I live in Bismarck. If your looking for plot devices, three things come to mind. First is energy. The largest oil deposit in North America is located just to the northwest of Bismarck on the Sioux side of the border. Also there is most of the unrecovered coal in the country and electrical plants. Second is transportation. Seattle is still part of the UCAS and the only land connection to it runs through here. Rail and Highway the rout to seattle is through Bismarck. Third is the vast open spaces. Currently the total population of the state is less than half a million, and most of that is centered along the Minnesota border. Add on the removal of all us pale faces from the west half of the state and you have a great place for that super secret research facility.
Bismarck currently has about 75000 in population and I'm not sure that number would change much by 2070. So one thing to keep in mind is the small town mentality. Not much is going to go on without the neighbor knowing about it. I represent this with a higher rate of public awareness aqnd street cred. I also give my players the home ground edge as an equalizer. well as long as their character is a local.
Any other questions I can answer just ask, I'm happy to help.
