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Vancouver 2075

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freddieflatline

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« on: <07-12-16/1702:23> »
I have been playing around with a write up for Vancouver.  Realize that I am not a writer but if anybody wants to change or use what I have written they are definitely welcome to it.

Vancouver – 2075
Overview
Vancouver is the largest city in the Salish-Shidhe Council.  It is also an economic power house of this NAN member being the home of several AA class corporations and the largest port on the North West coast after Seattle.  The city is controlled by the Cascade Crow and Salish tribes.  It is also home to a large population of non-resident aliens namely Asians centered in the Vancouver Chinatown.  Though the Cascade Crow and Salish nominally control the city several other tribes including the Makah have sizable populations.  This has made effective governmental control difficult as a number of services are split among multiple jurisdictions.  Increasingly Vancouver has given control of public utilities to service corporations.  As of 2075 the SSC is looking to outsource policing of the Vancouver metroplex to an independent security provider.  Eagle security, Lone Star and Knight Errant are currently vying with the Pueblo Security Enterprises.  The PPC corp. looks like a shoe in for the metroplex contract.  The Cascade Crow and Salish have recently ceded city functions to corporations with Geatronics running the majority. Everything from the waste disposal, to the electrical and public wireless grid is now being run by the AA corporation.   
   Vancouver is one of the greenest cities on the west coast.  It boasts more public transportation including buses and light rail than any other municipality in North America.  People in Vancouver are more inclined to ride bicycles to work than drive cars and it also has rickshaws as well as pedicabs rather than the traditional taxi services.  The city also boasts more green structures than anywhere else in the Americas even the small Aztechnology subsidiary research park and Wuxing office building located in Vancouver are green.  They boast solar cells as well as internal recycling systems.  Geatronics as well as Universal Omnitech which have major headquarters in the metroplex have to keep the stringent eco conscious laws in mind when conducting business.  As stated earlier Vancouver relies on an expansive public transport system.  Cars and motorbikes are hard to come by as the city government actively discourages owning a vehicle.  They namely do this through high taxes on fuels and vehicles.  This makes using the extensive light rail and bus system very attractive to citizens. 
Getting In
   Vancouver has a number of different routes into the city.  Flying into Vancouver’s international airport is not limited to traditional jumbo jets a 2 kilometer runway rated for SSTs was completed in the 2060s.  There are also several small airfields including Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre (Seaplanes), Point Roberts Airpark (Grass Landing Field), Boundary Bay Airport, King George Airpark, and Pitt Meadows Regional Airport. 
*The airparks are not heavily monitored because of the state of their fields.  Making them a great place to get into Vancouver covertly.
*If you need to fly anywhere on the coast or out in the ocean the old Harbour Flight Centre is a great place to grab an amphibian or seaplane clandestinely.  Ask for Cosmo at the ticket counter.  The old dwarf can fly in any weather though landing may be a problem depending on how high the seas are. 
Flights over the border from Seattle are heavily monitored and anything unauthorized has a good chance of engaging with SSC forces.  Once in Vancouver the amount of intercity flights makes monitoring more difficult.
   Taking Highway 5 north from Bellingham, Route 99 south from Squamish or Route 1 west from Hope will take you into Vancouver by motor vehicle.  Highway 5 and Route 1 are well maintained but 99 has for long stretches of road been left to the elements resulting in areas better left to 4x4s.  The closer one gets to the city the more chance of dealing with go-gangs who are prevalent on both 5 and Route 1.  Another option for getting to Vancouver is taking the train.  There is a well-developed line going from Seattle to Bellingham to Vancouver.  Construction is also underway for an extension of the San Francisco to Seattle bullet train system.  Trains run hourly but stations are heavily patrolled by the SSC Rangers.
   Going in by sea is probably the most popular route for tourists with ocean liners as well as hovercraft available from Seattle and the ATHABASKAN COUNCIL’s main port of Juneau opening up the city to massive influxes of tourists during every season.  Vancouver’s port is also becoming one of the main ports along the west coast of North America.  Shipments from Asia and Oceana are now flooding into the harbor over taxing a system that has not been upgraded in decades.  There is currently a contract out to improve the port and increase the infrastructure of the  area but the tough eco-standards of the city are making it hard for corporations to put in profitable bids.  Unsurprisingly water is one of the easiest ways to get access into Vancouver having to cover over 27 major marine cargo terminals plus 100s of miles of river and sea front property make it nearly impossible to patrol.   
Players
The two SSC tribes that control most of the Vancouver Metroplex are the Salish and Cascade Crow.  Vancouver is divided up the Cascade Crow having civil authority over South Vancouver, the international airport, Delta, and Surry.  The Salish run most of downtown, West Vancouver, Burnaby, and Coquitlam.  Richmond and its island is currently a no go area as the Cascade Crow have no plans to rebuild the suburb which was destroyed by a quake and subsequent fire.  The Makah also have a surprisingly large presence as they are in charge of a number of military installations in the city.  AA corporations Universal Omnitech, Pacific Cybernetics Incorporated and Gaetronics have major holdings in the city. In the Salish Sea German Proteus corp. has erected one of its arcoblocks.  It is located near Bowen Island to the north and West of Vancouver.  Wuxing has also become a player in Vancouver politics opening up their North American headquarters in the Glass City.  The Chinese corporation thereby becoming a defacto advocate for all of the Asian residents in the city. 
Crime   
   The criminal underworld of the city is controlled by the Red Lotus Triad.  No other organized crime outfit has been able to actively ingrain themselves in Vancouver’s underworld as this Chinese criminal organization.  Pretty much everything crooked in the metroplex goes through or is controlled by the Triad.  What makes this work, is the Red Lotus has a large population of Asians to hide and support their illegal activities in the city.  They are a subtle hand that tries to minimize the criminal impact on the Chinese community in Vancouver.  Without the nearly half a million eastern pink skins in Vancouver the Red Lotus would not be able to operate.  They specialize in gambling, prostitution, smuggling, and human trafficking.  The Triad keeps a low profile because of the precarious status of Asians in the SSC.  Considered resident aliens Chinese as well as others can be deported by the Salish-Shidhe at any time without cause or reason.  Other organized criminal groups have been trying to get into Vancouver’s Shadows for a while.  The last concerted effort was by the Vory who attempted to subvert the local smugglers by using a proxy to organize their efforts.  This plan self-destructed when the Red Lotus found out and eliminated the Vory’s pawn.  Other efforts have also meant with disaster though the Korean Seoulpa have several small operations as do the Seattle based Shotozumi-gumi Yakuza.  In each case the size of their organizations is minimal.  Several gangs in Vancouver actually rival them in size and power. 
   Case in point the First Nations.  This gang has taken off in Vancouver providing a stark counter point to the Red Lotus Triad.  They are known for their violence and use of force.  Unlike its parent organization in Seattle the First Nations has found a fertile recruiting ground in the Glass City.  Membership comes from both refugees of the conflict with Tsimshian as well as less economically well off tribes in the SSC.  The gang makes money by extortion, drug dealing, and gambling.   Another top tier level gang in Vancouver is the Ancients.  In the Glass City they are a go gang that controls no defined territory.   Dealing in smuggling, drugs, arms, secured courier services, hijacking, and talislegging the Ancients often find themselves in conflict with other gangs in Vancouver especially the First Nations.  This is unusual as the two gangs tend to cooperate in other cities.  Surprisingly they are on good terms with the Red Lotus scrupulously staying out of Chinatown and the docks.  An interesting gang in Vancouver as well as the rest of the SSC is the Coywolf Society.  This moderately sized criminal organization originally specialized in talislegging but has recently branched out into other criminal enterprises causing run in with other criminal organizations.