Watson
After the Night City Holocaust in 2023, much of the city's population became homeless. The irradiated parts of Night City Center were only barely worse than the war zones of what would become the new Heywood. Watson was built to handle this problem and show Night City's ability to come back from the disaster.
During the 30s and 40s, the industries of the Northside Industrial Park became key to manufacturing in the area. Little China and Kabuki replaced the Chinese and Japanese parts of the city that were in the destruction at the center of the City. With the increased prominence of a Japanese population in Westbrook, that formed Japantown and left Kabuki to the Chinese. Little China became mixed in its demographics with the construction of Megabuilding H10 and H11.
As Night City was about to be under siege at the end of the Unification War in 2070, mayor Lucious Rhyne made a deal with Arasaka. The corporation stationed a warship in Morro Bay outside the city and, as a result, forced peace. In return, they were welcomed back to the new city state and given plenty of opportunities. They immediately used these to covertly undercut most businesses in Watson, which completely broke the area. It went from being stable middle and working class to rough gang territory within a year. This was all for the corporation to get access to the best harbor the city can offer.
Districts
Arasaka Waterfront
Most of the west coast of Watson is taken up by the huge industrial complex that is Arasaka's own harbor. The entire area is walled off and patrolled by corporate security that includes mechs and light tanks. Behind the walls, autonomous vehicles take workers where they need to go. Employees can't access areas that aren't pertinent to their job. The main functions of the Waterfront are shipping and storage. The latter mostly to hold goods after unloading from one ship and waiting to be loaded onto another. Some sections also do assembly of components into products. There is also an R&D department that, on paper, tries to optimise logistics and manufacturing. There are frequent rumors about research into marine technology — possibly ways to deal with the threats still lingering from the Fourth Corporate War.Little China
This was the center of the housing projects during the 2040s, resulting in Megabuildings H10 and H11. It's also the reason why Little China was selected as the location for the city's new Med Center (sponsored by Trauma Team). Originally, the area attracted the displaced Chinese population that had to abandon what's now the southern part of the Glen after the Night City Holocaust. Structures were built to be put in place quickly and at scale, making aethetics a lesser concern. It's all built to be functional spaces that can be repurposed as needed, all in imposing concrete. The original Chinese population has largely migrated to Kabuki, making Little China a bit of a misnomer as it's more defined by it lower middle-class and working class population than any ethnicity. It's not a bad place to live, compared to much of Night City. Living spaces are simple but affordable. Crime rates are high, but one can learn what streets are safer when and gangs mostly attack eachother. Catching a bullet is a common cause of death, but there are worse ways to go, right?Kabuki
While Little China was built purely utilitarian, Kabuki attempted to bring more life to its architecture. The buildings are often colorful and have sweeping curced details. While many are tall, there are no appresively large megabuildings in Kabuki. Still, it was early in its construction compared to the rest of Watson, and has been subject to several changes. Its heyday was in the 30s and 40s, while the rest of Watson was taking shape. After that, the better-off moved to Japantown across the water, leaving only the poorer behind. At this point, there was a huge influx of people to the district who were seeking out the more affordable housing. Since there now wasn't enough, many built shelters on top of buildings or even between them. As a result, Kabuki is now a densly populated slum with its illustrious constructions partially covered in shacks of corrugated metal. The slum status of Kabuki was firmly established after the Unification War ended and Arasaka pushed many corporations in Watson out of business. The employees ended up drifting while looking for something new in life, and many ended up in Kabuki.Northside
The Northside Industrial District (NID) came into being to support the reconstruction after the Night City Holocaust. It brought resources from the Petrochem oil fields to the north and imports from Northen Californa. Construction contractors needed manufacturing who needed logistics, and all of them had staff that might want to live close to work. Every block in Northside has at least one industrial facility. Everything changed in 2070, after the Unification War. A few of the corporations in Northside were bought and then undercut all of their competition until the others had gone out of business. This led to Arasaka being able to purchase what became the Waterfront for cheap. The result on the rest of Northside has been devastating as much of it is abandoned or controlled by gangs. Some business has returned, but they need to employ heavy security to defend their operations. Some fronts for illegal gang activity have become profitable enough that the gangs also run legitimate businesses.
Alternative Name(s)
Watson Development
Type
District
Location under
