QUOTE (raverbane @ Feb 6 2008, 11:06 AM)
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Jacksonville, Florida. Mainly in Downtown, at the moment. Which is the dark underbelly of Uptown. hehe
For those that might be interested in a Floridian's take on the CAS. Here is an abbreviated future history we did for Jacksonville, Florida. Some changes were made from SR canon regarding the CAS / Caribbean League border. I grew up in household that was heavily involved on local business and government. And have seen first hand some of the poker room dealings that go on between business and government in the real world. So, my rather 'jaded' view did creep into the tenor of the history we crafted. For alot of the enviromental feel for Jacksonville, think London from "Split Second"
2007New York: All shook up by Momma Earth in 2005, NYC got rebuilt by the corps in exchange for certain concessions that left the tycoons effectively running the place.
Closely observing the reconstruction of New York, Jacksonville embarks on a new project. The River City Renaissance begins. To help combat the urban decay and sprawl that was running rampant, the Mayor and City Counsel (with MANY bribes from the JEDC- Jacksonville Economic Development Council) start an urban core redevelopment plan. Major land development corporations start buying up cheap (thanks to eminent domain) land all over the downtown, riverside, Springfield areas. With the legal effects of corporate extraterritoriality trumping any pesky architectural preservation laws, they begin to rebuild the Jacksonville urban core.
2008Hurricane Debbie hits Jacksonville in late November. The high winds of the hurricane are intensified by a series of Nor’easters that causes the hurricane to stall. Massive windshear decimates most tall structures, leaving huge areas of devastation in the storm's path. The storm is a mixed blessing. The few old holdouts that were fighting the redevelopment plan are either killed fleeing the storm, or their property is crushed and they sell out instead of loose any further monies. The St. Joe Construction Consortium, the corporate oversight of the JEDC and the River City Renaissance committee study the effects of the hurricane and pays for several studies. After reviewing the results that make some changes to the redevelopment projects. The new City Center is built to withstand another windshear disaster buy building low and wide.
Over the next seven years the city center is transformed into a modern urban core.
2015The River City Renaissance is completed and considered a resounding success. The new Jacksonville is the pentacle of safe, solid architecture and construction. Many of the structures based on an old world euro feel. Ferrosteel framework with stone facings, lots of small inset windows with larger windows made from shatterproof compounds. A spread out ornate ordered grid type structure prevails. Constructed to withstand another windstorm, no building is over five stories tall. No empty space is left untouched. Jacksonville becomes quite the talk amongst other city planners. When most cities were building up as high as they could, Jacksonville had rebuilt the city center low and encompassing. Most building used the first and second floors for retail and light commercial, with the upper three floors for office and residential. To make things feel more outdoorsy, most buildings had elevated sidewalks and gathering areas along the second floor exteriors. Many covered bridges and walkways connected the said buildings. The new City Center Metroplex on the west side of the river extended from the Martin Luther Expressway to the north, Edgewood / Cassat Ave to the West, The Ortega River to the south and the St. Johns River to the east. On the West Bank of the River the southbank Metroplex extended from Merrill Road to the north, running along the shoreline with University Blvd as the west border, and then still hugging the coastline with Atlantic Blvd as the border to the south until Atlantic Blvd merges with Beach. It also encompassed of San Marco, with Phillips Highway as the border to the east, running south to Emerson Street.
2018In early February Hurricane Mitch, a cat 5, slams into Jacksonville and does a Snoopy Dance on the city for 36 hours before heading inland and dissipating. The low lying areas of the city are devastated. There is flooding everywhere that was ever a wetland. And that was alot of the suburban area ,considering Jacksonville was called Cowford for a reason up until the mid part of the 19th century. The beaches are crushed and in ruins. Mayport survives with moderate damage simply because of the military’s reinforced structures.
As much as the City Center had though they had properly prepared for the worst, they hadn’t. The City Center had turned into a modern Venice and it the water along the River didn’t seem to be receding. Many different plans were considered and the word “levies� was mentioned a few times. The words “New Orleans� and “Katrina� were shouted a lot. The City and the Corps decided to embark on an even bolder venture then the River City Renaissance. So, the Uptown project began. The powers-that-be, using new construction techniques ‘borrowed’ from the Japanese ‘arkology’ companies, the Construction Consortium began the process of building the Elevated City. The idea was to simply build over the flooded City Center. With ten years of materials technology advancement, as well as innovative magical techniques (by 2018 standards), the construction of Uptown begins.
2019Folks were too busy rebuilding their lives to notice that by the end of the year the city council had been replaced by the Jacksonville Municipal Corporate Council with Knight Errant replacing the much maligned JSO.
The building of the Coastal Corporate Enclave had begun, as well as the Merrill Elevated Expressway as a means of making sure, in case of future flooding, there was access from the City Center to Mayport. The navy begins construction of Hanz Tansler Memorial Barrier. To totally secure the base from future security threats like the civil unrest the followed few days after Mitch.
With much of the wetlands areas having various levels of standing water and efforts to pump out and dredge them met with little to no successes, many of the old subdivisions were completely abandoned. I-95 is rebuilt and converted to a secure elevated roadway, with the remains of the old I-95 running underneath. It quickly becomes a haven for squatters and ad hoc fleemarkets.
Most of the old Southpoint area becomes low rent housing.
The marsh and wetlands areas south of Beach Boulevard, east of 9-A and west of the intercoastal waterway becomes very inhospitable. The wetland flora and fauna becoming almost “aggressive�. University of North Florida and Florida Community College of Jacksonville are abandoned with new campuses being built in the City Center by corporate sponsors.
Several Native American groups move into the old college campi and ‘set up camp’. Their shamans seemingly able to ‘strike a deal’ with the forces at work in the marshlands. The area becomes known simply as The Wetlands.
2021The South not being the most tolerant of regions didn’t fair well with the introduction of several new races… Jacksonville wasn’t as bad as many parts of the South and had become quite cosmopolitan, by comparison. The River City became an ad hoc safe haven, compared with many rural areas of The South and many metahuman refugees fled to Jacksonville.
Many orcs and trolls end up gathering in the old Gate Parkway area and it becomes known as the Orc Parkway area.
2030The construction of
Uptown is completed. The areas that were the old City Center Metroplex had become
Uptown. A series of interconnecting platforms were built over the flooded areas of what was now known as
Downtown.
Uptown had become a shining example of modern Sixth World living. It was a bustling landscape of Skyscrapers and Arcologies that made Jacksonville the new destination city of The South. The area below
Uptown becomes known as
Downtown. It quickly becomes filled with the detritus and lowlifes of the city. An area of darkness and twilight filled with vice and cheap, if unsecured, housing for the ‘commoners’ that work in Uptown above.
Much of Jacksonville had been rebuilt to suit the needs and desires of the Corporate Interests. The areas that weren’t the in the secure City Center were apartment and condo blocks built in the old destroyed outlaying areas of town. Water levels had never receded back to the pre-Mitch levels and much of the wetlands areas were left to their own devices. The old regency mall and the area north of it along 9-A becomes the Arlington Mallplex. A nice place for the rabble to spend that hard earned corporate cred.
2033A year later, to protest what they saw as preferential treatment for northern sprawl zones, these states broke away to form the Confederated American States (CAS).
Everyone expected a second Civil War to break out, but we got lucky. Despite emotions running high on both sides, most military units dealt with their divided loyalties by splitting up and moving to the country of their choice. Interestingly, the coalition made up of the political and corporate interests in southern Florida chose to join the recently formed Caribbean League rather than the CAS. I-4 becomes the southern border of the CAS in Florida. Tampa, St. Petersburg and Daytona join the Caribbean League. During the year of transition, Disney reveals that, over decades of shell company purchases, it now owns over 75% of the real-estate in the metro-Orlando area. Orlando becomes the Free City of Disney.
2035With the southern part of Florida becoming part of the Caribbean League, this puts Jacksonville in a new light. It had become the southern most major port in the CAS. As well as Mayport, NAS Jax, Camp Blanding becoming the ‘border’ bases for the CAS. This makes Jacksonville attract many new interests, Ares Macrotech being amongst them. Ares buys the former Cecil Field Airbase. After two years of refitting, construction and fortification Cecil Field becomes the Ares Southern Command Space Port.
2049The Universal Brotherhood opened up in Northside region of Jacksonville.
2055CAS teams moved against the Universal Brotherhood complex only to find the facilities deserted. Evidence of a battle was found, but not much else was ever discovered.
2061If Hurricane Mitch was a sucker punch to the City of Jacksonville, Agnes was a kick in the ballz. Hurricane Agnes was also a cat 5, but with a twist. It was also a Manastorm. When Agnes was done, Mitch looked like a bad afternoon rain. Much of the city lay in ruins, AGAIN. There was much rioting and civil unrest, AGAIN. And, of course, the Corps came in to save the day… Or at least try.
As a testament to Corporate Power and ingenuity, Uptown survived intact and shining as ever.
After the winds were gone and the rain had stopped, there were several new issues to deal with. Zombies, water and a new wave of magical mutation, SURGE. There were several outbreaks of Shedim spirit infestations in the city. (Zombie Hordes)
During the massive storm several mana enhanced lighting strikes and near hypersonic wind barrages take out all the intercoastal waterway bridges, except the Wonderwood Expressway going into Mayport. And the Wonderwood Bridge only survived because of Ares Mage Corp spirits protecting it during the storm. As much as the city suffered, the beaches were worse. Over flights showed the Coastal Corporate Enclave had become a holocaust.
The west bank of what was the intercoastal waterway had become the new beach, with the old corporate towers and rubble looking like a bombed out, post holocaust Venice. And there seemed to by some kind of macroscale aquatic lifeforms (Sea Monsters) residing in the areas of the old intercoastal water way.
As a testament of Ares engineering Hanz Tansler Memorial Barrier help keep back the water and the wind from Mayport.
In the days following Agnes, strange stories started to come out of folks living around The Wetlands. Reports of strange magical occurrences still continue to come out of the area. Even the shamans in the area are at a loss to explain them. Rumors of some kinda magical rift deep in the area start to get circulated. Satellite photography of the area cant seem to get any kind of solid pictures of the area. Huge fluctuations in the mana levels and magical background count make astral inspecting dangerous on a good day and suicidal on most others.
2062After accessing their options and spreadsheets. The corps go through with several measures. They quickly begin with the restoration efforts in the sprawl areas. After Mitch, the buildings had been built with ‘rebuilding’ in mind. The corps ‘recruit’ several engineers from the Proteus Corp and begin the St. Johns Enclosure Plan. Instead of trying to rebuild the beach, the Corps come up with a different idea. Utilizing the techniques used to build Uptown, they now embark on Uptown Phase II. The corporate connect the Northbank and Southbank Uptown sector together by extending the platforms out over the St. Johns River. By 2069, the St. Johns river, from Emerson River Crossing to the south to the Merrill Expressway bridge to the north, is enclosed by the Uptown metroplex.
The beaches are written off and simply left to rot. Squatters and downtrodden folks brave, or desperate, enough to try and make it past the various dangers in the old intercoastal start up outlaw towns in the ruins of the old Coastal Corporate Enclave communities.