San El Paso

A growing city 20 miles south of Night City. It has an expanding population of 6 million, mostly Mexican immigrants and fleeing criminals. It is a haven for crime - police presence is minimal, there are few corportions still operating and it is one of the last 'free' towns in the ISA.

Places of Note

The Mayors House. It was built to overlook the city, funded by backhanders and dodgy goings-on. The total area covers something the size of a large Mall or football pitch, not including the underground car parks and secure areas. The Mayor rents it out to wealthy visitors for parts of the year, with weekly costs usually around $4000. For this, you get access to the heated pool, in-house bar and cinema and protection from the rampaging gangsters and criminals outside. The home can accomodate up to 30 people at any one time, served by a staff of 6. It is one of few places in the city where you can sleep safely - but you sleep in the bed of a back-stabbing politician.

Corn Exchange. Retaining its old name, this building has become a meeting place for criminals of all kinds. Here they come together to trade their dodgy wares, swap contacts and generally be criminal. There are many rooms, all secure and private (or so they think). Access is open to all, but new visitors will be treated with suspicion and closely watched for a while. Located on the outskirts of the city, police cover is virtually non-existent. Should any cop dare to enter alone, there's a fair chance he won't make it back out.

Net Centre. Like a phone exchange, all accesses to the Net in a twenty-five mile radius are directed here. They are processed at high speeds through the many servers, where they are monitored and recorded. Any time you log on, these people see you. The building is another of the few safe houses in the city. With its own security compliment, few can hope to even get near the valuable resources and information. Control of this building would give amazing powers - in theory, you could control Net access for a large chunk of the West coast of America. The only reason this building hasn't been moved yet to a safer location is the complexity of the task - Net access would be impossible for weeks while the miles of cables, servers and lines are moved and checked. The debugging process would take further years of time and money. For now, your Net access will stay in dangerous hands. night City falls under the Centre's sphere of influence.

Museum of National Glory. Houses a collection of prized American artefacts from the 16th to 21st Centuries, from the bandana worn by the founder of San El Paso to the latest anti-terrorist bombs. There are over 6000 items, covering every aspect of society as it has changed. Sadly, much of the content remains unseen by the public eye - the censors won't risk letting the people see what their lives used to be like. The building itself is owned by Georgios C. Papalopous, a rich Greek-American businessman. He refuses to rehouse the artefacts in a safer location elsewhere, much to the anger of the Corporations. CorpSec suspects he has an involvement with criminal organisations in the area but has been unable to prove any link as yet.

The Ranch. The coolest place to go if you're a YoGanger in this city. It's a large, very cool bar/hang-out. All the top kids come here after class to sit looking cool. It's a great place to meet up - there are so many people here, you'd never recognise you. A virtuality site offers a less cool experience for the geeky kids, but it's still a pretty exclusive place. To sit down, you've got to know someone - you can't sit alone. No-one knows how this started, but because it keeps the nerdlings out, it's a popular convention. The owners of the Ranch soon cottoned on to the exclusivity their customers had bestowed upon the joint, and prices went up to match expectations. If that doesn't keep you out, the über-kids will.

What it's Like

Police presence is minimal. Corporations could not influence a population of illiterate immigrants, so began to desert the city around the beginning of the 2020s. Without their funding, the police were cut back and are now few and far between, the only station covering the remnants of the CorpZone in the city centre. The city is run by several gangsters, who effectively have total control. Gang wars are common and violent. The Mayor is merely a token - it is well-known that he has been bought. This fact usually goes un-mentioned for fear of retribution.

Many immigrants come to escape poverty, but end up in worse conditions. Most travel northwards from Mexico, in pursuit of the "American dream" (strange how misconceptions live longer and harder abroad). Slums cover most of the city, housing the immigrant population. Jobs are plentiful, but are usually illegal and poor-paying - factoy work, drugs production and so on. The people are not accepted in other cities where Corps rule, so stay here in a life of crime and drugs. As you can tell, the situation is quite bad.

YoGanger influence is nonetheless strong. However, it is biased distinctly towards the more violent gangs - MegaViolents, BlueBloods, StreetFighters and the upper-classes of their world, the GlitterKids. These gangs prosper in the harsh environment which does little to encourage the idealistic atitudes that breed most other gangs - envoronmental concerns are rare in San El Paso, so you won't find many EcoRaiders. This bias creates an extremely violent scene, where gang supremacy is based on territorial dominance alone, rather than any of the lofty goals of their local counterparts. If you have the mos weapons and control the most turf, you're on top. Territory is generally seen on two levels - that of the serious criminal world, a level above the juves, and that of the YoGangers. Often the two overlap with no problems. Sometimes mix-ups occur and a kid ends up with no head. Hey, nobody said life was fair.