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A cyberpunk epic run by Wintermute
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Wintermute
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Post by Wintermute »

This is some of the documentation from the original game. Not all of this will be correct in the new game, but I figure it'll allow you to at least get a feel for things. Probably be a fair amount of text in this thread, so I apologize for the spamming in advance.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
-Mordaine, running a Changeling game
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US History

In 1992, the United states entered a recession. After six years of various economic strategies aimed at bolstering a failing economy, the markets hit lows unseen in decades. The repercussions were world-wide and in the next six years the world saw the destruction of the last superpowers, culminating with the breakup of the United States of America in 2004. While the rest of the world endured varying degrees of economic turmoil, the United States was the hardest hit of any of the first and second world nations. Government was no longer able to execute its functions, public services went neglected, and thousands died in food riots across the nation.

On the world stage, without the driving force of genuine superpowers, there was a marked lack of worldwide governing bodies. The United Nations dissolved in 2002 and without regulation, large companies such as the Royal Dutch/Shell group, Mitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler began to come into their own. International legislation and trade agreements became unenforcable and the megacorporation was born as already international companies swallowed up competition and made alliances with their fellows.

These new megacorporations would be instrumental in the secession of California and the other territories. In exchange for favorable operating conditions and limited extraterritoriality, the megacorps were influential in funding the secession and rebuilding the territories. Public services became privatized, jobs became available, and the economy turned around. By 2006, the former United States was on the rebound and catching up with the rest of the world.

Texas would be the next to follow suit, taking with it New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona. While there hadn't been any push for secession in any of those states with the exception of Texas, it became geographically and economically necessary for them to band together in their negotiations with the United States government and with the megacorporations. Parts of the central and southern United States would remain affiliated with the United states in name, becoming a loose confederacy. The very core of the United states now remains in its eastern seaboard, with its heart in the original thirteen states. In the northwestern united states, Washington, Oregon and Idaho united with British Columbia and Alberta becoming the independent nation of New Cascadia. Alaska, nominally still a part of the United States has increasing trade with Russia and has reverted to a largely uncontrolled territory where oil and mining interests reign supreme.

Following California and Texas, Montana didn't even have to put up a fight. They simply stopped sending representatives and paying taxes. Other states would soon follow their example, firstly their neighbors to the east and south. Utah and the northwestern part of Nevada would become the Mormon state of New Eden. Finding itself with no place to go, the rest of Nevada quickly became a part of California, retaining its own name.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
-Mordaine, running a Changeling game
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US Food Riots

In 1995, drought struck the United States. Many farmers were looking at claiming bankruptcy in the next year, and many already had. Some few lucky farmers with savings tucked away and with government assistance managed to hold out a year in hopes of better times. They claimed they hadn't seen such drought, even in 1980. In farming, next year will always be better.

In 1996, fully fifty percent of American farmers in the south and central United States went under. They declared bankruptcy and in most cases intended to continue farming purely by government subsidies. A state of emergency was declared, the extra funding thrown into their lost causes as the nation felt the effects of global warming and an abnormally dry season, two years running. Water initiatives were passed in Congress, but were not economically feasible. The drought went on into 1997, and there was nothing the government, already facing serious recession, could do. By 1998, the volume of food produced by United States farmers had been reduced to less than one quarter of its former bounty.

The resulting crisis was far reaching. Whole regions with economies centered around the delicate farming industry were rendered insolvent. Unemployment reached record highs. Farmers and members of supporting and related industries fled to the cities, where jobs were equally unavailable. The banks who had provided loans to farmers for land and equipment went under with countless clients filing Chapter 11.

The economy destabilized. The United States was not able to import food enough to feed all of its people, and those segments of the population already marginalized or at risk suffered almost to a man. More surprisingly to the comfortable middle classes came the revelation that they, too, were in danger. With the realisation of the most profound gap between economic stratifications in United States history came civil unrest and intermittent, violent rioting, even in the heartland of America.

It was during this time that megacorporations acquired large tracts of land in normally fertile areas. Banks were willing to sell cheap to try to recoup losses. Those lands forfeited to government ownership for failure to pay property taxes, the hard earned soil of generations of labour, were sold cheaply as well. Farming was about to realise a revolution as those corporations large enough, global enough to be stable through a United States depression stepped in.

Foods such as soy and milo, formerly grown largely to feed to livestock, became major processed staples of the average American diet as the economy recovered. Livestock farming became sparse, the investment behind it too great to justify to corporate executives. From the food people consumed to the reclaimed water they drank, megacorporations were beginning to shore up the United States, for a price.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
-Mordaine, running a Changeling game
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18th Street Unlimited

The 18th Street gang became the largest gang in Los Angeles by the early 1990s, with a mostly-Latino membership estimated by some at 20,000. By far the most prominent gang presently, 18th Street spent the decades between 1990 and 2020 branching out into new territories in the city, claiming more turf than any other gang during that time. Fueled by a booming drug trade, its ranks enhanced by a growing population of poor, dispossessed youth, and willing to use violent tactics to achieve its goals, 18th Street has even managed to branch out into cities all along the Western Seaboard and into parts of Canada. This gang claims much, if not most, of the DMZ and for many people, 18th Street Unlimited embodies what they think of when they hear the words 'street gang'.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
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LAPD

"The city of L.A. feels like a prison
With helicopters overhead and bullets whizzing by"
-L.A.P.D., The Offspring

The Los Angeles Police Department has a largely well-deserved reputation for brutality. Excessive violence, harassment, and corruption are all charges regularly leved at the department. Despite this, the LAPD is one of the most effective police departments in the world.
Officers come from a diverse background. Some transfer in from other cities, but the majority come from the streets of Los Angeles. Of these, many come from the rougher neighborhoods, driven by reasons as unique as the officers themselves. It is perhaps because of this that the department has no appearance standards, when not in uniform many officers appear no different than the criminals they pursue.
Due to the sprawl of Los Angeles geography and a limited number of officers, the LAPD espouses a doctrine of mobility. Patrols are limited, the emphasis instead being on fast response. Officers are expected to respond to a nearby call, regardless of department and division affiliation.

The LAPD is made up of many divisions, each trained and specialized to deal with certain responsibilites. Listed below are several divisions of note.

CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) is LAPD's answer to street gangs. The primary mission of CRASH is to gather intelligence on criminal street gangs and monitor their activites. While CRASH officers do not generally go undercover, they often develop strong relationships with the gangs they monitor. It is through this relationship that the officer gains insight into the gang's activities, learning what jobs they partake in, who they're feuding with, and where they hang out.

The NARCOTICS division tackles the issue of illicit drug use and sales. Often working undercover, narcotics officers may spend months or even years gathering evidence before a sting. Because of this undercover experience, narcotics officers are often recruited into other operations, such as weapons trafficking, smuggling, and auto theft.

HOMICIDE officers are detectives for the most part, tasked with uncovering the truth behind murders. Utilizing state of the art forensic science with tried and true interrogation methods, the homicide division often chases after the most dangerous types of criminals.

SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers are trained in military-assault style tactics. Highly trained in close quarters combat, the SWAT team is called out when a situation exceeds the demands of a normal officer. LAPD SWAT is one of the best special response teams in the world, occasionally called in to advise military operations in urban environments. SWAT officers rank among the few trained to enter the DMZ.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
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Law

"Go to Simi Valley and surely
somebody knows the address of the jury."
-We Had To Tear This Muthafucka Up, Ice Cube

The legal system of Los Angeles is forced to contend with overcrowded prisons, repeat offenders, and violent juveniles. Combined with a lack of resources, this has caused many to view the system as ineffective, if not entirely corrupt.
Strongly resembling the American system, the California legal system has both criminal and civil cases. The accused (or either party, in the case of a civil trial) has the right to a trial by jury, but may waive that right in favor of a bench trial before a judge. Civil penalties are strictly financial in nature, while criminal penalties can result in fines, service, incarceration, and even death.
A juvenile system exists to handle the cases of offenders under the age of 18, however violent juvenile offenders may be tried as adults. The juvenile penal system's goal is rehabilitation, and offenders are housed in separate correctional facilities from their adult counterparts. There is no death penalty in the juvenile justice system, however juveniles tried as adults can receive the death penalty.

Listed below are the average penalties for certain crimes. Please be aware this list is by no means exhaustive, and the penalties simply represent a typical sentence for a first offense.

[code:1:2985201be4]
Crime Fine Incarceration
Aggravated Assault $50,000 8 Years
Arson $100,000 5 Years
Assault $5,000 6 Months
Burglary $10,000 3 Months
Carrying a Concealed Weapon $5,000 30 days
Driving Under the Influence $2,500 30 days
Drug Trafficking $30,000 2 Years
Grand Theft $10,000 3 Months
Manslaughter $30,000 10 Years
Murder $200,000 25 Years
Possession of a Controlled Substance $1,000 30 days
Robbery $10,000 9 Months
Sexual Assault $15,000 7 Years
Weapons Possession $25,000 3 Years
Sale of a Controlled Substance $75,000 3 Years[/code:1:2985201be4]
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
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Megacorporations

With the dissolution of international ruling bodies, international corporations began to act with a previously unexperienced autonomy. While there are any number of large corporations with international capacity, some few are commonly referred to in media as the megacorps. These are corporations with a longstanding history, capable of global thought and coordination and long term future planning. They represent mergers of the world's most influential corporations into genuine multinational entities with tremendous financial clout. While the definition isn't completely clear cut, it's fairly clear that seven weigh in at the top.

Mitsubishi-Citigroup
The result of a merger of Mitsubishi, Citigroup, and Total Fina Elf, this was the first of the major megacorporations as we know them today. The bold and completely unforseen moves by the management of Mitsubishi would spur a new trend in multinationals.

Royal Dutch/Shell Worldwide
Without international regulation separating the divisions of Shell, Royal Dutch entered negotiations with Deutsche Bank. In the next year, they would acquire Merck and Daimler Chrysler and in another five years Unilever and Fortis would follow. Royal Dutch would become, disputably, the strongest of the megacorps by the year 2020.

Universal Motor and Finance
With the merger of General Motors and Exxon and their partnership with the American Banking Group (composed of the former Bank of America and Wells Fargo), Universal Motor and Finance sought to overcome bad press generated by its competitors with a new name and image and adopted UM&F in 2010. Although an international company, UM&F has the most uniquely American flavor. Other subsidiaries of Universal Motor and Finance include Genentech and Philip Morris.

Mitsui Industries
Mitsui Industries is the umbrella corporation that holds Toyota, Hitachi, Sony, the former Sumitomi Mitsui, Mizuho Holdings, and Tokyo Electric Power. It is characteristically Japanese in culture. Because so little adjustment was required in the corporate culture of its constituent parts and because the brands were so recognizable to the public, many of the companies under the Mitsui umbrella retain their former names.

European United Holdings
From the EU would arise one of the most conservative megacorporations, rooted in a solid corporate tradition. Europen United Holdings began as BP, Carrefour-Ahold, Siemens Group, and Volkswagon combined forces in an astonishing display of old-world solidarity, a direct answer to the formation of their most formiddable rival, Royal Dutch/Shell Worldwide.
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DMZ

In the aftermath of the secession, South Central saw some peace, at least comparatively. California's economy took an upswing and there were jobs for a while. With the influx of corporate employers, unskilled labor positions opened up and things were better than they had been in a long time.

As megacorporations cut their deals with the new government of California, they became less and less accountable to anyone. Long hours were mandated and raises and other incentives were perpetually denied. Laborers sought to form unions, but the corporations refused to deal, hiring from the plentiful pool of scabs, people desperate to support themselves and their families.

As worldwide trade regulation evaporated, most major production facilities were relocated to the third world where labor was cheaper and business and environmental legislation was more permissive. The situation became progressively more dire for the residents of South Central.

On March 13, 2015, a Citigroup-Mitsubishi refinery was scheduled to open, advertising an availability of some 200 jobs. The move was widely publicized as an economic boon to the area, a sign of good things to come. Unexpectedly, over fifty thousand people converged on the factory, standing in miles long lines. What remained of the union staged a protest, and began to argue with the job-seekers. The corporation begin to fly in extra security, although there wasn't sufficient time. No one has been able to isolate the beginning of the riot, and it seems that many things happened near-simultaneously to trigger the riots. Violence erupted in the crowd and many of the job-seekers rushed the factory, although it remains unclear whether they did so with violent intent or in seeking shelter. Citigroup security opened fire on the crowd and within hours, South Central was gripped in fever-pitch riots.

The refinery was the first to burn, but soon more facilities were destroyed, corporate icons were destroyed almost to the last, but local stores and homes weren't always spared. Looting and violence abounded. When the fires were finally put out, hundreds were dead. Corporate losses were also high, with a majority of the corporate casualties coming from South Central and surrounding areas. Funeral homes and churches were booked with funerals for weeks.

The public was outraged, and the corporations exerted their influence over a government eager to appease public opinion to contain the problem. A so-called temporary barrier was erected, to be removed pending review in 2025. Already its borders have grown since its original erection in 2015. It's become a fixture in Los Angeles, now colloquially called the DMZ. Its borders include Slauson to the North, Crenshaw to the West, Figueroa to the East, and Rosecrans to the South.
"The sidhe cell sells sea shells down by the sea shore."
-Mordaine, running a Changeling game
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