CyranoDeBergerac
Star
- Joined
- May 27, 2020
I am updating and rearranging my RT, and as part of that I'm moving a large amount of the world-building I've done for it to here and a Journal as I consider how I want to have it all organized moving forward. I would love for feedback on the structure of the world, and how it's presented at the moment, as well as areas you think I could expand the world of Hazcen City and the state around it. Here's what I have so far.
OUR SETTING: Haven City is the largest city in the state of Jefferson, which exists between Oregon and California. On the outside Haven City is a fairly normal West Coast American city. It has a port that sees millions, if not billions, of dollars worth of business every year. In many ways Haven City is a lot like Star City in Arrow, a nice enough city, nominally wealthy, but on the inside something is rotten and one doesn't have to look too far to see that this metropolis has a dark underbelly. Approximately twenty years ago (depending on what age we have my MC be) the city was embroiled in a bloody gang war. Central to this gang war was 13th Street, which serves as a crossroads of sorts to the ghettos of the city. White, black, Latinx, Asian- you can find a little bit of everything on 13th Street.
For those people who are map and history nerds Haven City roughly coincides with Port Orford, Oregon and the location and name for the state come from the original Jefferson State Movement the fictional state would basically be where the real life counties of Curry, Josephine, Jackson, Klamath and Lake (Oregon) and Del Norte, Siskiyou, and Modoc (California) Thanks to @LadyVoodoo for this great map!
BACKSTORY: Sick and tired of seeing his home turned into a war zone Jon Gayle started to build a crew to keep blood off of 13th Street, this crew would eventually come to be named the 13th Street Regulators. One of the more notable members, the Luca Brasi to Gayle's Vito Corleone, was John Jackson infamous for running guns for the Regs and responding to a hit on Gayle by rampaging through the streets leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. Eventually John was killed and Gayle was able to carve out peace and territory around 13th Street. John Jackson was survived by his wife Kate and his son Jacob (MC). For the past twenty(ish) years 13th Street has known (relative) peace. Things are beginning to change though, depending on the ages we pick Gayle can either be under investigation, under arrest, on trial or in prison causing shake-ups in the gang and on the street.
ORGANIZED CRIME IN HAVEN CITY: Haven City is just like any city in the world in that it has an organized crime presence. Some of the criminal enterprise in the city has roots going back to the city's founding following the '49 Gold Rush. These organizations all have complicated relationships to each other, and I'm sure I'll be editing this section more than most.
13TH Street Regulators: Unique among the criminal enterprises based in Haven City, the 13th Regulators,or the "Regs" for short have no major ethnic component and take in members of all races and ethnic backgrounds. The primary qualifier for membership is being from 13th Street or the area around. They have branched off to other cities where there are "offshoots" which typically keep the Regulator name but change the location. Criminal activities: illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking, arms and drug smuggling, prostitution, assault, robbery, murder notably Joan Gayle, wife of the gang founder, owns and operates the escort service/modeling and porn studio Phantasies where the girls allegedly also work as prostitutes. Current Leader: John Gayle, Jacob Jackson Allies: Di Capri Family, Reaper's Own Rivals: Nords Colors: blue, red and white. symbol is a 13 colored in red with thirteen white stars.
Nords: A white supremacist gang based out of Pinesend. Has connections to the organized money in the suburbs. Held responsible for the death of John Jackson. Rivals: 13th Street Regs, 91'er's Colors: Red and black, symbol is a skull with an 88 on it. Leader: Ewell Darby
Vagos: A Latinx gang, formerly controlled 13th Street. Currently based out of Libertad, to the South of 13th Street. Criminal Activity: marijuana and cocaine dealing, street racing Allies: 91'er's, the Cartel Colors: Orange Leader: Caesar Reyes
91'er's: An African-American street gang. controls territory to the north of Route 91 (the main highway in the city that goes east-west.)Did you know that Oregon used to be a 'whites only' state? Well a lot of those black people who couldn't get their forty acres and a mule in the Beaver State made their home in Jefferson. Like a lot of cities, when it came time to modernize their roads and highways,city council found it most profitable to use the roads as an excuse to tear down the black-owned communities of Haven City. Haven City has always had one or more African-American gangs, and the latest dominant iteration was formed in the late 80's and took the highway that destroyed their parents' homes. Criminal Activities: prostitution, crack and heroin dealing, theft and chop shopping. Allies: Vagos Colors: Purple Leader: Khalil 'King' Smith
Reaper's Own: A mostly white biker gang that mostly controls turf in the areas outside of Haven City. Makes most of their money through hijacking shipments or riding protection. Allies: 13th Street Regs, 91'er's Rivals: Vagos, Nords, AZ Boyz Colors: Green, camo Leader: Walker Reid
No Label Gang: An Asian street gang that controls territory to the west of 13th Street, largely Chinese they work as deniable assets for the Triads and the Hong Family. Allies: Triad, Rivals: Reaper's Own Colors: Yellow and black
Di Capri Family: The leading family of the Italian Mafia that exists in the city. Has strong connections in politics and abroad. Uses various street gangs as deniable assets and to do work that isn't for made men. Takes a cut of much of the action done in the city. Rivals: The Triad Leader:Alphonse 'Boss Al' Di Capri
Triad/Hong Family: The Triads have been part of Haven City for going on two hundred years. They came over with the first Chinese immigrants fleeing the violence in Qing China in the 1800's. The Hong family has been their head for all those years. Because of racist laws all of Haven City's Asian population was pushed into one China town and the Triad took responsibility for them. After WWII the Hong Family pushed Japanese families out of China Town and into what would become 13th Street Territory. The Triads control the port and take a cut of all trade that goes through it except the Mafia's. Rivals: The Di Capri Family
OUR SETTING: Haven City is the largest city in the state of Jefferson, which exists between Oregon and California. On the outside Haven City is a fairly normal West Coast American city. It has a port that sees millions, if not billions, of dollars worth of business every year. In many ways Haven City is a lot like Star City in Arrow, a nice enough city, nominally wealthy, but on the inside something is rotten and one doesn't have to look too far to see that this metropolis has a dark underbelly. Approximately twenty years ago (depending on what age we have my MC be) the city was embroiled in a bloody gang war. Central to this gang war was 13th Street, which serves as a crossroads of sorts to the ghettos of the city. White, black, Latinx, Asian- you can find a little bit of everything on 13th Street.
For those people who are map and history nerds Haven City roughly coincides with Port Orford, Oregon and the location and name for the state come from the original Jefferson State Movement the fictional state would basically be where the real life counties of Curry, Josephine, Jackson, Klamath and Lake (Oregon) and Del Norte, Siskiyou, and Modoc (California) Thanks to @LadyVoodoo for this great map!
The natural harbor that would become Haven City Bay, was originally settled by a branch of the Tututni , also called Rogue River Indians. The bay was discovered by Spanish sailors and explorers during the mid 1500's when they took shelter in the natural harbor from a storm and named it "El Asilo del Asalto" a bit of a poetic name that was eventually mistranslated in English to Storm Haven, which over time turned into Haven City. Until the English came the port was one of the northernmost points on European maps. Captain George Vancouver in the 1790's, and other fur traders, including Jedediah Smith in 1829. Smith would return in the mid-1830's to set up a Fort that would be used for fur trading. (historically Smith died in 1831, that didn't happen here I like AH.)
In 1849, following the acquisition of California, Washington took off the top area of California and the bottom area of the Oregon Territory and formed the Jefferson Territory. Jedediah Strong Smith was appointed the first territorial governor and he set about building the small town around Fort Rogue into a true and incorporated city. Sandwiched between California with its Gold Rush and Oregon with the Willamette Valley Jefferson grew slower, but it caught those inbetween. When the Territory became a state in 1859 along with Oregon Smith was elected the first state governor as well. Haven City and Jeffersonia had their own gold rushes in the fifties. Haven City received a large amount of immigration from China in the 1840's and 50's, and the city leadership passed their first "Oriental Law" segregating the Asian community of the city to one specific part of town regardless of place of origin. By the 1860's they made up a large part of the city's population, Funshan Hong was one of the founding leaders of the community.
The arrival of gold miners and settlers led to tensions between the white settlers and the Native Americans. Small pox outbreaks, hunting 'accidents' , land disagreements, and other conflicts eventually led to a short-lived war between the Indians of the Rogue River Valley. Despite Governor Smith's best attempts, peace could not be arranged until after much loss of life. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was eventually able to negotiate a treaty, forcing almost all natives in the state to live in one of the three nearby reservations. Table Rock Indian Reservation resides in Jefferson County, approximately 90 miles from Haven City on the Route 91 Highway.
Haven City developed as a multi-ethnic city almost from the beginning. Latino vaqueros were some of the first settlers in the area that became Haven City. Many German and Swedish immigrants came to the region with word of gold. The harbor provided a safe refuge for sailors in the Pacific, especially the Pacific Whaling Fleet. As Haven City began to grow a reputation began to spread that it was a place where men who enjoyed rough trades made their homes. With the opening of Japan, settlers from that country began to move into the area, as well as immigrants from the Kingdom of Korea. The racist city council of the time segregated them all in the Chinatown beside the port which had a reputation for prostitution, human trafficking, gambling and drugs. The coming of the railroad in the 1880's brought with it new growth, Jeffersonia quickly overtook Haven City in population and became the state capital. Along with the railroad there came an influx of African-American workers.
With the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 the influx from Asia in general decreased greatly, though the population and influence of the Asian community on Haven City continued to grow as people from Korea and Japan filled in the gaps. There was also a large Italian immigration boom during the end of the 19th century. Race riots and the mines going dry created a large amount of change in the area during the 1910's, but Prohibition created a large economic boom for the city as they were able to smuggle alcohol easily from Canada. This was also the beginning of what would become the Di Capri Mafia. At first the Italian Mafia and the Hong Triad worked together well, but that friendship would eventually sour when Prohibition ended and the Di Capri family expanded their criminal enterprises.
In the 1940's the Oak Hills area of Haven City, (where 13th Street is) had a reputation for being a relatively 'nice' community, which if you know anything about 1940's people think made a nice neighborhood in a city you know exactly where this is going. E.O. 9066 forced the Japanese and Japanese-American population of Haven City from their homes with little property on their backs. What they left behind was quickly stolen and sold to others, homes reclaimed, and in many cases torn down and redeveloped. When the former residents returned to try to reclaim their homes they were forced to move elsewhere, the nearest place where many could afford houses near to where they used to live was 13th Street and the rest of Oak Hills. This, combined with the usual white flight of the 1950's and 60's changed the face of the city almost overnight.
In 1849, following the acquisition of California, Washington took off the top area of California and the bottom area of the Oregon Territory and formed the Jefferson Territory. Jedediah Strong Smith was appointed the first territorial governor and he set about building the small town around Fort Rogue into a true and incorporated city. Sandwiched between California with its Gold Rush and Oregon with the Willamette Valley Jefferson grew slower, but it caught those inbetween. When the Territory became a state in 1859 along with Oregon Smith was elected the first state governor as well. Haven City and Jeffersonia had their own gold rushes in the fifties. Haven City received a large amount of immigration from China in the 1840's and 50's, and the city leadership passed their first "Oriental Law" segregating the Asian community of the city to one specific part of town regardless of place of origin. By the 1860's they made up a large part of the city's population, Funshan Hong was one of the founding leaders of the community.
The arrival of gold miners and settlers led to tensions between the white settlers and the Native Americans. Small pox outbreaks, hunting 'accidents' , land disagreements, and other conflicts eventually led to a short-lived war between the Indians of the Rogue River Valley. Despite Governor Smith's best attempts, peace could not be arranged until after much loss of life. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was eventually able to negotiate a treaty, forcing almost all natives in the state to live in one of the three nearby reservations. Table Rock Indian Reservation resides in Jefferson County, approximately 90 miles from Haven City on the Route 91 Highway.
Haven City developed as a multi-ethnic city almost from the beginning. Latino vaqueros were some of the first settlers in the area that became Haven City. Many German and Swedish immigrants came to the region with word of gold. The harbor provided a safe refuge for sailors in the Pacific, especially the Pacific Whaling Fleet. As Haven City began to grow a reputation began to spread that it was a place where men who enjoyed rough trades made their homes. With the opening of Japan, settlers from that country began to move into the area, as well as immigrants from the Kingdom of Korea. The racist city council of the time segregated them all in the Chinatown beside the port which had a reputation for prostitution, human trafficking, gambling and drugs. The coming of the railroad in the 1880's brought with it new growth, Jeffersonia quickly overtook Haven City in population and became the state capital. Along with the railroad there came an influx of African-American workers.
With the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 the influx from Asia in general decreased greatly, though the population and influence of the Asian community on Haven City continued to grow as people from Korea and Japan filled in the gaps. There was also a large Italian immigration boom during the end of the 19th century. Race riots and the mines going dry created a large amount of change in the area during the 1910's, but Prohibition created a large economic boom for the city as they were able to smuggle alcohol easily from Canada. This was also the beginning of what would become the Di Capri Mafia. At first the Italian Mafia and the Hong Triad worked together well, but that friendship would eventually sour when Prohibition ended and the Di Capri family expanded their criminal enterprises.
In the 1940's the Oak Hills area of Haven City, (where 13th Street is) had a reputation for being a relatively 'nice' community, which if you know anything about 1940's people think made a nice neighborhood in a city you know exactly where this is going. E.O. 9066 forced the Japanese and Japanese-American population of Haven City from their homes with little property on their backs. What they left behind was quickly stolen and sold to others, homes reclaimed, and in many cases torn down and redeveloped. When the former residents returned to try to reclaim their homes they were forced to move elsewhere, the nearest place where many could afford houses near to where they used to live was 13th Street and the rest of Oak Hills. This, combined with the usual white flight of the 1950's and 60's changed the face of the city almost overnight.
ORGANIZED CRIME IN HAVEN CITY: Haven City is just like any city in the world in that it has an organized crime presence. Some of the criminal enterprise in the city has roots going back to the city's founding following the '49 Gold Rush. These organizations all have complicated relationships to each other, and I'm sure I'll be editing this section more than most.
13TH Street Regulators: Unique among the criminal enterprises based in Haven City, the 13th Regulators,or the "Regs" for short have no major ethnic component and take in members of all races and ethnic backgrounds. The primary qualifier for membership is being from 13th Street or the area around. They have branched off to other cities where there are "offshoots" which typically keep the Regulator name but change the location. Criminal activities: illegal gambling, extortion, loan sharking, arms and drug smuggling, prostitution, assault, robbery, murder notably Joan Gayle, wife of the gang founder, owns and operates the escort service/modeling and porn studio Phantasies where the girls allegedly also work as prostitutes. Current Leader: John Gayle, Jacob Jackson Allies: Di Capri Family, Reaper's Own Rivals: Nords Colors: blue, red and white. symbol is a 13 colored in red with thirteen white stars.
Nords: A white supremacist gang based out of Pinesend. Has connections to the organized money in the suburbs. Held responsible for the death of John Jackson. Rivals: 13th Street Regs, 91'er's Colors: Red and black, symbol is a skull with an 88 on it. Leader: Ewell Darby
Vagos: A Latinx gang, formerly controlled 13th Street. Currently based out of Libertad, to the South of 13th Street. Criminal Activity: marijuana and cocaine dealing, street racing Allies: 91'er's, the Cartel Colors: Orange Leader: Caesar Reyes
91'er's: An African-American street gang. controls territory to the north of Route 91 (the main highway in the city that goes east-west.)Did you know that Oregon used to be a 'whites only' state? Well a lot of those black people who couldn't get their forty acres and a mule in the Beaver State made their home in Jefferson. Like a lot of cities, when it came time to modernize their roads and highways,city council found it most profitable to use the roads as an excuse to tear down the black-owned communities of Haven City. Haven City has always had one or more African-American gangs, and the latest dominant iteration was formed in the late 80's and took the highway that destroyed their parents' homes. Criminal Activities: prostitution, crack and heroin dealing, theft and chop shopping. Allies: Vagos Colors: Purple Leader: Khalil 'King' Smith
Reaper's Own: A mostly white biker gang that mostly controls turf in the areas outside of Haven City. Makes most of their money through hijacking shipments or riding protection. Allies: 13th Street Regs, 91'er's Rivals: Vagos, Nords, AZ Boyz Colors: Green, camo Leader: Walker Reid
No Label Gang: An Asian street gang that controls territory to the west of 13th Street, largely Chinese they work as deniable assets for the Triads and the Hong Family. Allies: Triad, Rivals: Reaper's Own Colors: Yellow and black
Di Capri Family: The leading family of the Italian Mafia that exists in the city. Has strong connections in politics and abroad. Uses various street gangs as deniable assets and to do work that isn't for made men. Takes a cut of much of the action done in the city. Rivals: The Triad Leader:Alphonse 'Boss Al' Di Capri
Triad/Hong Family: The Triads have been part of Haven City for going on two hundred years. They came over with the first Chinese immigrants fleeing the violence in Qing China in the 1800's. The Hong family has been their head for all those years. Because of racist laws all of Haven City's Asian population was pushed into one China town and the Triad took responsibility for them. After WWII the Hong Family pushed Japanese families out of China Town and into what would become 13th Street Territory. The Triads control the port and take a cut of all trade that goes through it except the Mafia's. Rivals: The Di Capri Family
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