Emerald City

Emerald City is centered on the sheltered inner peninsula jutting into the Albian River, with access to Malory Bay and the islands, built upon three main hills, modest in size compared to the mountainous terrain in the surrounding area, but still fairly steep. The city has since spread across the inlet to the western or outer peninsula and along the south of the riverbank eastward as well as pushing south towards the mountains.
The downtown area of the city is towards the waterfront, the early center of Emerald City’s livelihood and activity. Royal Hill, the northernmost of the city’s three main hills, lives up to its name with some of the most expensive real estate in E.C.. To the south rise University Hill, home of Emerald City University(ECU), and Sunset Hill, bordering the Red River. As the hills level out into a broad valley, the neighborhoods give way to the Eastern District and Lakeside, curving around Lake Vallee.

The Heart of the City

Emerald City’s downtown area runs from the riverfront and slopes up and around Royal Hill. A main highway runs along the waterfront, connecting up with the two main bridges, crossing the Albian and Red Rivers to the north and west, running along the Albian River towards the east.

The Riverfront

Emerald City’s The Riverfront is still quite active as a port; much of the shipping has shifted eastward along the river and westward towards the outer peninsula, leaving much of the downtown waterfront area to piers dedicated to shopping, pleasure craft, and tourism.

The Cannery

An old fish cannery along the Riverfront has been converted into a multi-level shopping mall and local tourist attraction, the perfect place for a date or family outing, as well as an unexpected superbattle! The Cannery is surrounded by pedestrian shopping and high-class urban housing.

Royal Hill & Yellow Brick Row

Emerald City’s most famous shopping area; it is paved in yellow-painted brick, forming a large pedestrian mall along the north-facing slope of Royal Hill.

Crown Heights

The summit of Royal Hill is known as the Crown Heights neighborhood, expensive real estate commanding a good view of Emerald City (although not quite so good as it was before the soaring towers of the downtown area were built). The Crown Tower Hotel, a local landmark, is found in Crown Heights, along with some high-class condos.

The Undercity

Emerald City suffered early flooding problems, which led to the city administration literally covering over and building on top of the old central part of the city in the lowlands. This created an “Undercity” where buildings and even streets from the 1800's are preserved beneath the current downtown area.

The Eastern District

Although southwest of downtown, the city’s Eastern District is so named because of its largely Asian population. It is located in the broad valley between and below Sunset and University Hills.
The Eastern District used to have a reputation as the “shady side” of Emerald City, tucked away and hidden by the hills from Downtown, and a difficult walk from there, but in the present day, the District is a bustling tourist area with a thriving local culture.

Jadetown & Little Osaka

The neighborhood known as Jadetown is primarily Chinese, and you can see a good deal of Chinese writing, art, and architecture there. Local schools teach students Chinese languages, culture, and history in addition to the lessons they learn in public school. Jadetown residents are quite proud of their heritage. Jadetown is home to the Jade Arch, its official “entrance” and a major tourist attraction.
Little Osaka is the Japanese area of the Eastern District. It has a more subdued style and character, featuring a renowned Japanese Tea Garden and some hotels that make it a popular place for Japanese visitors to Emerald City to stay, as well as tourists to visit.

Southern Shore

The southern shore of the Albian River, running westward from Downtown, goes from the urban structures and zoning of the center of the city to more suburban and residential areas.
Southern Shore properties are prime real estate, centered around riverfront marinas, coves, and similar properties. The presence of the highway and rail line along the Southern Shore causes building to cluster around the transportation arteries, thinning southward towards the forest and mountains.

The Islands

The islands of the Albian River are broadly considered part of the Southern Shore, although technically they’re a district unto themselves. Some of the islands are set aside as parks and nature preserves, while others are inhabited, connected by narrow bridges and ferry service. A home on the Islands is a sure sign of success in the area, as they feature some of the most expensive real estate in Emerald City.

Sunset Hill

The south- and westernmost of the three hills occupied by Emerald City, Sunset Hill is named for the vista of the sun setting over it, seen from the other (eastern) parts of the city. It was once the site of stately turn-of-the-century homes a reasonable distance from both Crown and University Hills, affording residents a degree of privacy. More and more, as the city has expanded, Sunset Hill has become urbanized, and many of those stately homes are now businesses, apartments, or condos, although some have been restored to their original condition and remain private homes.

Overlook Park

A broad western portion of Sunset Hill forms a pleasant park overlooking the Red River. The Overlook Park neighborhood extends into the area around the park, which includes a variety of homes and small businesses serving the largely residential community.

University Hill

The southeastern hill of Emerald City is named for the placement of Emerald City University near its summit. It and the surrounding area are part of the city’s youth culture and more artistic neighborhoods. “U-Hill,” as it is sometimes known, is home to various cafés, trendy boutiques, thrift shops (equally trendy among the right crowd), theaters, and businesses serving the student community as well as local residents.

Lakeside

The area bordering the lake to the south of the Eastern District, Lakeside is a relatively new district of the city and its character reflects a blending of Emerald City’s 19th and 20th century heritages with an eye towards life in the 21st century.

Government

CITY HALL

City Hall is a rather modern structure, having only been built in the early 2000s. The original City Hall, the oldest public building in the city, was deemed too small by Mayor Talbot to meet the bustling city’s needs adequately, and is now the Emerald City Exhibition Building.
After inviting architects from all over the world to submit proposals for the new City Hall, the honor was given to a young Swedish designer who created an impressive vision of glass and steel that stood for progress and the future.
Located Downtown, City Hall stands in the middle of a large manicured lawn, with a long shallow pool leading to the wide glass-paneled public entrance. Officer workers from both the City Hall and surrounding businesses often use the lawn as a place to eat and relax during their lunch hour. Secure underground parking is provided for all councilors and hall employees free of charge while a taxi stand on the busy road outside provides transport for those who need it. The hall is almost always busy, with city councilors, television and radio crews, and employees rushing about their business. It houses the offices of the mayor, the city council, and most city agencies.

THE MAYOR’S OFFICE

The Emerald City mayor’s office has changed little over the years, despite its new and modern location. Always a place of public transparency, the city officials have welcomed the scrutiny of the media into the matters of local politics. The mayor herself often hosts a weekly “question time” during which the media are welcome to pose her and her administration questions that delve into the operation and guidance of the city.
The mayor, Amanda Talbot, is an effective and progressive leader. She is actively involved in Emerald City’s affairs, and is particularly hands-on with the police department in which she has a special interest. Despite the attempts of her opposition to mar her reputation as an unwed woman “living in sin” with her partner, she is largely viewed favorably by both the media and public alike. Her innovative programs have met with high approval, especially her formation of a committee to oversee the (hopefully) smooth introduction of superheroes into the city.

THE CITY COUNCIL

Emerald City is divided into six council districts. Each district has a publicly elected representative sitting on the council, with the seventh seat held by the mayor who acts as chair and issues any tie-breaking vote in the case of council dead-lock.
Like the mayor, the city council members are largely (though not entirely) progressive, supporting the rights of individuals and moving away from conservative mindsets. The council makes a concerted effort to move away from representing unions, and is in fact in the process of slowly but steadily removing much of their powerful influence over the city. Most of the city councilors are backed by large businesses who have a vested interested in weakening the remaining hold the unions have on them.

CITY COMMISSIONS

City commissions come in two varieties: those that are authorized to issue rulings on behalf of the council and those that are purely advisory and gather information and findings to be presented to the city council. Commissions are often made up of both individuals recommended by council members and duty departments. Any interested individual can theoretically request to be considered for an appointment on the commission based on their suitability and qualifications, though political affiliations and desires can also affect this decision. Commissions are set up by the mayor’s office to satisfy areas of concern brought forth by the council, independent offices, and even public interest groups.

COMMISSION ON SUPER-HERO AFFAIRS

Mayor Talbot sponsored the Commission on Super-Hero Affairs to aid in the smooth introduction of superheroes into the Emerald City environment. Although the mayor welcomes the arrival of heroes into the city, she is concerned about their impact on law enforcement and what effects any vigilante action may have on the city and its inhabitants. The commission is headed by John Keenan, a superhero liaison specialist from Freedom City. The commission holds representatives of the city’s law enforcement and legal community as well as from several large businesses and concerned citizen groups.
The most visible action the CSHA has achieved is the successful introduction of the Storm Breakers, a police unit specially trained to deal with super-powered criminals.
This initiative has proven to be highly successful, and for this alone has the CSHA proven itself to be far an effective and powerful group.
The CSHA has yet to come up with any other significant suggestions to present to the city council, claiming they are still gathering information. Tentative proposals suggesting superhero registration or licensing have been offered, as has the assigning of deputy status to approved heroes by the Police Department; these suggestions are still in the early stages of development and may take some time to develop fully.
Naturally, the actions of any superheroes and the results of their activities in Emerald City are likely to make an impact on future decisions and recommendations of the CSHA, either positively or negatively as needs require.

COMMISSION ON HERITAGE BUILDINGS

Despite the city’s progressive atmosphere, there has also been a strong leaning towards preserving sites and buildings of historical and heritage value. The Commission on Heritage Buildings was created over 80 years ago with just that mandate, and has been responsible for ensuring the preservation and maintenance of such locations. The CHB has managed to successfully save many of the city’s most important buildings from demolition by issuing them a heritage listing, preventing any modifications from, being made upon then except in the case of maintenance and repair, and then only to bring the building back to its original condition.
The CHB’s latest victory is the preservation of the old Emerald City Hall, an imposing structure built in a classical neo-Roman style. The building was slated for demolition so the site could be used for the new City Hall, but the commission stepped in and issued a heritage listing thus preventing what it, and a great number of the public, deemed a horrendous mistake. Now, the old City Hall has been given a new lease on life as the Emerald City Exhibition Building, the site of many seminars, shows, and conventions.

CITY DEPARTMENTS

Emerald City employs thousands of people to see to the bureaucracy of running a large and bustling city. The city council and mayor’s office take the responsibility of employing the executives that oversee these employees very seriously, and view any indication of corruption harshly.
These employees span the entirety of the city’s infrastructure from the Emerald City Police Department to Waste Management and even Public Transport.
A small number of City Departments are detailed here, while others such as the Police Department and the District Attorney’s are given greater detail later in the chapter.

CORONER’S OFFICE

The Emerald City Coroner’s Office examines all suspicious deaths in the city and performs autopsies to determine the cause of death. It also provides evidence to the authorities for further investigation and even issues and serves warrants for the arrest of individuals involved in crimes of homicide.
It is a requirement of federal law that the victims of all suspicious deaths, cases of murder, suicides, and accidental death be subjected to medical examination via autopsy. Evidence gathered in such examinations is routinely used in court to assist the District Attorney in securing a guilty verdict. The Coroner’s Office is also involved in the examination of potential outbreaks of infectious diseases and other outbreaks that may put public health and safety at risk.
The Coroner’s Office is located in the south of Downtown in the same building it has occupied for over 100 years. The four story building is heritage listed, but has the proviso to undertake internal modifications to ensure public safety as long as the exterior remains in its original condition. The administrative offices are located on the top three floors, with pathology labs occupying the ground floor. The examination rooms and morgue are located in the basement which extends not only below the building, but expands to cover the vast majority of the block on which the office is located.

PUBLIC WORKS

The Emerald City Department of Public Works is largely a planning and organizational body, with the majority of any construction being tended to independent contractors. Despite this, the ECDPW is still one of the larger and busier departments within the city. Responsible for the building and maintenance of city streets and roads, infrastructure and public buildings, the department also oversees the city’s water and sewerage systems. With the advent of superheroes in the city, the ECDPW is finding itself becoming even busier, with super-powered battles causing a large amount of collateral damage that needs immediate attention and repair for the sake of public safety. With this in mind, the Department of Public Works has begun a recruitment drive to increase the number of employees under its auspices as well as issuing large amounts of work to contractors, creating a boom in the construction industry.

COUNTY, STATE, AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Emerald City does not exist in a vacuum, and as such, numerous county and state offices, as well as agencies, can be found all over the greater metropolitan area, though admittedly the majority of them can be found largely within the Downtown district. The greater city area falls under the jurisdiction of River County. The county services found in the city include the Department of Parks and Waterways, Department of Health and Recreation, County Clerk’s office, Social Services, Department of Planning and Zoning, and the River County Sheriff’s Department. Alongside the county and state offices in Emerald City are various federal agencies, again mostly located in the Downtown District and clustered around the Emerald City Exhibition Building. These agencies include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Veteran’s Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, AEGIS, and many others.

Industry & Trade

For many years, the major businesses in Emerald City were the fishing and lumber industries. More recently, the area has attracted high-tech companies, including computers, software, and aviation. Because of these thriving new corporations, Emerald City has grown almost exponentially in the last two decades, becoming a true boomtown.

Infrastructure

In earlier times, Emerald was socially divisible into prospectors, fishermen, lumber workers, and Asians. One ate, lived, worked, played, and worshiped alongside one’s fellow tradesmen or ethnic kinsmen and their families.
The 20th century broke down many of these barriers, as motion pictures, mahjong, the Ospreys baseball club, radio, league bowling, the Girl Scouts, and Uncle Miltie gradually bonded Emerald with a greater mass culture.
Today, a more diverse and affluent city engages in an amazing panoply of pastimes. The Ospreys are still a draw, mahjong is now an online hit, and televisions remain on now more than in Berle’s heyday. In addition to these traditional amusements, Emerald residents are now into parkour, yoga, peewee soccer, speed dating, and a million other things. Emerald even boasts a company of Union Civil War re-enactors, who regularly skirmish with their Confederate counterparts from Canada, three thousand miles away from Gettysburg and Appomattox.
Safe to say whatever a person is into they can find fellow enthusiasts in Emerald City. This section outlines some of the more unusual pastimes to be found in the City of Destiny.

Assets

Take Emerald City’s relatively young, comparatively affluent population, then add in the normal human desire to have some fun, and the result for area entrepreneurs is money just waiting to be made. To a degree, the city’s entertainment options lag behind its transformation from a “trees and fish” town to an information technology center. There is still much of old Emerald about, like the low-rent bars and greasy-spoon cafes in the Riverfront keeping area fishermen full of beer and burgers once the day’s catch is brought in.
The new Emerald City nightlife eschews the city’s bluecollar, sawdust and sea salt roots. It mixes the high-technology present with a trendy interest in Emerald’s longstanding (but not always embraced) Asian culture.
Modern Emerald City nights-out begin with Asian-fusion cuisine, move to a Kurosawa film festival on University Hill, and end at a karaoke club. While technology and Asian cuisine enjoy newfound popularity after dark, old Emerald culture still prevails in the daylight hours. Diners serving up endless breakfasts still suitable for those with a long day of timbering ahead of them are (seemingly) on every block. Emerald City’s love-affair with coffee has grown to include espresso and lattes, but in practice it remains the same old Joe that has warmed and fueled area fishermen from the start. Even the trendier IT people and software engineers typically eat the same Dungeness crab cake lunches their oceangoing city forbears did.
Like all major American urban and suburban areas, Emerald City offers up the full slate of national-chain safety and predictability among its entertainment options. There are no shortage of casual, after-work dining restaurants, multiplex theaters showing big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, and kid-friendly game-filled pizza and video game places. This section, however, focuses on establishments that are Emerald City originals.

Guilds and Factions

For decades, Emerald City was the forgotten “middle child” between Seattle and Portland when it came to professional sports. Passed over by league after league in sport after sport, Emerald City fans either had to embrace the humbler charms of their local minor-league squads or endure long treks to other cities to cheer for other people’s teams.
Emerald City’s fortunes seemed to bottom out in 1985 when it failed to attract the United States Football League’s Breakers team upon their exit from New Orleans, losing out to Portland instead. As Emerald City fans can attest, there may be no greater indignity than being snubbed by the USFL.
Things began to improve in the mid-1990s. The city’s improving economy created a growing, affluent population the major sports leagues couldn’t help but take notice of, and by the decade’s end Emerald City fans had two big-time franchises to call their own. They support them both with a ferocity fueled by many years of having done without, making Emerald a city visiting squads dread facing.

History

THE DISTANT PAST

Modern Emerald City occupies land once claimed by the crowned heads of Spain, France, Russia, and England, having been charted to varying degrees by explorers sailing under each of their flags. All noted the lush, verdant green of the land, but most did so in passing. Only the Czar’s representative Nicholas Branovsky Petronovich and his expeditionary crew left behind archaeological traces of having come ashore for any length of time. Petronovich and his men made landfall in 1743 with the apparent aim of replenishing supplies after a long voyage from Mother Russia, rather than establishing a more permanent outpost.
With Petronovich’s departure, the land again became home only to passing Hekawi Indian fisherman, bear, beaver, and—according to tribal legend—the ever-elusive Sasquatch. Over a half century passed before outsiders were again known to have entered their virgin wilderness realm.

BEGINNINGS

Spurred on by the Lewis and Clark expedition’s reports of vast westward lands fit for settlement, American fortune-seekers first began the long, arduous journey across the Mississippi River in the early 1800s. Among these pioneers was a party led by explorers Charles H. Stanley and Steven R. Malory, which first began its historic trek to the present-day Pacific Northwest in 1807. By the end of 1809, the Stanley-Malory party had found its way to the mouth of the Albian River and mapped the surrounding area for eventual settlement.
Key to Stanley and Malory’s success was their time spent together as boys serving under the legendary Revolutionary War hero Major Joseph Clark. From him they learned to be masters of both peace- and war-making, and because of these skills they survived many hazards on their journey west. Most critically, Stanley and Malory established good relations with the resident Hekawi tribe from their very first encounter, and the resulting concord between settlers and natives endures more or less unbroken to the present time.
Tragically, Stanley was found dead shortly after the expedition embarked on its return to the east. The factual circumstances of Stanley’s death remain unknown—the existing accounts of strange lights, sounds, and grisly dismemberment merely an embellished product of fear and superstition—and he was buried near the mountain that today bears his name. Malory, enchanted by the area’s natural beauty, later returned to stay and established Fort Emerald (named after the surrounding, enveloping green wilderness) on May 28, 1818. Over time, this tiny fishing and furtrading outpost grew into modern, sprawling Emerald City.

BORDERTOWN

The ensuing decades were a time of gradual, peaceful expansion for the Fort Emerald settlement, as the local trappers and fishermen were joined by those attracted to the area by the promise of jobs in the burgeoning lumber industry. Timbering had begun as a necessity, clearing land covered by old-growth forests, and in time it became the basis of Fort Emerald’s economy. By mid-century, sawmills, lumberyards, and paper processing plants abounded; some remain in operation even today.
As always, tranquility and prosperity did not come without cost or effort. From the time of its founding until the 1846 Oregon Treaty finally resolved the issue, Fort Emerald remained near the disputed western border between the expanding United States and British North America (present-day Canada). Tensions between the two great powers were ever-present, and spies and provocateurs on both sides regularly drew up plans and intrigues involving (and sometimes targeting) Fort Emerald.
Time and again, the people of Fort Emerald were tested, but their wits and better natures prevailed. Even when political hotheads back east threatened the mighty British Empire with “54-40 or fight!” the more even-tempered Fort Emerald residents maintained the peace between themselves, their Canadian cousins, and the Hekawi.

RUSH

The settlement of all border claims in 1846 proved timely for Fort Emerald, as it prevented a dispute that surely otherwise would have been cause for war had the matter remained unresolved. On March 31, 1853, gold was first discovered in the Atlas Mountains. As word of the discovery spread, prospectors flocked to Fort Emerald. In time their treasure hunting uncovered a fortune in precious gems elsewhere in the mountains, as well as diamonds in the clay deposits which give the Red River its name.
These dueling fevers for precious metals and gems led to booming prosperity and population growth for Emerald, with all the attendant blessings and curses. To many, this wild, reckless time of fortunes made and lost remains Emerald’s quintessential era. Even in the present day, the Red River Diamond Exchange, founded during the boomtown years, remains one of the city’s most famous and lucrative concerns. Likewise, gems from the Atlas Mountains are much sought-after by New Age devotees, who attribute a variety of wondrous capabilities to stones mined in that area.

DESTINY

As America realized its “Manifest Destiny” and the “Gem Rush” was in full bloom, the booming Fort Emerald settlement first acquired its nickname, “The City of Destiny.” This dramatic appellation grew out of the residents’ pride in all they had built and struggled to achieve, and reflected their belief in the grandiose idea that Emerald was the “shining jewel in the American crown across North America.” While the “City of Destiny” title began as an affectation rather than a reality, the area’s continued growth soon vindicated the designation. In truth, its founders dubbed Emerald “the City of Destiny” because for them it was the last stop on the continent’s edge.

WAR

The still-booming Fort Emerald settlement officially incorporated as Emerald City on August 27, 1857. This event was commemorated, then as now, with joyous celebrations, and subsequent events elsewhere only served to remind residents of their good fortune. Just as the city was finally coming to grips with its sudden wealth and rapid expansion, America itself sundered into a great War Between the States.
Through most of the conflict, the distant muskets and cannons back east had no effect on the staunchly proUnion people of Emerald City. However, on October 17, 1864 a surprise raid by Confederate agents operating from British North America netted the Rebels a sizable haul of gemstones from the Red River Diamond Exchange. Though they made good their escape, the ultimate fate of the Southern spies is unknown, as neither they nor their treasure was ever seen again.
Emerald’s fishing fleet also suffered unexpected losses when the Southern raider CSS Shenandoah—unaware of the war’s end—claimed five prizes off the city’s shores in July 1865. Some eyewitnesses claim the Confederate warship also harbored in the area for a time before resuming its circumnavigation of the globe, en route to the vessel’s eventual surrender in Great Britain.

EXODUS

Part of the city’s postbellum growth—certainly the portion which gives modern Emerald its distinctive character—came from an influx of Asian immigrants. Waves of Chinese and Japanese immigrants, both from across the wide Pacific Ocean and other West Coast settlements, made Emerald their home in the second half of the 19th century.
Those who came from overseas came seeking opportunities in America that simply did not exist in their feudal, unchanging homelands. They continued leaving China and Japan in sizable numbers until the U.S. government legally barred their entry (in 1882 and 1907, respectively). The ones who made the trek had already begun their quest for a new and better life in points further south and east, but increasingly found themselves unwelcome in less tolerant locales. In Emerald City, the Chinese and Japanese immigrants found an overall climate of benign neglect, which was as good as welcome to them in those less enlightened times. These new arrivals found work readily in the city’s growing industries, including fishing and the railroads.
The burgeoning Asian community in Emerald made an already diverse area more so, and their initially strange ways and customs were gradually woven into the city’s tapestry. They remain a cornerstone of Emerald City to this very day.

THE 20TH CENTURY

As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the mad rush of people to Emerald City slowed to an easy, steady stream. The previous generations of city fathers, so eager to boast of living in the “City of Destiny” gave way to leaders quietly proud of successfully maintaining what their forefathers had built. As the gemstones became harder to find, the “shining jewel in America’s crown” quietly transitioned to being more of a family jewel—still beautiful, but only rarely seen by outsiders.
To its residents, Emerald City became an island of calm in an increasingly turbulent world. Even as the SpanishAmerican War, the Great War, Prohibition, and the Great Depression shook the nation, the good people of Emerald largely focused on the next field of timber, the day’s catch, and filing their mining claims.

OZ

The year 1938 marked Emerald City’s 70-year-long love/hate relationship with the iconic film The Wizard of Oz, which sparked a brief revival of popular interest in the “City of Destiny.” While many businesses and organizations worked overtime to avoid any association with the pop-culture classic the movie became, others embraced the eponymous association wholeheartedly from the day of release.
Those who revel in the city’s connection to the works of L. Frank Baum seem, in the long run, to have won the struggle against those who resent it. Supporters successfully lobbied to have the open-air walking mall in the downtown shopping district dubbed the Yellow Brick Row. There, the street is indeed bricked just as advertised, duly painted yellow every year on the official birthday of the city.

ATTACK

Like the country at large, Emerald City was awakened from its peaceful slumber by news of the Japanese sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Due to the city’s unique situation, the coming of war was an even greater shock to Emerald than elsewhere.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the relocation of anyone of Japanese ancestry (including U.S. citizens—the Nisei) to internment camps. This wartime exigency struck Emerald City and its longstanding deeply ingrained Japanese community especially hard. The property forfeited in the process impoverished many of the Nisei for years after the war, and the dignity lost by those of a proud culture was an even greater, crueler blow.
Fear of a direct attack upon American soil was high in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, and such anxieties were acute along the West Coast, Emerald City included. Almost everywhere else, all the hysteria was for nothing, but the terror became real for Emerald City residents on more than one occasion during the war.
On the night of June 24, 1942, the surfaced Japanese submarine I-14 lobbed several shells at Fort Breckinridge, situated at the Red River’s mouth. While the panic the attack engendered was magnitudes greater than the damage it inflicted, it did lead to the formation of Emerald City’s first publicly known team of costumed “mystery men” heroes, the Victory Squadron.

HEROES

Later that September 13th, Japanese submarine-launched seaplanes attempted to drop fire-starting incendiary bombs on the forests surrounding Emerald City, and only the Victory Squadron’s intervention prevented a major economic and environmental disaster. This feat and the team’s successful campaign that autumn against marauding Japanese submarines off Emerald’s coast cemented them in the city residents’ esteem. Despite the public adulation, further challenges remained.
Throughout the remainder of World War II, Emerald City was a focal point for espionage and sabotage attempts orchestrated by the mystic Japanese Green Dragon Society. Time and again, the Victory Squadron was the only thing saving the city from the Society’s super-powered Hinomaru agents, Yakuza thugs, and deadly ninja assassins.
While many of the Squadron’s wartime exploits are unrecorded, forgotten, or classified, the team did famously save Emerald City from a final strange peril late in the war. Beginning in November 1944, the Japanese military unleashed nine thousand bomb-laden “fire balloons” towards North America. While only about 10% of them survived the trans-oceanic voyage, a great many that did landed in the Emerald City area. The Victory Squadron spent much of the last few months of the war intercepting and disarming “fire balloons,” or else dealing with the aftermath of the damage caused by them.

MODERN HISTORY

To most, the post-WWII history of Emerald City is fairly unremarkable. There have, however been odd occurrences over the decades since the war that hint at the strangeness surrounding the city.

UNIDENTIFIED FALLING S

The term UFO (for “Unidentified Flying Object”) was coined in the Pacific Northwest in 1947. It was not long thereafter that a series of sightings of UFOs occurred in roughly the same geographic area. They included one in which several strange objects were sighted over Mt. Stanley near Emerald City although, like other such reports, they were widely dismissed.
In the years since, the Arcadian Forest and Atlas Mountains have been home to numerous sightings of unusual creatures and phenomena, ranging from unexplained lights and sounds to claims of spotting Sasquatch or other cryptozoological oddities. No evidence apart from blurry amateur photos or videos have ever appeared, leading most to dismiss these sightings as hoaxes or outright fabrications. Still, many wouldbe “cryptid-hunters” find their way to Emerald City to venture out into the wilds with camera and scanning equipment in hand in hopes of being the first to find and bring back conclusive proof.

NO DEVIL’S HAVEN

In the mid-1980s, a change in administration in Freedom City led to the enactment of the Moore Act, outlawing costumed vigilantes, previously welcomed by the government and law-enforcement. While some heroes chose to follow the law and quietly retire, or operate elsewhere, the Moore Act also created a new generation of lawless, and violent, crime-fighters. Willing to break one law to do what they felt needed to be done, these new heroes were willing to break others, up to and including using lethal force against their opponents.
Although lacking the kind of superhuman activity in Freedom City, other parts of the United States and even the world began to see a rise in vigilante activity, and in even more violent criminals choosing to fight back. Rather than curtailing crime, the Moore Act instead drove heroes and villains into a shadow-war, with innocent people caught in the middle.
Emerald City initially suffered a significant increase in super-powered criminal activity, but it didn’t last as the villains moved on to greener pastures, disappeared entirely, or were incarcerated (or worse, given the times) by outof-town heroes. It quickly became clear that Emerald City wasn’t worth the time or effort, despite its burgeoning population and growing reputation as a center for technological developments. In the later years of the Moore Act, Emerald City actually saw less crime and super-criminal activity than most places in the United States, a trend that continued for years.

MARS RISING

Emerald City went through a long economic slump as the local paper and forestry industries cut back on their operations and closed mills, while at the same time the fishing industry declined. Emerald City’s white knight appeared in the form of Maximilian Mars, the founder and CEO of MarsTech, which set up shop on the outskirts of Emerald City, where office and industrial space was relatively cheap.
Mars turned a “garage industry” of personal computers, software, and peripheral devices into a multi-billion dollar corporation and one of Emerald City’s largest employers. The success of MarsTech attracted other hightech businesses to the area and they, in turn, brought in businesses to serve the needs of their growing number of employees: highly educated, skilled, and typically well paid.
Ever since the success of MarsTech, Max Mars has been a fixture of Emerald City civic life, supporting local causes and giving generously to charity. His company has provided resources for schools, libraries, and civic centers, and everyone says Mars would be a sure bet for mayor, if he ever decided to give up that much power and prestige!
Like the rest of the country, the tech-sector in Emerald City saw tremendous growth in the last part of the 20th century with the boom in Internet-related businesses and startups, followed by the bursting of the Internet bubble and the collapse of a great many of those same startups. MarsTech endured, too large to fall victim to such shifts in the market, and well positioned to buy up some of those failing companies to expand its portfolio. In more recent years, with the growth of mobile computing technology, tech is on the rise in Emerald City once more, and MarsTech is blazing the way.

Geography

Emerald City is located in the Pacific Northwest, centered on a sheltered inner peninsula jutting into the Albian River, with access to Malory Bay and chains of islands, built upon three main hills, modest in size compared to the mountainous terrain in the surrounding area, but still fairly steep. The city has since spread across the inlet to the western or outer peninsula and along the south of the riverbank eastward as well as pushing south towards the mountains.
The Downtown area of the city is towards the waterfront, the early center of Emerald City’s livelihood and activity. Down below is the Undercity, a preserved 19th century section of the city turned into a tourist attraction. The Riverfront stretches along the south shore of the Albian River. Royal Hill, the northernmost of the city’s three main hills, lives up to its name with some of the most expensive real estate in E.C. found in Crown Heights. To the south rise University Hill, home of Emerald City University (ECU), and Sunset Hill, bordering the Red River. As the hills level out into a broad valley, the neighborhoods give way to the Eastern District and Lakeside, curving around Lake Vallee, formed by the Red River Dam. The Eastern District includes the Asian neighborhoods of Jadetown and Little Osaka.
Out amidst the Albian River are islands like the Angel Island nature preserve, the Stepstone Islands, the Gateway Islands of Malory Bay, the Fortress Island Penitentiary, and Council Island, anchor point for the Bay Bridge.

Inside, Outside, and Upside Down It’s an old local joke that Emerald City can be difficult for the directionally challenged, given how some places in the city and surrounding area are named. For example:

• The Southern Shore is east of Downtown.
• The Eastern District is south of Downtown.
• The “west side” usually refers to the side of Sunset Hill to the east of the Red River, rather than the Outer Peninsula, which is the actual westernmost part of the city.
• The “I.P.” is the Inner Peninsula, where Downtown is located. The “O.P.” is the Outer Peninsula, where the airport is located.

Technically, there is a “middle peninsula” but it’s considered part of the O.P. and no one calls it that. Emeraldites tend to be raised with the idea that these local quirks are fun to play up for visitors and tourists, enough that visitors guides to the city encourage everyone to take directions from locals with a grain of salt and a dose of good humor.

Alternative Name(s)

City of Destiny

Type

Metropolis

Inhabitant Demonym

Emeraldite

Included Locations

• Albian River and the Islands
• Jadetown
• Lake Vallee
• Lakeside
• Little Osaka
• Malory Bay
• Malory Bay Lighthouse
• Red River Dam
• Royal Heights
• Southern Shore
• Sunset Hill
• The Arcadian Peninsula
• The Atlas Mountains
• The Cannery
• The Elysian Forest
• The Red and Bronze Rivers
• The Riverfront
• The Rotunda
• The Undercity
• University Hill
• Yellow Brick Row

Characters in Location

• Agent Blazer
• Agent Mariner
• Alexander Hackman
• Amanda Talbot
• An-yu Hwei
• Ann Razko
• Benjie Carver
• Billie Hemsworth
• Caleb Gardener
• Colin Hoke
• Dan-chi Wang
• David Li
• Ellen Riverrun
• Feng-li Chen
• Gardner Malone, Public Defender
• Harri Deng
• Jackie Lee
• Jesus Varelas
• John Ezquerra
• Koschei the Deathless
• Kuramoto Akira
• Kwan Wu
• Mary Grindstaff
• Maximilian Mars
• Pat Wagner
• Pavel Belyayev
• Peter Lomax
• Sam Stone
• Stan Everett, District Attorney
• Steel Shogun
• Takazumi Ryu
• Takazumi Tomiko