Night City

Night City is a democratic mayoralty with a corporate-controlled city council. In mayoral elections, votes are cast via a Data Term using IdentiCard registration software, and the winner of an election is determined by a simple majority of the popular vote. The Night City Council consists of 100 members, each of whom are usually backed by one of the top ten largest corporations present in Night City.   In 2045, during the Time of the Red, Night City's government continued to exist in a technical state of emergency due to the destruction and disruption caused by the Night City Holocaust of 2023. The office of mayor had been left vacant for years, and the city was instead ruled by the City Council, which took the form of a junta representing survivors of the previous city government, edgerunner and nomad factions, and numerous corporations — including Zetatech, Biotechnica, Petrochem, and secretly Arasaka. The Council appointed City Managers to oversee basic services in each of the city's districts and neighborhoods. Without a mayor or strong central leadership, friction between the Council's factions frequently led to disputes that were sometimes settled with violence on the streets. Since no single faction was able to gain a decisive advantage over the others, they all kept to their own areas of interest as much as possible to keep fighting to a minimum.[1]   During 2077, Georgina Zembinsky acted as the district attorney of Night City. At some point before her, Jefferson Peralez was the city's district attorney.

Night City is divided into multiple districts, each with its own character, development, and level of danger. Over time, these have shifted in name and structure due to events such as Richard Night’s original vision, corporate wars, nuclear fallout, and urban rebuilding during the Time of the Red.   Major Geographic Divisions (2077 era): City Center: The fortified heart of corporate power. Brutalist skyscrapers and secure compounds dominate the skyline.   Watson: A decaying urban district with strong gang presence (e.g., Maelstrom, Tyger Claws). Once a thriving tech hub, now a criminal hotspot.   Westbrook: An upscale entertainment and residential district, home to Japantown and North Oak. Controlled heavily by the Tyger Claws.   Heywood: A residential zone split between glitzy towers and dangerous slums, with heavy gang activity from the Valentinos and 6th Street.   Pacifica: Once intended as a resort district, now a collapsed zone of poverty and gang warfare. DogTown, its lawless core, is ruled by Colonel Hansen and the Barghest militia.   Santo Domingo: A mix of industrial zones and low-income megabuildings. Used by corps for energy and manufacturing experiments.   Badlands: Harsh outer wastelands, dotted with nomad camps, oilfields, and abandoned towns.

Business and Economic Assets Core Business Sectors:   Manufacturing industries   International trade and commerce   Information services   Electronic technologies   Security services   Media and entertainment   Cybernetics and medical technology   Agricultural biotech (synthetic food)   Pro-corporate policies:   0.7% tax rate on corporate profits   Free city status, independent governance with corporate backing   Founding Corporations (Coronado Partnership):   Arasaka   Asukaga & Finch (formerly Merrill, Asukaga & Finch)   Euro Business Machines   Night Corp (formerly Night International)   Petrochem   Notable Post-founding Corporations:   All Foods   Biotechnica   Continental Brands   Danger Gal   Diverse Media Systems   Dynalar Technologies   Hydrosubsidium   Kang Tao   Kendachi   Kiroshi   Militech   MoorE Technologies   Network 54   Orbital Air   Raven Microcybernetics   REO Meatwagon   Rocklin Augmentics   SovOil   Trauma Team   Tsunami   World News Service   Zetatech   Zhirafa   Ziggurat   Healthcare Assets Hospitals and Medical Centers:   City Medical Center   Crisis Medical Center   Stuart Hospital   Plaza Medical Services   Madre María Children’s Hospital   Night City Medical Center & School   Night City Medical Center (2077 update)   The Clinic   Uniform Group Health Building   MacMillan Building   Medical Technologies Complex   Medical Technologies (RED)   Emergency Medical Services:   Trauma Team   Trauma Team Tower (2020 and RED)   REO Meatwagon   REO Meatwagon Offices   Medical Education and Research:   UFC Health Sciences Center   Night City Medical Center & School   Education Assets Higher Education Institutions:   Night City University   Night City Technical College   UFC Health Sciences Center   Night City Medical Center & School   High Schools:   Richard Night High School   G. Lucas High School   South City High School   Del Coronado High School   Rancho Coronado Public High School   Sports and Recreation Assets Football Teams:   Night City Corsairs (active)   NC Nighthawks (disbanded)   NC Rangers (defunct)   Basketball Teams:   Night City Blackouts   NC Heat   Other Leagues and Teams:   Night City Wonderland League (roller derby)   NC Death Dealers (combat-soccer)   NC Nuke (murderball)   NC Slammers (baseball)   Infrastructure and Government Assets Governance and Political Structure:   Independent “free city” status   Governed by City Council, influenced heavily by corporate interests   Each district governed by corporate-affiliated managers   Supported militarily and economically by Arasaka   Key Infrastructure Zones:   Corporate Center (2020), later known as Corporate Plaza   The Glen, Downtown, and other high-density zones   Combat Zones (gang-controlled and lawless)   Rebuilding Urban Zones (in redevelopment post-war)   Port of Night City (major coastal trade hub)   Badlands and outer perimeter (nomad territory, resource extraction, smuggling routes)   Dogtown (militia-controlled zone)   Climate and Environmental Conditions:   Coastal access via Del Coronado Bay   Average temperatures: 10°C (50s °F) to 26°C (80s °F)   21 inches of rain annually (high toxicity levels)   Chronic smog and pollution   Regular acid rain events   Security and Military Assets Corporate Security Forces:   Arasaka (primary protector and ally of Night City)   Militech (rival of Arasaka, also influential)   Paramilitary Medical Support:   Trauma Team (high-end, corporate-backed emergency response)   Local Gangs and Militia (informal power structures):   Various combat zone factions   Dogtown Militia   Surveillance and Policing:   Heavy presence of corporate-run security systems   Night Corp and other entities manage smart infrastructure, city monitoring, and predictive control systems   Technology and Cybernetic Assets Key Corporations Specializing in Cybernetics and Tech:   Zetatech (software, cyber systems)   Kiroshi (optics)   Dynalar (limb cybernetics)   Raven Microcybernetics (neural systems)   Rocklin Augmentics (combat implants)   MoorE Technologies (experimental gear)   Zhirafa (drone systems)   Social and Network Infrastructure:   Ziggurat (data management, social networks)   Network 54 (news media)   Diverse Media Systems (entertainment)   World News Service (global media)

The Rise of Night City: A Chronicle of Control and Collapse (1990–2020) Night City was not born in the usual way that cities emerge—through the slow accumulation of industry, population, and geographic necessity. Instead, it was conceived as a dream. In the early 1990s, amid growing unrest, economic collapse, and widespread societal decay across the United States, one man sought to build a shining beacon that could defy the tides of chaos. His name was Richard Night, a gifted and ambitious architect and urban planner who envisioned something radical: a city free of the crime, corruption, and bureaucratic sludge that plagued the old world. He did not want to repair the present—he wanted to start over entirely.   Richard Night’s idea was revolutionary not just in design but in structure. He wanted to build a corporate-run city from the ground up—a place where powerful businesses, not ineffective governments, ensured peace and prosperity. He imagined a safe haven for executives, engineers, visionaries, and workers alike, insulated from the rising anarchy. To bring this dream to life, he turned to the very entities he hoped would become its patrons and guardians: the megacorporations.   Major players such as Arasaka, Petrochem, and EBM saw the value in Night’s proposition. The global economy was already shuddering, and central governments were losing their grip. Investing in a corporate-controlled metropolis offered them influence, profit, and security. With their financial support and backing from firms like Merrill, Asukaga & Finch, the groundwork began. The site chosen was the neglected coastal area of Morro Bay, California, strategically located for trade, expansion, and control over the Pacific corridor. The land was purchased outright, and soon, the initial phases of construction began. The area was renamed Del Coronado Bay, a rebranding that signaled the break from its forgotten past.   Richard Night's vision took form rapidly. The city’s core would be a gleaming corporate district, surrounded by themed neighborhoods reflecting diverse world cultures. It was designed with high-speed transit systems, arcology-inspired architecture, automated systems, and layered zones for work, play, and habitation. There were plans for pristine beaches, entertainment centers, medical facilities, and schools—all to be maintained by corporate systems rather than public institutions. From the start, the idea was to create a fully integrated, privatized utopia.   However, the dream quickly drew enemies. The corporations who invested in Night City had their own agendas, and criminal syndicates viewed the city as either a threat or a ripe opportunity. Power struggles, both overt and in the shadows, began to mount. Richard Night, once hailed as a visionary, became a liability in the eyes of those who wanted more control. In 1998, only a few years into the city's creation, Night was murdered under mysterious circumstances in his penthouse suite. Though the killers were never identified, it was widely assumed that either the mob or corporate agents orchestrated the assassination.   After his death, the corporations stepped in to assume full control of the city. The Del Coronado Partnership dissolved, and the city was renamed in Richard’s honor: Night City. The founding myth shifted—no longer a visionary’s dream, but a corporate asset, a tool of profit and power. Over the next two decades, Night City evolved into a microcosm of the world’s fractures: dazzling wealth alongside destitution, steel and chrome skyscrapers rising over slums and combat zones, corporate enclaves with private armies policing the streets while gang warfare and poverty surged in the surrounding districts.   By the 2010s, Night City had become a political entity in its own right, operating largely independently from the crumbling U.S. government. The megacorporations had carved it into zones of influence, each jealously guarded by security firms, mercenary groups, and advanced surveillance systems. The rise of braindance entertainment, cybernetic enhancements, and the Net turned Night City into a global cultural center, even as it remained a dangerous and volatile place to live. The gap between the elite and the street-level citizens had widened to a chasm, with entire generations growing up knowing nothing but gang territories, data heists, and black-market augmentation.   The city's population continued to grow as refugees, nomads, and survivors of climate disasters and economic collapse flocked to Night City in search of opportunity—or at least survival. The city absorbed them with brutal efficiency. Some climbed the ranks of power; most were crushed under its weight. The idea of upward mobility was still sold by the corpos, but by 2020, it was clear to most that success required more than hard work. It demanded luck, ruthlessness, or cyberware.   By the time the 2020s arrived, Night City was a creature of contradictions. It was a utopia for the rich and a nightmare for the rest. It was a place where technology could make you a god, and a single bad deal could see you dumped in a gutter, stripped of your implants. The dream Richard Night once had was still visible—reflected in the mirrored surfaces of the Arasaka Tower, broadcast in the neon glow of high-end districts—but it was a ghost now, overwritten by decades of exploitation, war, and control.   And yet, people still came. Because Night City, even in its worst moments, offered something the rest of the world had lost: a chance to be someone.the boiling point that it did. Regardless of who pushed the button, what was undeniable was that Night City had become the centerpiece of corporate warfare, human tragedy, and a symbolic reckoning for the unchecked power of megacorporations.   The Fourth Corporate War, spanning from 2021 to 2023, thrust Night City into a downward spiral. What had started as a cold shadow war between two corporate giants — Militech and Arasaka — turned hot in 2022. With both corporations maintaining significant infrastructure and operational command in the city, the fighting rapidly escalated. Night City, nestled in the Free State of Northern California and outside the authority of larger nation-states, was ripe for exploitation. Both corporations began hiring mercenaries, gangs, and nomads, leveraging the fractured societal order to turn the city into a battlefield.   By 2023, the city was no longer simply collateral damage. It was a target, a prize, and a last redoubt. Militech’s withdrawal to Heywood’s proving grounds was seen as a sign of desperation, especially as Arasaka tightened its grip on Night City. Public perception turned against Militech; they were the invaders, while Arasaka, regardless of its dark reputation, was seen as a stabilizing force. When Mayor Mbole Ebunike broke down under the pressure and Assistant Mayor Garven Haakensen stepped in, Arasaka’s influence only deepened. It was under Haakensen’s administration that martial law was declared, and Night City became Arasaka’s last major stronghold in North America.   What followed was the catastrophe that would define a generation — the Night City Holocaust. On August 20, 2023, Militech operatives, including Morgan Blackhand and Johnny Silverhand, infiltrated Arasaka Towers to destroy the Soulkiller database, a dangerous digital weapon. Their goal was targeted — a precise tactical nuke deep within the tower’s substructure — but something went horribly wrong. The detonation occurred on the 120th floor, leveling both towers and igniting a chain reaction that would kill hundreds of thousands. The blast devastated the Corporate District, triggering widespread fires, structural collapses, and flooding due to the liquefied soil beneath the city.   The aftermath was grim. Radioactive dust blanketed the city, choking the sky in an unnatural red hue. Nearly two million were displaced. Infrastructure collapsed. Emergency services fell into disarray. Survivors fled to surrounding suburbs or made do in shantytowns and derelict neighborhoods. As the dust settled — literally and figuratively — the Fourth Corporate War fizzled to its end. The US, under President Elizabeth Kress, seized control of Militech, nationalized the company, and turned the full weight of military and media against Arasaka. The narrative was clear: Arasaka had turned Night City into a sacrificial pawn in a losing game. This story, however, was a convenient fabrication — the "Big Lie" — as the true cause of the explosion was never definitively known. Militech’s involvement was buried under layers of plausible deniability, and the American government capitalized on the chaos to exile Arasaka from North America.   Yet despite the political maneuvering and propaganda campaigns, Night City received no aid from President Kress’s administration. It was written off as a lost cause — a casualty of war — and used as a cautionary tale to draw the Free States back into the federal fold. But the people of Night City resisted. The survivors, hardened by war and betrayal, chose to rebuild on their own terms.   Throughout the 2020s, recovery was slow and grueling. With the government absent and infrastructure ruined, Night City relied on its own — nomads, edgerunners, and grassroots efforts. The Aldecaldos, a nomad clan renowned for their organizational strength and construction know-how, stepped in, aided by StormTech Corporation. The two groups led efforts to build modular housing out of shipping containers and concrete modules. Rubble and ruins were pushed into Del Coronado Bay to reclaim usable land. Night Corp, remnants of the old civic administration, incentivized cleanup with lucrative bounties, and despite the risks, many answered the call.   By the mid-2030s, a new Night City began to rise from the ashes. Though the central corporate zones remained a "Hot Zone" — a radioactive and unstable crater — the surrounding areas saw the slow return of life. Combat Zones formed where lawlessness still reigned, but new megabuildings began to climb the skyline again, housing the displaced and laying the groundwork for an ambitious rebirth. Reconstruction was supported by a tentative alliance between the City Council and remaining corporations, many of whom saw opportunity in Night City’s independence.   This period, often referred to as the Time of the Red, was characterized by bizarre red skies caused by particulate matter from the blast and lingering pollution from other war-torn regions. It was an eerie, desperate time, but one that forged a new identity for the city — no longer a puppet of Arasaka or Militech, but a sovereign force in the Pacifica Confederation. Night City’s autonomy as a free trade zone, coupled with advances in local technology by corporations like Ziggurat, made it a hub for global actors wary of dealing with the increasingly autocratic United States.   In the early 2040s, truth began to crack the facade. An independent journalist named Trace Santiago uncovered critical evidence that exposed the truth behind the Night City bombing. His exposés revealed Militech’s hand in the disaster and dismantled the narrative that Arasaka was solely to blame. This revelation reversed much of the public opinion in the city and realigned political loyalties. Arasaka, though still distrusted by many, was viewed less as the villain and more as a scapegoat — a corporation caught in the same whirlwind of propaganda and war that engulfed everyone else.   Though some Night Citizens still believed Arasaka bore responsibility for provoking the war, the city’s allegiance was clear: they would not return to American oversight. They had survived abandonment, betrayal, and nuclear annihilation — and from that devastation, they built something new. Not a shining utopia, perhaps, but a resilient city-state born of fire and steel, willing to chart its own path through the cyberpunk future.

Geography of Night City – Overview   Night City is a sprawling megalopolis located on the Pacific Coast of North America, within the Del Coronado Bay area in what was once Central California. It is a densely packed, vertically developed city bordered by harsh wastelands and unstable territories, shaped over decades by urban expansion, war, megacorp influence, and environmental degradation.   Coastal Location and Surroundings Del Coronado Bay defines Night City’s western edge, providing it with access to the Pacific Ocean. Key features include Morro Rock, San Morro Bay, and Estero Bay.   The city is surrounded by the Badlands, a lawless and desolate region consisting of polluted deserts, resource-extraction zones, nomad territory, and long-abandoned urban sprawls.   To the south lies a slightly more tolerable area due to Biotechnica protein farms, though the east is much more dangerous and barren.   Topography West Hill: The highest natural point in Central Night City, once topped by a hotel.   Much of the original terrain was reshaped during the city's foundation in the 1990s. Some districts were later removed or buried post-nuke.   As of 2045+, the city expanded vertically and outward, with districts classified into:   Overpacked Suburbs   Rebuilding Urban Zones   Combat Zones   Key Geographic Themes Artificial urban design: The city was built with themed neighborhoods and cultural districts, although later much of that identity was lost to corporate redevelopment.   Megacorp influence: The geography often reflects the dominance of corporations—whole areas exist as private enclaves or experiment zones.   Zones of control: Districts are mentally and administratively divided by threat level, gang influence, and economic status.   Reclaimed & radioactive zones: Areas like the Hot Zone (old nuke site) remain dangerous and mostly off-limits.

3. Climate and Environmental Conditions Mild coastal climate: Temperatures typically range between 50°F to 85°F (10°C to 26°C).   Frequent fog, especially in mornings and evenings.   Annual rainfall: Around 21 inches, but up to 35% of rain contains toxic chemicals due to pollution.   Air quality is often poor, especially during smog inversion events. Protective gear like filter masks, acid-resistant clothing, and air supplements are commonly used.