What do we eat?
The impacts of climate change have caused massive overhauls in the way people eat. Almost all arable farmland is owned by corps, governments or die-hard holdouts. Soy-based cuisine is prominent. The wealthy can afford real meats. Greenfields produces the majority of fruits, vegetables and prepackaged meals courtesy of their indoctrinated prison labour. In the city itself, a massive array of restaurants, cafes and food stands provide quick and easy meals for the masses, in addition to an arsenal of vending machines offering preserved, ready-to-eat cuisine.
For those looking for something a little closer to nature, illicit and unlicensed greenhouses have sprung up all over the poorest districts of the city, using stolen seeds to grow produce on their own terms. Real meat is a luxury, as most meats consumed in the city day-to-day is synthetic unless you’re extremely wealthy. A cold war exists between the independent growers and the corporations.
Where do we live?
Many poor residents live in blocky condo buildings that stretch dozens of stories high. Each hab block is its own ecosystem, riddled with shops, gangs and services. These mass-built habitats are good for little more than a place to rest your head at night, and many folks consider themselves lucky to have them. Those who can’t even afford to scrape together enough to live in a hab block find themselves renting rooms in cube hotels, squatting in abandoned buildings or sleeping on the street.
Middle-class residents have their own private apartments within decently patrolled districts.
On the outskirts of the city and within the glittering heart of the downtown core, both the super-rich and the destitute thrive in their custom arcologies and renovated ruins, respectively. Those with true wealth can afford to live in standalone homes in gated communities with pristine lawns.
Where do we shop?
Corporate retail outlets are commonplace, with a galaxy of branded stores selling just about every (legal) thing your heart could desire. Every purchase at these stores is typically logged with the corp database, making them less than ideal for Operators. For the average civilian, however, the big box stores make shopping for their home needs a breeze, with automated delivery facilitating things further. The extra charges that corps heap atop the going rates for products, however, make shopping at their outlets prohibitively expensive for anyone who isn’t on their payroll.
For those with fewer means, a network of independent shops and slum vendors can usually get what they’re looking for… or at least something close to it. Bodegas, corner stores, flea markets and hardscrabble outfitters work tirelessly to stay afloat in the Neo Vegas economy. Vehicle-based merchants are also common, selling their goods out of the trunks of their cars if they can’t afford a brick-and-mortar location.
If you can’t (or won’t) leave your home, seeking out goods online is a common resort, though the corps will likely skim your purchasing data to optimize their ads for you. You likely won’t ever find anything illegal or unbranded when shopping online and the same price hikes will apply, and porch pirates are liable to make off with a healthy portion of your shipped sundries.
For those with more discerning taste who want things the NVPD would frown upon, black markets provide ample opportunities for sourcing just the right illicit goods. Whenever a trucking convoy gets ambushed in the Greater Sonoran, odds are good that a cargo container full of “liberated” product will find its way to a black market, destined for a brisk sale. Black markets change their locations constantly and require connections and contacts to get in, and typically don’t last for more than a few hours.
What’s the weather like?
Neo Vegas is still a desert town, with scorching days and chilly evenings. The summer months are particularly brutal, with exterior temperatures easily reaching 40C and above during the day, forcing many residents to wear heat-resistant clothing to avoid the ill effects.
Thanks to rapid advances in climate control technology, Neo Vegas gets more rain than usual. The Cloud King Project was funded to counteract the deadly advance of climate change, and it has had limited success in manipulating local weather patterns, seeding clouds to create rainy periods on a set schedule. Built within Mount Charleston, Cloud King is a tightly restricted facility, and is said to be more secure than any casino on the Strip.
How do we get around?
The NVTA (Neo Vegas transit authority) offers a fleet of buses, streetcars and metro lines around Neo Vegas, while the exclusive Lucky Seven Monorail shuttles the elites between their gilded pleasure palaces. Almost every district is connected by an NVTA metro station or two. Road vehicles are common, from dusty pickup trucks to armoured limousines, and the sky is frequently choked with private helicraft. A legion of taxicabs, many of which have formed their own gangs and compete vigorously for customers, ferry passengers across the maze of streets and overpasses.
For those leaving Neo Vegas, the Skyline spaceport offers suborbital transportation to other major metropolitan centres across the globe or across the solar system. Well-protected bus lines traverse the great deserts, linking disparate settlements together. Rail lines feed the industries with a fresh supply of raw materials and labourers.
What entertains us?
Resplendent Technologies broadcasts a whole host of programs designed to entertain and enlighten (within corp guidelines.) There are also local sports games, gambling, performances and more on offer, and you usually don’t have to walk far to find something to do around Neo Vegas. For most people, finding something fun to do usually involved leaving your home and being around others; a thriving community may exist online, but its no substitute for the real thing.
For those who prefer to remain at home (or can’t afford to leave,) VR Crowns can provide a suite of experiences from the comforts of your own couch. They are designed to simulate reality but still offer enough flaws that the experience doesn’t become addictive. However, those who crack their crowns are able to bypass the manufacturers restrictions and sink into a virtual euphoria. Many users who become addicted to VR die within a year from malnutrition and neglect.
How do we stay connected?
The balkanization of the internet has changed the way we interact with each other. The world wide web is effectively no more, its carcass riddled with advanced viruses and stuffed with malware. Half its sites no longer function as the firewalls between nations and cities makes even sending an email across the world a ponderous affair for the average civilian. Satellite networks were badly damaged during conflicts sparked by the global collapse, leaving earth’s orbit cluttered with debris.
The future is cable, always has been and will be. Wireless transmissions are far too easy to hack, but there are miles and miles of ancient copper, telecom fibre and cat12 woven throughout Neo Vegas that keep the denizens of the city connected. Your mobile phone is capable of calls, texts, and prepackaged, corp-approved apps. They don’t have the processing power to do any serious hacking, and anything you put on them is liable to be skimmed by corps for tailored advertising or used against you in a court of law.
Pay phones are cheaper and nearly everywhere, relying on age-old cables deep beneath the soil, and landlines to residences are commonplace.
Personal home computers can access the Neo Vegas Net, which provides apps, news, entertainment, social media and all other services that legitimate companies can offer. This network is for consumer use, provided by and controlled by the corps. They never connect to internal corporate networks, which are kept sequestered and tightly monitored. The Neo Vegas Net is its own island of information, and any outside data is tightly filtered and edited for content.
Beneath the public net is the Black Net, a shifting landscape of criminal and subversive networks running on unmonitored cable at often-cycled network addresses. Anyone with the right network address can access these spaces, anonymously trading illicit goods and services and talking about things the corps would rather not be discussed. Their locations change regularly, as do their participants. It takes a practiced fixer to keep up with the shifting tides.
How do we educate our young?
Citigov-sponsored schools exist, though the curriculum predominantly imparts a version of history that paints the mega corps in a saintly, positive light. Corp-run schools are a cut above, and exist to educate and indoctrinate the children of their employees, ensuring that they will make ideal, complacent replacements for when their parents retire or leave service. Independent private schools are truly rare, often lacking the capital and political heft to sustain themselves in a highly competitive market. As enforcing mandatory primary school attendance was abandoned long ago, many families choose to educate their children at home through the use of VR programs, or by training them exclusively in the family trade. As a result, literacy rates have seen a decline in Neo Vegas.
How do we care for the sick?
Medical services are on a strictly pay-to-play basis in Neo Vegas. Corp-owned doctors are almost exclusively restricted to tending to the needs of the company’s employees. Public-facing clinics are usually owned by one corp or another, and medical debts can rack up fast.
For those with extra cash to burn, rapid-response EMT’s are on constant standby, employed by Paladin Security. In the event of massive trauma, their bio monitor notifies a waiting team of Hospitalers, who will swoop in to secure their insured client, stabilize them, and bring them to a high-end medical facility for care and recovery.
Who protects us from crime?
The NVPD patrols the streets of most districts, but they are notoriously corrupt and offer preferential treatment to residents who line their pockets. They are often tasked with working alongside corp security, which can range from simple guards to riot-gear clad responders. For threats of a more arcane nature, Neo Vegas is home to a WATCHTOWER division that is sent out to corral and contain supernatural threats.
For most residents of Neo Vegas, the person protecting you from a criminal is oftentimes a criminal themselves. Protection rackets and petty criminal fiefdoms are commonplace in the city, and knowing who to pay in any particular neighbourhood can drastically affect your quality of life there.
Who practices magic in the city?
With the advent of the Boston Deletion and the subsequent arrival of the Bleed, even Neo Vegas is subject to the strange decay of reality that has beset the world. Some people might report unnatural phenomena haunting a derelict casino, while others have reported strange patrons who join them at blackjack tables, able to predict each card with unerring accuracy and never blinking. Outsiders walk amongst us, and WATCHTOWER works tirelessly to keep the Strip and its establishment protected from any eldritch dangers. However, some Outsiders have decided to settle down in Neo Vegas and have taken on acolytes. Their reasons for doing so are as alien as they are, but the recent proliferation of human-wielded magic is a growing concern. Corporate mages are kept on retainer to deal with threats of an arcane nature, and to protect company assets from those who can wield similar powers. Those who practice the Arts tend to do so in private, only offering their services to those they can trust. There’s a whole host of quacks and charlatans who can possibly work a cantrip or two, but rarely more. Those with the true Gift, or those who have stumbled up on artefacts of some power, must be careful that their presence doesn’t get picked up by WATCHTOWER as an intolerable risk. Much like petty crime and the NVPD, WATCHTOWER cannot be everywhere at once, and prioritizes their attention depending on the power and potential danger of the practitioner.
Where do we work?
The majority of people in Neo Vegas work service, clerical or industrial jobs. There’s a whole warren of storefronts, warehouses, manufacturing plants and more that require a constant thrum of workers passing in and out of their premises. The mega corps and their offices are staffed regularly with ladder climbers and treacherous vipers.
Below the legitimate enterprises is the Neo Vegas underworld; gang activity, smuggling, gambling, blackmail and more. Street hustlers will move product that was already hijacked by desert raider clans and sent into the city for distribution.
Those who work on the Strip run the gamut from janitors to show girls to blackjack dealers, and they make good credits for doing so… which is important, since they’re likely paying up to one or more gangs for protection.
What do we wear?
Neo Vegas style is a clash between classic gangster throwbacks, West Coast Glamour, cowboy chic and more. The top ten styles for Neo Vegas residents are:
- West Coast Flash - Los Angeles haute fashion. Movie stars and Hollywood bigwigs rock this stuff. If you see someone wearing this, expect paparazzi to follow. Designer labels, slick lines, exquisite fabrics and composites.
- Rhinestone Cowboy - Fringe, ten-gallon hats, denim and rhinestones aplenty. Think Orville Peck. Romantic, glittering, swaggering. Could throw down at a rodeo or a fashion show in the same day.
- Mack The Knife - Retro Gangster Chic. Lounge, fancy hats, ostentatious displays of wealth. A callback to the halcyon days of Vegas’s history where the singers crooned, the liquor flowed and everyone was having a hell of a time.
- Businesswear - Leadership, presence, authority. Crisp, expensive, precise. A corp standard for the battleground of the boardroom. Often lined with anti-ballistic cloth.
- Gang Colours - Dangerous, violent, rebellious. Often repurposed from other fashions, with bold colours denoting affiliations and rank. Typically favours lighter fabrics to combat the ever-present heat.
- Desert Nomad - Leathers, linens, goggles, reflect. Made to withstand the elements of the great Sonoran desert. Practical and functional rather than fashionable.
- Tourist Chic - Print shirts, fanny packs, tacky. Cheap, gaudy, stands out. Often branded with the insignia of one casino empire or another.
- Bag Lady Basics - Homeless, Ragged, Vagrant - Often degraded or out of date.
- Military Brat - Repurposed uniforms, patches, open carry. Cobbled together from the failed armies of old and the Families that call those abandoned military bases home. Usually signifies affiliation with a merc outfit or a punk band.
- Leisurewear - Comfort, Agility, Athleticism. Track suit and pants, tanks, sneakers.
- Generica - Standard, Colorful, Modular. Your basic Gap or Old Navy essentials.
Most off-the-rack clothing are made in sweatshops using a combination of human and drone labour, and a host of tailors and tinkerers conduct profitable trade in alteration and augmentation of whatever garment crosses their work table.
How do we protect ourselves?
The collapse of a centralized American government has all but ended any capabilities of tracing small arms sales. While many corp outlet stores will offer an array of personal defence tools for the discerning customer, most people prefer to trust their neighbourhood arms dealer, even if they’re operating out of the back of a pickup truck. High-capacity magazine weapons, as well as anything that can cause serious damage beyond the scale of a pistol or shotgun, are carefully policed and require advanced contacts to acquire, even on the black market.
Many fashion designers have also taken to weaving anti-ballistic fibres into their offerings, and a host of subtle armour can be purchased for those looking for a little more assurance when they step out of their front door in the morning.
How do we bank?
Casino chips are commonly used as the unofficial currency of Neo Vegas, as many moneychangers will be happy to take them off your hands. Other “official” hard currency is rare but does exist, and various moneychangers will be happy to take your grubby dollar bills or silver NV coins off your hands in exchange for digital dollars. For those who would rather avoid carting around a stack of casino chips, digital credit shards are regularly used for most day-to-day transactions as well. Anyone can get one from a plethora of smaller subsidiary banks, load it up with a variety of digital currencies, and process payments directly to the vendor. Central banking is corp-monitored and most operators prefer to go through intermediaries to launder their ill-gotten gains. Many civilians keep their savings in a larger bank and load up credit shards for day-to-day purchases. Most credit shards have balance limits on them to ensure a person’s life savings can’t be swiped should they happen to lose the shard.
Who runs the show?
The Neo Vegas Citigov keeps the municipal gears turning. The highest decision makers are known colloquially as the House, and are comprised of city executives, casino barons, corp representatives and the leaders of the private military arm that keeps the city-state independent. City executives are ostensibly elected, though the systems of democracy have been riddled with corruption for so long that votes barely matter anymore. The casino barons are the oligarchs owning the greatest stakes in the big ticket casinos on the strip, commanding so much sway over the city’s economy that they effectively bought their way into governance. Corp interests also have a say at the House’s table, and ResTech is the chief political influence here. Lastly, the private militia gets a seat at the table just by virtue of their potential for violence.
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