CHINATOWN: Detroit's Chinatown
district was never as large or as extensive as other major United States cities
such as San Francisco, New York City or Chicago. And the Styf meteor had wiped out the neighborhood entirely.
But during the massive reconstruction boom a great many Chinese immigrants,
many of whom filtered down from Canada, settled in the area. Initially
construction workers and their families, they were soon joined by immigrants
involved in other industries. Soon a Chinatown arose in Madison Heights.
While a young community compared to other Chinatowns, it nevertheless possesses
an air of mystery due in part to the tight knit, tight lipped residents.
However, many outsiders have suspected that Chinatown inhabitants deliberately
maintain an environment of secrecy as well as the worn, “old world” façade to
play up to the tourists.
HAMTRAMCK: Hamtramck is quite
literally a city within a city. Roughly two square miles in area, the
community had been surrounded by Detroit even back in ’67 before the Styf invasion. When both Federal and State
governments began offering major tax incentives other communities succumbed to
the temptation and became part of Detroit, later Science City. But
Hamtramck is home to a stubborn Polish folk and they felt that their
independence was more important. The city prospered despite not having
these incentives, as they had not been seriously damaged by the Styf meteor attacks and this community was instrumental in
helping rebuild their larger neighbor.
Hamtramck has seen its share of financial troubles, but it is still a viable community and is proud that it is still its own city. In recent years the tourist trade has increased due to Hamtramck possessing some of the oldest buildings in the area.
Hamtramck seems to have some undefined magical nature; during the time when der Natchfuhrer had taken over Science City and transformed it into Necropolis, Hamtramck was unaffected. Hamtramck is also home to what has been increasingly called the "Paranormal Precinct" (see below).
HIGHLAND PARK: North of what was originally Detroit is Highland Park, which during the reconstruction period saw a boom in residential construction. What set Highland Park apart from other communities, however, were the individuals purchasing the land. Even as segments of Downtown Science City were becoming what would later be called Tokyo West (see below), many Japanese families were flocking to Highland Park. The city boasts one of the largest Japanese populations in the United States and many of the apartment complexes and homes reflect Japanese culture. The richest compounds have lush, elaborate gardens, fountains and courtyards.
A narrow corridor of shops, hotels and Japanese themed entertainment centers connect Highland Park to "Toykyo West", and while some residents complain of the "Japanization" of Science City nothing much has been done to prevent the construction of such institutions. Science City has had a proud tradition of cultural and racial diversity and the city council has always believed that should be maintained. However, a measure to make all store signs bi-lingual has been adopted.
The "Tokyo Corridor"
LIVONIA:
Livonia is located thirteen miles Northwest from Downtown and is home to
several colleges and universities: Madonna University, Schoolcraft College, a
University of Phoenix campus as well as a Continuing Education Center of
Eastern Michigan University. It is also home to
the Detroit Museum, a well maintained facility that contains photographs
and memorobilia chronicalling
the history of Science City before the Styf strike.
Livonia is also home ot
Optimum Inc's headquarters. Optimum Plaza can
be found here, a magnificent and unusual looking pair of structures. Many
of Optimum Inc.'s employees live in Livonia, as a matter of fact. The
alien political entity known as The Confederacy also has an Embassy here, it is headed up by former Vindicator Glin Chet'crebinel.
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TOKYO WEST: In the early days of the reconstruction a
cabal of long range thinking Japanese companies made a series of major land
purchases in the Metro Detroit region. What developed over the years were
a series of Japenese corporations with a foothold in
a the fastest growing American metropolis. Nick-named Tokyo West, it is
the largest concentration of Japanese businesses in the United States.
Tokyo West is famous for it's
restaurants as well as it's markets selling authentic
Japanese cuisine. It's stores sell hard to find
Japanese goods such as certain manga comics and DVDs. During the eighties
and early nineties anime fans from across the country would flock to Tokyo West
to raid it's book and video stores. An annual
festival, known as Tokyocon, takes place every Spring that attract anime fans and cosplayers from all
across the world.
Tokyo West residents are especially proud of their highly flashy
"downtown" district, which is bathed in neon and holographic displays
at night. Tourists come down just to see the gaudy display.
Tokyo West's top cop is officer Betsy Ukita. When she was a teenager she had been known as
the vigilante Ronin but after an arrest she was talked into attending college,
and then joining the Science City Police Department. She is a minor
paranormal who warps reality around her so that things seem like they are
taking place in a motion picture; she is often accompanied by theme music and
she is able to perform abnormally awesome feats. She works alone mostly
because she is afraid any partner of hers may die to produce more dramatic
tension. It is also why most of her relationships are kept brief. Oddly
enough despite her having been active for almost thirty years she seems to have
hardly aged a day. A new theory suggests
Betsy might not even be human but might actually be some curious psychic
manifestation of Tokyo West’s citizenry.
This theory might have weight as any documentation of her past is
decidedly scarce.
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WARREN: Years ago when the Metro Detroit area was combined
to form Science City, each township, village and city in the tri-county area
neighboring Detroit's original boundaries were given the option to join the new
metropolis or remain independent. Two cities elected to decline the
offer. One was Hamtramck, which today is literally surrounded by Science
City. The other is Warren to the North.
At the time it made good sense. The meteor impact had delivered damage
more East to West rather than to the North of Detroit, so Warren had come out
of the event more or less unscathed. The mayor and city councilmembers at
the time had envisioned Warren as becoming a new Detroit, thinking the bold
experiment the Federal government had put in place would become a
failure. They thought Science City would become wholly and permanently depdendent on Federal money and a slave to oversight.
It was not until the new and mighty metropolis prospered that the short sighted
Warren politicians had seen their mistake.
Over the past several decades Warren has seen it's ups and downs and it's
citizens see their independence as a source of pride. Considering how
Science City's city council has rejected numerous proposals to integrate the
city into their own (There have been many reasons for this, although the most
obvious one not mentioned is pettiness), that is pretty much all they can do.
Warren still has a lot going for it. It is home to the advertising firms
of Campbell Ewald and Dorner Bros., the General Motors Technical Center (and in
fact General Motors has numerous offices in and throughout Warren) and is the
headquarters of Big Boy Restaurants.
GATEWAY MEMORIAL: Located in Ford Plaza in
downtown Science City, the Gateway Memorial is a
large statue dedicated to the paranormal who was instrumental in halting the Styf invasion and whose work on behalf of Amnesty
International was responsible for saving so many lives. The statue is of
the heroine as she was around the time of her death, in her late thirties,
wearing a pair of slacks and a blouse. She is standing in a casual
manner, her arms crossed over her belly, her expression somber. A quote
is inscribed on a plaque at the base of the statue: “I have to because I can.”
Since her death Gateway has become a symbol for the Feminist movement even though her involvement with NOW was peripheral at best. In interviews she had stated her admiration for the group but she herself had always been to busy as Gateway to contribute her time to them. Still every year NOW stages a rally at the Gateway Memorial.
HERO’S HANGOUT: After the success of the Hard Rock
Cafe and Planet Hollywood restaurants it was inevitable that a restaurant chain
using super heroes as a theme would be born. Hero’s Hangout is brainchild
of Denise Kimes, the grand-daughter of Jonathan Kimes, The Falcon. She had been facing bankruptcy and
her restaurant was going to be taken when her mother showed her her grandfather’s old costume. Getting verification
from several sources for legal reasons, Denise displayed the costume as well as
newspaper articles of his exploits. The restaurant bounded back and
Denise was able to get ahold of several other pieces of heroic
memorabilia. Soon She was opening a second
restaurant, then a third…The rest is history.
Science City’s Hero’s Hangout is located in Ferndale and sports some nice items, among them Noir’s entire outfit (complete with 45’s, tommy gun and gask mask), three pairs of Mustaphah’s size fourteen Nike’s from the days he was known as Adam Smasher, and Gateway’s first costume before she just started wearing civilian clothes. Many items are rotated so different HH’s can host new and original stuff for their patrons, although some items-such as Cavalier’s armor and the Falcon display, stays in its original place.
Super Hero memorabilia is not as common as say rock and roll memorabilia so there are only are eight ‘Hangouts worldwide, they are located in NYC, Los Angeles CA, Science City MI, London UK, Paris France, Chicago IL, Dallas TX, and Miami FL. There are currently no plans to open any more at this time, although with new heroes showing up it is hard to tell.
Another chain of restaurants tried to go for a similar theme. Unfortunately Planet Villainy was not very successful and they had to declare bankruptcy.
SCIENCE CITY
PUBLIC LIBRARY: Located across the street from the MIIA, the Science City
Public Library is itself an impressive structure, containing an impressive
collection of books. The MCPL strives to serve the public in as many
capacities as possible and within its walls are a vast array
of works both fantastic and mundane.
The building not only towers
three stories above ground; the SCPB possesses several sub basements where rare
works are collected and held in sealed rooms whose environments are carefully
regulated, and made available upon special request to patrons.
OPTIMUM
PLAZA: Home of Optimum Inc. Optimum Plaza is considered one of the world's most
advanced collection of buildings. They were
built with the latest construction techniques, making them virtually earthquake
proof, environmentally friendly and tremendously energy efficient.
Optimum Plaza contains a wide variety of offices for various companies and
interests, from web designers to law firms.
Optiumum Plaza is also home of some of OI's
most advanced laboratories and Research and Development departments. From
communications to alternative energy sources, OI claims that it is still at the
forefront of technological advancement!
ROGER'S COSTUMES: Stephan
Rogers had the apparent misfortune early in life to develop an interest in
the clothing industry. His designs were considered at times too strange or too
pedestrian depending on the critic or fashion designer. He realized early on
that he would never be able to make it in the fashion industry, so he then
decided to try something new. He created a costume shop catering to the rich.
His costumes were accurate recreation of super villain and super heroic
costumes as well as other more "mundane" outfits like vampires and
zombies. After a few years his business began to turn a steady profit, so much
so he had several stores located in different cities. In Science City Stephen
had scored quite a coup getting the Maximum Justice, then later on Vindicators
contract to make their costumes.
Stephan's store was more like a large studio, his more impressive designs kept behind glass cases. There was his Captain Savage costume from his Classic Heroes line, a perfect replica of Lord Dredd's armor from his Infamy Unbound collection, and a beautiful Phantom of The Opera outfit complete with a makeup kit from the Showbiz group.
Stephan is not gay, although everyone around him-including his parents and sometimes his wife-thought so. An effeminate man, Stephan himself is very slender with a long brown pony tail and goatee. He prefers silk shirts. He had once tried to alter his look to appear more "manly" but nothing really worked. Well into his fifties, Stephan still designs costumes although more and more he relies upon a highly talented and creative staff of fashion designers.
Roger's Costumes can be found Downtown.
KOSMO'S: With
a many facilities laying empty in Clawson it was no surprise that owners having
to pay property tax and seeing no return might grow a little desperate.
Thus this is how one such facility became a night club/bar. Rumor has it
money changed hands to have a certain industrial park re-zoned and soon Kosmo's was open to much fanfare. The
owner, Kosmo Balabanov, a
Russian "businessman" who set up shop after being "asked
politely" to leave New York by his "business associates".
Kosmo was not a bad person, at least on the
surface. He just seemed to be a bad criminal. This was evident when
he was arrested for tax evasion and was later knifed in prison. Ownership
of his place was passed down to a wife who had been a former mistress; theory
has it she was married so the bulk of Kosmo's money
could be hidden in her name. Later she was investigated for masterminding
the killing of her husband but no evidence was ever found. In any case Tamina King Balabanov has been
too busy hosting parties on her immense yacht in the South Atlantic to pay much
attention to the bar with her husband's name on it. To say criminal activity took
place in Kosmo's was as an
obvious a statement as human beings need oxygen to survive. The place was
likened to Star Wars’ Mos Isley
cantina, only with more colorful characters. Minor league super criminals
often frequented the place and police were loathe to
shut it down because it had proven to be an excellent source of intelligence.
Some rezoning had occurred
and this region of Clawson was slated to become a bit more upscale, and Tamia’s
daughter Zania wanted a new hobby so she was given
the go-ahead to re-invent Kosmo’s. Within a year adjoining properties were
purchased, the bar was torn down and a dance club was erected in its place. Now
Kosmo’s is considered one of the hottest nightclubs
in Science City.
Rumor has it there is an entrance to Science City's Underground here, but if it exists it has yet to be found.
DINER MO'S: If you are hungry and are looking for something a little different, then perhaps Diner Mo's is the place for you. Located in Bloomfield near Clawson, DM's is a fine eating establishment open 24 hours that fully embraces a 50's dining atmosphere. The servers are all women and dress from head to toe in fifties fasion; even their hair styles are from the era. The menu too is gloriously, deliciously unhealthy and the owner, Mo, makes no compromises on that score. The air is filled with the tunes of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bill Haley & His Comets, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, LaVern Baker and many others.
The menu is comparatively
expensive, but patrons are paying for the atmosphere and experience (i.e. much
like Jack Rabbit Slims in Pulp Fiction and the real world's Johnny
Rockets). Mo himself is seldom seen, although rumors abound that the
large white man that sometimes comes out to greet guests is actually an actor
and Mo himself is a sharp Korean woman angling to expand her restaurant into a nation wide chain. Thusfar
Diner Mo's has weathered the turbulent effects that have swept over the city
and has managed to seem as if the fifties have never left.
THE LAIR: Is it in poor taste or is
it genius? The jury is still out regarding The Lair, downtown Science
City's latest restaurant. Here diners sit in what appears to be the
hidden base of Professor Fear, who is seldom seen but "Whose presence permiates these dark halls". Patrons are waited
on by numbered henchpersons, attractive men and women clad in skin tight black
spandex, domino masks on their faces, known only by the numbers on their
breasts.
The Lair’s food is decent, the décor is unique, and the staff is nice to look
at. While franchise locations have had mixed levels of success the
principle restaurant is still going strong.
DIMENSIONALLY STABLE REGIONS: There are numerous small regions of stable real
estate found throughout Science City, from a few square inches to several city
blocks. Below are some of the largest and most interesting.
AVALON ESTATES: When one thinks fairytale worlds
they think of Disney movies like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Frozen,
Cinderella, The Little Mermaid. They see
gleaming castles and beautiful people, princes and princesses.
"Avalon Estates" is pretty damn close to all of that.
The true name being Emeraldia, the region is a pocket
dimension that is accessable via a dimension doorway
just south of Fraser. It comprises an area of roughly fifty square miles,
one of the largest extramensional regions
"attached" to Science City. Here magic is very much in play and
most technologies do not work. Emeraldia's
primary source of income is the tourist trade, with guests being treated almost
like royalty in a fairytale environment with unicorns, fairies and the
like. Emeraldia's craftsmen also produce
masterpieces in the fields of musical instruments and other items that produce
a steady source of revenue.
Avalon Estates is ruled by Princess Tari Oronar.
HAUNTED HIGHWAY: Troy is an affluent region and
is considered to be one of Science City's safest places to live. At least
it was until weird phenomena started showing up near Big Beaver Road. The
light grows dim and an unnatural fog often rolls in and there are numerous
reports of paranormal activity. So far none of the residents have been
exposed to any hostile paranormal forces, or at least no one innocent
has. There have been several reports of thieves and looters being
assaulted by supernatural beings, as if they might even be protecting the
region. So far any attempts to communicate with any possible unnatural
presence has proven to be fruitless.
MAGIC MILE: The region known as the "Magic
Mile can be found in the town of Redford Township, with an entire street being transplanted.
One moment a person might be driving along
5 Mile Road, the next they find themselves along a street consisting of
mysterious shops, gaslit streets, cobblestone
pathways where the sun never seems able to pierce through a misty
gloom. Cell phone signals fade to zero bars and your electric car
sputters and dies...
The residents of "Magic Mile" come from an Earth where technology
never advanced beyond advanced steam power and rudimentary electronics,
and for some strange reason the more advanced the technology, the worse it
operates here. The buildings along these
"quaint" streets hold shops that sell various curios that are often
magical in nature, although when it comes to purchases it is often a case of
Buyer Beware. Other structures contain town houses whose residents were
in their world upper middle class and retired domestics.
Oddly enough, where some regions appeared at random, cutting off streets, sewage pipes and power and gas lines, Magic Mile seemed to line up nearly perfectly. And sunken power lines do not seem to suffer any disruptions; apparently the lines are deep enough so they are not unduly affected by the 'Mile's magical nature.
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Magic Mile's "Mayor" is shop keeper Minnie Southaway, a "simple merchant" who possesses a savvy political and business sense. It is difficult to tell whether or not she possesses any special powers, although her shop does sell interesting curios. Her recent foray into politics has increased her importance both locally and city wide.
AZTEC
ACRES: The city of Pontiac just could not catch a break. Suffering from
economic depression and high crime, it became the "host" of a region
of Amazon-like rain forest. And a pyramid housing a
being who claims to be an ancient Aztec god.
The pyramid where the entity resides looks a bit worn and the inhabitants that live in the villages surrounding it seem more like the descendants of a more advanced culture. They are insular and reluctant to deal with outsiders, but have accepted the charity offered by local residents. They have taken up trade, exchanging simple crafts for items they cannot make themselves. Anthropologists have come to visit the various tribes and live with them to try and discover the mysteries of their past.
Curiously the region now known as Aztec Acres is larger than it seems. While it covers a city block, within its environs the area seems to cover more than thirty square miles. The environment has remained more South American in climate despite it being transplanted in a temperate region.
OLD
CHINATOWN: West of Downtown Science City are four city blocks of mystery, a collection
of narrow, twisting streets, alleyways and buildings where a Chinese community
lives. Transplanted to Science City from another place (the transplantees have proven to be tight lipped on where they
have come from), "Old Chinatown" seems like something from an old
Hollywood movie, or from the pages of a pulp novel. Many men wear the
traditional changshan ("long shirt"), the
women clad in cheongsam dresses. The area is full of laundry mats,
martial art schools, Buddhist temples. A hidden
opium den was found. Of course, not all shops and buildings are full of
clichés; they are just the ones that seem to stand out the most.
Police suspect a strong criminal presence; several men were arrested with small axes on their person, the traditional weapon of a Tong gang member. Locals remain tight lipped about any Tong presence, however.
Authorities suspect there may be some connection between "Old Chinatown" and the "Flying Fortress" (see below) but no direct evidence was ever discovered. Also while the region does contain an air of mystery and old world menace, there is no evidence that these streets and buildings harbor any supernatural dangers, although electrical devices do experience frequent disruptions. However, there are rumors of hidden underground passageways, of strange beasts spotted roaming the alleyways, and a mysterious ancient sorcerer who commands strange and powerful mystical beings...
SCREAMING MIMIS: Not all dimensional phenomena are static. Some move from place to place, depositing little "gifts" here and there. No one knows exactly coined the term "Screaming Mimi" for the roaming dimensional incursions but the name has stuck.
Sometimes something harmless might come out of a Screaming Mimi such as pretty lights, butterflies, a snippet of music. And other times something highly dangerous might spew forth like a party of raiding orcs. The Screaming Mimis might pop up anywhere at any time and citizens have been advised to report one if spotted. Screaming Mimis can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes.