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Seattle 2K20A Greg Edmond Special Report for World News 100
 Seattle can be accessed by I-5 which runs north to Vancouver B.C. and south to Tacoma and Portland, but Arasaka doesn't recommend travelling the route at night due to nomad-pack activity. It can also be reached by I-90 from Spokane. The Sea-Tac International Airport supports airships and has commuter flights to Vancouver, Tacoma, Portland, Spokane, San Francisco, Night City, L.A. Metroplex, and Mojave Field. Seattle is also a major port city, with a large floating shipyard and port facility located in Puget Sound south of the city near Bremerton. The Elliot Bay Mall was designed to showcase the amazing architectural technology that went into these immense floating constructs. Seattle is also a stop for the recently completed Cascadia Maglev which runs from Vancouver to L.A. Notable sights to see in Seattle include the Elliot Bay Mall, an immense underwater shopping structure that extends 10 floors below the surface of Puget Sound and boasts an underwater access tunnel to the shore and surface docks for boaters and ferries. The Mall was built concurrent with the construction of the large floating Bremerton Shipyards to the south and the Nuclear Power Sation in Lake Washington to showcase the new technologies and materials that went into the designs. Also visit the Space Needle, still standing after 50 years. What you may find missing in Seattle is Pike Street Market. Unfortunately, the long revered open-air market was purchased by Corporate developers, demolished, and replaced with a state-of-the-art shopping mall and business center as part of the Elliot Bay Mall development. Downtown Seattle is mostly Corporate-Owned and patrolled. Outlying suburbs such as Bellevue and Renton are also corporate-run and provide safe housing for their employees. The intervening areas are impoverished and decaying, but are still patrolled by police forces, Seattle's police being one of the best in the country. Power is provided by Pacific Power and Light who operate a Fission reactor in Lake Washington and a Microwave Power Receiver in the Sound which receives power beamed down from orbit. This cheap electricity, combined with the relatively clean water from the Cascades, has helped the boom of electronics and computer industries in the area. Transportation around Seattle is provided by the aging Electric Bus system that not only utilizes cables strung around above the street for power, but alsu uses an underground network of tunnels to avoid traffic downtown. The monorail system was expanded in recent years with corporate investment to provide a loop around the downtown area from the new Microtech Dome built where the Kingdome once was to the Space Needle to the North. Ferries and Hovercraft provide transportation for vehicles and people from the outlying corporate housing developments on Bainbridge Island and Tacoma to the South and many other smaller destinations throughout the Sound area. Entertainment is provided by the Northwest Skyhawks combat football team which plays at venues throughout the Pacific Northwest. Currently, Seattle lacks a major league baseball or basketball team, though it has maintained many excellent teams in the past.
Seattle is home to several corporations, including Microtech, Boeing, West End Toys, and Low Foods. One of the largest is West End Toys, a major toy conglomerate that also produces many weapon coponents and high technology for the government, and Low Foods, a medium sized agri-business supplying bulk food to restaurants and stores nation-wide.
West End Toys Main Office: Seattle Wa Regional Offices: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City Stock: 156,231 shares Available on Market, 53,457 Name and Location of Major Stockholder: Jordan Tercel, 81% total owned shares Troops: 300 Covert: 25 Employees: 5971 Equipment and Resources: 2 Ospreys, 5 Aerogyros, 1 AV-4  Low Foods, Inc. 45 Stories.
The surrounding buildings are staff condominiums provided free to employees. Low Foods Inc. Food service, marketing, and wholesale. Main Office: Seattle WA Regional Offices: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Reno, Tokyo. Stock: 234,134 shares Available on market: 12,964 shares Name and Location of Major Stockholder: Jeffrey Low, Seattle, 63% total owned shares Troops: 1500, mostly guards and bodyguards Covert: 350 Equipment and Resources: 5 AV-4's, 1 Corporate Jet, 1 Osprey, 100 MACK II Transport Trucks. Background: Low Foods began in 1991 as a financed small hometown company in Vancouver, Washington. It was built on borrowed capital and hard work by it's founder, Jeffrey Low. With some lucky stock purchases and shrewd corporate alliances, Low Foods quickly grew beyond food service franchises into convenience marts and supermarkets. One of the first companies to adopt the Eurodollar as an accepted currency of exchange, Low Foods suffered from 92 to 96. However, with the Collapse of the American economy, the quirky little corporation survived intact, in part due to it's currency acceptance. After the crash, Low Foods acquired many smaller companies and prospered where others failed. From 1998-2020, Low Foods has grown to cover most every major food service industry on the West Coast. Low Foods prides itself on it's spotless image, calling itself "The Last Honest Company." It relies heavily on consumer opinion and public relations. Therefore, most of it's actions are covert and shrouded in maximum secrecy. Operatives for Low Foods make more money due to this requirement. Jeffrey Low, the founder and owner, lives in Crystal Palace most of the year, leaving the operation of the company to his son, MacKenzie Low. Seatte is notable for it's conspicous lack of an urban Combat Zone. All other major American cities can boast at least one un-controllable area. Seattle, with the re-structuring of the city govenrnment, has been able to maintain a viable and effective police force even if other areas of government control has been lost.
Seattle Metro Police are well-equipped and well-armed. They boast several AV-3 and AV-4 aerodynes, as well as a full squadron of Skyhawks (see Ravenclaw's Guide to Urban Combat Vehicles). They also used armored ground vehicles. It is rumored that they are testing an ACPA for police use. All in the name of keeping the peace, and not letting a combat zone happen in their town.
Still, even with an increased police presence, there exists in Seattle several known boostergangs. The most prominent are the Skinners. The Skinners are an all-female militant boostergang who prowl the downtown streets at night, often using the canals for transport. The Skinners are female supremacists. The are led by grotesquely bloated women who are forced to float in the canals for transportation. Skinners lead strikes against any perceived threat to female superiority, often taking prisoners, male cheavanists, to "re-educate." They are destructive but rarely murderous. They kill mainly in self-defense. They prefer to operate in small tactical strikes to avoid major retaliation by the police or gang warfare.
Police File:21A Subject: Skinners Boostergang # members: 25-30 best estimate Present Leader: Jeanna the Hutt Area of Operation: North Seattle Suspected HQ: unknown, possibly in sewers motto: "Women Unite!" Appearance: Punkish hair, armored vests, military surplus, obvious needle tracks, cheap cyberware often duct-taped.Typical Skinner Int=4 Ref=6(8) Cool=5(7) MA=6 BT=5 Skills Rank=2, Submachinegun=6, Survival=4, Brawling=7 Cyber Adrenal Booster, Biomonitor, 1 or 2 Cyberarms, Neural Processor(with Interface Plugs, Smartgun Link), Chipware Socket, Scratchers or Vampires. Gear Smartgunned Submachinegun, Ammo, Flash Derms, Flack Jacket and Flack Pants.
Adventure Hook: The PC's are hired by an annoying Rocker as bodyguards, tour help, etc. While doing a show in Seattle, the extremely cheavantist Rocker is kidnapped by Skinners posing as roadies/groupies. The PC's must get find the Skinner Hideout and retrieve the hapless rockstar, perhaps allowing the Skinners a little "re-education" in the process. Not really a life or death adventure, but a fun diversion. Also in Seattle are two rival Poser-gangs, the Blacks, and the Billys. Both are based on two popular but rival action shows on TV. "Black" tells the story of a real-life solo who fought his way off the street and into the corporate high-life. "Billy" is also the story of a real-life solo named Billy Ravenclaw who fought his way off the street. The two shows were placed opposite each other on rival networks, and their rivalry spilled over onto the street, often erupting into outright gang warfare. Skirmishes between the two gangs are common. Each gang emulates their idols with either make-up or cosmetic alteration. The Blacks have long white poofy hair and wear long black trenchcoats. The Billys have a single right cyberarm and long straight black hair. They wear mirrorshades and old Danzig T-Shirts with no sleeves.
Typical "Black"
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Jeanna the Hutt
Typical Billy
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