The Golden City

The Golden City. The name almost seems sarcastic now. There’s nothing golden here unless you count the urine-soaked streets of lower D5, or the cheap fake jewelry worn by the bratva in District 3.

THE WALL

With the education facilities being what they are not many people know that around 150 years ago the San Francisco government decided that elevated land expansion was the best way to fight the rising sea levels. Huge parts of what we now call District 4 are actually relatively recently claimed land. That’s why it’s the flattest part of the city, rising up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Obviously the land expansion plan didn’t work for very long before they had to build the sea wall, a huge 200ft. concrete eyesore encircling almost the entire city. The wall is the only thing stopping millions of gallons of heavily polluted water from crashing in on San Francisco’s residents.

DEBT

Most of the denizens of San Francisco are in serious debt. These people exist in a constant balance between paying the bills and falling into debt. Those whose debts rack up too high end up serving mandatory terms to the creditor company. In these instances, indebted workers are forced to work off their debt in one of corporation factories.

Debt never has nor will it ever prevent people from drinking alcohol and taking illegal substances. For so many people in 2185 it’s the only escape they get from the awful world in which they live. It used to be that those who got drunk enough in the bay would wake up shanghaied on a ship going anywhere but here. By today’s standards those would be the lucky ones – at least they got to leave. Now the average drunk is more likely to wake up signed to a 5-year contract with one of the corps. Good luck getting out of that.

CRIME

You can’t spend an hour in the city without witnessing crime. The most frequent crimes, however, are ones you won’t even notice. The meek middle-aged guy sitting in the coffee shop jacked in to his handheld computer is probably committing all kinds of financial fraud, stealing from his employer while enjoying an expensive coffee. That’ll catch up with him eventually and it won’t be pleasant. The gutter punks that hang around the back alleys of D4 say it’s much safer to commit more traditional crimes: armed robbery, pickpocketing, extortion. Then you only have to deal with the cops if you’re caught, and they’re a lot easier to handle than corporate security.

Pretty much every vendor in San Francisco pays protection money to one of the local gangs. Outside of the affluent areas, most teenagers are in a gang before their 15th birthday. Armed with knives and guns these youth are among the most unstable criminals around. Their underdeveloped brains, usually hopped up on some illegal substance, have a casual disregard for human life. They’ll likely, and happily shoot you for accidentally bumping into them in the street and scuffing their sneakers.

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Welcome to San Francisco