Crime
The illegal and semi-legal activities of the whole city are dominated by the Zaibatsu Corporation. Nobody really knows much about this obscure monolithic society, but it certainly does not deal with good deeds.
At each level, the Zaibatsu are flanked by two other street gangs who fight against them for control of the city.
In Downtown, the Zaibatsu compete with the Yakuza and the Loony. In the residential area of the city, the SRS and the Redneck fight with all their strengths, one against the other, but also both against the Zaibatsu.
In the Industrial areas, the police have to deal with the Russians and the Hare Krishna, as well as trying to find out what the Zaibatsu are doing.
Respect Is Everything
No one knows you. No one trusts you. At first, the only job for a professionally insignificant rookie like you is an easy mission. Before you move on to the big things and make the money, you need to earn some respect. To get a job or be hired by one of the gangs you have to earn their respect. To do this you have to do something that can be appreciated by the gangs.
For example, delivering two nice cars to the railway terminal controlled by the Russians will make you a bit respected by them. If you killed some Zaibatsu to get the cars, they will respect you even more.
When you earn the respect of a gang, it will start to assign you missions or jobs.
Obviously, on the other hand, the Zaibatsu won’t be VERY happy with you. Their animosity towards you will influence the way you move around the city. If the Zaibatsu want you dead, driving in one of their areas won’t be such a brilliant idea.
The more respect you get, the harder and riskier the jobs will be and the more money you can earn in return. Of course, you can always get even. If you stuff a car with explosives and you bring it to the Russians by blowing them up, the Zaibatsu could, I say, POWERFUL, loosen a little the grip.
They might even start to do some delivery work for you… The way you want to control this sleeve of degenerate psychopaths is totally up to you. Just one piece of advice: watch your back.
Description of the Gangs
There are seven main gangs you’ll have to work with and against. Each controls a different part of the city and is responsible for a different aspect of the criminality of this city completely in ruins.
- Among the gangs, the Yakuza are famous for their vanity, they want the newest weapons, the biggest cars and the most beautiful clothes.
- The Redneck are religious nationalists who hate everything and everyone from the comfort of their large trailer park complex. The Redneck distill smuggled alcohol, hate anyone who’s not like them and sometimes detonate something, normally on purpose.
- The Russians steal expensive American cars and weapons to send home (they also control an immense operation of smuggling of organs and human parts). They also dominate an important contract killing industry.
- The Hare Krishna despise technology, if you’d always been out and about with nothing more than a tambourine to defend yourself, you’d probably hate it too. They steal weapons and machines and demolish them to free the world from the threat of peace destruction.
- The SRS represent a fringe of snobbish and disgruntled scientists who are dedicated to imposing their dubious morality. They fight anyone who doesn’t believe in the ability of eugenics, genetic modification and euthanasia to create a better tomorrow.
- The very messy Loonies have occupied the kindergarten and are gradually putting into practice their bizarre disrespect for the world. They love anything that’s anarchic and fun and hate all forms of social control.
- Behind all these gangs are the dark and mysterious Zaibatsu. An immense organization, so big and powerful to have become practically political and to govern the city from behind the scenes.
The Law
In the eyes of the law you are a problem waiting to be solved; a bomb waiting to explode. In this city, there are four levels of reaction from the Law. The police are determined and aggressive, fed up with the crazed criminals trying to take control of the city. If you do enough damage without being caught, SWAT teams will be called to help the police with your case. They drive fast and shoot for real.
If you’ve managed to escape this level of law enforcement, you’ll be officially judged a public hazard in circulation. Your actions will fall under the jurisdiction of the Special Agents. These men don’t mess it up. They don’t accept failure. They have two solutions: kill you or…no, they only have one solution.
Even if the best men in the country could not capture you, the city would no longer allow anyone to go around thinking they are above the law. Acceptable losses will be charged. The Army will come into action with only one mission: to find and destroy. Martial Law will be declared and for the average citizen to be captured in the wrong place at the wrong time will be a bit of a disgrace.
The Army will stop the entire city, find you and then send formal apologies to the families of those who were killed in the shooting. Remember, that’s why you pay taxes.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
