For most people, countenance is an acceptable waystation on their way from seattle to canada. It is a decent size city, with a population of about 2.8 - 3 million, and the freeway is lined with restaurants, hotels, and the occasional attraction. Like most washington cities, deforestation was deliberately incomplete, so the trees dotting the city scape lend almost a rural feel to the place. Most travelers passing through are completely unaware of the significant role countenance, and it's sister city, reclamation, play in industry, logging, computing, and shipping. The "harbor district" is really a small town that was eventually absorbed by countenance, and is a mere thirty nautical miles south of the docks in reclamation. The two cities are similar in a lot of ways, though countenance is much larger, and together comprise a major waystation for coastal shipping traffic, the nerve center of a massive industrial sector, a large chunk of the logging industry, and the headquarters for several multinational computer parts manufacturers. Education in both cities is first rate, Reclamation is considered by many in Countenance to be a college town, though countenance has it's own handful of private universities to compete with the larger private colleges in reclamation.
Countenance is OLD. It was a frontier town, and, like san fransisco and other west coast cities in the time, was the recipient of a great many chinese immigrants, though most of those in countenance came up north from sanfransisco looking for work. Countenance thrived and has continued to thrive for a very long time, several hundred years, though it has undergone quite a few facelifts since it's beginnings.
A saying circulates among many city dwellers in countenance: "You can't know this city." The few chroniclers who have tried have documented their failures to unravel all the mysteries of the city. To quote an expert
"I ventured down town to file a document at the courthouse. When I had finished my business I realized that I should be just a few blocks from one of my favorite coffee shops, so I cut through the alleyways in the business district. I became lost and turned around, and I found myself going downstairs into what seemed to be a subway, but turned out to be an open market of some kind. I found some food and tried to trace my way back, but I wound up by the ballpark, a couple miles from where I parked my car. I've never been in that place before...and I'm not sure where I was."
Beyond confusing city planning and strange subterranean communities, Countenance is also known for the mysteries of its social dynamic. While things seem normal, people have been known to do very strange things, in groups, seemingly on purpose.
As an older quote goes "Take a close look at countenance; it's not what it seems to be."
Industry, Military, and related considerations
The industrial sector is technically a municipal zone to itself, and extends to the east and north east from countenance until it meets the similar industrial sector from reclamation. The two are actually one, and seperate, legally, from either city. The majority of the manufacturing plants make avionics, aircraft components, maritime electronic devices, and navigation equipment. A smaller section makes upholstery and furniture.
The plants are owned by a variety of national and multinational companies, though the bulk of the avionics and aircraft component plants are owned by Fulton Aviation, which is in fact based out of countenance. Lockheed martin and Boeing each have a decent share of the rest, with Bell holding the remaining few. Maritime equipment manufacturing is conducted by Foundry Corporation, which has it's primary headquarters in Countenance and a large satellite office in reclamation.
West of the industrial sector, also west of the freeway and bordering on the ocean, but between Countenance and Reclamation is the primary military presence. It takes the form of a base known as Whipstaff, which is a joint Army-Navy proving ground for rotary wing aircraft. The air force keeps a presence there as well, primarily in the form of airforce search and rescue. Fulton Aviation has their own hangar and prep bays here, and as their primary product is experimental and next generation helicopters, they also use Whipstaff for testing their craft.
A small but significant community of conspiracy theorists have taken residence in the hills above whipstaff, to the south (nearer to Countenance) in a scattering of trailers and tents. Occasionally they will attempt to venture into the base, or get caught taking photographs. Many of them claim that the so called "black helicopters" are being tested here. These claims are categorically denied by all the parties involved at whipstaff.
The US Coast Guard keeps a post on the isthmus between the harbors of Countenance and Reclamation. They, from time to time, host the USS Falcon, an ageing helicopter carrier used by the US Navy to test and train pilots from whipstaff in sea landings.
Each of Countenance and Reclamation have discrete port authorities, but they use a seperate body, the Countenance-Reclamation Mutual Port Authority to mitigate any disputes of their shared sea space and to provide a schedule for important dockings. A significant amount of revenue is made for the respective port authorities in the docking and refueling of cargo vessels on their way up or down the coast, and as the two ports are roughly equal in size and capacity, a mitigating body was needed.
Countenance itself is host to the 131st Division of US Army national guardsmen. JROTC programs for all the universities and colleges are articulated with this body. The 131st is a national guard infantry unit, though small in size, and was deployed to the gulf.
The industrial sector is technically a municipal zone to itself, and extends to the east and north east from countenance until it meets the similar industrial sector from reclamation. The two are actually one, and seperate, legally, from either city. The majority of the manufacturing plants make avionics, aircraft components, maritime electronic devices, and navigation equipment. A smaller section makes upholstery and furniture.
The plants are owned by a variety of national and multinational companies, though the bulk of the avionics and aircraft component plants are owned by Fulton Aviation, which is in fact based out of countenance. Lockheed martin and Boeing each have a decent share of the rest, with Bell holding the remaining few. Maritime equipment manufacturing is conducted by Foundry Corporation, which has it's primary headquarters in Countenance and a large satellite office in reclamation.
West of the industrial sector, also west of the freeway and bordering on the ocean, but between Countenance and Reclamation is the primary military presence. It takes the form of a base known as Whipstaff, which is a joint Army-Navy proving ground for rotary wing aircraft. The air force keeps a presence there as well, primarily in the form of airforce search and rescue. Fulton Aviation has their own hangar and prep bays here, and as their primary product is experimental and next generation helicopters, they also use Whipstaff for testing their craft.
A small but significant community of conspiracy theorists have taken residence in the hills above whipstaff, to the south (nearer to Countenance) in a scattering of trailers and tents. Occasionally they will attempt to venture into the base, or get caught taking photographs. Many of them claim that the so called "black helicopters" are being tested here. These claims are categorically denied by all the parties involved at whipstaff.
The US Coast Guard keeps a post on the isthmus between the harbors of Countenance and Reclamation. They, from time to time, host the USS Falcon, an ageing helicopter carrier used by the US Navy to test and train pilots from whipstaff in sea landings.
Each of Countenance and Reclamation have discrete port authorities, but they use a seperate body, the Countenance-Reclamation Mutual Port Authority to mitigate any disputes of their shared sea space and to provide a schedule for important dockings. A significant amount of revenue is made for the respective port authorities in the docking and refueling of cargo vessels on their way up or down the coast, and as the two ports are roughly equal in size and capacity, a mitigating body was needed.
Countenance itself is host to the 131st Division of US Army national guardsmen. JROTC programs for all the universities and colleges are articulated with this body. The 131st is a national guard infantry unit, though small in size, and was deployed to the gulf.
Crime
Crime is a huge problem in countenance. Due to the international shipping lane, the dense and populous urban landscape, and it's relative proximity to Canada, organized crime in countenance has enjoyed a near golden age.
The city's barrios, ghettos, and run down neighborhoods are largely controlled by La Raza, a primarily hispanic gang. Most people refer to them as the "latino gangs", and they seem to be several gangs organized by a common factor, though the identity of this group or individual is not common knowledge. Uncharacteristically, they often perpetrate hate crime against christian churches. Further, they run drugs and guns.
A small enclave just north west of downtown, known as Whitney Hills, is home to a great many italians, and is a well to do neighborhood with some of the best restaurants and vistas in all of the city. It is also home to the Italian mafia, who seem content with their little bite of the town, and only come into conflict with the other gangs when a mutual interest is at stake. High stakes gambling and prostitution are their mainstays, though they are known to traffic weapons as well.
In the eastern section of the south side of town, just bordering on the industrial sector, several neighborhoods have become the very dangerous home to a Jamaican gang. Commonly referred to as 'the rastas', they are violent, barbaric, and apparently ruthless. They run drugs, guns, prostitution, and rather alarmingly, people. Rumors abound of their human sacrifices and brutal rapes and murders. They are in direct conflict with La Raza and, as though they were looking for trouble, with the italians. Though their territories are distant, the Rastas have been reportedly hijacking arms shipments to the italians.
Chinatown, and enigmatic and densely populated part of the city, sits in it's own little valley, a few miles west of downtown, known as Happy Valley. It is as far as can be, culturally, from the rest of the city, the signs are primarily in chinese, the streets are narrower, there is almost no parking at all, and taking a few wrong turns will lose you so badly that it may take all day to find your way out. Chinatown is also home to it's very own Triads, who ensure that any deals that go on in chinatown happen with their approval (and cut) and that other gangs stay out. They were featured in the news a few years ago involved in the public beheading of a legislator trying to force chinatown to open up to investors more, and who had a whole host of measures intended to essentially let him and his parters buy into chinatown businesses. They jumped him on the steps of the courthouse and cut his head off with an antique sword in broad daylight.
While for the organized crime task force of the FBI countenance may seem like a warzone, it does not seem like that to the majority of citizens. While in their greater numbers the criminals have more power, they also have a solid lockdown on crime in the city. There is suprisingly little robbery and burglary that goes on without the knowledge and permission of one of the crime groups, mostly because every fence in the city works for at least one of them.
Crime is a huge problem in countenance. Due to the international shipping lane, the dense and populous urban landscape, and it's relative proximity to Canada, organized crime in countenance has enjoyed a near golden age.
The city's barrios, ghettos, and run down neighborhoods are largely controlled by La Raza, a primarily hispanic gang. Most people refer to them as the "latino gangs", and they seem to be several gangs organized by a common factor, though the identity of this group or individual is not common knowledge. Uncharacteristically, they often perpetrate hate crime against christian churches. Further, they run drugs and guns.
A small enclave just north west of downtown, known as Whitney Hills, is home to a great many italians, and is a well to do neighborhood with some of the best restaurants and vistas in all of the city. It is also home to the Italian mafia, who seem content with their little bite of the town, and only come into conflict with the other gangs when a mutual interest is at stake. High stakes gambling and prostitution are their mainstays, though they are known to traffic weapons as well.
In the eastern section of the south side of town, just bordering on the industrial sector, several neighborhoods have become the very dangerous home to a Jamaican gang. Commonly referred to as 'the rastas', they are violent, barbaric, and apparently ruthless. They run drugs, guns, prostitution, and rather alarmingly, people. Rumors abound of their human sacrifices and brutal rapes and murders. They are in direct conflict with La Raza and, as though they were looking for trouble, with the italians. Though their territories are distant, the Rastas have been reportedly hijacking arms shipments to the italians.
Chinatown, and enigmatic and densely populated part of the city, sits in it's own little valley, a few miles west of downtown, known as Happy Valley. It is as far as can be, culturally, from the rest of the city, the signs are primarily in chinese, the streets are narrower, there is almost no parking at all, and taking a few wrong turns will lose you so badly that it may take all day to find your way out. Chinatown is also home to it's very own Triads, who ensure that any deals that go on in chinatown happen with their approval (and cut) and that other gangs stay out. They were featured in the news a few years ago involved in the public beheading of a legislator trying to force chinatown to open up to investors more, and who had a whole host of measures intended to essentially let him and his parters buy into chinatown businesses. They jumped him on the steps of the courthouse and cut his head off with an antique sword in broad daylight.
While for the organized crime task force of the FBI countenance may seem like a warzone, it does not seem like that to the majority of citizens. While in their greater numbers the criminals have more power, they also have a solid lockdown on crime in the city. There is suprisingly little robbery and burglary that goes on without the knowledge and permission of one of the crime groups, mostly because every fence in the city works for at least one of them.