The City Above
- Overview
- Downtown, the Legacy, Financial & Market Row
- The Waterfront, Industrial & Facilities
- Hollywood & Uptown
- Residential, the Beachfront, & the Melting Pot
In 2006 a terrible earthquake wracked California causing mass destruction and devastation and dropped most of the land mass west of the San Andreas fault into the ocean. Los Angeles was destroyed, indeed, Angel Bay off the cost of San Angeles holds many of the buildings that made up downtown LA, all underwater and a tremendous draw as both tourist attraction and a site for treasure hunters. Aquatic heroes and villains also make the ruins of old LA a home.
In two short years the superhuman community worked with local authorities in a massive construction effort that produced the ultra-modern megalopolis of San Angeles. Raised on massive shock absorbing pylons is a flexible series of linked plates of polymers and super alloys designed to render the city virtually impervious to tectonic activity. The city stretches one-hundred and twenty miles from what was Los Angeles all the way to the shattered remnants of San Diego. Numerous hubs connect the sprawl, a dual level elevated monorail system using mag-lev technology to drive bullet trains at incredible speed from point to point and serves as the heart's blood of the city.
One hundred and fifty feet beneath the city lies the ruins of the old cities and suburbs, and this is where one can find numerous utilities sites like water pumping and filtration, waste dumps, land fills and sewage treatment facilities. The city converts much of the trash into energy via gasification technologies that harvest methane, there are water driven turbines as well as a smart reactor that turns anything it can burn into power. Of course there are also roving gangs, thugs, and the occasional genetic horror down there to keep things lively for those that cannot afford to live anywhere else.
San Angeles is divided into twelve districts: Downtown, Financial, Market Row, Legacy, Industrial, Facilities, Residential, Uptown, Waterfront, Melting Pot & Hollywood. These are connected both by monorail stations and actual roads - the latter helping make the sprawling metropolis a great deal easier to get around in.
The City Below
- Overview
- The Dump, The Spill
- Lost Angeles, The Restoration, China Underground
- The Waste, Saint Jim, The Bleak Market
The Undercity is not remotely a very nice place to live, or even to pass through.
Existing quite literally under the shining glory of San Angeles Undercity is shrouded in near perpetual darkness. Life in Undercity is cheap, the police only venturing there in force and often only if they can get support from the First Metahuman, Freedom Brigade, or National Guard.
The remains of the various towns and suburbs and even bits of old LA and San Diego lay underneath San Angeles, and these ruins form the core of Undercity. The terrain is difficult at best, and nigh impassible at worst with a definite warzone atmosphere prevalent in the dark squallor.
The Undercity is home to some of the most vicious gangs on Earth, and lots of homeless that can't afford to live anywhere else.
Despite the poverty it is possible to survive in Undercity, the local inhabitants having a sense of community of sorts. No matter how grievous their issues with each other the bitterest of enemies will band together to face a common foe, be it a genetic horror spawned in The Spill, or an incursion by Law Enforcement in pursuit of a metacriminal.
Rumors abound about black ops missions to Undercity, or that various government agencies or corporate entities have secret and illegal research facilities hidden in the ruins. There are several super villains and criminal organizations that call Undercity their home, but none of this is easily verified or otherwise substantiated.
Gangs in Undercity have very colorful names like Reapers, Rippers, Talons, or the largest group, the Fallen Angels. Many of the gangs have metahumans among their numbers, and the competition for resources is fierce and often bloody.
Law Enforcement is content to let the Undercity stew in its own juices for the most part, but that tolerance is swiftly dispelled when problems below spill over into San Angeles proper.
Undercity has eight regions of note: The Dump, The Spill, Lost Angeles, The Bleak Market, The Waste, Saint Jim, and The Restoration and China Underground.