## Cyberpunk Neon

###### GM Reference for ## Night City 2045

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##### Table Of Contents - **[1 ](#p1)** - [1.1 Cyberpunk Neon](#p1) - [1.2 Night City 2045](#p1) - [1.3 Night City](#p3) - [1.3.1 A Man With a Dream](#p3) - [1.3.2 The Spectre of the Collapse](#p3) - [1.3.3 The Morro Bay Massacre](#p3) - [1.3.4 The Coronado City Partnership](#p3) - [1.3.5 The Rebuilding of Morro Bay](#p3) - [1.3.6 A City of Neighborhoods](#p3) - [1.3.7 The Gangs Move In](#p3) - [1.3.8 The Fall of Night City](#p3) - [1.3.9 The Megacorps Take Over](#p3) - [1.4 The 4th War](#p3) - [1.4.1 The Bomb](#p3) - [1.4.2 The Time of the Red](#p3) - [1.5 Key Locations in Night City](#p4) - [1.5.1 Hot Zone](#p4) - [1.5.2 Rebuilding Urban Center](#p4) - [1.5.3 Combat Zones](#p5) - [1.5.4 Old Combat Zone](#p5) - [1.5.5 South Night City](#p5) - [1.5.6 Overpacked Suburbs](#p5) - [1.5.7 Heywood Industrial Zone](#p5) - [1.5.8 New Westbrook](#p5) - [1.6 Executive Zone](#p6) - [1.7 Rebuilding Urban Center](#p7) - [1.8 Overpacked Suburbs](#p7) - [1.9 Combat Zones](#p8) - [1.10 The Open Road](#p8) - [1.11 The Hot Zone](#p8) - [1.12 Reclaimed Perimeter](#p8) - [1.13 Threat Ratings](#p9) - **[2 City Services](#p10)** - [2.1 The NET](#p10) - [2.1.1 Data Term](#p10) - [2.1.2 The Data Pool](#p10) - [2.1.3 Screamsheets](#p10) - [2.1.4 New Mediacorps](#p10) - [2.1.5 Independents and Medias](#p10) - [2.2 Hospitals](#p10) - [2.3 Law and Order](#p11) - [2.3.1 I Don't Need No Stinking Badges](#p11) - [2.4 Transport](#p11) - [2.4.1 Night City Transit Corporation (NCTC)](#p11) - [2.4.2 Night City Metro](#p11) - [2.4.3 Freeways](#p11) - [2.4.4 The Nomads](#p11) - [2.4.5 By Air and Even Space](#p11) - [2.5 The "Disneyland" Zones](#p12) - [2.5.1 Little Asia](#p12) - [2.5.2 Little Europe](#p12) - [2.5.3 The Upscale Brownstones](#p12) - [2.5.4 City & Corporate District](#p12) - [2.5.5 The Nightlife District](#p12) - [2.5.6 The University District](#p12) - [2.6 The Suburban Sprawls](#p12) - [2.6.1 The Pacifica Playground](#p12) - [2.6.2 The North Oak Military Suburb](#p12) - [2.6.3 The Rancho Coronado Beaverville](#p12) - [2.6.4 The Heywood Industrial Zone](#p13) - [2.6.5 South Night City](#p13) - [2.6.6 Westbrook](#p13) - [2.6.7 The Badlands](#p13) - [2.7 People of Night City](#p15) - [2.7.1 Power Players](#p15) - [2.7.2 Badasses of Night City](#p18) - [2.7.3 Gangs of Night City](#p19)

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## Night City ___ Like most of America, Night City, is still an armed society under a blanket of appalling poverty, violence, and inequity. It's not uncommon to see as many guns as briefcases on the crowded City streets; and while the worst days of chaos may be over, the danger still remains—society's rule collapsed before and may yet do so again. History can repeat itself, and there's always another gang just around the corner, waiting for its chance to come out on top, no matter what the cost. This was the bitter lesson America was learning at the end of the 20th century. After the Collapse, many Megacorps began looking to establish their own urban areas: controlled cities free of crime, poverty, and debt. City governments would be Corporate-run, allowing optimum zoning and no anti-business elements to interfere with Corporate growth. But the right combination of business savvy and city engineering prowess was only a distant hope, until Richard Night came on the scene.

### A Man With a Dream Born in Pasadena, California, Richard Night was the second of five children. His parents were both researchers at Caltech, specializing in materials science. Night showed an aptitude for engineering at a relatively early age, but when a joint venture with his college roommate (noted business tycoon Romney Zukarian) turned sour, the angry Night shifted his major from engineering to business financial investment. Armed with his new knowledge of the ins and outs of business, Night soon regained his company from his old rival. Applying his backgrounds in engineering and investment, Night soon founded Halsey, Ferris, and Night, a development company specializing in using advanced construction techniques to build massive mega-projects such as office complexes, airports, and even small cities. HFN was wildly successful in the years before the Collapse, leading to the construction of many large model communities around the world.

### The Spectre of the Collapse Concerned by the violence and disruption of the impending Collapse, Night decided that he was uniquely situated to deal with the problem. Starting a side company (Night Industries) to protect his partners, Night began to plan a new city—an environment that would be controlled and ultimately safe from the ravages tearing the world apart. His new city would be completely planned, self-sufficient, and capable of holding off even the most determined marauders. It would boast planned neighborhoods dedicated to preserving the feel of different types of nationalities and cultures, as well as a super-modern Corporate Center that would stand as a shining beacon of enlightened capitalism. It was ambitious, far-reaching, and visionary in its approach. The only problem was where to put it. Night was going to need a lot of land for his new city development, as well as access to both ocean ports and modern highways to deliver the huge amount of materials that he would need to construct it. He sent scouting teams to scour the East and West Coasts of the besieged United States, but in the end it was a small article in the San Francisco Chronicle that caught his eye: an article describing an incident of post-holocaust horror that had taken place in a small town along the Central California coast.

### The Morro Bay Massacre Throughout the last decades of the 20th century, Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo had suffered a long history with the Hell's Angels and other local go/biker gangs (a gogang is a cyber-enhanced biker gang), mostly because there was very little law enforcement on the fringes of the California Coast and the area was also a hub for two major highways (Highway 1 and U.S. 101). During the Collapse, San Luis law enforcement and the Hell's Angels legacy boostergangs began a turf war that spilled over to Morro Bay. The Boosters took over the town in a five-day rampage that ended with many of the 10,000 people who lived there either dead, maimed, or fleeing the tiny town (there were only about 4,000 families there to begin with). The entire area became a ghost town that no one wanted to go back to, known to all as the site of the infamous Morro Bay Massacre.

### The Coronado City Partnership Based on its dark history, maverick developer Richard Night was able to buy the remnants of the ghost town of Morro Bay for pennies on the dollar. He was aided by Petrochem, who had taken over the now-abandoned Dynergy power plant and was already planning to set up an offshore port and oil terminal site. Bankrolled by Merrill, Asukaga & Finch (who wanted to make the new city a financial hub) Night and Petrochem hired Arasaka to clean out the boostergangs and make the place "safe" again. Further funds came from external (and somewhat shady) investors lured to the project by the promise of lucrative building contracts and possible sources of extralegal income. To avoid the stigma of the Morro Bay Massacre, the Partnership renamed the area Del Coronado Bay, the site of their new city of Coronado. However, thanks to the rather out-sized personality of its founder, Coronado City soon became colloquially known by locals as "Night's City."

### The Rebuilding of Morro Bay Coronado City needed more room than was in the original geology of the Bay, so Night leveled the surrounding hills and dumped them into the ocean as fill (just as San Francisco had done years ago for the 1939 World's Fair). He reshaped the bay so that the formerly narrow sand spit to the west was widened to about 10 miles. He also re-dredged the harbor making it capable of porting the large ships needed to build the city; this dirt also ended up as fill on the western edge. \page ### A City of Neighborhoods Coronado City truly reflected its creator's eclectic vision. Instead of a huge construction of steel and glass, Night's urban plan broke the new city into a series of neighborhoods, each with a different architectural style and theme, much like the original Disneyland park's various "lands" (e.g. Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Fantasyland). A faux east coast neighborhood (Upper Eastside and Little Italy) encompassed elements of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, while Studio City and Charter Hill reflected the western styles of Seattle and San Francisco. Lake Park, Westhill Gardens, and the University District were primarily set aside as comfortable urban living spaces, ranging from faux brownstones to pseudo-Victorian gingerbread homes, interspersed with plenty of small shops, restaurants, and businesses within easy walking distance. New Harbor and the East Marina were designated as the site of a world-class mall, equivalent to San Francisco's tony Galleria with an open Marina area that could handle yachts, cruise ships, and other recreational boating activities (the main industrial port would be established north of the city in North Oak.) Even the Asian districts (Little China and Japantown) were distinctly different, reflecting the individual cultural styles of each area, as well as a smattering of other Southeast Asian locales in the Eastpark area adjacent to Japantown. In addition, Night also paid homage to the late and lamented small hamlet of Morro Bay by recreating much of the original layout of the area in a small-town, open-air environment reminiscent of a seaside village called Old Downtown. City Center and the Corporate Center were, of course, glittering zones of high-rises and corporate parks. It was here that Night showed off his personal architectural skills in the designs of the many corporate "starscrapers" that were the most visible sign of Coronado City's rising affluence. Night's vision was indeed expansive and truly visionary. The only catch came when he started to build it. ### The Gangs Move In Although Petrochem and MA&F were the major bankrollers for the Coronado Partnership, they had one disadvantage: they weren't construction companies. For a job like Coronado City, the Partnership was going to need someone who could bring in the machines and workforce to actually dig the holes and put up the steel. They ended up with the Mob. ### The Fall of Night City The West Coast Mobs (Mafia, Yakuza, etc, etc.) had maintained a stranglehold on heavy construction on the "left coast" for decades. They controlled the construction unions, the transport unions, and most of the governmental agencies in charge of construction licenses, environmental impacts, and other building necessities. By investing a not inconsiderable sum in the Partnership (through a series of shell corporations), the Mobs hoped to not only make a staggering amount of return on lucrative construction work, but also have the inside track on future gambling, prostitution, and drug franchises in the new city. But Night's visionary plan required using his own advanced building techniques and materials, excluding a number of established unions and construction firms controlled by his organized crime partners. This didn't make them happy, and Night's further insistence that his new city would be safe and crime free angered them even more. During the first four years of construction, there were daily threats against Night's life. A proud and self-reliant man, he typically ignored them. When the threats escalated to the level of sabotage and intimidation, he called in his Corporate allies, who dealt with the threats in a ruthless, but limited, manner. Finally, Night's luck ran out. On September 20th, 1998, he was shot and killed in his penthouse suite at the top of the newly constructed Parkview Tower. Night's killer was never apprehended. In his memory, the newly appointed City Council officially renamed Coronado City "Night City." Mob Rule Four years after initial construction, powerful gang bosses murdered Night and took over the Coronado City project. By 2005, the Mob had become the king of the hill. The Corporations established their strongholds in the outlying "Beavervilles" and their lofty Corporate Plaza fortresses. They had little or no interest in running the City, and the civic leaders were unable to lead without Corporate masters to pull the strings and provide the muscle. Organized crime may be great at being organized to do crimes, but it's not as good at running a city. Within a year of opening, Coronado City's city government was replaced by corrupt Mob-selected puppets and even Petrochem and MA&F found themselves shoved aside in the rush to make the quick illegal Eurobucks. Between selling contracts to their cronies, setting up drug and extortion rackets, and generally inviting the scum of the Collapse into the area, the mobs managed to turn a relatively clean, modern city into an embattled war zone. Crime, drugs, prostitution, random violence, and cybernetic terrorism soon became the rule of law. By 2009, the name Night City had taken on a grim and deadly new meaning. These years were the "dark ages" of Night City, with more murders in that four-year span than there were for most cities in ten. The Mob ruled the city with an iron fist, killing anything in its way. Gang activity was at an all-time high during this period, with notorious gangs like the Blood Razors and the Slaughterhouse making their debut. Night City soon became the closest thing to hell on earth: a war zone where you were just as likely to have your car blown up as have its radio stolen. The number of unsolved murders documented by the police rose into the thousands. \page ### The Megacorps Take Over After four years of street warfare, in 2009 the Corporations finally decided they'd had enough. From 2009-2011, during the period of conflict now called the Mob War, the Corporations battled the underworld for control of Night City. It must be understood that the Corporations didn't go to war over such lowly concerns as people or basic human decency. This was business. Like a rival Corporation, the Mob had its own goals, and these didn't fit into the Corporate agenda. If the Mob wouldn't play by the rules, the Corps could deal with them on the same level. Led by Arasaka-trained paramilitary troops in assault vehicles, fan tanks, and AV combat aerodynes, a wave of bombings, assassinations, and outright street battles descended upon the Mob's ill-prepared cadres. When the smoke cleared, the Corporations had utterly destroyed the Mob's power base in Night City. From then on, any time the Mob crossed one of the Corps, they made sure to do it by the rules of Big Business. At the end of the Mob War, the Corporations placed a puppet mayor in power and started cleaning up the City. The newly elected Council, faced with the return of chaos in Night City, deputized Corporate security forces and allowed them full authority within city limits. The Corporate and city centers were cleaned out and restored to their pristine state. The other neighborhoods were also cleaned out (sometimes with varying levels of success) and made livable again. Marginally. The Corps' draconian policies contributed to the City's now chronic homeless problem; if you didn't have enough money to pay for the renovated version of the place you were living in, you were kicked out by force. This ultimately put hundreds on the street as affordable housing was upgraded and used to house the troops the Corporations needed to maintain order. In later years, this situation eased as fewer enforcers and security teams were needed to keep the streets safe. By 2013, much of the worst excesses of the City had been crushed under the ruthless heel of the Megacorps. The basic services such as Police, Fire, and support services had been reestablished, and if the Corporate masters were oppressive, at least to the average punk on The Street, it was better than dodging gunfire on the way to the Vendit booth. ## The 4th War The full story of Night City in the 4th Corporate War has, by now, been the subject of many dozens of books, movies, and even a few braindances (recorded from captured fighters under extreme duress). What's more important is Night City's unique position in the chaotic, unstable world of the early 2020s. Because of its Free State status, Night City was home to units on both sides of the 4th Corporate War. The War was not kind to Night City. There was constant street-to-street, building-to-building fighting throughout the City, especially around the Corporate Zone where both factions maintained substantial office complexes. Even before the nuclear event that wiped out the center area, people were abandoning the city in droves, doing whatever they could do to avoid getting sniped by drones, crushed by tanks, or just gunned down by Corporate kill squads. A big chunk of the City was wrecked, and people were climbing all over themselves to get to safer spots like Heywood and Pacifica. Then both sides went over the line and some bright boy dropped a bomb. ### The Bomb In retrospect, it was just Night City's bad luck that it was a Free City in an area not controlled by a larger power like a nation. Neither of the Corporate combatants was stupid enough to drop a nuke in the middle of some place where the remnant U.S. or the still powerful EuroTheatre cared about. In fact, probably the only thing that kept then-President Kress from wiping out every Arasaka stronghold on earth was the fact that Night City wasn't technically part of the U.S. So, in 2022 they dropped a bomb. The power of the bomb detonated in the Arasaka Towers was about a tiny fraction of the Hiroshima bomb; basically a tactical nuke a bit larger than a "suitcase bomb;" it was designed to utterly demolish Arasaka's Reliquary Database Project and make it unusable to a rival Megacorp. Similar to a 1950s Davy Crockett backpack nuke, with an overall yield of .1 kiloton, the Nuke was prematurely detonated at floor 120 (366m/yds.), in Kei Arasaka's apartment bunker where the Soulkiller lab was located. The blast instantly obliterated the Arasaka Towers, splitting them in half and causing them to collapse outward. The entire central city became rubble in seconds with almost everyone in the immediate area dying instantly. And, as much of Night City was built on fill, because the elevation (5m/yds.) was originally so low, the Arasaka nuke caused a minor earthquake that liquefied parts of the fill and flooded the inner city. ### The Time of the Red The explosion was technically an air blast, as the detonation went off at roughly 366m/yds. (Little Boy, in comparison, had a detonation height of about 579m/yds.). While this lessened overall long-term radioactivity, most of what remained penetrated only the huge skyscraper towers surrounding the blast (they were later scraped off and buried as fill in the Bay). The high blast area and the tons of raw concrete and steel instantly converted into particulate debris covering the entire NorCal region and far out to sea for many months, as well as igniting a fierce firestorm that covered thousands of acres beyond the City. This combined dust cloud spiraled up into the sky and turned it red with particulate matter for almost two years. Even several years after the blast, suspended particles caused the skies at dawn and dusk to glow a lurid red, inspiring people who lived through that era to call it the Time of the Red. \page ## Key Locations in Night City ### Hot Zone ___ - **1. Totentanz:** This bar at the edge of the Hot Zone is well-known as a place to find boostergangs. They all seem to congregate here, but they don't come to dance. It's considered a bad night if the body count is under twenty.

### Rebuilding Urban Center #### The Glen ___ - **2. 1st Night City Bank:** The main artery of business in Night City. The first floor of the building is a publicly accessible old-school, marble-floored banking institution, complete with friendly bank tellers, and red velvet queue lines. The real money is stored in the vault on the second floor, and between these floors there is restricted access. - **3. City Hall:** The seat of local government in Night City. Despite everything, the number of lobbyists, special interest groups, and government employees buzzing in this location has not decreased. - **4. City Police Precinct #1:** Straddling the line between the Glen and the Combat Zones, Precinct #1 is the first line of defense against the boosters and cyberpsychos of the Combat Zones and they watch that border with an eagle eye and a quick trigger. - **5. Club Atlantis:** A glamorous, multi-level club popular with Execs for its flashy, avant-garde, and disorienting style, highlighted by moving staircases, mirrored walls, and cool cerulean lighting. - **6. Hall of Justice:** The courthouse and jail, an imposing brutalist structure, designed to intimidate with its oversized towers and black steel doors complete with portcullis, was opened to the public on the same day as the neighboring City Hall. - **7. Merrill, Asukaga & Finch Offices:** The Merrill, Asukaga & Finch offices are located in the top floors of a centrally located skyscraper. Access to these floors is restricted to those with an appointment. Generally, they aren't taking new clients, except by referral. - **8. Raven Microcybernetics:** Raven Microcyb's new offices are located in a relatively unadorned corporate skyscraper. While they own the building, their offices only make up the top 10 floors. The rest is dedicated to housing their close business partners.

#### University District ___ - **9. Biotechnica Campus:** Biotechnica's offices are found on the edge of the University District. Geodesic dome greenhouses dot the property and its rooftop terraces give it a unique look. One dome is open to the public, as a living museum of natural and company history. Strange sounds can be heard from the campus at night. - **10. Night City University:** A college campus built up into more of a fortified monastery after many assaults by Boosters, NCU is the center of higher learning in the City and the only opportunity for non-Corpo kids to get a higher education.

#### Little Europe ___ - **11. Camden Court:** A highly reinforced, ritzy apartment complex on the north side, the Court is favored by Solos for its truly staggering physical and NET security—only a madperson would try to break into Camden Court without a full Corporate assault team. - **12. Continental Brands Offices:** The Continental Brands offices are located in one of Night City's newest skyscrapers. The first few floors house the Oasis Megamart, where you can shop for the most obscure flavors of Kibble, tour the Oasis Test Kitchen, or attend a Cooking with Kibble class. The upper floors are exclusively drab offices and the occasional chemical lab. - **13. Danger Girl Offices:** The Danger Girl offices are found in a stately thirteen story art deco building capped by a decorative clock tower. Inside, you'll find thirteen floors of hot pink shag flooring, stuffed mascot characters, smiling cat girls, model robots, shrines to J-pop groups, and brightly colored guns. - **14. Holy Angels Church:** A three story, Roman Catholic church run by Father Kevin, which provides sanctuary and spiritual guidance to anyone who is willing to lay down their weapons and talk peacefully. - **15. Night City Firestation #2:** A large, fortified fire station which deploys cybered-up firefighting teams to deal with accidental fires in the Rebuilding Urban Zone and arson cases at the edge of the Combat Zones. - **16. Short Circuit:** A favorite haunt of Techs and Netrunners, it's not uncommon to find patrons of this bar hauling wrecked tech in from the Hot Zone to tinker with in the booths—Zhirafa drones at the door keep people from hauling in anything too dangerous.

#### Upper Marina ___ - **17. City Medical Center:** The City Medical Center is a large research hospital with multiple Corporate ties. Aside from offering medical care to the citizens of Night City, the hospital is also known for offering therapy and biosculpting, assuming you've got the eb of course. - **18. McCartney Field Stadium:** A Corporate-sponsored, 75,000-seat stadium home to Night City's many local teams: The Night City Slammers (Baseball), The Night City Rangers (Football), The Night City Heat (Basketball), and The Night City Death Dealers (Combat Soccer). - **19. REO Meatwagon Offices:** REO Meatwagon, a small time rival of Trauma Team, has its offices near the Combat Zones. They still practice the questionable business model of "meat jumping", attempting to show up to a Trauma Team call before them to steal the client, charging them out the nose for medical treatment should they survive. - **20. The Afterlife:** The premiere Solo bar in Night City, built in the remains of an old morgue on the outskirts of the Hot Zone, and run by the legendary Solo, Rogue. Every Solo in the city dreams of getting a drink at the Afterlife named after them—even if it only happens post-mortem. - **21. Ziggurat Offices:** The Ziggurat offices are located in a impressive, curved skyscraper designed to soar above the bay and command attention. Public access is limited to the occasional press conference. \page #### Watson Development ___ - **22. City Police Precinct #3:** A large, well-armed (and often paranoid) precinct, staffed by veteran officers and armed with Militech weaponry to help them keep the peace in the northside of Night City. - **23. Petrochem Offices:** Petrochem's offices are located across the street from their bitter corporate rival, SovOil. Aside from a small museum where you can learn about the storied history of petroleum and a gift shop, the compound is heavily defended and inaccessible to the public. - **24. SovOil Offices:** SovOil's offices are located across the street from their bitter Corporate rival, Petrochem. While entirely inaccessible to the public, just beyond the gates of the compound, a variety of gaudy gilded statues and monoliths can be seen. - **25. Trauma Team Tower:** The Trauma Team Tower contains their own hospital exclusively for Trauma Team Executive clients, an AV-4 repair bay, and an air traffic control tower to manage the logistical chaos of it all.

#### NorCal Military Base ___ - **26. Militech Offices:** Militech's offices in Night City are located on the Norcal Military Base. Access to non-government personnel is restricted. Any meeting held with outsiders is in a secure building that sits between the two security checkpoints.

#### Morro Rock ___ - **27. Orbital Air Massdriver:** A tremendous construction site on the Morro Rock, put in place to build the first orbital massdriver in Night City.

#### Pacifica Playground ___ - **28. Playland by the Sea:** A Corporate-sponsored amusement park/vacation destination, which features thrilling braindance adventures, amazing theme park rides, Continental Brands food courts, and lots of Corporate security. Much of the park is in constant renovation.

### Combat Zones #### Old Japantown ___ - **29. Crisis Medical Center:** A no-questions asked medical center supplied with the most advanced technology and frequented by Edgerunner, Solos, and boosters alike, Crisis Medical is neutral ground for all factions. - **30. Highcourt Plaza Hotel:** A decidedly classy and well-defended hotel nestled between Old Japantown and Little China featuring glass elevators, excellent service, and 1920s decor.

#### Little China ___ - **31. The Forlorn Hope:** A small, exclusive Solo bar that caters primarily to veterans from the SouthAm and 4th Corporate Wars, serving as a home away from home to many of the City's most dangerous retired Solos.

### Old Combat Zone ___ - **32. Jesse James' Kosher Deli:** A popular hangout for Nomads and Boosters alike, the deli's really more of a saloon with a nightly body count to rival the Totentanz—but for a small fortune you can get a pretty good corned beef on rye.

### South Night City ___ - **33. Medical Technologies:** A small body bank on the waterfront that has avoided being pushed into the bay by specializing in growing replacement limbs to order as well as supplying cyberware to various boostergangs. - **34. Savage Docs:** A decently sized ripperdoc joint run by the 5 apprentices of the late Savage Doc and protected by the Yakuza and the Tyger Claws. - **35. The Slammer:** A popular ganger bar on the southside docks, known for its cinder block arena where boosters from all across the Combat Zones come to settle disputes with heavy fire power and bloody rippers.

### Overpacked Suburbs #### Heywood (Santo Domingo) ___ - **36. Aldecaldo Camp:** A large, multi-cultural encampment at the edge of the city where the Aldecaldo Nomads run an expansive trade and transport network, hiring themselves out to guide people across the badlands and transport goods just about anywhere. - **37. City Police Precinct #2:** A large and overworked police precinct which has to devote more than half its forces to dealing with gangs of scavvers and has come to rely on Zhirafa drones to patrol the vast expanse of the Suburbs. - **38. MetalStorm:** A nearly indestructible bar, built under the bridge to central Night City, MetalStorm caters to chromers of all shapes and sizes, including a bunch of full body conversions who come to the bar to thrash and get plastered. Almost everything in this bar is solid metal, even the customers.

### Heywood Industrial Zone ___ - **39. Zhirafa Office Park:** The Zhirafa offices were built on an existing factory park, building new floors right on top of the existing architecture and breathing new life into old interiors to make room for cozy cafeterias, innovation nooks, and at least one laser tag arena. Drones and animal mecha are often seen patrolling the office park.

### New Westbrook ___ - **40. Network 54 Offices:** Even from across the bay, Network 54's public offices are an easily identifiable part of the skyline thanks to the neon 54 on the side of the building. The home of many popular shows taped before live studio audiences, the building is also home to its own clinic, restaurants, rec-center and housing exclusively for its stars, which aren't a part of the tour. - **41. Night City Firestation #1:** A well-supplied fire station at the edge of the bay which deploys AVs and firetrucks to fires across the Northern and Southern side of the City. - **42. Rocklin Augmentics Campus:** The Rocklin Augmentics offices are on a campus comprised of offices, meeting spaces, a cafeteria, and a hospital, connected via several skybridges to a second much larger concrete building home solely to research and development. - **43. WorldSat Offices:** The WorldSat Communications offices are located in New Westbrook atop a ridge which boosts the range of their main communications tower, located on-site. Being located relatively close to the outskirts of Night City, the compound is heavily defended. \page

Night City 2045

Its been more than 20 years since the Arasaka Tower nuke, but Night City is a city in the process of rebuilding even now. The old Neighborhood Zones of the 2020 period have been rearranged, renamed, or even scraped off into the Bay, if they were too radioactive. Instead of neighborhoods, locals refer to areas based on the environment that defines them: Executive Zone, Rebuilding Urban Center, Overpacked Suburbs, Hot Zone, Reclaimed Perimeter, Combat Zone, and Open Road.

## Executive Zone **Threat Rating:** Executive ___ A new zone with only one district, created for the safety and pleasure of the corporate elite, carved out of the open hills surrounding the city. This area is a special gated and heavily defended community reserved for high ranking corporate execs and their families. As well as luxury homes, this area has its own shopping and recreational facilities, including golf courses, private spas, and clubs. \page

## Rebuilding Urban Center **Threat Rating:** Corporate/Moderate ___ Not all of Night City was obliterated in the holocaust. Already heavily built up with skyscrapers and densely packed urban construction, a considerable amount of the urban center has survived. But the detonation and subsequent destruction has damaged the seawalls and breakwaters that kept the Bay and the outer Pacific Ocean from overwhelming the fill the majority of the Central City stood on. Periodic flooding is a regular occurrence, and power and water are chancy at best. The NCART subway still runs, when it isn't flooded by the tide; the city planners are working to raise the majority of the track into a new monorail, but that will take time and money the city scarcely has. In the Rebuilding Center, cranes and construction gear (like the ubiquitous Zhirafa mechanoids) are everywhere. The looming skeletons of new corporate towers rise from the ruins of the Old City, patrolled by private armies and mechanical sentry drones. The work never stops, and the Center is always alight with the slam of heavy machines and brilliant with construction arc lights. Chief among these new constructions are the rising mega-buildings of the Watson Urban Reconstruction Zone; all-in-one mini-arcologies designed to house the millions of people forced to leave their homes when the Nuke went off. Neighborhood Zones include: ___ - **The Glen:** A burgeoning new district which contains most of the important governmental buildings of Night City. - **Little Europe:** A divided district composed of tightly knit neighborhoods made up of old brick buildings and tall sky scrapers alike. - **NorCal Military Base:** A heavily fortified military base north of Night City, staffed primarily by Militech soldiers. Mostly shut off from the rest of the City. - **Pacifica Playground:** A largely Corporate-sponsored district built around the Playland by the Sea amusement park, which is in the midst of massive development. - **Upper Marina:** A bustling urban district with a mix of old industrial zones and gentrified "International" style neighborhoods built around a well-maintained marina.

- **University District:** A slim district on the edge of the combat zones which houses the city's only still functioning university. - **Watson Development:** A developing district where megabuildings and arcologies are being built to house the thousands of homeless from the War. Much of Night City's Asian population has moved to the Watson neighborhood colloquially known as Kabuki.

## Overpacked Suburbs **Threat Rating:** Moderate/Combat ___ In the aftermath of the War, most of central Night City was uninhabitable, not because of residual radiation, but from the loss of power, sewer, and water services. The suburbs became host to a huge number of tent cities and unregulated refugee camps smack in the middle of what had previously been safe suburban corporate "Beavervilles." While huge mega-buildings are under construction to house the refugees, this region is crowded, crime-ridden, and on the edge of disaster all the time. Neighborhood Zones include: ___ - **Heywood:** A truly overpacked sector of the City, housing a large percentage of the City's population and already starting to divide based on wealth and power—The rich in the north, the poor in the south (who call the area Santo Domingo instead). - **Heywood Industrial Zone:** The largest industrial zone in the city, overflowing with warehouses, construction equipment, factories, and even some derelict cargo ships. - **New Westbrook:** An urban sprawl built in the remains of the original Executive Zone, still gleaming with glitz and glam, but now packed with homeless citizens who either fled other areas of Night City because of the War or who were pushed out more recently by the ongoing gentrification of the Rebuilding Urban Center. - **Rancho Coronado:** A vast stretch of old Beaverville style housing, taken over by tent cities and industrial zones that have grown out of the corpses of previous mini-malls.

\page

## Combat Zones **Threat Rating:** Combat ___ Gangs are the absolute rulers of the combat zones. Moving between the slums, tenements, and ruins of abandoned city blocks, the gangs and their allies divide up turf, control the limited resources, and kill anyone or anything that gets in the way. There's no reconstruction going on in the combat zones, although sometimes corporate or city lawmen drop down on the area like a ton of ferrobrix and start killing the gangers wholesale, a process the city likens to trimming back kudzu. Neighborhood Zones include: ___ - **Old Japantown:** A once, popular Japanese cultural center that fell into chaos and disrepair during the 4th Corporate War. Much of the population has moved to Watson and the area is now mostly empty save for the gangs. - **Little China:** A sprawling, dangerous Chinatown with many small communities fighting to stay alive and fend off the gangs of the Combat Zones. - **Old Combat Zone:** A district of the City long ago abandoned to the gangs and psychos, the Old Combat Zone is the seed that the rest of the Combat Zones grew from. - **South Night City:** An industrial sprawl, filled with trigger-happy gangs and abandoned warehouses repurposed into hide-outs and headquarters.

## The Open Road **Threat Rating:** Outskirts ___ In the 2020s, the open road was home to roving gogangers and well-defended nomad caravans. But as the nomads take greater control of the world's commerce and shipping, they're using surplus military hardware to drive out the gogangs and make the roads safe for travel. The roads are open, wide, and dusty. There are dead and burned-out vehicles littering some areas, but it looks a bit more like Route 66 than Mad Max. Old highways included in the Open Road zones are: California State Routes 41, 46, 58, 99, and 828, and Interstate Highways 5, and 101.

## The Hot Zone **Threat Rating:** Combat ___ The area most directly affected by the nuke. While much of it has been bulldozed into the Bay, there still remains a haunted landscape of wrecked, twisted skyscrapers, burnt vehicles, and the entombed bodies of the unlucky. The radiation has subsided, it's still present, and the area is long-abandoned to the worst of the gangs. If you go here, you are probably either a ganger, suicidal, or driven to find something hidden in the endless wreckage. ___ - **The Old Bank Block:** Housing all of the old banks of Night City, it is mostly rubble, but was never cleared out officially.

## Reclaimed Perimeter **Threat Rating:** Outskirts ___ When Night City was the regional hub, it was surrounded by a constellation of smaller towns and suburbs. Most have been abandoned, as they were too far out to protect from the roving gangs that plagued the area. Now, supported by some nomad families and private security, the reclaimers are attempting to make new homes for the dispossessed of the city in many of these abandoned places. Neighboring cities included in the reclaimed perimeter are: Atascadero, Avila Beach, Cambria, Los Osos, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and San Simeon.

___ - **The Old City Center:** Only radioactive ruins remain of the once-bustling City Center. - **The Old Corporate Center:** Once the heart of the Corporations of Night City, the Corporate Center is a ruin of its former glory. - **The Old Medical Center:** Largely irradiated, the Old Medical Center houses many hospitals buried under rubble.

\page ## Threat Ratings In Night City, Threat Rating are used to profile armed opponents and levels of overall danger that may be encountered within major areas of the City: ### The Hot Zone #### Threat Rating: Combat This is the area that used to be the central city Corporate Zone. While much of this area has been bulldozed into the Bay as fill, the remainder is still a haunted landscape of wrecked, twisted skyscrapers, burned-out vehicles, and entombed bodies of the unlucky. Although the radiation has subsided, it's still present, and most people have abandoned the area to the worst of the gangs. If you go here, you probably are either a ganger, suicidal, or driven there to find something that's hidden in the endless wreckage.

Areas included in the Hot Zone Wasteland are: - **The Old Bank Block:** Housing all of the old banks of Night City, the Bank Block is mostly rubble but it was never cleared out officially. - **The Old City Center:** Only radioactive ruins remain of the once-bustling City Center. - **The Old Corporate Center:** Once the heart of the Corporations of Night City, the Corporate Center is a ruin of its former glory. - **The Old Medical Center:** Largely irradiated, the Old Medical Center houses many hospitals buried under rubble. ### The Rebuilding Urban Center #### Threat Rating: Corporate/Moderate Not all of Night City was obliterated in the holocaust. Already heavily built up with skyscrapers and densely packed urban construction, a considerable amount of the urban center has survived. But the detonation and subsequent destruction has damaged the seawalls and breakwaters that kept the Bay and the outer Pacific Ocean from overwhelming the fill the majority of the Central City stood on. Periodic flooding is a regular occurrence, and power and water are chancy at best. The NCART subway still runs, when it isn't flooded by the tide; the City planners are working to raise the majority of the track into a new monorail configuration, but that will take time and money the City scarcely has. In the Rebuilding Center, cranes and construction gear (like the ubiquitous Zhirafa mechanoids) are everywhere. The looming skeletons of new corporate towers rise from the ruins of the Old City, patrolled by vigilant private armies and mechanical sentry drones. The work never stops, and the Center is always alight with the slam of heavy machines and brilliant with construction arc lights. Chief among these new constructions are the rising mega-buildings of the Watson Urban Reconstruction Zone; all-in-one mini-arcologies designed to house the millions of people who were forced to leave their homes when the Nuke went off.

Areas included in the Rebuilding Urban Center are: - **The Glen:** A burgeoning new district which contains most of the important governmental buildings of Night City. - **Little Europe:** A divided district composed of tightly knit neighborhoods made up of old brick buildings and tall sky scrapers alike. - **NorCal Military Base:** A heavily fortified military base north of Night City, staffed primarily by Militech soldiers. Mostly shut off from the rest of the City. - **Pacifica Playground:** A largely Corporatesponsored district built around the Playland by the Sea amusement park, which is in the midst of massive development. - **Upper Marina:** A bustling urban district with a mix of old industrial zones and gentrified "International" style neighborhoods built around a well-maintained marina. - **University District:** A slim district on the edge of the Combat Zones which houses the city's only still functioning university. - **Watson Development:** A developing district where megabuildings and arcologies are being built to house the thousands of homeless from the War. Much of Night City's Asian population has moved to the Watson neighborhood colloquially known as Kabuki. ### The Executive Zone #### Threat Rating: Executive This area is a special gated and heavily defended community reserved for High Ranking Corporate Execs and their families. As well as luxury homes, this area has its own shopping and recreational facilities, including golf courses, private spas, and clubs.

- **The Executive Zone:** A new Zone with only one district for the safety and pleasure of the Corporate elite, carved out of the open hills surrounding the City. ### The Combat Zones #### Threat Rating: Combat Gangs are the absolute rulers of the Combat Zones. Moving between the slums, tenements, and ruins of abandoned city blocks, the gangs and their allies divide up turf, control the limited resources, and kill anyone or anything that gets in the way. There's no reconstruction going on in the Combat Zones, although sometimes Corporate or City Lawmen drop down on the area like a ton of ferrobrix and start killing the gangers wholesale, a process the City likens to trimming back kudzu.

Areas included in the Combat Zones are: - **Old Japantown:** A once, popular Japanese cultural center that fell into chaos and disrepair during the 4th Corporate War. Much of the population has moved to Watson and the area is now mostly empty save for the gangs. - **Little China:** A sprawling, dangerous Chinatown with many small communities fighting to stay alive and fend off the gangs of the Combat Zones. - **Old Combat Zone:** A district of the City long ago abandoned to the gangs and psychos, the Old Combat Zone is the seed that the rest of the Combat Zones grew from. - **South Night City:** An industrial sprawl, filled with trigger-happy gangs and abandoned warehouses repurposed into hide-outs and headquarters. \page ### The Overpacked Suburbs #### Threat Rating: Moderate/Combat In the aftermath of the War, most of central Night City was uninhabitable, not because of residual radiation, but from the loss of power, sewer, and water services. The suburbs became host to a huge number of tent cities and unregulated refugee camps smack in the middle of what had previously been safe suburban corporate "Beavervilles." While huge mega-buildings are under construction to house the refugees, this region is crowded, crime-ridden, and on the edge of disaster all the time.

Areas included in the Overpacked Suburbs are: - **Heywood:** A truly overpacked sector of the City, housing a large percentage of the City's population and already starting to divide based on wealth and power—The rich in the north, the poor in the south (who call the area Santo Domingo instead). - **Heywood Industrial Zone:** The largest industrial zone in the City, overflowing with warehouses, construction equipment, factories, and even some derelict cargo ships. - **New Westbrook:** An urban sprawl built in the remains of the original Executive Zone, still gleaming with glitz and glam, but now packed with homeless citizens who either fled other areas of Night City because of the War or who were pushed out more recently by the ongoing gentrification of the Rebuilding Urban Center. - **Rancho Coronado:** A vast stretch of old Beaverville style housing, taken over by tent cities and industrial zones that have grown out of the corpses of previous mini-malls. ### The Reclaimed Perimeter #### Threat Rating: Outskirts While Night City was the regional hub, it was surrounded by a constellation of smaller towns and suburbs. Most of these were abandoned during the 2000-2020 period, as they were too far out to protect from the roving gogangs that plagued the area. Now, supported by Nomad Families and private security, the Reclaimers are attempting to make new homes for the dispossessed of the City in many of these abandoned places. Neighboring Cities included in the Reclaimed Perimeter are: Atascadero, Avila Beach, Cambria, Los Osos, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and San Simeon ### The Open Road #### Threat Rating: Outskirts In the 2020s, the Open Road was home to roving gogangers and well-defended Nomad caravans. But as the Nomad Families take greater control of the world's commerce and shipping, they're using surplus military hardware to drive out the gogangs and make the roads safe for travel. The roads are still open, wide, and dusty, with dead and burned-out vehicles littering some areas, but more and more the Open Road is looking a bit more like Route 66 than Mad Max. Old Highways included in the Open Road Zones are: California State Route 41, California State Route 46, California State Route 58, California State Route 99, California State 828, Interstate Highway 5, and Interstate Highway 101. \page # City Services ## The NET Overall, the War has totally wiped out most NET traffic outside the City; what has survived the destruction of NET nodes and wiring infrastructure was severely compromised by a deadly cyber virus that ravaged the Ihara-Grubb protocol systems at the War's end. This "DataKrash," rumored to be the creation of deranged master Netrunner Rache Bartmoss shortly before his death in 2021, has made running the greater NET an almost suicidal proposition; the remnants of Netwatch (the global police of the NET), have pretty much banned Netrunners from large sections of the Architecture to keep the Krash from spreading. This is implemented by literally destroying key NET nodes in the system and taking still others offline. What NET traffic still exists in the Time of the Red is limited to heavily secured VPN or "airgapped" systems limited to on-site traffic within a single building or campus. ### Data Term The Data Term is a street corner computer terminal, built into a heavily armored concrete post. Data Terms have a direct NET link to a central Data Term service in their home city and can provide maps of the area, information, news updates, phone numbers, current events, entertainment information, and shopping services. Data Terms may also be used to jack into the Data Pool. Rates are about 10eb (Cheap) per minute. Most Data Terms are operated by Ziggurat or a local DT service, which is often a subsidiary of a local newspaper or screamsheet publisher. ### The Data Pool The Data Pool is a Citywide information network built on the backbone of the earlier Data Term systems of the pre-Red era. Information servers and exchange systems designed for open use within the limits of a city, Data Pools produce free, open content created through the collaborative efforts of a community of users. In design, they're similar to the hyper-stack "page" system attempted and then abandoned for the NET in the early '90s. What makes PopMedia possible is the Data Pool—a Citywide LAN network that links the Red world together in lieu of the old NET. Usually built and maintained by Ziggurat, each City has its own version of a Data Pool, requiring the user to set up an account in order to log on and use its facilities. Data Pools are also limited with their LAN structure, a requirement in a world where rampant NET sabotage is the rule—a hardwired system just doesn't have the same flexibility. Since the Data Pool is an open-ended database, anyone can readily drop new PopMedia programming into it, with new entries easily found by Agent search functions. Getting a new PopMedia download is as easy as clicking a link—and once you've loaded it into your Agent once, it'll keep downloading that media (or similar ones) until you say stop. PopMedia is also flexible and viral—since the Data Pool has integrated feedback, this means that it can track how many times a program is accessed and react accordingly. A PopMedia program may start out only occupying one time slot, but as subscribers mount and word gets around, it may end up dominating a huge percentage of the overall possible bandwidth. This also means that competing shows often find themselves battling for bandwidth, with small outfits going toe-to-toe (and gun-to-gun) with the giant Mediacorps that still remain. ### Screamsheets To stay competitive with television, most newspapers now use digital technology. Entire pages are typeset and laid out by computer, photos scanned into place, and the entire newspaper reduced to digital code. This code is transmitted to hundreds of newspaper boxes all over the area. The newsboxes reassemble the code and print the paper (using high speed replication) on the spot. The result is a slick, flimsy newspaper known in streetslang as a screamsheet. Screamsheets have many advantages over previous newspapers. You can dial the newsbox to print only the sections of the paper you want, paying 0.1eb per page printed. New editions can be compiled in hours, allowing the public to keep abreast of a story even as it happens (although most screamsheets are updated at 6:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.). In addition, you can download a screamsheet to your Agent. ### New Mediacorps Mediacorps provide CGI or live action "shows" featuring variety, drama, comedy, etc. A New Mediacorp can be a huge multi-city operation, or as small as a dozen talented artists, techs, and producers. ### Independents and Medias Independents and Medias provide news, gossip, vid and braindance shows, investigative reporting, and commentary on current events. They also provide the format for most "talk" shows, as well as documentaries and informational programming—equivalent to the news anchors of the past. ## Hospitals The two public hospitals established in the 2020 years (City Medical Center and Crisis Medical Center) are still in existence in the Central Night City area, but they suffer from lower-level flooding and regular disruption of services such as water, power, and communications. The hospitals are, however, the last stand for major surgery and the ability to handle the periodic plague outbreaks that were common in the period right after the Fall. There are now a number of constantly shifting clinics which have become the Time of the Red's main source of medical care; outgrowths of the often-covert ripperdocs of the 2020s, they're where most people go to get medicine, emergency care, and moderate level cyberware installations. The City also maintains a large cryobody bank, a holdover from the days immediately following the Fall when corpses were choking the streets; these cavernous, refrigerated chambers are packed with racked cold slabs filled with bodies. \page ## Law and Order Between the War and the Fall of the Towers, law enforcement in Night City fell apart. Gradually, random Solos and Law Enforcement Officers began to reassert control over the roving gangs and looters on a per-neighborhood basis. The more money the locals had to throw at the problem, the better these ad hoc police units were, with Corporate "rent-a-cops" getting the best vehicles and hardware overall. With their limited assets, Lawman bribery is common and corruption the standard. The only real survivors of the old Night City PD are the members of the C-SWAT aka MAX-TAC aka " The Cyberpsycho" Squad. Incorruptible to the last and still led by their commander, Max Hammerman, this lone bastion of the NCPD maintains an iron-fisted control over any and all suspected cyberpsychotic elements in the City. ### I Don't Need No Stinking Badges While Night City (and most Reclaimed City Zones) maintain their own Citywide police forces, other areas just hire a Security force to protect key city buildings like the local Records Hall and Council Offices. For these guys (and others) law enforcement services are instead licensed to a variety of professional, Neocorporate, private police, and local forces deputized to patrol/control a specific area by the owners of that area. These include: #### MAX-TAC Once a part of the Night City Police Department, MAX-TAC is now a fully independent organization in its own right. It contracts with neighborhoods, governments, and even private citizens to take care of the most egregious assaults on the public: hostage situations, cyberpsychos, military class weapons, terrorists, etc. MAX-TAC is run by the incorruptible Commander Max Hammerman, late of the original Night City Police Forces. Hammerman is a man on a mission: to maintain law and order and protect the innocent. MAX-TAC has an impartial code that it follows to the letter—it ends fights, no matter who starts them. If you're a security service guy fighting a bunch of boosters, you'd better put your weapons down when MAX-TAC shows up or they'll open fire on you too. MAX-TAC doesn't hold prisoners; arrestees are remanded to the local Hall of Justice/Security Facility. #### Security Services These are represented by the thousands of uniformed "rent-a-cops" hired to patrol urban areas, office blocs, and upscale living areas. The largest of these is Lazarus Security, the heir to the 2020s' ubiquitous Arasaka and Militech. These Security Services have arrest authority, but maintain no jails; prisoners are remanded to whatever local Justice/Security Facility is in the area. #### Corporate Security Similar to Security Services, these are forces directly related to a Corporation. They often do not have arrest authority or the right to maintain jails, but rumors abound of covert prisons beneath Corporate HQs.

#### Personal Bodyguards These are personal security forces that have been licensed and bonded by the local City government, much like getting a Private Investigator's license in the old days. They are licensed to use maximum force only in the event their clients are in immediate physical danger. Without arrest authority they must call local Private Police Forces or Security Forces to take prisoners. #### Freelance Police A variation of personal bodyguards, these are Solos hired to provide security and protection for a neighborhood. Protectors "patrol the beat" of their area, dealing with threats as they turn up. Freelance Police have arrest authority, as granted by the neighborhood they work for. They sometimes have holding cells, but more often as not remand prisoners to the local Hall of Justice/Security Facility. \page ## Transport ### Night City Transit Corporation (NCTC) The NCTC provides bus services on most major city thoroughfares. NCART (Night City Area Rapid Transit), a public corporation with some private (read: Corporate) funding, has mostly been submerged under several hundred feet of salt water with the collapse of the Night City water table, but there are plans to rebuild the flooded sections above ground and extend the new monorail to cover the growing suburban areas of: North Oak, New Westbrook, Pacifica, Heywood, and Watson. ### Night City Metro The local airport, handling both domestic and international flights. If there were any. Once again, the chaos of the War disrupted most regular transit—private jets and aerodynes exist only for the wealthy. As part of the reclamation of the City, plans are underway to establish an orbital spaceplane/delta massdriver launch site on Morro Rock (A volcanic batholith, it is the most geologically stable area in the entire region). ### Freeways Night City is on State Highway 828, which runs east to connect to I-5. Ground transit to San Francisco is about 4 hours (due to road gang activity and bad roads); to LA is about 6 hours. ### The Nomads The most reliable transportation in or out of Night City comes via the services of the Nomad Clans. Individual Clans sponsor heavily armed convoys to cities along the Coast, the West, and even to the edges of the New United States. These convoys, often made up of over a hundred vehicles ranging in size from giant multifamily Kombis to small armed escort cycles, are capable of fending off even the most determined road-gangs and rogue mercenary groups. Sea-based Clans have commandeered everything from abandoned luxury liners to gigantic container ships and pressed them into service; these are also a reliable way to get out of Night City via the sea lanes. ### By Air and Even Space Need to travel faster? Nomad Clans now control a sizable percentage of the Aerozep (modern cargo blimps) traffic around the region and overseas, usually backed up by satellite snub fighters and AVs. There are few actual commercial jets or other winged aircraft available (too expensive to operate), but if you're really in a hurry, there are an assortment of ex-ESA (European Space Agency) or Orbital Highrider pilots commanding their own suborbital scram-jets—like the legendary Han Solo, these "Deltajocks" go out of their way to avoid legal entanglements and will move any cargo (including you) for the right price. \page ## The "Disneyland" Zones Keeping with Richard Night's vision, Coronado City was divided into neighborhoods, each with a different architectural style and theme, much like the original Disneyland park. Night hoped to bring in a vibrant multi-cultural population attracted to each neighborhood. But with his untimely death, Night's city disintegrated into a hodgepodge of competing districts, savaged by gangs, and later controlled by domineering Megacorporations. ### Little Asia ___ - **Japantown:** An exciting Japanese cultural center and link to the Pacific Rim. - **Little China:** An old-style Chinatown with many fine restaurants and curio shops. ### Little Europe ___ - **Little Italy:** A traditional Italian neighborhood and stronghold of the colorful old Mafia Lords of Night City. Northside District: An aging industrial neighborhood designed to resemble Old New York, with many interesting inhabitants. - **Upper Marina:** Blending architectural elements to resemble San Francisco's North Beach and Marina district. East Marina: The old industrial and pier area, partially gentrified. Home to the Ferry Building and the Marina Yacht Club. ### The Upscale Brownstones ___ - **Old Downtown:** The core of the original township of Morro Bay; a picturesque mesh of older slums and equally colorful boosters. - **West Hill:** An elegant, self-contained community catering to the wealthy and powerful. ### City & Corporate District ___ - **Corporate Center:** Where the real power laid in Night City; home to the towering citadels of the real rulers of the City. - **City Center:** A City governmental nexus and hub of the Megacorps and power dealers. See your taxes at work. Bank Block: The beating financial heart of the City, and source of the Corporate cash. - **Med Center:** The largest concentration of medical-related businesses in the City. Also, home to Trauma Team and other knife artists. ### The Nightlife District ___ - **New Harbor Area:** Home of the Mallplex, a multi-level shopping plaza and mini-arcology, and its neighbor, McCartney Stadium, home of the Superbowl-winning California Rangers. - **Upper Eastside:** A commercial and business zone with gang action and hot clubs. - **Studio City:** Home to Colonial Studios, an old-time film studio. - **Charter Hill:** Enjoy gambling in style in the luxurious Hacienda Hotel casino. ### The University District ___ - **Night City University:** An academic fortress and bastion of higher learning, supporting a lively counterculture. - **Lake Park:** Bio-engineered plants and animals are only two of the attractions of this spacious central park.

## The Suburban Sprawls As developed, there were six "suburbs" surrounding metropolitan Night City: South Night City (an industrial port area), Pacifica (a beach city on the coast), Rancho Coronado (the ultimate Beaverville), Heywood (light industrial and residential suburbs), North Oak (sister city to Night City, and the home of the NorCal Military Base) and Westbrook (Land of the Rich and Powerful). All these suburbs were within twenty minutes (by maglev) of Central Night City. ### The Pacifica Playground Home of Playland by the Sea, Pacifica was an upperclass residential area nestled between the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean and Rancho Coronado. Protected by a Militech security contract, Pacifica was a fairly safe place before the War. The newly renovated Playland by the Sea was a big hit among the amusement park crowd coming down from San Francisco and brought a fair amount of tourist traffic up from the south as well. On the cliffs at Pacifica lay the expensive condos of the Coastview development, offering a view of both the open sea, and for some a view of the bright lights of Playland by the Sea below. Pacifica was the place to kick back and relax after a hard day of battles and beatdowns in the City. ### The North Oak Military Suburb The home of the NorCal Military Base, North Oak's towering structures and ship superstructures were a regular sight seen across the Bay from the East Marina. In the 2020s, with the Free State Wars a relatively recent memory, North Oak was a military town and most of its shops catered to servicepeople or their families, and the majority of its population was in some way or another associated with the military industrial complex. The enormous NorCal Military Base was established as part of the deal which allowed Northern California to maintain its titular independence from the Union as a Free State. The State government didn't mind, as the Base was a deterrent keeping the roadgang scum from coming north and raiding for water. Living on North Oak's wide, oak-shaded streets could be quite agreeable. The homes were pleasant, pastel-colored bungalows with identical numbered curbs. Schools were excellent and the Base Hospital, Theater, Officers, and Enlisted Clubs and the Base Exchange shopping mall provided almost anything you might have wanted. If you liked being in or around uniforms, this was the place for you. ### The Rancho Coronado Beaverville The Ultimate Beaverville, with all that the name implies. South of Night City on Highway 126, Rancho Coronado extended for miles, consisting almost entirely of tract housing interspersed with small, trendy mini malls. Mostly vast featureless subdivisions, Rancho Coronado was packed full of Arasaka, Petrochem, Biotechnica, WNS, and EBM employees, all neatly slotted into rows of identical, small three-bedroom homes that reached towards the horizon. Rancho Coronado was the kind of place that made most Edgerunners break out into a cold sweat just thinking about it. \page ### The Heywood Industrial Zone A light industrial area that straddled the east of Del Coronado bay between Rancho Coronado and North Oak, Heywood had a lot of everything, some housing, a little retail shopping, a few bars and the well-known Apple Valley Corporate subdivision, a primarily Biotechnica dominated Beaverville in South Heywood. But most of Heywood's rolling hills were dotted with large, sprawling factories, industrial complexes, including an Arasaka Arms factory, several Biotechnica research stations, two EBM storage and research stations, and many other facilities. These bland, mass-designed industrial parks dotted the hills of Heywood, some underground, some above, some small, some sprawling over acres. At some point, there were so many of them that even the Heywood City Council didn't know all of their names or what they did. ### South Night City This area was chiefly a heavily industrialized port city with a battered old oil refinery terminal, a container shipping port, the Night City Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant, and miles and miles of cheap, shabby housing constructed at the turn of the century by Mobcontrolled contractors. South Night City was known in the 2020s as an especially dangerous place. If you weren't waylaid and dragged into a dark alley by one of the many gangs that roamed the South Night City sprawl, it was just as likely you would be shot by some trigger-happy local mistaking you for a member of one of the aforementioned gangs. It was always a good idea to travel here during the day. At night, the fireworks started, and usually the ambulances didn't make it into the area ‘till the next morning. The largest employer in South Night City was the San Morro Bay Cargo & Container Port. The main loading and unloading terminal for container ships entering the central California area. From here, fruit, vegetables, processed foods, and manufactured goods flowed out of both Nor and SoCal in a steady stream, while imported goods flowed back in. ### Westbrook Westbrook was always a fortress, built on a naturally occurring set of hills overlooking Night City from across the Bay and North Oak below. It was just a very genteel and well-manicured fortress. Many of the Corporate rich had expensive homes there, and their expensive security made sure that nothing disturbed them. An Arasaka services contract made sure of it. All Westbrook residences also boasted specially coded, skin-implanted identity chips with at least three checkpoints on the road into the hills and several surface-toair missile sites to make sure all air vehicles also had the proper IFF codes. Almost all the Execs working for the largest corporations in Night City lived in Westbrook, including VPs and Execs from Arasaka, EBM, and Petrochem, as well as many prominent Night City personalities. Admission to Westbrook was only limited in one way: the ability to afford it. In general, Westbrook was also well-known as a very safe place for Corporations to place their high extraction-risk employees. There was only one extraction attempt in the history of Westbrook, and that left three AV-4s destroyed and 24 Militech soldiers dead; it was the first—and last—attempted extraction at Westbrook through the entire 2010s. Of course, at the time, some people in the know opined that this incident was what had started the long-running rivalry between the Night City branches of Arasaka and Militech. ### The Badlands Beyond the Night City hub and surrounding suburbs, there was a wide-open space of endless dry California scrub, punctuated by the occasional abandoned town or dry lake bed. Known as the Badlands, this was an area that few Night City inhabitants willingly ventured out into, save for the hardy Nomads who crossed the Badlands in their huge and well-protected caravans. Oh yeah. And the gogangers. Did we forget to mention the gogangers? \page # Change is Coming In the Time of the Red, Night City is a city in the midst of massive change. Areas are constantly being rebuilt. The first temporary housing is rapidly being replaced by a new generation of gigantic mega-buildings. Modeled after the old New Harbor Mall Arcology (which was destroyed by shellfire in 2022), these towering structures encompass living spaces, entertainment, food courts, and shopping malls all in their centralized hubs. As time goes on, these will probably evolve to be the main habitable space in the Night City. ## The New Un-Normal Services are spotty, the law is chancy, and you can't run the NET to the edge of space anymore, much less grab an Orbital Air luxury flight up to the Crystal Palace. But in general, things still work in Night City. You may not be able to get the latest digital Agent or the best weapons on the market (there's still a major problem with supply chains that were disrupted by the War), but thanks to the explosion of rooftop and green-wall gardens, bandit solar collectors, and refabbed hardware from your friendly neighborhood Tech, you're actually eating better (when you eat), have access to more reliable power and gear, and can even count on the local Fixer setting you up with new drugs and new cyberware right off the (illicit) Streets. It's not the Golden Age of the 2020s, choomba. But The Street still works. ## Political Powers Politically, the current Night City is more or less run (and we use the term loosely indeed) by a junta of old city government, Edgerunner and Nomad factions, and the few Corporations whose assets have survived the War. This City Council is dominated by the most aggressive or charismatic members of these disparate factions, including: - The Nomad Families - The Edgerunners, including Netrunners, Solos, Rockerboys, and other "cyberpunk" types - The old City government - The Corporate interests of Biotechnica, Continental Brands, Danger Girl, Militech, Network 54, Petrochem, Rocklin Augmentics, SovOil, Trauma Team, Ziggurat, Zhirafa and (recently and covertly) Arasaka. Since Night City is far too chaotic post-War to have a centralized City government, the Night City Council is made up of City Managers from the different districts and neighborhoods of the City. Even the Combat Zones have City Managers, though they have effectively no control over the gangs of the Zones. A City Manager chosen by their fractious group is nominally in charge of each area of the City —as opposed to a mayor, which is a purely ceremonial title that still remains in some areas like San Francisco. The Council and City Managers are theoretically in charge of: - The local sections of the Data Pool. - Zoning designations for Corporations and neighborhoods. - Road and infrastructure taxes (collected from Corps, factions, and neighborhoods). - Freelance PI and Police licensing. - City contracts for construction and justice services. There is no mayor or central leadership, and fights between factions are frequent and often settled on The Street with weapons over negotiation. No one faction holds the upper hand, but between shifting alliances and agendas, somehow things generally get done without descending into open warfare on The Streets. Although badly underfunded and strapped for supplies, Night City has its own Police, Fire, and Emergency Service Departments. Maintained by a levy on the local Corps and neighborhoods, these small units are heavily armed and operate Citywide. \page ## People of Night City Who to know, who to avoid, and who to get jobs from in Night City. ### Power Players The movers and shakers who run the City. #### Bes Isis (Media) Bes Isis is a well-known freelance Media who has a reputation for being slightly off-balance when it comes to scooping other Medias. More than once, she's broken a few rules to get the inside scoop on a big story, sometimes at significant personal cost. She has one chrome leg and a similar replacement for half of her chest. These were necessary after she faked injury to get a story on "meat jumping." #### Blacklist (Tech) A onetime renegade chemical/ cyber-engineer from the Biotechnica Corporation, Blacklist makes his presence known in Night City in several ways. He is the man that boostergangs see to get "personalized" cybernetics, the man that Corporations see to get viruses synthesized, and the man who the police talk to when they need help in identifying and analyzing chemicals used in crimes. After a dispute with Biotechnica he made peace with Niccolo Loggagia and found new employment as a designer for Biotechnica's bio-engineered replacement fauna. #### David Ling Po (Exec) Born in Hong Kong, David Ling Po emigrated with his family to the United States in 2014. A graduate, (Summa Cum Laude) of Stanford University, in every respect Ling Po appears to be a model businessman and pillar of the community. But behind his mask of respectability, Ling Po is head of the Weng Fang Tong, the largest and most powerful Chinese criminal organization in the western United States. The Weng Fang Tong controls all gambling, loan sharking, and prostitution in much of Night City. Almost all the boostergangs operating in Little China are on Ling Po's payroll and he uses them as enforcers for his various dealings. Operating from the top floor of his export business, he monitors the district via his numerous hirelings, each equipped with a telescopic video micro-camera replacing one eye. Their information is sent via scrambled signal to Mr. Ling Po. #### Dr. Edward Michaels, PhD (Exec) Dean of Night City University (because no one else wants the job). Anyone who wants anything from the University will eventually meet him. He's balding and in his late seventies, but still runs every morning to keep in shape, aided by his new Rocklin Augmentics cyberlegs. Dr. Michaels is a distinctly open and honest man, and made his reputation for excellence in the academic circles during his term on the Pacifica school board. He has made deals with various groups of Edgerunners in the interest of defending his university in the Time of the Red. Michaels also believes that everyone at NCU should be treated equally, while many of his colleagues believe that total Corporate sponsorship is the way to go.

#### Fiona Hayes (Media) Where one finds scandal, graft, or corruption, one can also be fairly sure of finding Net 54 star, Fiona Hayes. A Night City institution, she's in the habit of turning up where she is most definitely unwanted, usually accompanied by a hand-picked, seasoned camera crew and a battery of tough questions. Her investigations have uncovered political and corporate crime, scandal, and conspiracy. Many a once-powerful person lives in jail or retired shame due to a Fiona Hayes' investigation. Naturally, Fiona's journalistic exploits have made her a marked woman, and she sometimes lives like a fugitive for months at a time to avoid assassination by the targets of her investigations. She'll turn up only when her report is complete and her evidence solid, cornering her mark with a camera crew somewhere nice and public. Even if the only response is a "no-comment" the report she logs is usually enough to snowball matters to their inevitable conclusion. There's a rumor on the streets that she's not the first Fiona Hayes and she won't be the last. #### Fireman (Fixer) Fireman is the most well-known of the many local arms dealers. His main distinction comes from the fact that he supplies many of the legitimate businesses with security systems in addition to the weapons their bouncers/hired Solos use. Fireman was initially a cyber-soldier in the SouthAm War who used his contacts after leaving the service to supply his modest business. In addition to his arms dealing, Fireman is also involved in information dealing, something that makes him very popular with Edgerunners in the city. A regular in the Afterlife, he is well-known in the Solo community. #### Franklin M'bolu (Tech) As a developer of many of Orbital Air's leading technologies, M'bolu is in charge of building the company's forthcoming massdriver. Constructed within the Morro Rock, the massdriver will allow space planes to be launched into LEO. Franklin M'bolu is the hard-bargaining man originally responsible for managing OA's contracts and purchases in the U.S. He is rumored in some circles to supplement his income by dealing some of this technology and information on the black markets. #### Garven Haakensen (Fixer) Once the Assistant Mayor, "Councilman" Haakensen can always be found in his office. He has contacts with all the special interest groups, as well as the Corporations and organized crime. Or, to be more specific, they all have contacts with him. So far, he has been able to juggle all this for years without anyone being the wiser, and, given the fact that there's no longer an official Mayor of Night City, he's the closest thing the Council has to a favor-granting power broker. \page #### Hornet (Fixer) A self-made man with a score of enemies, Hornet has become a well-known and respected Fixer in the City in the last several years. Originally a small-time forger from Heywood, Hornet made his bones working with Arasaka during the tail end of the 4th Corporate War, providing deadly chemical weapons, at least some of which were of his own design. Post-War, Hornet has edged his way into most markets in the City, making alliances with many of the Nomad Pack on the outskirts and snapping up talented Techs and Medtechs to work for him. If you need cybertech, biotech, or drugs, Hornet is the man to talk to. He travels often, maintaining several offices throughout the City and is never without his bodyguard: a masked, monokatana- wielding Solo named Fox. #### Lucius Rhyne (Rockerboy) A community organizer in the newly forming Watson Development, Lucius is a rare idealist working to make the world a better place. He is well-known for his inspiring speeches and calls to action. #### Mister Kernaghan (Fixer) Before the 4th Corporate War, Mister Kernaghan worked IT for the Night City Port Authority. When the Nuke went off and the port shut down, he grabbed as much data as he could and ran. Once he was secure and away from the radiation, Mister Kernaghan used those shipping manifests and filed route plans to build his empire. At first, he hired teams to retrieve essentials like food, water, and medicine and sell them to local gangs and Nomad Packs but as Night City began to recover, Mister Kernaghan moved up the chain to rarer, and more profitable, goods. Now a wealthy man, Mister Kernaghan and his cat, Kosmos, hold court over quarterly Midnight Markets where the elite come to buy luxury items like Aerozeps, Cryo- Max suits, and one-of-a-kind collectibles. Nostradamus (Media): Unlike the Nostradamus of the 1400s, this one specializes not in the future, but in the past and present. He is somewhat of a recluse, living in a converted warehouse that has many defenses. Inside the warehouse lies the biggest collection of real books that are left in the City. Nostradamus uses these books along with a gigantic mainframe to compile all the information that he can. To facilitate this collection, he often hires Netrunners to acquire the saleable information he's known for brokering. #### The Other Dr. Bob (Medtech) One of the few surgeons in the City who didn't get his training from the military. The Other Dr. Bob does a lot of cybernetic implants for boostergangs, but he won't do facial reconstruction for posers. Years ago, this was just a limit of his skill but since losing his hands to one of the many John F. Kennedy Juniors of Night City The Other Dr. Bob has harbored a deep hatred of poser gangs. To make matter's worse, people keep mistaking him for Dr. Bob Jones, one of the Faces of Trauma Team.

#### Phoenix Redwyne (Medtech) When Phoenix quit her job at Trauma Team, she had a plan: do some jobs, raise some money, and open a clinic of her very own. Then the 4th Corporate War came and blew her plans all to hell. Instead of earning enough cash to open a fancy new clinic Phoenix made do with whatever she could find. She opened the first version of her clinic, 'From the Embers' in a tent on the outskirts of the city. Over the years the clinic's moved from tent to storage container to abandoned storefront to its current location: a converted garage. These days, Phoenix keeps the lights of her clinic on thanks to community donations and a complicated network of contacts. After over two decades of patching up the people of Night City, pretty much anyone who is anyone owes Phoenix a favor or two. #### Queen Morosha (Solo) A rising star in the Solo community, Queen Morosha is a mysterious figure who fought her way out of the Combat Zone to become one of the most well-known Solos in Night City in just a few years. Already, she's made a name for herself as the "Queen of Solos", running a small but astonishingly effective organization of freelancer killers and bodyguards. Unlike many other Solos, Queen Morosha has an extremely visible persona, taking interviews about her work, her organization, and making appearances from time to time. It's safe to say her meteoric rise and her self-proclaimed title have ruffled some feathers but as of yet no challenger has managed to take down the Queen. #### Rex Royale (Fixer) For those who live on the edge of the Combat Zones, safety is a primary concern. Where do the Combat Zones stop? Rex says it's where he stops it. That's why you pay him to protect you from it. It's not like the police will. Straddling the line between protection racket and public service, Rex's Community Solos keep the Fixer popular enough with his neighbors to keep them paying him. To his credit, Rex actually cares about the community, occasionally organizing pancake breakfasts and the like. He's just not a charity. #### Rogue (Solo) Once upon a time Rogue and her ex-partner Santiago were the best hit men and bodyguards in the business. After traumatic events of the Night City holocaust, Rogue retired and took over operation of the Afterlife. Now, she holds court with the local Solos and occasionally acts as a go between with potential contacts. \page #### William Joseph "Billy Joe" Brentwood (Exec): To most of the people he meets, Billy Joe Brentwood is still the congenial, backslapping, loudmouthed executive in charge of the Dallas-based Petrochem's Night City office; a spinner of good-natured fish stories and tall tales of a rowdy youth in the Texas Free State. Those a little closer know the truth. Behind the high-profile, free-spending exterior is a ruthless, ambitious Exec who cares little who he cuts down on his way to the top, as long as he doesn't besmirch his public image. Brentwood is rumored to have his fingers in many pies, including local and national politics. His lifestyle has made him no stranger to scandal—he's a favorite target of blackmailers and investigative reporters, but many of the people trying to coerce him, or expose his shadier side, have turned up face down in the harbor or disappeared completely. #### Dr. Wu Chii Lee (Medtech) Now ensconced in the Watson Development, the elderly Dr. Lee is a healer, priest, fortune-teller, and herbal pharmacist to the people. Lee is also well known and respected by his peers for having his finger on the pulse of Night City's Asian communities. Information flows like a stream through his hands, often directed by him to where it will do the most good. To most people, he seems to be a simple herbalist who speaks only his native Cantonese. But if faced with an interesting problem, or shown proper respect, this facade is quickly done away with, and he can be of great help. \page ### Badasses of Night City A few notable people you never want to cross. #### Dillon Murphy (Solo) Dillon is a soft-spoken, middle-aged Solo who built a solid reputation on The Street for a cool head and a fast .44. He speaks with a thick Irish accent and bears a resemblance to a certain Rory McGuire, an I.R.A. gunner from Belfast who escaped from a maximum-security prison several decades back. Behind his back, he is known as the "White Knight of Night City" because of a chivalrous streak that causes him to protect women and children—sometimes without pay. Rumor has it, he married a pretty red-head and settled down to raise a horde of children. But he can still be found on The Street from time to time, especially around Father Kevin's church. #### Eran Malour (Tech) A decorated veteran of the brushfire wars of South America, Eran Malour decided he had seen enough. After eight years in the Marines, Malour returned to the United States, and using his veteran's benefits started up his own business. A skilled armorer, he began building custom weapons for his friends and soon gathered a following among many Solos in Night City. In 2016, Malour convinced some of his best customers to invest in plans to expand his business. He purchased a small robotics factory that had been rendered obsolete by recent innovations in zero-gee manufacturing. He then modified the factory with his own specifications to design, produce, and modify any firearm to the desires of the customer. He's mostly retired now, but he'll do you up a weapon if he especially likes you. One of his more notable clients has been Johnny Silverhand for whom he's built a succession of personalized handguns. #### Father Kevin (Solo) To no one's surprise, Father Kevin of Holy Angels Church was a Solo in his younger days and saw action in a dozen or more countries. When he grew sick of wholesale destruction and human intolerance, he came to the conclusion that only charity and divine grace could save humanity. He and his church will provide sanctuary and mediate disputes for anyone who asks (and is willing to turn over their weapons). Father Kevin's record for peacefully settling gang or Corporation problems is exceptional even in the chaos of the Time of the Red. #### Fox (Solo) Fox is a tall slender woman, at least as far as one can tell from her voice. When she was younger she cultivated an intimidating presence, always wearing stylish black from head to toe, her face barely visible behind a net inset in her hood, speaking little. As Hornet's bodyguard for many years she made her bones disappointing an almost constant stream of people wanting to kill her colorful principal during his rapid climb through the power structures of Night City. At this point she is well known and respected in Night City but continues her affectations just because she's used to it. She prefers killing people in quiet but effective ways. Rumor has it that she has taken to training young Solos in her quiet but effective ways but, of course, no one knows for sure.

#### Green Thumb (Solo) Born in Night City to a family of Nigerian immigrants, Green Thumb signed up with Militech when the War really broke out. He served ‘til the end of the conflict and returned to a partially obliterated home. With his family and many of his friends dead, his home destroyed, and his body heavily augmented with borgware, Green Thumb was left with nothing but the will to build something from the ashes. Post-War, Green Thumb is one of the many rooftop gardeners of Night City's Rebuilding Urban Center. Still heavily augmented and well trained from years of combat, he has formed a loose coalition of rooftop gardeners and farmers whom he protects from gangers and Corps like Continental Brands. #### Kenshiro Saeba (Lawman): A one-time Solo who served in the SouthAm War, Kenshiro works as a private investigator in Little Europe, where he picked up the nickname "The Night Hunter." Years ago, when he cracked a kidnapping case involving Yasume Kanzaki and a rival Mob boss, he was temporarily forced to pull up stakes and hide out in Japantown for several years. A hellacious hand with a gun and a good man to have backing you in a fight, Kenshiro has many contacts in local law enforcement but not all approve of his methods. #### "The Knife" (Solo) A Yakuza assassin now operating in the Night City area. A master of disguise, no one knows what The Knife looks like, or who they might be. And when they could be anyone you meet, you'll never see them coming. It's rumored that "The Knife" may actually be a code name for a number of assassins. If you need to reach them— think twice—you can send the message "Katana" to a ZChat account known to a few select Fixers. #### Recluse (Netrunner) Very little is known about the hermitic Netrunner living in the heart of the Combat Zone's Old Japantown district. But everyone in the Combat Zone knows you don't go into the old Kaifū Corner shopping complex unless you're looking for trouble or you need a top-tier Netrunner. For the last several years, Recluse has lived in the abandoned mini-mall, installing expensive, covert defenses and complex NET Architectures that most Edgerunners could only dream of acquiring. She only speaks with clients who can shell out big time cash and never meets anyone in person. Recluse prefers to meet clients in the lobby of her NET Architecture, where she appears in the form of her Icon, a tremendous brown recluse spider with an icy voice. Some say she's an ex-Netwatch agent, hiding out from her former employers; some say she's really an A.I.; and some people even say Recluse is a Net Ghost who lives in the Old NET. But there's one thing everyone in the Combat Zone knows: if you need a NET cracked, no matter how airtight, you go to Recluse. \page #### Woodchipper (Nomad) The rise of the Nomads during the Time of the Red has led to a steady increase in conflicts between Nomad Families. When they seek mediation, Woodchipper's garage on the outskirts of Night City is often their destination. From squabbles over reclaimed land to interpersonal conflicts, they throw it all to the Woodchipper. For her clients, she is equal parts extralegal judge, private investigator, and marriage counselor. In her garage, weapons are not allowed and all seeking violence are removed violently by 270 lbs. of peace-loving, subdermally armored Nomad and her internal linear frame. ### Gangs of Night City The streets of Night City are alive and crawling with gangs. By day, The Street may still be the province of Corporate Execs and commuting Beavers. But at night, the predators slither out from under their rocks and trash heaps, and the City howls. Call them gutter-rats, night crawlers, trash, or street scum; the gangs are the ultimate rulers of the City's night. Whether it's a small pack of a dozen, or an army of two hundred, each gang in Night City is as diverse as The Street itself; guardians, chromers, dorphers, and freaks all thrown together in a lethal cocktail, mixed and sprinkled liberally with blood. #### 6th Street Born from the many veterans of the 4th Corporate War, the 6th Street is a vigilante gang which protects various neighborhoods around Night City. Members of the 6th Street are generally well-armed and heavily cybered-up with armament from their days in the field. Recently, they have been forced to move into extortion and smuggling in efforts to pay their bills. While they operate all throughout the city, the 6th Street all are welcome protectors of the Holy Angels Church. #### The Bozos When they first appeared, the Bozos were a prankster gang. Biosculpted to look like circus clowns with red bulbous noses, wild red hair, and long flat feet (no, not shoes) and costumed to the part, the Bozos became impromptu slapstick. But soon the Bozos became the ultimate killer clown gang. People living on Bozo turf learned the hard way that if you see a pack of Bozos, just run. Bozos enjoy playing on people's greatest fears: lurking in apartments in the dark, locking victims in small spaces filled with rats, stopping elevators midway and filling them with water. They are not funny. #### Inquisitors The Inquisitors are a cult gang; like the hate gangs, they center on a specific ideology, in this case, religious. The Inquisitors think cyberware is blasphemous, and think nothing of tearing it right out of your body. They consider this "saving" your soul. Not only do they believe that cybernetics are "evil," but they also have a war going on with every other gang in the city. Everyone hates these guys.

#### Iron Sights The Iron Sights are a relatively small, but surprisingly tough, combat gang of borderline cyberpsychos. Once funded by Arasaka, they fell on hard times after the War. But word on The Street is that they have a new benefactor and are once more flexing their Rippers. #### Maelstrom This combat gang formed around the remnants of the old Metal Warriors; a gang virtually wiped out in one night by the Inquisitors. It later drafted members of the Red Chrome Legion and lron Sights who also had violent personal grudges against the Inquisitors. Post-War, Maelstrom settled another long running feud with a smaller gang of cyberpsychos and began to adopt some of their old rival's meat-hating philosophies, leading to an almost exponential increase in visible and extreme cyberware among gang members. This, in turn, has only increased the number and intensity of the battles between Maelstrom and the Inquisitors. #### Philharmonic Vampyres The Vamps are a prankster gang who were dubbed the "Philharmonic Vampyres" a few decades ago when five members clad in tuxedos, capes, and vampire teeth flew up on wires behind the Night City Symphony on Halloween night. Are they artists, hoodlums, or social commentators? Are those teeth part of the costume or not? Who knows? #### Piranhas The Piranhas are a typical party gang. They party, drink Smash, take and deal drugs, and mug people, all as part of a "just because" lifestyle. To these guys, the Party is everything. The Prime-Time Players: The Players are a poser gang who use biosculpting to look like members of old sitcoms and TV shows from bygone eras. They are an extended family gang which protects their neighborhood and longs for a bygone time. The Players are broken up into a number of different factions based on various shows. They are territorial and fiercely protective of their members. #### Reckoners The Reckoners are one of several apocalyptic cults that sprung up after the War. They roam the streets, preaching the coming Harvest of Souls, recruiting from the homeless, and looking for donations, often taken from your unconscious body. A few are serious crazies who want to evoke the End Times right now with blood and C4. #### Red Chrome Legion The Legion is a neo-fascist hate gang; young people united around various hate group ideologies. Uniforms and militaristic slogans are the rule. The Red Chromers will attack anything that they think isn't "right." \page #### Scavvers Scavengers aren't a gang per se, but the desperate homeless who squat in the ruined City Zones left behind by the War. They scour the treacherous debris for salable items such as copper, platinum, old tech, and even abandoned weapons. Many die doing so. Not least of all because these urban battlegrounds have been pretty picked over in the last seventeen years, and scavvers are constantly forced to dig deeper and deeper into unsafe terrain for anything of value. #### Steel Vaqueros A Nomad pack out of Salinas, their ragtag convoys make the coastal highway run from the Santa Cruz agriplots to the southern cities. They take in anyone who displays skill, dependability, and who can keep up. Smart and relatively honest, they have supply deals with several Reclaimer groups in Night City. #### Tyger Claws Once under the thumb of Arasaka, the Tyger Claws have broken away and become a dangerous protector gang for the Asian community of Night City. They have had a significant role in rebuilding the sections of Japan Town after the 4th Corporate War. The Tyger Claws are known for their fast bikes, enhanced reflexes, and killer martial arts. #### Voodoo Boys Major crime contacts in Florida and the Caribbean may have been the beginning of the Voodoo Boys, a terrorist gang with ritual magic overtones, feeding their bizarre tastes by dealing primarily non-synthetic drugs. But that's been changing recently, as real Haitians and other refugees from the decimated Dominican Republic have started to move into the area. These immigrants have taken offense at the so-called Voodoo Boys and have taken to expressing their displeasure by maiming victims and dissecting the dead with machetes, leaving body parts as warnings. Stay tuned.

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