Shadows of Cartagena, ...since SoLA is never coming out... Options

[Mercer]

I've been sitting on these notes since the last days of SR3. It probably diverges a bit from canon (there isn't much about South America that I could find, and I've never been married to canon anyway). I'll spread it out over the next few posts.

Cartagena, Occupied Colombia. November, 2064.

Occupied Colombia, eh? Who’s occupying it, and who does it belong to?

The country of Colombia changed drastically in the 30’s when the half south of the Andes fell to Amazonia, and the north was annexed by the newly formed country of Aztlan. At that point, the country of Colombia ceased to exist, and it was instead merely the name of a territory. By and large the people there still called themselves Colombians, even though their land had been either conquered or bought out.

Time goes by, and Aztlan has its problems. The territories that were formerly Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama all begin to rebel, seeking self-rule. Colombia, being the southern edge of the country has always had a reputation for lawlessness, especially in the interior. Refugees from the conflicts in the 30’s moved south, typically settling along the coast of Colombia. Many joined the private armies of the Ghost Cartels, whose power was localized in the border city of Bogotá, between the Aztlan and Amazonia (think Berlin during the Cold War). In the late 50’s, when the conflicts in Latin America became especially bloody, a new wave of refugees came south once again, setting up squatter camps around the cities on the coast, where it was more secure.

From 2060-2062, the rebellion was going badly for both sides. Aztlan began to fortify north of the conflict. The war had made most of the areas in the southern half of the country uninhabitable. The Panama Canal, due to its importance to world trade, stayed in control of the Corporate Court, and Colombia, despite being a part of Aztlan in name, was largely left to its own devices.

Thus was born the Provisional Government of Occupied Colombia. To put it in the terms of the movie Casablanca, Occupied Colombia is the Vichy French territory, Aztlan are the Germans, the refugees are the refugees, and Cartagena is Casablanca.

What about Cartagena?

Cartagena was one of the first Spanish cities in South America. Founded in 1504 and named Cartagena de Indias in 1522, the Spanish used it as the main exportation point of New World gold and silver. (It was named for the city in Spain which was named for the city its founders had come from, Carthage.) A Catholic diocese was founded in 1533. The city walls, built to protect the city from pirates, still stand today around the Old Town neighborhood. In later years, Cartagena became one of the main ports for the slave trade. It remained a Spanish city until it was freed by Simon Bolivar during the War of Independence in 1822.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Colombia became notorious for the actions of its drug cartels, which operated in the mountainous part of the country. These cartels amassed a great fortune in the drug business, which they invested in part in founding the ORO corporation, which would go on to form Aztechnology, which would be integral to the formation of Aztlan, which would then try to take Colombia back and exterminate the remaining cartels. There’s irony in them there hills, boys.

Throughout all this, Cartagena remained largely a tourist destination. Situated on a beautiful stretch of coast along the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena has always has as much in common with the Caribbean as it has with Colombia. Like many popular tourist destinations in this part of the world, the wealth of the tourists tends to exist along side with the incredible poverty of some of the citizens. The original slums of the city, the Loma Fresca and Mandela barrios, on the south and east of the city center, were originally swamps and dumps that refugees from the interior of Colombia began to inhabit around the turn of the century. In the 2030’s, these areas were flattened, paved over and turned into the low-income housing neighborhoods that still exist today. To the east of these barrios, more slums have cropped up as more refugees have come to the city, until the poverty and overcrowding have reached epidemic proportions.

Who runs things?

That depends on who you ask, and what you mean by “things�. The Provisional Government of Occupied Colombia is the nominal ruler, with its Presidente, various regional governors, and all the cogs and wheels that seem to find their way into local politics. But this was set up by and large by Aztlan, and is seen by many to be nothing more as a puppet show run by Tenochtitlan. As major players go, Aztechnology cannot be ignored. From the arcology in Barranquilla, a hundred kilometers northeast of Cartagena, Aztechnology is the 800-kilo gorilla in Occupied Colombia. Like most major cities, almost all civil services from waste disposal to law enforcement are privatized, but the corporations that provide these services are controlled—one way or another—by Aztechnology.

But that’s just the stuff on paper. When you’re footin' it to the Shack for a pack of popplers and a box of wine, it’s not Aztechnology you’re worried about. Block to block, who runs things isn’t about corporations or governments. To the east, in the slums, it’s the gangs. In your C/D neighborhoods, these are the street rat gangs that exist the world over. As you work you’re way west, into the B and A rating neighborhoods, you’ll start running into organized crime. Crime families, the majority of them affiliated with the Ghost Cartels, tend to run the black and grey market action in the nicer neighborhoods along the coast.

Added to this (much like the Seoulpa Rings in Seattle) you have the refugees that have come here in recent years; Hondurans, Panamanians, and so on, who after years of bloody warfare with Aztlan now find themselves with nothing to lose in Colombia. These gangs tend to exist in the far east slums such as El Infierno, a rating Z sprawl. In general, gangs come from the neighborhoods, which themselves are set along cultural divisions. Cartagena’s prominence has made it one of the most culturally diverse cities in South America.

And that’s just Cartagena. You’ve got the Caribbean League on one side, and the Andes Mountains on the other. In the CL, you have each individual island as its own separate entity. All megacorporations maintain facilities of some nature in the CL, from secure resort communities for the wage slaves to entire islands bought outright (such as Saeder-Krupps control of the Dutch Antilles). There’s also the open water; with pirates, commercial shipping, the Aztlaner Navy, the Bermuda Triangle and at least five difference species of Awakened sharks. In the interior of the country, on the other hand, you have warlords with private armies, Azzie mercs, Amazonian terrorists, the Ghost Cartels centered in Bogotá, corporate run pipelines, mineral resources, agribusiness, and smugglers who run some of the wildest and most unforgiving terrain on the planet.

Amidst all of this you have Cartagena, split by similar geo-political forces. You have Azzie loyalists, Pro-Colombian revolutionists, and even those that think Cartagena should split off and form a Carrib League free city, like Miami.

What’s Where?

The west part of the city is the nice part of the city. You’ve got Old Town Cartagena that most locals call “The Fort�. It’s on a small island connected to the mainland by four main bridges, which double as security checkpoints. South of there is the center of the Cartagena nightlife, the Bocagrande peninsula. The high-rises, the nightclubs and casinos can all be found here. The north part of the city is the airport and the city center, where there are the offices and industries you would associate with any major city. Directly east of the Old Town is the Isla de Manga, home to the wealthiest Cartagenans, as well as the Puerto de Cartagena.

The east half of the city is largely residential. Apartment blocks and neighborhoods slowly give way to suburbs, as well as the Villa Olympica and a few local universities. These neighborhoods tend to become poorer the farther east you go. The southeast edge of the city is the El Infierno Z zone, which is both the main dumping ground for the city’s waste as well as home to its poorest citizens.

Southwest of the city is the Isla de Tierrabomba, which is home to its Catholic diocese, and various schools of religious instruction, including the Bateria Angel San Rafael. South of the city along the coast is the Zona Industrial de Mamonal, which is where Cartagena’s natural gas pipelines terminate, as well as where several large processing plants are located. The Aztlaner Naval base ACR Bolivar is also located here.

Further south gives way to resort areas that have fallen by the wayside during the uncertainty of the last few decades. Playa Blanca, Isla Baru and the Islas del Rosario are all formerly posh resort communities that have depreciated due to security concerns in recent years, though they remain areas of spectacular natural beauty.

Where the hell is Cartagena, anyway?

Fair point. 450 kilometers north of Bogotá, 300 Kilometers east of Panama City, Panama, and about 1600km south of Miami. 600km southwest of Aruba. It's on the northeast side of the South American continent, just north of where North America and South America meet. Look at a map, in other words.

[Mercer]

Here's a fact sheet I sent out to my players when I started running the Cartgena game.

Cartagena, 2064.
Cartagena was founded in 1522 by Spain as a port city to ship gold and silver from the present-day areas of Panama and Colombia back to Spain. A Catholic diocese was founded in 1533. The city remained under the control of Spain until the South American indepence war. (1822)

Cartagena grew in prominence as a popular tourist destination. It was a city of plazas and historic sites, including one of the original Spanish forts built in South America. The population grew to about a million by the beginning of the 21st century.

The Carribbean was one of the hardest hit areas during the VITAS plague. Most of the small island governments came close to collapse in the wake of the disease, and many of the burgeoning megacorps were able to trade the necessary aid for property rights. This led to the high degree of megacorporate presence in the area, with just about every corporation maintaining large resort facilities--and in some cases, entire islands-- in the area. Saeder-Krupp took control of the Dutch Antilles, and Lofwyr is said to have a lair on one of the private islands. Just so you know who your neighbors are.

Despite being hit hard by the one-two punch of VITAS and goblinization, life went on in Cartagena pretty much as it had until the 2034, when two things happened. Brazilian forces ceded most of the Amazon basin to the Awakened revolutionary forces that would form Amazonia. And in the North, the newly formed country of Aztlan seceeded from the NAN.

During the ensuing confusion and skirmishes of the 2030's, Aztlan made steady progress in its land grab to the south, taking over Panama, what remained of the Colombia, and into Ecuador and Venezuela in what looked like the begining of an invasion of the South American continent. Aztlan was never able to gain much more than a foothold in South America, due to Amazonia.

The western part of Colombia, a mountainous region once controlled by the drug cartels, has become in 2064 a contested area.

I thought I'd sit down and ramble out some stuff, even though I don't have my notes in front of me. For characters, anything is possible. I'd prefer that the group be relatively standard, with the basic roles covered but at the same time, I want you guys to play what you want. If you guys make a combat-light group, I probably won't design a lot of hard target insertions. Paul mentioned he had an idea for a character a few weeks ago, and even though I have steadfastly refused to give him the books he needs to make it, it might be a good starting off point for the group.

Cartagena, 2064. On the coast of present day Colombia, Cartagena has always been as much a part of the Carribbean as it had Colombia. A popular tourist destination through the turn of the century, its population grew significantly in the first half of the 21st century as refugees from both Amazonia, Aztlan, the Carib League and North America flocked there. Cartagena is a city with a large ex-patriate population, most of the people who call Cartagena home are either immigrants or the children of immigrants.

Power Players in the Area:

Aztlan: Aztlans military presence in South America is located along the coasts. Aztlan maintains naval yards south of Cartagena and a significant security presence in the city. Aztlan military is roughly the equivilent of the Metroplex Guard here.

Organized Crime: Remanents of the South American drug cartels, these function more-or-less like the mafia does in Seattle. Most of the old families derive from native Colombian crime families, but there are mobs that have transplanted from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the former Dominican Republic, New Orleans, Miami, and points north.

Gangs: Street variety. Split along the cultural divides as above. These tend to be the sons and daughters of the crime families, metaphorically and sometimes actually.

Catholics: Since the diocese was founded in 1533, Cartagena has always had a significant Catholic presence. There is a Catholic university, probably some churches. I'm getting ahead of my research here. Point is, the Jesuits have a presence in the area, and they are considered the strong arm of the Catholic Church. They tend to help out revolutionaries, and they have no love of either Amazonia or Aztlan. Despite the popularity of the state religion, the majority of Aztlan remains Catholic and the gov't has not yet declared war on the pope.

The yakuza, the tongs, et al have no significant presence in Cartagena, they still move a lot of stuff through the CL, and you never know who's coming in on the next boat. Asian organized crime has interests in the CL, so they're not far away.

Amazonians: Jungle guerilla fighters, feared terrorists or brave liberators, take your pick. By most Cartagenans, they were trusted about as much as the Aztlaners are. There’s no shortage of weirdness on either team. (Between blood shamans and dragons, who would you trust?)

Pirates: A catch-all for independent operators in the CL. Cartagena is an important port into and out of South America, and there are a lot of black and grey markets operating. While the "Cyberpirates of the Carribbean' is considered a laughable media creation, there is a grain of truth to it and Aztlan has always taken a lax approach to pursuing and prosecuting captains that commit crimes in other waters.

[Mercer]

Here's a rundown of the city, done Sprawl Guide Style.

Cartagena Neighborhoods

The Good

Old Town Cartagena
Nicknames: The Spanish Quarter, The Fort
Neighborhoods: Centro, San Diego, Matuna, Getsemani, Cabero, Marabella
Rating: A/B
Primarily a tourist area, inside the old Spanish fort is the oldest section of Cartagena. Some of the buildings date back to the 1600’s. There is a mix of restaurants, museums, churches and the requisite tourist traps and scams. Most of the mid to low quality gem shops are in this area, concentrating on selling baubles to the daytrippers from the local cruise liners. Most of the plazas and memorials are in this area, as well as the Centro de Convenciones, where the Miss Colombia pagents are held in November. Access is at the 5 main points: Calle del Arsenal Bridge, Calle de la Media Luna Bridge, and the Avenida Venezula Bridge on the east side, Avenida Santander Bridge to the south, and the Cabrero Gate to the north.

Bocagrande
Nicknames: The Strip
Neighborhoods: Bocagrande, Castillogrande, Laguito,
Rating: A/AA
This is the center of the Cartagena nightlife. Clubs, bars, casinos can all be found here in abundance. High-rise hotels, condos, long stretches of well-maintained and secure beaches. At night, The Strip is lit by the bright neon lights, and in many places streets are closed to all but foot traffic.

Isla de Manga
Nicknames: The Island
Neighborhoods: San Lagaro, Cienaga Las Quintas, Puerto de Cartagena
Rating: AA
Referred to as the money clip of Cartagena, the Isla de Manga has long been where the wealthiest of Cartagena’s citizens have lived. In addition to the colonial mansions originally built here, many of which still exist today, Manga’s neighborhoods have filled with sprawling homes and ultrasecure communities.

Loma Fresca
Nicknames: Midtown, Mountainside
Neighborhoods: Torices, Tequendama, Espinal, Lo Amador, Los Comuneros, Papyal, Crespo
Rating: B/C
Originally dumps that were paved over and built on top of in the 2030’s, this has become the business district of Cartagena. Some question the improvement. Urban areas of high rise office buildings, parking decks, and apartment blocks dominate these neighborhoods. The north side is dominated by the Aeropuerto Rafael Nunez, the city’s only airport. Most of the corporate facilities located in the area can be found here.

Esperanza
Nicknames: Eastside, The Bay
Neighborhoods: San Francisco, La Maria, Las Flores, La Candelaria, Pie del Cerro, Barrio Chino, Puerto de Pescaderos,
Rating: C
The far side of the mountain, these neighborhoods stretch around the Rock from the Cienaga de la Virgen to the Cano Bacarto, which is all that separates the west side of this area from the Isla de Manga.


The Bad

Manzarillo
Nicknames: Downtown, The Blocks
Neighborhoods: Prado, Amartelo, Bruselos, Las Lomas, Juan XXII, Los Cerros, Escalon Villa, Los Angeles, Villa Sandra, Tacarigua, Zaragocilla, El Bosque, Nuevo Bosque, Cartagenita, Cebayo, Santa Clara
Rating: C/D
These sprawling neighborhoods of mid to lower class blockhouses comprise a major chunk of the center of the Cartagena metropolis. Sandwiched south of the Avienda del Consulado and north of the Carretera Troncal de Occidente, this diverse area is a mixture of ethnic neighborhoods, low-income housing, as well as smaller factories and warehouses.

Tesca
Nicknames: The Crescent
Neighborhoods: Camino del Medio, Alcibia, Boston, Armenia, Libano, Olaya Herrera, Castilletes, Chiquinquira, Los Gaviotas, La Floresta, Castellana, Las Gavias, Contadora, Los Alpes
Rating: C/D
South of the Cienaga de la Virgen and north of the Avienda del Consulado is the Crescent. Located here among the economically disadvantaged neighborhoods is the Villa Olympica, Cartagena’s main sports complex. Futbol and jai-lai, as well as the Aztlaner sports of Court Ball and Suerte y Muerte, are played here. The majority of these neighborhoods were taken over by the refugees of the 30’s, and have since stabilized.

La Magdalena
Nicknames: Eastside
Neighborhoods: Ricaurte, Chapacua, El Gallo, Fredonia, Las Americas, Las Palmeras
Rating: D
Slums. This area was largely low income housing projects at the turn of the century, and what remains is a mixture of urban ruin and renewal. Significant gentrification had occurred prior to the most recent influx of refugees that has arrived in the past ten years.

The Ugly

Ternera
Nicknames: The Swamp
Neighborhoods: Santa Lucita, Anita, Villa Rosita, La Concepcion, El Recreo, La Princesa
Rating: D/E
South of the Carretara a Baranquilla and north of the Carretera a Medellin, the Swamp sticks like a dagger in the east side of the greater Cartagena area. Marked by gang violence, this is still a popular destination for people seeking the type of pleasures that can’t be found in the nicer areas of town (which, given the sybaritic nature of Cartagena, is saying something).

Vista Hermosa
Nicknames: Hilltop
Neighborhoods: Bellavista, Villa Loreno, Los Corales, Almrante Colon, Los Caracoles, La Central, El Campestre, El Carmelo, El Reposo, Blas de Lezo
Rating: D/E
This area is marked by low-income slums as well as several abandoned industrial complexes that became unprofitable after the collapse of the oil industry in the late 40’s. Long rows of prefab blockhouses and rusted out factories are occasionally interspersed with the rundown classical architecture of buildings when this area was originally constructed as an upper class area away from the city center back in the 20’s.

Giruelos
Nicknames: Trogtown
Neighborhoods: Medellin, San Fernando, Berlin, El Socorro, La Plazuela, Santa Monica, San Pedro,
Rating: E
Predominantly ork and troll neighborhoods grew up here in the 20’s, making these some of the oldest continually owned neighborhoods on the east side. Recent ork immigrants tend to live in the poorest areas to the south such as Medellin and Berlin.

Villa Robia
Nicknames: The Ruins,
Neighborhoods: Los Jardines, La Consolata, San Pedro Martir, Maria Cano, El Educador, Simon Bolivar, El Infierno
Rating: E/Z
Some of these neighborhoods are merely really, really bad. Others, well, its really not worth mentioning.

Most of the names of the neighborhoods were cribbed from maps of the actual Cartagena, though in the interest of full disclosure I should point out I don't really speak Spanish and I don't know what most of them mean.

[Mercer]

Here's a map link.

For ease of use, Bocagrande is purple, Isla de Manga is light blue, Old Town is blue and green, everything else is tan.

[kzt]

Nice!. Thanks.

[HappyDaze]

But I thought SoLA would be out any time now...

Just as soon as Holostreets comes online next year...

Yeah.

[Zak]

Cool stuff. If my victims, err players, ever make it there I will definatly use this :)

[Mercer]

When I was doing my original research for Cartagena, I came across this neat little article:

How to Disappear in Six Easy Lessons - The Walled City of Cartagena. The second page has an interesting section on guns; I found it moderately useful from a gaming standpoint. (From an actual standpoint less so, since I am unlikely to disappear in South America any time soon.)

This led me to a few other articles on the same site, this among them: Retiring in Cartagena. It has a neat bit on exchange rates which are probably already out of date, nevermind in 2070, but it makes for a good guideline for out-of-town characters.

[FlakJacket]

Something that caught my eye from one of the articles you posted, the free trade zone in San Andrés and the San Andrés y Providencia in general. Since it's only 140 miles off the shore of Aztlan and they've already chewed up a large percentage of the country I'm of two minds about whether they'd take the place over or not bother about it.

[Mercer]

When it comes to decisions like that, I tend to skew to the side thats more interesting. But then, I like the idea of quasi-legal smuggling corridors. Even Aztlan might like a way to move things that they don't want stamped with big "Aztlan" logos, or Aztechnology might keep it as a layer of plausible deniability between the government and corporate entities. Or the Ghost Cartels might need it. Or it might just be too expensive to take it over (particularly after the Yucatan debacle). Likewise, this could have been one of the islands wiped out in the original VITAS outbreak that was taken over by a megacorporation.

Time article (short) on Gambling in San Andreas

[Alphastream]

Nice stuff, Mercer. I take it you are Colombian or lived there? (I lived there 11 years, in Cali).

I like a lot of what you proposed. In looking back over history and projecting forward with the awakenings, I think some common elements that make sense are those of native peoples rising up and clashing with the modern elements, of the Amazon awakening and being its own entity of sorts, of Colombia both growing through its natural resources and location and benefits to encompass other neighbor countries, but also of Colombia losing ground to foreign powers and duplicity by 'friends'. The whole painful carving up of the country and the way strong leaders have risen to join the country only to see it come apart. There is so much that could be fun and interesting.

One thing I would do in my own campaign is to remove the obvious crime/cartel angle. With so much crime everywhere, and with companies embracing it and running it so often, I could see Colombia taking the opposite path and NOT being an obvious source of drugs and similar illegal trade. Rather, I like the idea of things like San Andres (and the many "San Andresitos" that are always in cities). It could be more interesting as a service and procurement country - a place where you can find anything that is needed, sort of like Bangkok and some parts of China where you can find "Nike" shoes and "Sony" CD players that are reproductions, but the super high tech version of that. I could also see it as a place of cutting edge bioengineering and gene-agriculture. There could be a lot of tension between megacorps and the country, as it allows megacorps only to suddenly strip their powers periodically (and the populace's riots make working there fun...).

Anyway, good stuff!

[Mercer]

No, I've never been anywhere in South America, although I've always wanted to go. Its nice of you to say that though, I guess the time I spent doing my research was not totally wasted. As silly as it sounds, I got the idea of using Cartagena as a setting from the movie Romancing the Stone, which I saw many times as a kid since it was one of my dad's favorite movies. (That was itself a refinement of the idea I had for a South American campaign, which I got watching the neat convoy ambush scene in A Clear and Present Danger.)

Looking stuff up on Cartagena, I came to the conclusion it had everything I was looking for. Being a popular tourist destination, there was plenty of online resources, particularly a good map. It was a mix of cultures, a mix of old and new, and it was located nicely between Aztlan, Amazonia and the Caribbean League. Plus with Central America going to hell, there seemed like plenty of plot hooks laying around.

This was one of the last games I put together for SR3, and my group was coming off a year or two break and having to relearn the system was a real drag, particularly since we knew SR4 was coming out soon. So it was one of the games that came and went fairly quickly. But its something I'd like to revisit, if I ever get back to running games.

[Alphastream]

Archetypes are fun. At the same time, Romancing the Stone is a movie I saw in Colombia and I just laughed so hard at their interpretation of Cartagena. Its den of thieves and dirt floors typecast is pretty far off for the eighties, but it makes for a fun movie. At the same time, those elements are found in Colombia (just not in large cities).

But I'm with you. That was a fun movie and the ideas are cool and not without some justification. Truth is, the country has only gotten worse in terms of crime (though it was modern then and continues to be now). Colombia is one of the wealthiest countries in SA, even without counting the drugs, and has not even begun to tap its natural resources in any major way (it was surprisingly ahead of its time in sustainable forestry and preserving natural areas). There is a lot of intellectual capital, though in recent years many have fled (my family may have stayed there had it not so declined in safety). From my high school class of 26, about 7-8 went to prominent schools in the US (Yale, Duke, Harvard, Dartmouth, etc.).

With regards to Clear and Present Danger, that movie is much more accurate in depicting the level at which drug crime can operate (though it is loath to do so, as big moves mean big government reprisals, of course) and also showed what the homes of the wealthy are like. The drug lords were properly shown to be real people with intelligence, motives, and flaws (not just unwashed comic book props with accents). Beyond the wealthy homes are lots of homes that would look like ours with all the normal stuff and then certainly areas of squalor. There are people living in the countryside in ancient-style (though effective from an architectural-environmental perspecitve) mud and thatch homes and there are slums with just horrible conditions. All of it perfect for a Shadowrun!

I particularly liked what you wrote because it had a lot of depth to it. You have certainly bested what the Romancing the Stone authors did! Very enjoyable read for me, and a credit to your gamemastering! Where are you based? (I am now in Portland, OR).

[Mercer]

Atlanta, GA.

Thank you for your kind words. Speaking of drug cartels, I ran across this article in Rolling Stone just recently, and I've been looking for an excuse to post it. How America Lost the War on Drugs.

Its kind of long, and a shorter commentary on the article can be found here, at Slate: The Smartest Drug Story of the Year.

Its all pretty interesting as deep background on the ghost cartels, if nothing else. (I'm of the opinion that everything is a Shadowrun resource first.)