Night City
Where Scores Are Made and Settled
Set near the center of Sector 6, Night City is, depending on your perspective, one of the worst or one of the best places to live on Madrisa Prime. Built along one of the main transport arteries of the sector like a classical city might have been built along a river, Night City is a pure expression of the real price of progress. As a not-so-secret proving ground for corporate disputes, organized crime, and general skullduggery the place is rife with opportunity for those with the grim determination and lack of scruples to seize it. Officially opened for civilian residence 600 years ago, its current configuration has been stable for about the last century, though "stable" is certainly a euphemistic application of the word.
Night City is a dense stack of mingled megabuildings and buried boulevards and is home to nearly half a billion residents. Its exact boundaries are not precisely kept as new developments rise and fall in an eyeblink, with neighborhoods paved over or revived as interests wax and wane. Officially designated a "Class 4 Urban Municipal Zone" in the Alloministry's census records, it also bears the dubious honor of being the "Most Dangerous Municipal Territory" for almost a century. The city itself has been rather troubled since its founding over half a millennium ago and the callous utility of a somewhat lawless zone has kept it that way.
Night City straddles one of the largest subsurface transit corridors in Sector 6. In ancient times, the city would have been many kilometers offshore on a coastal shelf. That ancient ocean is long gone and the relatively flat expanse of land left behind has made for an accommodating foundation. The modern city is defined by its megabuildings, particularly the jutting crown of the city center's corporate spires. At a distance Night City resembles a small but steep mountain. No challenger to the greatest Imperial hive cities, it is nevertheless a jagged marvel of modern architecture and engineering. The chasm that splits the city in a gentle, slashing arc is the most significant feature for traversal of the metropolis, with numerous bridges and causeways spanning its upper reaches while the loop remains partially exposed far below.
Like most municipalities on Madrisa Prime, Night City is overseen by a local governor appointed by a directly elected city council, whose number scales with population and algorithmically determined electoral maps. The rapid growth of Night City in recent decades has caused trouble with the algorithm despite assurances from the Brass Citadel that it accounts for such volatility. Protests have waned aside from the occasional demonstration by less violent members of Trinary Kill after the appointment of the current governor and a concerted effort by the city council to launch productive social initiatives. The current governor, Sarin Tolsot, has held the office for 23 years and enjoys general popular support after campaigning on an noospheric infrastructure platform. Her promises came to fruition during her first term and she has been a model for the kind of steady progress most of society admires. Corporate influences both within and without the city council have expressed dissatisfaction with her soft, social approach to crime and in turn the city council has been the more aggressive political entity during her service. The law enforcement arm of the Heiromats in particular suffers from a troubling schism where hardliners consider the governor a near-terrorist while the rest find her a tolerable bureaucrat who tries to keep their fatality statistics low. The real finger on the scales of public opinion, however, is the influence of a few captains. At least 3 captains have known stakes in Night City, two rather overt and one more insidious. The first is, obviously, Zolt Haggnan, the iconoclast who pulled Night City back from the brink with his absurd largess. His estate still makes regular contributions to the city and a number of lesser public works bear his name, even if he himself hasn't returned to the city since the original media firestorm. The second, Rank Magdal, is a well known degenerate whose sponsorship of certain city policies is credited with the formation and growth of the Holofront area of the city. Unlike Haggnan, Magdal recruits actively, if sporadically, from the city and is famous for going on a tear through the Redlight District every few years while on terrestrial sabbatical. Lastly, Captain Ihoma, bearer of the title "Pureheart," is strongly suspected of financing Church activities in Night City. Though no direct links have ever been made, analysts and paranoid street scum alike have noticed a pattern in missionary initiatives and advertising. More concerning is the correlation between this swell in religious fervor and the spikes in ritual homicides that seem to follow in lockstep.
Overview
Night City is a dense stack of mingled megabuildings and buried boulevards and is home to nearly half a billion residents. Its exact boundaries are not precisely kept as new developments rise and fall in an eyeblink, with neighborhoods paved over or revived as interests wax and wane. Officially designated a "Class 4 Urban Municipal Zone" in the Alloministry's census records, it also bears the dubious honor of being the "Most Dangerous Municipal Territory" for almost a century. The city itself has been rather troubled since its founding over half a millennium ago and the callous utility of a somewhat lawless zone has kept it that way.
History
Founding
Construction of "Municipal Development Zone 443-a.17" began as a typical Allart urban redevelopment project. Alloministry census data had indicated the area that would become Night City was in need of renewal after the overhaul of the subsurface hyperloop transit structures a decade before. Algorithmic urban planning then decided the location was ideal for a new municipal center. Hot on the heels of what many considered a significant overreach of Miig eminent domain expansion, other interests immediately sought to curtail the Enclave's potential influence and set the bureaucratic meatgrinder in motion.Planning
Originally, the subsurface transit structures that had prompted the area's renovation were meant to remain concealed but the lead Allart engineer for the project mysteriously disappeared during the final round of draft approvals. Her replacement put forth a radically different plan that exposed the structure beneath, citing an untapped potential for tourism and commercial frontage that might inspire a second Emporium Supreme. The idea would normally have been dismissed but with deadlines rapidly approaching the revision was grudgingly adopted despite major protest and accusations of foul play and undue corporate influence on Allart's historically balanced approach to city planning. ISK was naturally put forward as the primary antagonist while more crazed conspiracy theorists claimed it was a plot by the Church to line its already considerable coffers with a revenue stream it wouldn't have to share with ISK. Further sabotage and attempts at redress were made throughout the planning stages that led to a historically mismanaged project that technically was never finished. Much mudslinging and more than a handful of murders transpired over the first decade or so before the first real girders were raised on the project.Construction
After such unacceptable delays, Alloministry decree forced construction to begin as pressure grew from within and without the Sector to properly apply the taxpayer-supplied funding before it disappeared into a variety of corporate pockets. A population redistribution project coincided with the earliest years of construction as Allart put out generous contracts for labor and engineers to try to make up lost time. This led to inevitable clashes of jurisdiction and culture that further mutilated the once elegant and programmatic layout of the city. It now consisted of about 8 major districts of varying milieu and hostile territoriality. Luxury concerns from Sector 4 pulled a stunning financial coup and bought out a massive section of the city center and erected the most bald monument of corporate corruption yet seen in Sector 6: massive corporate towers each growing taller as shadow bids thrust their phallic construction to new heights. Not to be outdone, ISK committed to a joint venture with the Church to fund a sprawling university campus that morphed into a tax-exempt hybrid zone based around an outsized hospital. The scandals continued as different special interests tore the fledgling city's bones apart in the mad scramble to carve out a piece of its eventual flesh.Official Opening
Allart finally threw in the towel after nearly a century of trying to hold the project together. Abandoning any control of its bruised face, the engineers did the best they could to give the city a strong foundation. The dismal chasm of the transit corridor was slowly turned into less of an eyesore and the Enclave managed to enforce its standards for waste management, power distribution, and noospheric connectivity while the tumors of corporate greed grew atop it all. On a blustering overcast day in the middle of winter a paltry crowd joined the new Governor Thierreau Machig to commemorate the official "completion" of Night City. Machig apparently committed suicide 3 days later.Early Growth
The first century and a half of the city's life was unremarkable compared to the turmoil of its conception. As the dust began to settle on the many players who had butchered the city's original aspirations, simple market forces took control and capital began to flow through the city. Modest returns in the fields of medical research and vehicle production helped the population to some prosperity and growth, followed by a period of military fervor after a conflict in the distant Gargant Reach swelled Miig's production capacity for a few decades. This peace was shattered by a transit hub calamity that nearly destroyed the city.The Ghost Incident
About 400 years ago a transport column suffered a grievous malfunction in the Night City transit corridor. The exposed superstructure had required far more maintenance than the city's budget ever seemed to account for and while no conclusive findings were made in the investigation, lack of proper upkeep and corruption became the standard explanation for the incident. A surge in the antigrav generation systems that support the massive hyperloop trains imploded a volatile shipment of specialized materiel bound for the Miig foundries. The ensuing rebound neutrino explosion collapsed almost 250,000 cubic kilometers of the city and created a radioactive cyclone that lashed the city with nuclear rain for almost 4 days. While not the worst catastrophe in Madrisa Prime's history, it was certainly one of the worst in modern memory to afflict a primarily residential zone. The exact contents of the shipment were never disclosed but for the following 8 months residents reported strange noospheric interference and hallucinatory episodes. Some claim the "ghosts" of those killed in the accident still course along the digital latticework of the city to this day.The Brink of Collapse
Following the Ghost Incident, Night City fell into a severe economic downturn as residents both corporate and civil fled the destruction. Allart teams worked with remarkable efficiency to clean up the disaster and made improvements to the transit corridor but the lingering ill will nearly killed the city. Almost a century later serious talks were going on at the Brass Citadel if the area needed another renovation several centuries earlier than scheduled. Here, Miig seemed to make their play. Part reconciliation, part obvious bid for power, Miig invested a single figure percentage of its capital to overhaul the city on its own recognizance. This immediately renewed interest in the city and brought rival concerns back to the table to once again stymie the Enclave's reach.New Moon Over Night City
The final power player to set the scene for modern Night City was a new Captain. Riding a surge of popularity with a charming, if not entirely honest, rags-to-riches story, Captain Zolt Haggnan made an unheard of display of political grandstanding and rejected admission to the Moonspire. Instead, he created a massive endowment for the city where he claimed to have grown up, changed the name of his prized vessel to Nightblade and made a personal visit to the Monument of Ghosts to pay respect to the fallen. In the storm of outrage, bafflement, and counter-cultural oo-rah that followed, Night City grew to nearly double its previous peak size in a matter of decades. Popular opinion turned and it became a place of danger and promise instead of misery and decay. Riding this wave of new money and new marks, the opulent overculture and seedy underbelly of Night City flourished and have remained strong to the current day. Now the saying goes that "if you've got a score, settle it in Night City."Geography
Night City straddles one of the largest subsurface transit corridors in Sector 6. In ancient times, the city would have been many kilometers offshore on a coastal shelf. That ancient ocean is long gone and the relatively flat expanse of land left behind has made for an accommodating foundation. The modern city is defined by its megabuildings, particularly the jutting crown of the city center's corporate spires. At a distance Night City resembles a small but steep mountain. No challenger to the greatest Imperial hive cities, it is nevertheless a jagged marvel of modern architecture and engineering. The chasm that splits the city in a gentle, slashing arc is the most significant feature for traversal of the metropolis, with numerous bridges and causeways spanning its upper reaches while the loop remains partially exposed far below.
| Districts & Locations | Sub-districts & Areas | Details |
|---|---|---|
| City Center | Corpo Plaza
Shopping District |
Since inception, the City Center has been Night City's most prominent
display of corporate influence. A set of 6 towering skyscrapers form a brutal crown around a broad plaza with a subsurface shopping complex that spreads out into the surrounding neighborhoods. |
| Varia | Moon District
Heiromat Field Office |
The luxury residence area of Night City, Varia is also directly patrolled
by Heiromat officers. Their influence drops off sharply outside this district as their precinct houses grow less and less fortified and more corrupt. |
| Midscape | Alloministry Consulate
Techtown |
A miniature Brass Citadel spire dominates this low-lying area of Night
City, as is tradition. A less posh bazaar of technology vendors and other merchants has sprung up just beyond its shadow, as if flaunting the obviously illicit business right under the noses of government oversight. |
| The Transit Corridor | Hyperloop Station
The Docks The Ghost Zone |
The infamous transit corridor, reduced to purely functional space and
avoided by the superstitious and afflicted. The largely automated docks and transit infrastructure dutifully operate in studied ignominy. |
| Hospital District | Night City Public University
Night City General Hospital |
The closest Night City has to suburban space, the megabuilding of the
General Hospital is an imposing brick set amongst a jumble of university buildings. Few outside of the circles of higher education are aware but the university library is actually quite extensive and well regarded. |
| The Holofront | Nootown
Redlight District |
Garish and slickly unpleasant at all times of day, this district comes alive
when the sun goes down and all the myriad delights both physical and technological can be experienced here for the right price. Or the wrong price as is often the case. |
| The Sprawl | Monument of Ghosts
Shade Park |
The extensive residential and hybrid expanse of cheap, algorithmically
planned and mechanically fabricated buildings that pool out from Night City like a splash of oil. On the outskirts sits a grim obelisk that stands vigil to the victims of the Ghost Incident. |
Climate
Night City's position in Sector 6 makes it subject to unpredictable weather dependent on the output of the Miig foundries and the climate cycle governed by the Allart global environmental committees. Mostly temperate, the incidence of acid rain and oil fog can turn an otherwise pleasant day into a literally bitter and miserable time for commuters and street peddlers. In some parts the heavily layered architecture of the city is a testament to the diligence of Allart engineers and handles these diverse weather conditions with ease. In other, more organically modified sections, the weather can become lethally dangerous, causing artificial flash-floods of industrial runoff or concentrating miasmas of unhealthy air into creeping, surreal fogs of carcinogens. Still, when the weather is more obliging the city enjoys temperate conditions with brief summers and very weak winters, though occasional coldsnaps will bring heavy blankets of snow (usually laced with unsavory chemicals) to the spires and slums.Government and Politics
Like most municipalities on Madrisa Prime, Night City is overseen by a local governor appointed by a directly elected city council, whose number scales with population and algorithmically determined electoral maps. The rapid growth of Night City in recent decades has caused trouble with the algorithm despite assurances from the Brass Citadel that it accounts for such volatility. Protests have waned aside from the occasional demonstration by less violent members of Trinary Kill after the appointment of the current governor and a concerted effort by the city council to launch productive social initiatives. The current governor, Sarin Tolsot, has held the office for 23 years and enjoys general popular support after campaigning on an noospheric infrastructure platform. Her promises came to fruition during her first term and she has been a model for the kind of steady progress most of society admires. Corporate influences both within and without the city council have expressed dissatisfaction with her soft, social approach to crime and in turn the city council has been the more aggressive political entity during her service. The law enforcement arm of the Heiromats in particular suffers from a troubling schism where hardliners consider the governor a near-terrorist while the rest find her a tolerable bureaucrat who tries to keep their fatality statistics low. The real finger on the scales of public opinion, however, is the influence of a few captains. At least 3 captains have known stakes in Night City, two rather overt and one more insidious. The first is, obviously, Zolt Haggnan, the iconoclast who pulled Night City back from the brink with his absurd largess. His estate still makes regular contributions to the city and a number of lesser public works bear his name, even if he himself hasn't returned to the city since the original media firestorm. The second, Rank Magdal, is a well known degenerate whose sponsorship of certain city policies is credited with the formation and growth of the Holofront area of the city. Unlike Haggnan, Magdal recruits actively, if sporadically, from the city and is famous for going on a tear through the Redlight District every few years while on terrestrial sabbatical. Lastly, Captain Ihoma, bearer of the title "Pureheart," is strongly suspected of financing Church activities in Night City. Though no direct links have ever been made, analysts and paranoid street scum alike have noticed a pattern in missionary initiatives and advertising. More concerning is the correlation between this swell in religious fervor and the spikes in ritual homicides that seem to follow in lockstep.
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