Seattle
Seattle is one of the biggest cities in the UCAS , as well as the biggest on the west coast of America. Since it is separated from the rest of the UCAS by the Native American Nations, it acts almost entirely independently. Its position geographically allows it to be a massive economic and industrial hub.
Demographics
Seattle's demographic distribution is fairly average for a city of its size. Although humans do make up the vast majority, there is also a very large elf population, most of whom came in from Tir Tairngire. The distribution is:
- Humans: 66%
- Orcs: 16%
- Elves: 13%
- Dwarves: 2%
- Trolls: 2%
- Other: 1%*
Infrastructure
Seattle has a large and well maintained network of roads, all of which are gridded for electric cars. The GridGuide system integrates to autopilot systems, allowing it to safely manage traffic. Long-time residents consider GridGuide to be inefficient, but statistics show it should be effective. The only area that isn't well maintained is the grid for the Barrens, which is often ripped apart by resident trying to resell materials. City authorities also advise avoiding the highways at night and the Barens in general due to roving gangers.
The public transport in Seattle is functional. Buses run throughout the entire metroplex and tickets are cheap. They tend to run into the same problems that car traffic does, both in terms of gang violence and in terms of inefficient traffic. Much more popular is the monorail system which runs through the entirety of downtown. Plans to expand the monorail to the rest of the metroplex repeatedly fall through, but still get brought back up by the city coucil regularly.
Most major buildings in the city have a helipad, allowing air traffic within the city. Several air taxi services exist within the city, including Renraku Air, Emerald City Air, Sea-Tac Express, Quetzal Shuttle Services, and Federated-Boeing Air Carriers. These taxi services can get expensive, however, so they are primarily used by the elite. The Sea-Tac International Airport serves as the man air transport into and out of the city, but there also several smaller airports, both national and private, within the Seattle metroplex. Seattle's Air Authority runs a tight ship, making smuggling illegal goods through the air difficult.
As a port city, Seattle also has an extensive harbor through which a massive amount of cargo moves. The Seattle Port Authority is as strict as its air counterpart in theory, but it is also overworked leading to much more smuggling operations passing through the harbor than the airport. A ferry system also runs through the parts of the city that touch the harbor, but they tend to be more expensive than the bus system while also being more limited, and in some cases taking longer.
Districts
Seattle is composed of nine districts, several of which were once separate towns. As Seattle expanded in size, it subsumed nearby towns until it became one metroplex. The Council Island is also often included as a district of the city, although it technically belongs to the Salish-Sidhe Council.
Downtown
Downtown marks what used to be the heart of Seattle, before it back a metroplex. It still remains as the center of corporate and political power for the metroplex, as well as the city's cultural center. Most corporations that have a presence in the Pacific Northwest are headquartered in Downtown, so the district also has a high concentration of high-class citizens. Due to both of these factors, Downtown also has the tightest security in the metroplex, including the highest concetration of Lone Star officers. Downtown houses the University of Washinton which brings in substantial student and academic populations, but it doesn't bring the same attention as other North American academic institutes. Some of the biggest Seattle attractions are in Downtown, including the Renraku Arcology, the Space Needle, Penumbra, the Sea-Tac Airport, and the Seattle Harbor.Council Island
Technically speaking, Council Island no longer belongs to Seattle, or the UCAS as a whole. When the UCAS signed the Treaty of Denver, it ceded Council Island, formerly Mercer Island, to the Salish-Sidhe Council which now uses it as an embassy to Seattle. The island boasts heavy security on the bridges into the island, since it is technically an international border, but rarely is that security put into action. Most long-term residents on the island, of which there are about three-thousand, are diplomats or foreign representatives, with a sprinkling of translators and similar staff. As sovereign territory, Council Island sees a fair bit of criminal activity, but it also gets local attention for having one of the best shamanic lodges in the region.Bellevue
Bellevue district carries the reputation of being a smaller version of Downtown. Upper class citizens and corporate executives make up the majority of the district's population. On paper Bellevue has security second only to Downtown, but the local Lone Star offices tend to be lazy and passive. To cover for Lone Star, most locals employ their own private security, primarily Knight-Errant Security. Rivalries between Lone Star and private security make for competitive prices in the region, good news for residents but bad news for runners. High-class and white-collar business make up the majority of non-corporate business in the district, limiting the amount of shadowrunning business in the area. Johnsons tend to prefer meeting Downtown, but the combination of rich residents and conflicting security makes it a prime target for runs. The biggest local attraction is the Gates Casino, which has strong ties to Seattle's mafia families.Tacoma
Back before Seattle became a metroplex, Tacoma was a separate town close to the city. It primarily house blue-collar industries such as paper mills and metallurgy, creating a populace that didn't much like the idea of incorporating with Seattle. In the years following the incorporation, however, Tacoma saw a massive uptick in industry thanks to an abudance of cheap land. It's now a major industrial center, sporting several of the biggest factories in Seattle, as well as several major corporate research centers. It's also the transportation center of Seattle thanks to its proximity to Sea-Tac International, an extensive waterfront, and the only inter-city passenger rail-line, which travels all the way down to San Francisco. This also makes Tacoma a hotbed of criminal activity. Shadowrunners kidnapping corporate researchers or smuggling goods into the city complement a long history of violent conflicts between Seattle's mafia and yakuza families. Even still, a wide variety of lower-class citizens call Tacoma home, most of whom insist that the region isn't nearly as dangerous as rumors claim.Everett
Much like Tacoma, Everett was initially a separate town on the outskirts of Seattle, but Everett's incoporation was much more popular with the locals. For most of the district's history Everett focused on residential and small business development, but during the early 2050s it saw an uptick in corporate interest. Thanks criminal presences in Tacoma, corporations looked for a new area to expand into, so Everett became an up-and-coming rival to Tacoma. Everett doesn't have the benefit of Tacoma's transportation industry, but it's place as the northernmost district does make it ideal for trade with the Salish-Sidhe Council and other northern regions. It's more laid-back residential attitude also makes it ideal for mid-level corporate employees who want to get away from the bustle of high-speed corporate life.Renton
Renton is to Bellevue what Bellevue is to Downtown. It's a smaller district dominated by hills and mountains that serves as a residential community for a population slightly lower-class than Bellevue. While this would initially seem to make it ideal for lower white-collar and upper blue-collar residents, Renton has one massive downside; it is the home of Seattle's chapter of Humanis Policlub. The anti-metahuman political organization has a strong presence in Renton, to the extent that most of the younger population has strong affiliations with the group. Between racially motivated crimes and a high presence of mafia and yakuza activity, Renton tends to have some of the highest crime rates outside of the Barrens. Local shopping centers and entertainment businesses bring in a fair bit of tourism, but metahumans are heavily advised to steer clear of the region.Auburn
Auburn's centralized location makes it heavily influenced by the surrounding districts. Industrial and manufacturing business grew rapidly in Auburn thanks to runoff demand in Tacoma, anti-metahuman sentiments seep down into Auburn from Renton, and organized crime spills over from both Puyallup and Renton. Since the district sports a massive meta-human population, Humanis Policlub has yet to get a solid foothold in the region, but tensions of both criminal and racial varieities make it a less desirable location for expansion than Everett or Renton. This also makes it great for criminal elements hoping to fall into the background or work in the region, so shadowrunners are very common in the district. Most gangs in the region maintain strict borders and heavily disputed territories in the district, ironically leading to stable gang politics amidst the bigger chaos.Snohomish
Snohomish represents the only greenery in Seattle, as well as the only farming community outside the Native American Nations. Local farmers fight a losing battle to bigger agricorporations, but both push to maintain national parklands and dedicated farmlands in the district. It also has by far the biggest metahuman population in Seattle, most of whom live in small communities protected by different metahuman gangs. The Blackstone Paranormal Museum represents the full extent of the district's tourism, so most of the people in Snohomish are either residents or farm workers. Locals joke that Snohomish's population doubles every morning when commuters move between Everett and Downtown.Fort Lewis
Fort Lewis is home to the Metorplex Guard, the only military presence in the metorplex. With home cut-off Seattle is from the rest of the UCAS, the Metroplex Guard plays a major role in Seattle's longterm safety. Fort Lewis is not only the Metroplex Guard's base of operations but also home to several different training grounds and military academies. Most of the district is also still natural, although the fact that it only houses military or military-adjacent residents means that it doesn't get the natural reputation that Snohomish does. The Urban Brawl Simulation Center and the Parazoological Gardens bring in some tourism, but growing industry has never been the biggest concern of the district.Redmond
Redmond is one of the two districts that make up the Barrens, the "bad parts of town." In the early 2020s Redmond saw enormous growth in the computer industry, which in turn brought Redmond into the limelight. Unfortunately, the Crash of '29 devastated the computer industry, taking Redmond with it. Nowadays Redmond is a low-income district full of ruined businesses and broken dreams. The area's best known for a nuclear reactor in the midst of a meltdown called Glow City and a whole neighborhood that has been converted into a scrapyard, both of which reinforce the image of Redmond being past its experiation date. Nevertheless, shadow business is big in Redmond, especially due to the prevalence of retro technology left over after the Crash which can be bought for cheap if one knows where to look.Puyallup
Whereas Redmond was a victim of the Crash, Puyallup is a victim of the Great Ghost Dance. When Mt. Rainier erupted in 2017, the lava flows poured through Puyallup, shrouding the region in ash and destroying the local farmlands. Puyallup may have recovered were it not for a refugee crisis following the signing of the Treaty of Denver and violent outbreaks during the Night of Rage, leading to the sentiment that Puyallup has seen plenty of history but never enjoyed it. Tons of smaller gangs struggle to get a foothold in the district, which also makes it perfect for those who live below the law. Illegal goods almost always wind up in Puyallup, but gang warfare and racial violence makes the district dangerous for those who don't know what they're doing.Ork Underground
During the late 1900s Seattle established a network of undergound tunnels to help in the development of Downtown. These tunnels saw less development as the 21st century rolled around, until the Night of Rage forced mass groups of metahumans to find places to live outside of the public eye. Dwarves, orks, and trolls in particular formed enclaves in the Seattle Undergound, but the dwarves would be forced out shortly afterwards due to ideological conflicts. The new underground, called Orc Underground, isn't formally recognized as a district of Seattle, but a big chunk of Seattle's population lives down there. Although the Underground only really accepts orks and trolls as long-term residents, they tend to look favourably on shadowrunners, whom they see as warriors in the war against the corporate world that keeps them suppressed.History
Early Years
Seattle's history largely parallels that of the Sixth World. The city was first put on the map by the Gold Rush of 1897, after which the city expanded rapidly into a center of industry. Early workers strikes made the city a hub for union work and a center for larger-scale strikes like the general strike of 1919. By World War II Seattle had become the economic center of the Pacific Northwest.Awakening and the Ghost Dance
In 2010 the federal government of the US used a military strike in the region to justify seizure of Native American lands, followed by the establishment of "re-education centers." When the VITAS plague reach the region a year later, which coincided with a series of massive earthquakes that hit these centers esepcially hard, a large exodus of Native Americans into the surrounding mountains kickstarted further tensions. United tribes from the region waged guerilla warfare against the city. The Native American rebels, led by a man named Thunder Tyee, captured Seattle's harbor by 2011, driving the local authorities to deal with the rebellion directly. Tyee's forces eventually united with the growing Salish War Council which fell into a six-year extended war with US forces in the area. The Native Americans made use of the recent reawakening of magic to stand against the American military, which faced increasing flak from the public. The fighting came to a sudden halt in 2017 with the Great Ghost Dance, when volcanic eruptions and storms tore apart the United States. The United States and Canada came to terms with having to meet the rebels for negotiations. The US ceded vast areas of the western states over to the Native Americans, forming the Native American Nations. Seattle and a few nearby neighborhoods were kept within the US, but it was now isolated from the rest of the US by miles of foreign territory. Starting in 2019, an exodus of US citizens leaving the NAN arrived in Seattle, exponentially increasing the population of the city, which grew to absorb the surrounding towns of Tacoma and Everett. This expansion was painful for Seattle, however, as it struggled to get financial aid from the federal government, which was dealing with a dozen other disasters at the same time. By 2020, the surrounding towns had been integrated into Seattle enough that the state of Washington was formally disolved, leaving the Seattle metroplex in its wake.Goblinization and the Night of Rage
The next crisis for Seattle came a year later when, on April 30, people began to suddenly and painful transform in what is now known as the Goblinization. As with most of the US, Seattle saw riots and race crimes across the city, which Governor Lindstrom tried unsuccessfully to suppress by quarantining the newly transformed metahumans to the camps that held Native Americans just a decade earlier. Instead, the quarantine just fostered paranoia and prejudice, so that when the metahumans were released in 2022 the city almost immediately erupted into race riots. The Seattle Police Department was woefully understaffed, so they went on strike in February of 2023, for which Lindstrom fired the entire department. To replace the Police Department, Lindstrom hired Lone Star Security, who in turn brought on a massive amount of former SPD officers. Despite claims that Lone Star could bring order back to Seattle, conflict still boiled over into the streets until a second wave of VITAS forced tensions to cool down. The Crash of '29 hit Seattle hard, but the city was generally able to rebuild quickly. The one exception to this is Redmond, which struggled to rebuild and instead fell into disrepair, a problem that persists to this day. The next decade saw the metroplex work to re-establish the prosperity it saw before the Awakening. Unfortunately, disaster once again hit Seattle in 2039 when Governor Allenson attempted to round up metahumans to be "deported." What exactly Allenson's plans were never came to light, but many believe he intended to commit genocide on the metahuman population. When word of his plans got out, the entire city once again erupted in riots, what is now labelled the Night of Rage. A group of corporations operating under the collective title of the United Corporate Council pressured Allenson to step back at risk of massive boycotts. Although Allenson did agree to back down, racially motivated attacks continued, often with the government conveniently looking the other way. Allenson was implicated in a plot by the Hand of Five, a racist group of activists, and was subsequently removed from office. Elections for governorship have been famously tense since. Members of the Hand of Five actively support different candidates, forcing elections to become highly contentious events. The 40s were quieter for Seattle, with more corporate growth within downtown giving the city the chance to rebuild.Climate
Despite its reputation, Seattle only receives about 90cm of rain per year, about average with the rest of northwestern America. It averages around 21 degrees centigrade over the course of the year with highs around 31C and lows of 4C. Rarely does the temperature drop below freezing and when it does it doesn't stay below for long. Since the temperatures are so temperate, snow is rare; thunderstorms are far more common. Occasional earthquakes and tsunamis aren't unheard of, but they aren't a constant concern.
Compared to other cities in the UCAS, Seattle is a fairly clean city. Being both on the coast and so close to the Cascade mountains allows the air to cycle regularly, although the city does still experience smog alerts every few weeks. Being in the middle of Native American Nation territory, Seattle is required to uphold stringent conservatory efforts which help keep the city clean, but megacorporate corner-cutting undercuts these efforts regularly.
Alternative Name(s)
The Emerald City
Type
Metropolis
Population
3,000,000+
Inhabitant Demonym
Seattlite
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Related Reports (Primary)
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