Shadows of DeeCee, A new game I am running. Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Playing Games]

the team,has two street sams,a rigger with drones(mainly spy),and a shaman.

Now,I would like to know who the canon movers and shakers are.More of the private sector,the political one is covered.Well,at least the native politics.

I know,that Ares, DF,and Nova have their power bases near there,so I would think that not many of of the other corp,have resoures on par with them,in that area.I would gather that Ares,and Nova tech basically "own the play ground",and let others play there.

Do,SK,Aztlan, or Cross have large holdings there as well?

What nations have close ties to DC?I am sure a few nation really care about the well being of the UCAS.Some of them,may even like the UCAS!

[Nath]

Well, the main reason for anything to happen in DC are the interactions with the political world or the militaries. So you'll have Ares and Boeing selling weapons and satellites. Reporters from Ares-NBS, Mitsuhama-CBC, Saeder-Krupp - ABS and Hisato-Turner - NewsNet would be snopping around. The oil companies are no longer locals, there in the CAS, but you'll still have the automotive manufacturers (Ares-GM, Ford, Chrysler-Nissan) or the pharmaceutics industry (Yakashima, Zeta-ImpChem, Bristol-Meyer-Squibb).

Also, the presence of the Draco Fundation, the Dunkelzahn Institute, the Illuminates of the New Dawn and Manadyne Corporation suggests DC is a center for magical research.

Saeder-Krupp is more present in the CAS than in the UCAS. Cross tends to keep its facilities concentrated in a few cities, but that may or not include Washington. At least the Seraphim would be here, since you can't keep an eye on Ares whereabouts without watching DC. A singular corporate presence would be the Lone Star: FDC police force is still public, but there's a federal contract for the activities previously handled by the DEA.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Well, consider first that the Mexican Embassy is about three blocks from the White House on Penn. I have Aztechnology controlling the entire block in a national/corp embassy role. Also, consider that there are very strict federal zoning regulations in Washington itself, and that in my world they enforce them without much regard to extraterritoriality. As it is now, any arcologies. pyramids, skyrakers are going to be across the Potomac in Virginia or southern Maryland. See Minority Report for what this would look like. Perfect, perfect description. People who live in the city are shit, except for the people who live on the right side of Connecticut Ave and Dupont Circle.

The CAS took the Canadian Embassy at the end of Constitution within spitting distance of the Capitol. It's called "Little Oxford" because of the columns and structure of the building. And because the Ambassador's from Mississippi and an Ole Miss grad, but YMMV.

I also combined the IMF and World Bank buildings on/around Penn--also two-three blocks from the White House Complex--into the Corporate Court Embassy to the UCAS (see CD). Actually, they are essentially across the street from each other. The Mexican/Aztlan Embassy is across the street from the PEPCO building, which is (IMW) run by Shiawase.

Shiawase Atomics also has its HQ in Washington, which I decided to mean that when the Energy Department disappeared, the US or UCAS sold their assets, including the Forrestal Building, to Shiawase Atomics (Irony... on line three). They now control a good chunk of Southwest, including L'Enfant Plaza.

Also the military presence in DeeCee is going to be insane, as well as the federal law enforcement presence. I'd basically revert it to (and as much as I'd prefer not to be droll) to the month after 9/11--which it does look like: National was shut down to all but security flights, the military presence is increased including a 24/7 no-fly zone around the city enforced by DC Air National Guard and Air Force pilots, soldiers and guardsmen (er... FedPols, same difference) with heavy weaponry and SAMs all over southern Washington (viz. the Mall), Humvees parked at every intersection in Foggy Bottom and into Downtown (That was the creepiest part, no doubt) with 2-3 guys with ARs inside at least as far north as K or M street and all along Penn on both sides of the WHC, constant policie patrols in the "good" part of the city (Secret Service Uniformed Division, FedPols, WMATA cops, corpsec, private security, and "other"), people who look even slightly magical and not a cop or corper eyed suspiciously if not hassled on sight by said cops, and an aura of outright paranoia on Virginia Avenue in front of the Watergate where the Rift bunker is, which is also in Foggy Bottom (A AA or AAA rated zone in NAGNA, already).

However, you go east of the Capitol (basically anywhere where the roads end in SE or most of NE), and you're on your own. The military sometimes goes in for target practice, and the FedPols are armed to the teeth and completely unhesistant to blast someone for looking at them funny (this is the same PD that now frequently detains and searches in public view people for random or false misdemeanors). If you've ever been there, think of New York or Florida Aves. when you driving out/into Washington to the B-W Parkway. SE has a lot of the older industrialized areas that no one gave a damn about demolishing, and is when the Barrens would be. And the Anacostia is toxic. But stay away from Bollings AFB (home of the DIA and Marine One) because they will kill anyone who doesn't look right hanging around, and the FedPols protect the roadways around the Wilson Bridge (which 60 years from now will be even more congested and an pain in the ass) because it's a main commuter artery. However, between there and the roads to the B-W parkway, "accidents" happen, especially after dark. This extends out of ther city into Prince George's County, too.

The NIH is in Bethesda, and if Cross has a presence, it's probably there. Same with Aztechnology (namely, through UO). There's a major health library there, which would make it useful. And the remnants of JHU's programs (now JHIH) are still going to be around there.

The DF bought the Washington Harbour building in Georgetown, because it has a direct LOS to the Watergate and the Rift.

The IOND has their HQ off Foxhall Road, which is most asssuredly in Georgetown and not Foggy Bottom. It'd be very close to Georgetown University, and this would put it between the U and the reservoir and Teddy Roosevelt Island. Manadyne's offices would also probably be in Georgetown on the backside where there... uh... what's it called... nature. Same with T99 (owned by Novatech).

The NRO is based very close to Dulles, and AresSpace, Novatech and others (S-K) would have facilities out there. Ares has a massive part of Arlington all to itself, as well as good amounts of Crystal City and Pentagon City (guess why).

The other thing is that most corporate presence is, however, very white collar and boring. Government vendors, contract specialists, and lawyers--my god there are going to be a lot of lawyers. Espionage is also a fun game to play, and DeeCee has been a prime place for it for decades. Corporate espionage is going to be very prevalent and the UCAS is also going to be involved in spying against its contractors, and others. Poaching is mad, but civil, limited to information mostly, because, really, why extract lawyers regularly?

There are several universities in DeeCee, but the biggest is going to be in College Park, formerly the University of Maryland. The only way that place would stay intact is for Maryland to maintain some amount of control over it, and an amount of reciprocity for MD residents to go to "their" school. Having it be a UDC campus would probably be met with no shortage of constant protest (lots of "MARYLAND Terps" items for instance). All of them are also corporate whores, but the biggest one, without doubt, is The George Washington University. They have sold out to all of the Big Ten and the FedGov. It's into everything and has campuses and operations spread across the city working with everyone. I have gone back and forth between making it part of one corp, but I prefer it like Cuba--the President can't make a decision without calling up a dozen people. AresSpace owns the Space Policy program, for instance, and their Information Security programs probably split evenly between the NSA, Cross, Novatech and Renraku. Also consider that in light of the Dean of the Business School stating, “The business school will remain true to its heritage of emphasizing the relationship between business and government, that’s only natural given our location and partnerships in Washington.” cite

All in all, DeeCee is remarkably un-Sprawl. There's actually vegetation in the city, and it's one of the few places that didn't go to the corps in the Resource Rush (something about sh*tting in your own backyard). It's also a small city surrounded by larged counties. It's still probably very heavily black, as well as the MD counties, and very Southern. JFK said it was a city of northern hospitality and southern efficiency. I'd contest that with the fact that I always felt it was a rather friendly city.

The British are always going to be there. The French will still be there. Quebec and CAS are constant presences and probably on generally friendly terms, and TT less so given the recent embargo, but there is the trade agreement and the UCAS" dependence on the magical security expertise. The Russians aren't going anywhere--the Embassy on Mt. Alto is too useful to give up (I'm sure S-K gathers most of the benefits from the embassy and its unbelievably great location). Japan has had a long, positive presence in the city. I really don't think much will change as far as the composition of Embassy Row aside from renaming some of the buildings. The Saudi Arabian Embassy is next to the Watergate and Kennedy Center, and depending on where exactly the Rift is (I assume on Virginia Ave), it may have been condemned to put up the bunker. Aside from that, I don't know if the Arabian government would want an embassy next to that thing. But there are a lot of countries making up Arabia, and they are all big and gaudy and serve the same purpose.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Any feedback re: my post would be nice, just so I can get an impression of how useful, helpful, or playable it is/isn't.

[toturi]

[FlakJacket]

SK and Yamatetsu seem to be in the middle of a tug-of-war over Russia. With Yamatetsu being located more in the Pacific and SK being more concentrated in the European area and being up to their eyeballs in the government for a fair bit longer than the relavent newcomer Yamatetsu, I figure SK has the embassy but could be feeling the pinch from Yamatetsu.

[CircuitBoyBlue]

Crimsondude 2.0 is right on the money with most of it. I would just add that I don't necessarily think the British WILL be around in the SR world as much as they are in the real world. I think they would move at least half of their assets to their new CAS embassy and keep most of their efforts in Canada up there in the form of consulates for the purposes of attending to the needs of any residual British population. Also, I definitely don't see GW as the university to sell out to the gov't and corps. I think American would beat them to that punch (selling out is one of the very few things AU is better than GW at). And I think the "no buildings taller than the statue on top of the Capitol" rule might be done away with by the time of SR. I could be wrong about that, but it just seems like one of the easiest ways to appease tenants in the city and ease the congestion that will probably exacerbate anti-meta sentiments. And honestly, I think everyone would agree that taller residents (orks and trolls) warrant taller buildings. I could be totally wrong, though. Also, I seem to remember Minority Report depicting DC as having tall buildings, like in the scene with the jetpack cops (though I could be wrong about that; their depcition of Woodley Park was right on the money). I have a run set up for my runners that was going to take place in Tenley Town, but I've been screwed up because in the past few months, the area has changed a bit with the addition of a Best Buy/apartment complex. Here I design a run focusing on the lack of anything interesting in a neighborhood, and they go and build a mini-arcology...

Another thing anyone planning to GM a run in DC might want to think about is the possibility of toxic shamans in the National Zoo. Not too long ago there was a bit about them accidentally poisoning a lot of their rarer animals like pandas when they tried to get rid of pests. Seems to me like fertile grounds to mix toxic magic with ghosts and paracritters. I know, it's really scary, but if you're throwing the runners into an environment where EVERY character they meet is going to be a spy, military soldier, federal cop, or politician (don't lie, we all know why you're planning a run in DC), toxic para-ghosts are the least of your worries (though possibly the most hilarious).

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

I don't know. Did you ever read Steven Joel Tachtenberg's (who's the chair of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, too) article in the Washington Business Journal where he flat out states that the existence of universities revolves around money? Plus, the goddamn school is so expensive (just $46,000 a year for incoming freshman, but at least it's a flat rate for four years).

OTOH, it's not like they renamed a school because an alum gave them $30 million (that would be, of course, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown).

Doesn't the DHS also have it's HQ at the naval facility in Tenleytown?

[CircuitBoyBlue]

Yep. Every now and then 20 police cars and unmarked SUVs will come speeding out in the middle of rush hour, fun stuff. I don't think they will be there by the 2050s, however. I keep hearing things about Congress setting aside money for a lot of land out in Virginia, but I'm never sure what's going on with that. It could be interesting for the HS department HQ to be in the CAS. Of course, it would also be interesting for it to stay in the Naval District, a place I ACCIDENTALLY wandered onto once (post 9-11 security, my ass!). The thing is, there is a little stretch of Rock Creek Park behind it, and one day I wandered up a hill, before I knew it I was in the middle of a cluster of buildings. Security guard gave me a weird look as I waved to him on the way out. But proximity to Rock Creek Park could lead to lots of mayhem in SR, now that I think about it...

Oh, and if you think Georgetown is a bunch of whores with their buildings, American University is currently looking to rename it's most prominent buillding because it's currently named after a historical figure, not a donor. It's obnoxious when the come to sandblast a name away. And AU used to have a building named after a Saudi arms dealer that had given them lots of money. An ARMS DEALER!!

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Ah, Khashoggi Campus Center. I remember hearing about that. But hey, at least he wasn't a bin Laden.

HAHAHA. I'm not surprised about walking onto the post. I used to walk to my internship an remark how pathetic secuirty was around the Hill. Kind of reminded me of 1983 Lebanon. Rock Creek should just be interesting altogether, too.

Heh. I was just thinking that one of the things that you were supposed to do at GW was avoid being run over by a Presidential motorcade rolling down 23d. It happened to me twice (I blame Sony for inventing the Discman).

But at least none of the AU buildings are called "New Hall." :)

I'd love to do a real run in DeeCee though, because it seems like a really good opportunity to emphasize subtlety, and because D.C. is a fun environment.

[FlakJacket]

[CircuitBoyBlue]

They tend to be responsible for explosions.

And I think the bottom line is, GW is great at buying everything in sight, AU is great at whoring itself off and squandering the proceeds on flowers. You know, now that I think about it, by the time of SR, AU has probably started renting itself out to GW...

[FlakJacket]

[Nath]

"Learn how to sell cigarettes and weapons and you will be able to sell anything..."

[Dax]

I have to say Crimsondude. That was one heck of a kick ass description for DC in 2063, I do beliv e I'll incorporate it into my game as well.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[CircuitBoyBlue]

Yeah, the idea of poor schools in Georgetown is ludicrous. But I can see them having a police department. The cops that knocked on my door the other day said something about not knowing whether or not the Georgetown cops were planning on stopping by. I kinda gathered that the Georgetown district of the MPD is a little more autonomous than other districts, even if its just by informal customs. Also, I notice sometimes they have different cars.

You're definitely right on about hermetics ruling the universities and settling mainly in Georgetown, as well as about them hanging out in Adams Morgan and Dupont. I can definitely see a lot of shamans coming out of SouthEast, though. Seems like with that dense a population, you're bound to come up with a certain amount of awakened activity through means other than hermetic schooling. Also, SE would probably provide one of the best havens in the city for shamans to escape persecution from the "shamans are uncouth" crowd that dominates DeeCee. So you'd have a lot of home-grown, plus an influx from the rest of the city.

[Snow_Fox]

Any run in DC is dominated by politics. Corp facilities are limited to public faces. Security should make extractions and wet work almost unknown. The closest major port is Baltimore.
Out of the city proper things get better.
There are some VERY expensive neighborhood south of the potomac in Arlington and Georgetown, and into Nrothern Virginia it gets kind of rural quickly- drive down to Mt Vernon and you'll see.

North of DC into Maryland it's suburban sprawl in the ugliest way.
Also with the Northern Virgina/CAS border there is probably NO smuggling but probably lots of probing, just to see how good the other side's stuff is.

[CircuitBoyBlue]

according to the NeoAnarchist's guide, the Virginia border with DC is actually one of the more common smuggling routes. I'm not entirely sure why.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Ditto with SoNA.

I assume it's because 1-95 starts in Miami and ends in Maine, hitting every major city on the east coast--including D.C. Sure, Denver and the Azzie border are great for jamming t-birds at NOE at 150kmh, but realistically there is now and will be plenty of smuggling going on right up 1-95 in trucks (guns, cigarettes, etc.). It's a well-worn, established, safe route.

The border isn't like the 38th parallel; people do occassionally cross between Virginia and North Virginia, and it's an important trade route. Chances are, if a CAS product is sold in NEMA, it got there in a truck coming through Washington.

I also spent several hours lst night into this morning rewriting what I've written above and expanded into the rest of the city itself, describing parts of Northeast and basically painting it as the last place where most of the people who live in Washington reside and live, and how it's become more meta as many of the black residents leave for the outer counties, and many of the metas who aren't forgotten about in Southeast make a living in neighborhoods that are outside of historically black communities like U St. and Shaw/Howard U. Not to say that there aren't black residents left. There is also the likelihood of expansion of corp presence into the northeast edge of downtown northeast of THomas and Logan Circles down to Mass. (before you reach Union Station) where the corps went in and just gutted and gentrified the neighborhoods (including Mt. Vernon Square) when the corps encouraged employees to stay in the city (shorter commute time, etc.) would probably put up their own housing here since it's cheaper than Georgetown, safer than across the Anacostia (which I wrote last night was a "Maginot Line" separating the city from the Barrens). White-collar holding pens, basically.

[CircuitBoyBlue]

Ah, yes. I forgot about I-95's history of cigarette smuggling. I remember when I was in high school, they caught Hamas doing it. Remember kids, if you smoke, you're supporting terrah.

[Kanada Ten]

In regards to smuggling, I also imagine a steam of lobbists and diplomates from both sides travelling between the CAS and DeeCee might help in the smuggling of information and smaller goods.

[Snow_Fox]

Small stuff maybe, but we're talking about a data file or something, not large goods. Sure I-95 goes from Boston to Florida but have you ever driven it through DC? It's a nigthmare NOW without a border crossing. I've given up hitting Virginia through the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

I did briefly mention the Wilson Bridge.

"Through" is a relatively loose term in the context of the entire Federal District where any manner of passing through on 95 or one of the highways that make up the Beltway would suffice.

Also, while I focused on the District of Columbia itself and less on the outer counties that make up the Federal District, once we expand out from there the likelihood for mischief increases. Like I mentioned in the first long post, the Bethesda area is pretty hot for biomedical science and technology (Canon biosciences is moving out there soon) and I could easily see Cross Biotech, UO, and others, as well as "local" (UCAS or A rated corps) in the region. Also, when the CDC became independent of the U.S. government, the UCAS would have to act to ensure that some programs that the CDC ran which they wanted, or at least wanted to take care of themselves, remained in their hands. Right now there is no such eqv. in Canada, there is no assurance that if it even began that it wouldn't be in NAN lands, and even so it is likely to be different than the CDC. In that instance, there would be a good chance that the NIH would pick up the slack or that some other program was established nearby to help further the expansion of biomedical sciences in the region along with NIH, JHIH, Howard Hughes, etc.

Similarly, to the south is the information technology sector which has grown out of northern Virginia and D.C. The sheer amount of advertising for IT services and products in D.C. has been remarkable, but in the context of the sheer amount of information traffic which currently moves through northern Virgina computers, I'm not surprised (last I heard, it was about half of all Internet traffic). With the recreation of everything and the birth of the Matrix, I do not doubt that a large, existing community would still be present and active in southern FDC and North Virginia. Plus UCASOL is based there, which is just begging to be hit.

[FlakJacket]