Djakarta Point
Located high in the Tershaw Range, Djakarta Point exists for one reason: the mining of gold and silver. It began life as a mining enclave, established by the Saracen Corporation in the late eighth century, but as the corporate enclave grew, so did the settlement that surrounded it. When the city of Djakarta Point formally came into being on 6 Summer TN 857, there had already been a settlement on the site for almost seventy cycles. Earth's withdrawal prompted the collapse of the Saracen Corporation, the market for the city's goods destroyed in the chaos of abandonment. The city remained a viable entity throughout the Reconstruction period, however, and when inter-city trade picked up in the 1490s the mines were reopened under the authority of the city council which slowly metamorphosed into a corporate entity: The Djakarta Point Mining Corporation (DPCM).
Djakarta Point became a focus of trade in the eastern Tershaw Range, its merchants ranging as far afield as Swanscombe and Innsbruck, building links between the communities that would stand it in good stead later. Caught between two expansionist powers, the United Mercantile Federation and the Northern Lights Confederacy, President Haruka Murakami of Djakarta Point was receptive to proposals by Zagazig mayor Yanna Goren for the formation of an economic and defensive alliance. With DPMC's trade links and Goren's diplomatic efforts, the alliance soon became reality. Dubbed the Tershaw Cooperative Alliance, it also included Swanscombe, Kossuth and Innsbruck. Unfortunately, the league proved to be short lived, collapsing under pressure from the UMFs eastward expansion. I n spring TN 1567 Swanscombe was persuaded to leave the TCA and join the UMF. Simultaneous diplomatic efforts in Djakarta Point were unsuccessful - the corporate government had no desire to lose its status as a dominant regional power - prompting the occupation of the city by UMFA troops who brushed aside the ill-organized and politically divided TCA garrison.
Once in Mercantile hands, the board members of DPMC were given a stark choice: accept the situation and deal with it, or be replaced, more or less quietly, by pro-Mercantile individuals. They acquiesced grudgingly out of self-preservation, and set about rebuilding their trade links. Within a cycle, the initial hostility over their forcible incorporation had given way to excitement over the economical benefits of joining the Federation. Much to their surprise, they found the UMF took a hands-off position, allowing the city-state to operate much as it had done before its incorporation in the league. Furthermore, the league's government helped them build trade links with the rest of the Federation's territories and particularly Marathon, where the precious metals of Djakarta Point played an important part in the electronics industry. The city-state continues to play a major role in the Federation's economy, its native industries complemented by trade with the western regions of the Norlight Confederacy.
Demographics
Dishonest Profit
High security around the gold and silver mines, as well as the smelting works and the mint, have made direct theft from the Djakarta Point Mining Corporation (DPMC) a difficult proposition, though several criminal groups use blackmail and bribery to gain access to security codes, shipping schedules and the like. Such activities are only possible by the largest and most influential gangs. The remainder prey on the city’s citizens, carrying out petty theft, running drugs, organizing prostitution (although prostitution itself i s not illegal in the UMF, soliciting is) and extorting money. Arranging ‘insurance’ is the most common practice, with local businesses paying off the criminals to ensure no harm befalls them or their business. Turf wars between criminal groups are commonplace, especially when an individual or business under the protection of one gang is preyed on by another.
Organized crime in Djakarta Point is divided among more than three dozen groups, but the largest and most successful are the Jagged Edge (specialty: extortion), the Shadow Dancers (specialty: theft), the Millers (specialties: theft and prostitution) and the McHenry family (specialties: drugs and prostitution). All compete against each other for the city‘s business, but are allied in a loose body known as The Syndicate. Formed after the gang wars of TN 1921-23, the group was created to forestall further bloody clashes, but today exists as a front between Djakarta Point and other larger criminal groups. Luc Coral of the Jagged Edge has acted as head of the group since TN 1935, but both Franco Koke of the Millers and Elizabeth McHenry are secretly plotting to usurp his place, threatening a new series of gang wars in the city.
Djakarta Point maintains its own corporate-financed anti-organized crime squads who constantly work to keep the gangs in check. Some Syndicate members use contacts in the police department - which is no less corrupt than the rest of the city - to keep one step ahead of the law. Indeed, the DPPD spends almost as much on internal affiirs as it does on the organized crime units. The UMF regards the silver and gold mines as a vital strategic resource and thus there is a strong contingent of troops and intelligence operatives in the city. The FIA works closely with the local police department but their relationship has been strained by the recent suspension of a FIA team accused of complicity with criminal activities.
Government
Fool's Gold
It is impossible to judge where the Djakarta Point Mining Corporation ends and the city administration begins, with the DPMC board and CEO heading the city's government and the corporation's exports funding the police force and other public bodies. Numerous largely autonomous subcommittees, including non-voting representatives of the general populace, oversee the city's governance, but DPMC has maintained its stranglehold on the reigns of power, and the heads of every public body, from the mint to the street cleaners, are employed by the corporation. DPMC has proved to be a benign and generous dictator and few people question the corporation's role. Attempts by the Northern Worker's Consortium to gain a foothold in corporate and city politics have been repeatedly rebuffed, though they have managed to get representatives onto the public health and justice committees.
The outbreak of war has turned the city administration on its head. The local UMFA commander, Brigadier-General Gustav Neve Neve, has assumed control of the city. Though President Ganendra retains control of day-to-day civil activities in Djakarta Point, the CNCS Grand Marshal has charged the General] with streamlining operations to best support the war effort. To that end he has used the provisions of the War Powers act to place UMFA and Northern Guard representatives on numerous subcommittees, though he has so far refrained from making any radical changes to the governmental structure. Ganendra dislikes having the General] as a watchdog and has staged several incidents to ascertain how far she can push him. Neve dislikes these political games but is prepared - for now - to humor the DPMC President.
The Djakarta Point Syndicate occupies a precarious position in the new political order. Their leader, Luc Coral, has been working hard to convince General Neve that they have no desire to compromise the city's security. Coral realizes his organization is poised on the brink of civil war, though he suspects the Forzi and Kolson Cartels rather than the true source - Lauren Ibsen, one of the lieutenants in the Millers, an agent of Mekong Dominion's ICP with orders to stir up unrest in the city.
Defences
Strategic Value
Nestling on a rock spur overlooking the NLC's Big Valley, Djakarta Point occupies a major strategic position and has traditionally employed garrisons far in excess of that needed to hold the city against invaders. Until the outbreak of war, a whole Gear brigade (the 9th) and the 3rd Air Regiment were based in the city, though with access to the city limited to approach by air or via three switchback roads, the brigade's infantry battalion could hold the city against all but the most determined opponents. Over the last cycle, the brigade's armor regiment and half its Gear forces have relocated to Swanscombe, bolstering defenses along the border of the Karaq Wastes, though the arrival of Northern Guard forces to man the regional command center have largely offset these losses.
The 3rd Air Regiment is unusual in its relatively high concentration of VTOLs (Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft) at the expense of close-support aircraft like the Redjacket fighter-bomber. The VTOLs are usually seen attached to armor regiments, not aircraft ones. In this case, geography has dictated the military's choice. The close confines of the approach routes to the region limit the effectiveness of fixed-wing aircraft, but do little to hinder helicopter or hopper operations. The unit does retain a number of conventional interceptors to discourage enemy aircraft, however, and the militaty section of the city-state's airport has sufficient capacity and resources to house a second, more conventional air regiment.
Industry & Trade
All that Glitters
Though mining forms the heart of Djakarta Point, directly employing a third of the population, the city contains a host of secondary industries geared towards supporting the mining operation and its workers. Located in the Upper Town, near the base of the promontory, some are directly associated with DPMC, such as smelting works, precision engineering and producing mining equipment, while others are involved in transport, security and craft industries.
The entertainment district of the lower town centered on Opal Road (known locally as "Easy Street"), employs a large segment of the population, forming a cornerstone of the miners' 'work hard, play hard' mentality. Businesses range from restaurants and lounge bars to disreputable strip bars and gambling joints. No matter how innocuous, almost every pub, club or restaurant i s under the sway of one or another of the gangs. In many cases this i s little more than victimization in a protection racket, but others are fronts for the gangs. Respectability provides little clue as to which is which: the McHenry family operate their wide-ranging underworld business from one of the city's most posh restaurants on Clifftop Drive.
For allits wealth, Djakarta Point is heavily reliant on imports for survival, particularly foodstuffs carried up Mount Oir from the farming communities of the Tudor Plain and the NLC's Great Valley. As such, the cost of living in the city is high, surpassed in the UMF only by frozen Pioneer
A recent craze among the city's youth has been base jumping - leaping off the cliffs that encircle the city on three sides, equipped with little more than a parachute and relying on body-planing to carry the jumper clear of the rock face. The sport has claimed almost a dozen lives since TN 1930, but despite government efforts, it remains popular, especially among adolescents
Maps
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Djakarta Point
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