PHILLY 2045

A Guide To PhilAdelphia in the Time of the Red

 An Edgerunner's guide to philadelphia
(the following is an excerpt from “An Edgerunner's Guide to the USA” (2044), posted to
Philnet by user “Melmoth”)

Some naïve chooms who don't think before they speak (which is a hell of a lot of people)
say that Philadelphia wasn't treated quite so badly as, say, Night City during the last
Corporate War. Well, they're wrong. Sure, we might not have had a nuclear bomb go off
downtown, but that doesn't mean we're unscathed. Physically, sure, not so bad. In
pretty much every other conceivable way? Well... But to understand all that we really
need to go back to the beginning, back to when everything all started to go to shit. Or
maybe it's always been shit. That's my guess.

The really bad shit started going down in 2001. Mayor Patrick Miller is elected to a
second term in office. Miller had a rocky first term, through no fault of his own, having to
guide the city as best he could through the chaos following the Collapse. Anyway, Robert
James Johnson, a veteran of the First Central American conflict who might have been a
cyberpsycho, assassinates Mayor-Elect Miller for reasons still unknown.

An emergency mayoral race is quickly put together, and finally a young, idealistic
newcomer from Tacony named Michael Bogdanoff is elected by a landslide. However,
Bogdanoff's naïveté results in his being taken advantage of by unscrupulous
corporations. Most importantly, after Bogdanoff agrees to accept Arasaka's help in
rebuilding the police whose ranks have been decimated as a result of the Collapse,
Arasaka ends up in control of about 80% of the PPD, with only the Cyberpsycho Squad
and a few other units really remaining independent of the corp. This causes Bogdanoff
to be sarcastically referred to as “Mayor Saburo.”

Bogdanoff was deep into his second term as mayor when in 2007, in one of many
unpopular moves, Mayor Bogdanoff sold the huge complex of refineries in South
Philadelphia, belonging to the Philadelphia Gas Works, to Texas-based Petrochem,
contracted with Biotechnica to produce CHOOH2. Hundreds if not thousands were put
out of work, their jobs now obsolete as reliance on gas and oil was on the wane.
Petrochem uses the land to build a nuclear power plant, as well as blue-collar corporate
housing, offices for many of their subsidiaries, and, of course, CHOOH 2 production
facilities. The sizable Petrochem holdings are known as Gastown.

2009 seemed to be off to a decent start, as Mayor Bogdanoff was finally voted out of
office (and offed by one of the thousands he'd put out of a job about a week later). But
Philadelphians didn't have much time to catch their breath before the US government
decided to try to take the Crystal Palace from the Euros. Apparently we hadn't learned
the lesson of Colorado Springs. They dropped another big fucking rock off the coast of
Delaware as a warning shot to DC. Well, the US backed down, but the damage was done
– massive tsunamis and flooding ensued. About half of Delaware was pretty much
drowned, as was a good portion of southern New Jersey. We made out pretty decent
considering, but even so, Hog Island (the site of Philadelphia International Airport and,
honestly, not much else) was pretty badly hit. A ton of refugees poured into the city.

Most settled in Delaware County, though a lot of the displaced folks from Jersey just
shifted themselves northwards a bit into the Camden sprawl, known today as Jerseyside.
Don't let the name fool you into believing that Jerseyside's part of Philly. There's a huge
rivalry between the two. In fact, a couple years later, some asshole camped out on the
Ben Franklin, shooting at commuters coming from Jersey. I mean, I can't necessarily
blame him, but still, what a dick.

The next years... well, I can't say they were great, but they weren't any worse than
anywhere else, and probably better than some places. Least we didn't have a big fuck-all
earthquake or have a rock dropped on us or whatever other crap. It wasn't too long,
though, till things started heating up with the corps. First there was CINO and OTEC
going at it out in the oceans, then Arasaka and Militech started. Around here? Militech
facility up near Horsham got blown up, then Arasaka... same as anywhere else. Most of it
early on stayed out of the city, though.

In 2023, an Arasaka facility out in the middle of the Delaware got hit by someone.
Probably Militech, but who knows. I mean, Militech got the biggest bully on the
playground down and hurting, who knows who wanted to get their punches in? Anyway,
who the hell knows what Arasaka was doing in there, 'cause the thing went up like a shirt
factory on the Fourth of July. I dunno, that;s what my dad always used to say. I don't
know what shirts have to do with fireworks.

That led to more flooding, yay. Now most of those areas flooded back in 2009 flooded
again. This time it seems to have been permanent, too. Not only that, but the big boom
meant that a lot of Delaware County got fucked up bad. The part of Jersey opposite
wasn't populated as much, so they came out somewhat OK. Figures.

And we might not've had a nuke downtown, but somebody blew up the Northeast Philly
Airport, too. No idea who. Orbital Air helped run it, but they weren't all that involved in
the war, so who knows. Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was just some nutter.
Anyway, more damage.
Overall, we were pretty much OK. Until the end. We all know what happened after the
war, Arasaka goes bye-bye. Well... remember that “help” Mayor Bogdanoff accepted from
Arasaka back in '01? And how Arasaka basically was synonymous with the PPD? Yup, we
had practically no fucking police left. In a 2020s city.

So the mayor, who by that time was a lady named Julie DiMartino, turns to Militech. They
came out of it somewhat OK. She makes pretty much the same deal, Militech'll handle
security until she manages to rebuild the PPD. See, DiMartino didn't want us to be as
dependent on the corps. Yeah, I know, good fucking luck.

All was going... pretty well for a while. Delaware County and most of the northeast are
basically combat zones and they remain that way now. Both of the airports have been
rebuilt, as has most of the infrastructure. In about 2032, the first representatives of
Ziggurat fly in and start negotiations to try to get some semblance of a Net again.

Then 2034

2034 The Fairmount Park Massacre. Militech operatives, hunting down a

notorious band of scavengers known as the Steppin' Razors, corner
them in Fairmount Park and gun them down. When the dust settles, it becomes clear
that it was not the Steppin' Razors Militech just killed, but a homeless encampment.
Public opinion turns against Militech, and though they're never formally banned from the
city, neither are their operations in the city exactly welcome.

2045 Now. The PPD is fairly well established, although the absence of
Arasaka and unwillingness to depend on Militech

The first signs came in

2009 hit delaware
 DAILY LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA
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GANGS AND THE LAW

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WHAT'S WHERE
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WHO'S WHO
POWER PLAYERS
Dutch Eagle
Kerstjin Tuomala (Exec/Netrunner): Kerstjin Tuomala had a relatively inauspicious start to her career. A
minor executive at EBM's Philadelphia branch office, it was widely assumed she'd only gotten her position
because she was the daughter of the branch's head. As such, she was fast-tracked for a leadership
position, and by 2027 she had become the chief of electronic security. Tensions mounted between her and
her father, however, as she was content with where she was, and her father, concerned with legacy,
pressured her to take his place as branch head. These culminated in 2040 when she resigned from EBM
and started her own company, Kalevala Softworks.

Melmoth (Media):

Salamander (Fixer):

Edgerunners
Andrea Argento:
Carnifex 13:
Chrome-magnon:
Crimson King (Solo):
Harbormaster:
Jawn Brown:
Manticore:
Papa Doc:
P1X3LPR1NC355 (Netrunner):
Wurm:

Rockerboys
Andrea Argento:
Gareth Geisha:
Sammael:

Gangs and Nomads

Buzzards:
Dead Boys:
Grimms:
Northeast Dragons:
Silver Shamrocks:
Steppin' Razors:
White Eyes: