The Northwest Quadrant

The Northwest Quadrant of Bridges is a land of geographic diversity. Relatively flat at its urbanized point, the quadrant expands to feature rolling hills, forested mountains, and grassy plains, depending on which part of the Rim you travel to.
Dozens of villages, marinas, and commercial fisheries lie along the shores of the West and North Rivers. If you travel due north along the river, you find scrub trees and prairie. Traveling due west from Market Center leads you to rolling hills. Taking the Main Road diagonally to the Rim's center, you see the high mountains with rocky cliffs and dense forests which make the Northwest Quadrant a treasure of lumber harvest for the Merca Federal Union.
Nestled in the deep, wide Wichita valley, the Racetrack lies one mile inside the geographic center of the Northwest Rim, with easy access by train 24 hours a day.

Climate

The Northwest Quadrant, being one quarter of a dome some 600 miles across, has an area of almost 71,000 square miles. This vast region has a variable climate, with hot humid summers (especially in the urban areas) and cold winters, particularly in the mountainous regions. Snow is common in the winter, sometimes reaching 6 to 8 feet by the northwestern Rim.
Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms are common causes of injury to those residing in the Great Plains domes. Due to minor blocking effects caused by the structural components of modern domes, a storm system approaching the dome will often produce smaller "spin-off" tornadoes (also known as landspouts) inside the dome itself, which can reach windspeeds high enough to do significant damage to outlying areas.
However, hail and lightning strikes are the most common occurrences causing weather damage in the Northwest Quadrant. Tornadoes in the Northwest Quadrant are relatively rare unless they are traveling due East, due to the shielding effect of the high mountains against any storms traveling towards the south-east.
In the Spring and late Fall, cold air flows from the Northwest can meet with the warmer air of the Southeast, causing mesocyclone activity over the urban areas of Bridges (which lie near the center of the city). While this seldom causes tornadoes, severe weather is common in lower Hart quadrant during those months.

Fauna & Flora

A treatise on the Northwest Quadrant would be incomplete without mention of its wildlife. Over the past century, a variety of unique flora and fauna - including ancient medicinal herbs, bison, and deer - have been restored by and imported from the genetic engineers of Tollkeen. These projects - which otherwise might never have been commissioned - were due in part to the migration of the Hart Family to the Racetrack area after the Alcatraz Coup.

History

The Northwest Quadrant of Bridges was created with the city to be a vacation destination for the Kerr Dynasty, who used it for hunting, fishing, skiing, and of course, betting at the Racetrack. 
After the seizure of the Racetrack by the Hartmanns during the Alcatraz Coup, the village which formed in the vicinity became a haven for those seeking a return to the pre-Catastrophe lifestyle of their ancestors. As the leaders of this group, Crispin Hartmann, Jr. and his brother Charlie, also known as "The Cowboy," encouraged a free-wheeling, voluntaryist community, which included artists, writers, genealogers, historians, and herbalists from all over Bridges.
Once stability had returned to the city, this early group encouraged travel to the Racetrack, making entry almost free to provide people an escape from the horrors and drudgery of their new lives post-Coup. With the pennies they accumulated from entry fees and food sales, the group began using the land around them to venture into lumber production and distillery. Soon their wealth began to grow, and once they'd saved enough, they petitioned Tollkeen to take on the restoration of ancient plants and animals vital to their ancestral cultures.
The first restoration project was that of the bison, the last of the diminished number being used for food production lost during the Catastrophe. Once established, the bison herd significantly improved the plains area of the Quadrant, and plans were made for creating a lowlands area for rice production. As the urban center spread, however, this plan was abandoned in favor of creating irrigation terraces along the outer West River. The lowered area of the city was never restored, and even now, areas of lower Hart quadrant along the North River tend to flood during the spring.

Alternative Name(s)

Hart Quadrant

Type

Territory

Location under

Northwest quadrant

Owner/Ruler

Charles Hart

Ruling/Owning Rank

Patriarch

Owning Organization

The Hart Family