by extension the Airport is controlled by pretty much every Megacooperation and has as such it's own set of rules while being relatively safe. People in suits fill the streets, skyscrapers the skyline. And people with big guns stand on the borders to ensure that only "proper" people make it in.

No official government is currently in control.