Klamath
Klamath is a densely populated neighborhood within New Vegas's Westside district. It is roughly two square miles with an estimated 200,000+ residents, matching that of the rest of Westside. It is an area with mostly one or two room dwellings, stacked up to 40 stories high, and packed so tightly that most streets do not have sunlight, instead lit by neon and flourescent lights, when space allows. None of these streets are mapped, with many forming naturally after the section's population and development explosion, as a result only residents know their way around. Vegas Security has no presence within the area, and the gangs of Westside do not dare enter its boundaries. Its dwellers, on average, do not engage in any real crime, but sections are controlled by smaller gangs and even chinese-descended triads. These groups have no deals outside of Klamath, and kill each other daily in unknown numbers, the only thing they can agree on, is to put aside differences to deal with any outsiders on their turf, before turning on each other again.
Klamath's culture is a league of its own. There is no legal system or authority, and businesses within its borders do not have any presence or influence from the outside. Doctors within Klamath are refered to as butchers due to their lack of reliability, those that survive long enough pick up genuine skills from experience, and rival any doctor on the outside. Merchants within are corrupt beyond belief, all dealing with the gangs and triads, by choice or force. Much of the more dense areas are almost entirely asian, predominantly chinese, as many families of chinese americans still endure some sort of prejudice even now. This played a major roll in Klamath's growth, as it became a place of hope for this group to come together and live amongst one another.
Repeated attempts by the Vegas Government to bring it into the fold ended in failure, until the official stance became "hands off" for all authorities. In the late 80s the Securitron force in Vegas patrolled it intensely to the point of major resource drain. By the early 90s it was recommended to the Courier that the section either be demolished entirely or left to its own devices and contained. The latter option was decided, to avoid the widespread violence and intense undertaking that would be uprooting over 100,000 armed people. With Vegas as a whole agreeing to leave Klamath to its own devices, it grew even faster, until in 95 when the government placed a height limit on its buildings after one collapsed onto Clayton Way, and all the way to S 43rd Street was closed down due to rubble. The Klamath Collapse left over 2,000 people dead, and took over 3 months to clean up. With this, Klamath's containment was deemed complete, keeping it between Clayton and Decatur Ways, until in early 97 when it was discovered that they had begun building into the sewers. It took Vegas Construction considerable resources and manpower to seal off that section of the sewers, to ensure they didn't dig beneath the rest of the sewers. By summer of 99 this was completed, as well, including an overhaul of most of the city's first level of sewers, though much of is lower levels are still untouched, and very dangerous.
As for Klamath, by this time it was over 5 levels deep, and with reports of access to the rest of the sewers, hidden of course. Klamath's pseudo independence has lead to a drastic increase in crime, with the murder rate being an estimated 10x higher than the wasteland around it. Yet people still live there, for amenitites, "healthcare", and numbers. Most children born since Klamath's founding inside its boundaries have never been outside it, with now children being born in its under levels, having never seen the sun.
Infrastructure
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