<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: impact;">Setting Information</span></span></div><br/><hr/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Disclaimer</strong></em>: Most of the following is paraphrased from published material, and I can claim credit for little more than rearranging it for my own use.  ;D<br/><br/><strong><em>Recommendation</em></strong>:  Read the (small) sections of text outside the spoilers, and also tackle the <strong>History</strong> and <strong>Weirdness</strong> sections even if you look at nothing else.  Those provide you with the core bits of information needed to have a basic understanding of the setting - but please, please do have a peek in the rest.  You might find things in there that you want to use for character hooks!  And if I make mention of something during play, you are likely to find a little bit of information on it in here.<br/><br/><strong><em>Request</em></strong>: Please, do not read any books related to Emerald City (and don't go hunting for information online) - even the material presented as 'for players' is set <em>after</em> the events I hope to explore in-game and is thus riddled with important spoilers.  I have access to a lot more information on many topics, and if there is anything in particular about which you would like to learn more then I can probably help.<br/><br/><strong><em>Warning</em></strong>: I'm a chronic invalid.  A key part of the reason for posting all this information here is so that people have a place to check <em>without</em> needing to ask me a question and wait for me to respond before they can then start on making an actual post: cutting out several stages of that should, I hope, do a little to keep the game moving along!  If you have a query about the setting, check here first: hopefully I have covered enough that you should be able to make in-character references to things in the world and have everyone able to understand what you're talking about.  If you have any questions, absolutely do feel free to ask - but bear in mind that I might be incapable of providing a quick answer.  Spending five minutes having a look through this information is almost certainly going to yield faster results than asking me!<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Emerald City - <em>The City of Destiny</em> - in 2014</strong></span></div><br/>Emerald City’s own tale began in the first decade of the 19th century, with ‘Fort Emerald’ one of the earliest settlements to be established in the region by explorers from the young USA.  It lies on the Pacific coast, between the more famous cities of Portland and Seattle.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">History</div><div class="spoiler_body">Built near the mouth of the Albian River (though it now spans much of the estuary’s South bank, wraps around a bay, and spills onto a number of islands), it has the vast expanse of the Elysian Forest and the towering peaks of the Atlas Mountains to its East.  For much of its history, the forest has been the primary source of local wealth, with lumber floated downriver to be milled in the city.  In the 1850s, gold was discovered in the mountains… and soon after, an impressive array of gemstones.  Indeed, a type of crystal known as ‘viridian’ seems to be unique to the region, and can be found in a remarkable variety of colours.<br/><br/>The gold rush lasted long enough for Fort Emerald to develop into a bustling city, while the gems helped to make Emerald City into <em>the</em> premier centre for the trade on the whole of the West Coast.  Small quantities of gems are still mined, and virdiian in particular is in demand… but for most of the 20th century, the majority of Emerald City’s residents once again depended upon fishing and forestry.  Though the Diamond Exchange remains a thriving concern to this day, for most of the past few generations Emerald City has been very much a backwater economically as well as socially.<br/><br/>In many ways, Emerald City’s biggest moment in the spotlight came when The Wizard of Oz hit cinema screens around the world.  Even now, businesses and residents are divided between those wbo embrace the connection to the beloved tale, and those who are thoroughly sick of it.  One of the best ways for a visitor to identify themselves as a clueless tourist is to make a munchkin joke, but the city government has always struggled to turn the tenuous connection into a reliable source of profit.<br/><br/>Even on the ‘super’ side, Emerald City has been rather quiet.  It was the chosen site for the ‘Victory Squadron’, a cadre of superheroes recruited to protect the West Coast against threats (primarily Japanese) during the Second World War.  But even they were vastly less famous than the world-renowned Liberty League based in Freedom City in New England.  And while Freedom City went on to become the world’s premier focus for superheroism and supervillainy, Emerald City soon returned to largely-forgotten irrelevance.  The few supers it generated tended to be minor, and of local repute only.<br/><br/>Even when Emerald City <em>did</em> give rise to a top-notch supervillain, ‘the Commander’ was a rather old-fashioned individual.  Though he was a creator of hyper-tech armour and weaponry, with an array of top-notch battlesuits, his chosen style of villainy was distinctly at odds with the grim-and-gritty style of the 80s and early 90s.  Rather than pursuing dark vendettas, he staged grand heists to finance his latest research and went toe to toe with top-level superheroes (including members of the current generation of the Liberty League) in battles that never seemed to result in civilian fatalities.  Of course, the majority of his activities took place far from Emerald City itself, which had few worthwhile targets to hit.<br/><br/>In 1994, a full-scale alien assault known as the "Terminus Invasion" (with Freedom City as its first target, of course) was the unexpected cause of a renaissance for Emerald City.  Many heroes and even some of the less selfish villains gave their lives to stop the aliens, the Commander apparently among them.  But amidst all the devastation in Freedom City, one entrepreneur saw a chance to turn the mayhem to better ends.  Taking his insurance payouts, he brought his software-design company to his old hometown of Emerald City.  The money for losing one modest building in downtown Freedom City could be turned into an entire ‘campus’ on the run-down outskirts of Emerald City… and there MarsTech flourished, becoming one of the world’s top computer and software-design companies.<br/></div></div><br/><div align="center"><br/>(https://i.redd.it/nmx2wfytjqh11.jpg)<br/><br/><em>Click on the map for a much larger version!</em><br/><br/></div><br/>Nowadays, Emerald City is best-known as the home of MarsTech and the array of side-ventures its prolific founder has created, as well as a veritable horde of start-ups he has sponsored.  For many locals, the fact that he has invested some of his wealth in refurbishing stadia and in hiring sporting stars is far more relevant than his business accomplishments: after all, Maximilian Mars is even credited with helping to secure an NFL expansion slot for the city (though the Emerald City Bulldogs are actually one of the local teams he <em>doesn’t</em> own or sponsor).  In spite of the occasional mis-step, he is indubitably the most popular man in the city… but fortunately for the political classes, he seems to have no interest in elected positions: being the man responsible for transforming his home town seems to be sufficient.  Indeed, the dramatic rise in Emerald City’s fortunes, combined with its beautiful surroundings, has made it one of the most favoured bases of operations for remote-working executives, as well as a highly-desired retirement venue for many other rich and powerful types, who have created a gated community of mansions and private clubs on one of the hills overlooking the city.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Prominent Businesses</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br/>These are only a sample of the most high-profile companies operating in Emerald City.  Especially in the tech sector, there are start-ups galore - some working in extremely obscure and unusual fields - thanks to the ready availability of top-of-the-line computer services and an annual supply of new talent from the city's universities.  Similarly, there are many thriving small businesses catering to the tourist trade, as well as the host of shops and services supported by the population of a thriving modern city.<br/><br/><strong>Brande Management</strong>: Emerald City's most exclusive investment, asset-management, and "looking after the super-rich's money" company.  Its client-list is private but rumoured to be extensive, and its investments are known to include a range of projects and industries relevant to national security.  Occasional attempts by investigative journalists to uncover quite who it serves and what it invests in have tended to crunch to a halt in the face of Federal court injunctions... though there are some online rumours that Brande Management's available-to-elite-customers security personnel might have had a role to play in closing more persistent investigations.<br/><br/><strong>Grant Conglomerates</strong>: Having joined the "Mars renaissance" in Emerald City, GC is now the region's premier medicinal and biotech research company... or the local representation of Big Pharma, depending on one's point of view.  Its founder, Jon Grant, suits the "trendy CEO" archetype, with his long hair and open admission of wide-ranging experimentation with recreational drugs in his youth, but the corporation itself has a rather chequered history.  More than one subordinate company or joint project has been shut down by the authorities, though Grant Conglomerates itself has never been found guilty of anything worse than unwise investment practices.  Whether its CEO is getting away with repeated offences or is a naive idealist exploited by less-scrupulous types is a matter of some debate.  Either way, he retains his reputation as one of the world's best research chemists.<br/><br/><strong>Kesskorp</strong>: Another of the corporations drawn to Emerald City by Mars's revitalisation of the economy, Kesskorp is likewise another research-focused entity and a focus for moral debate.  In contrast to both GC and MarsTech, Kesskorp is an out-and-out arms manufacturer.  Founded by the son of an East German physicist who was smuggled out of his homeland by the US as a "highly desired asset" at the height of the Cold War, most of its contracts are hidden under layers of security and secrecy.  Some are certainly conducted hand-in-glove with DARPA and other government agencies... but there are many rumours about off-the-books projects, conducted either solely for profit or on behalf of more shadowy branches of the authorities.   Kesskorp has a reputation as a rewarding but profoundly unforgiving employer, making use of some of the most ferocious non-disclosure clauses in existence in the US.  In contrast to Grant and Mars, Arwin Kessler seems to be a media-shy recluse - though he is widely reputed to be personally responsible for many of the corporation's most startling breakthroughs.  For those conspiracy-theorists who refuse to accept that the supervillain really did heroically sacrifice himself while fighting the alien invasion of Freedom City, Kessler is one of the most-frequently named candidates for having been the Commander (see <em>History</em>, above)... but no attempt to tie him to the role has ever produced clear evidence.<br/><br/><strong>MarsTech, Incorporated</strong>: From a mid-level software firm in Freedom City, to one of the world's premier computer companies and the instigator of Emerald City's renaissance - MarsTech is without question the most popular business in the region.  As far as its products go, the Phobos operating system is widely popular, while the Deimos laptop line is regarded as providing a world-leading combination of affordability, power, and reliability.  For corporate clients, MarsTech provides bespoke software packages and is willing to undertake the construction of unique mainframes... while its wide-ranging investments are driven by Mars's personal enthusiasm for supporting bright young entrepeneurs (<em>especially</em> if they catch his attention while studying at his alma mater, ECU).  Within Emerald City, the company is widely seen as a good-natured and supportive force that has transformed the fortunes of the city.<br/><br/>Personally, Maximillian Mars could be considered a cross between Richard Branson and Steve Jobs: a middle-aged but still-handsome genius coder with an adventurous soul and a distinct touch of the playboy about him, he's one of the world's most eligible bachelors.  Fortunately for the prospects of local politicians, he seems to have no interest in acquiring conventional power - instead splitting his time between working with his own company, finding fascinating new ideas to invest in, and setting off on fundraising adventures on behalf of charity.  He's climbed mountains, reached the edge of space in an unpowered balloon, and joined a survey team in the Mariana Trench.<br/><br/><strong>Nolan Aircraft</strong>: The lone significant aerospace company in the region, NA was founded by a member of the Victory Squadron and is presently run by his grandson.  Apparently inclined to look to the future rather than to try to trade on generations-old glories, NA has recently established a satellite-launch facility that is already drawing considerable interest from other corporations - as well as firing up the popular imagination.  Though it's currently insisting that it has no plans to build manned spacecraft, many (especially among the younger generations) expect NA to make an announcement on that front sooner rather than later: after all, superheroics are in the Nolan blood, right, and what could be better than having your very own spaceport?<br/><br/><strong>USNet</strong>: The region's leading internet service provider is best-known to locals for its sponsorship of the Emerald City Bulldogs NFL team.  The USNet Field is a state-of-the-art but open-air facility, much to the regret of those teams from warmer climes who have to play there in the height of Winter: that choice of design has done even more to make USNet's owner a hero to many local fans than the money invested in the team.  Behind the scenes, USNet is a major player in virtually every part of the user-friendly internet, with partnerships in and outright ownership of an array of social media enterprises and business services.  It is said to currently be experimenting heavily with virtual reality as the 'next frontier' of the online world, and is rumoured to be trying to create multi-sensory or even wholly-immersive interfaces.  Its founder, Scott K. Hamilton, has a politely friendly business relationship with MarsTech - each company ensuring that their designs can work well with the other's creations - but Hamilton is generally regarded as being wholly overshadowed by the far more charismatic and outgoing Mars.<br/><br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Education</div><div class="spoiler_body">Mars’s alma mater, <strong>Emerald City University</strong>, has received a great deal of funding from MarsTech, and is now the region’s leading further education institution.  It has a particular reputation in theoretical and applied sciences, but is not regarded as having any real weaknesses.  The ‘Sasquatch’ sporting teams are especially popular with local residents, and the attitude that ‘what is good for ECU is good for the city’ is widespread.  On the stranger front, the city's long-standing association with the 'weird' has led to it hosting formal parasychology and cryptozoology departments; the exobiology department is a more recent (and more conventionally 'respectable') addition to these.<br/><br/><strong>Arcadia College</strong> is in many ways the opposite of ECU.  It prides itself on being at the forefront of unconventional educational theories, with students playing a vital role in designing their own courses and even choosing how they should be assessed.  Some companies regard Arcadia’s graduates as the most desirable of employees, but many people view its alumni as profoundly detached from reality.<br/><br/><strong>Emerald City Community College</strong> is very much the poor relation of the other establishments described here.  Much-derided as the ‘cheap’ and low-GPA option, many of its students pursue two-year associate degrees… but it has a deserved reputation for managing to recruit visiting professors of exceptional quality, and some of its non-scientific programs might be considered at least a match for their equivalents at ECU.<br/><br/><strong>Malory College</strong> is a private university, established in the 1860s by the city’s founding family.  It applies extremely high selection criteria, and also appears to favour an exclusive set of social criteria.  Merely being rich or well-connected is insufficient: applicants are meant to be the sort of people who can become highly-cultured leaders in their chosen field - able to not merely provide an appropriate quote from Shakespeare for any occasion, but also translate it into Latin if required.  “Malory College education” is a byword around Emerald City for a life of genteel privilege and success.  Though it once stood among open fields the College grounds have now been almost entirely enveloped by the Sunset Hill community, but it retains its own gate granting access to the outside world.<br/><br/>The <strong>Elysian Academy </strong>is a much more recent creation.  Founded only a few years ago, it is the preparatory school of choice for the children of Emerald City’s nouveau riche class.  A number of the assorted millionaires in their new-build mansions apparently felt the need for an exclusive school to which to send their little darlings: though it’s sited just outside the city, it sits in wholly-private grounds.  A boarding establishment, its pupils sleep on-site even though their own homes are probably only a few miles away.  A small number of scholarship students are allowed entry based upon exceptional talent or outstanding performance in entrance examinations, but the Academy is almost entirely the preserve of the corporate elite.<br/></div></div><br/><br/>Culturally, Emerald City is widely considered to lag behind its (often bitterly resented) rival Seattle, though the impact of the city's regeneration has been felt in artistic as well as corporate areas.  However, the 'low brow' element is all too often what outsiders notice first... with the city's brand new pedestrianised shopping district, "The Yellow Brick Row", a particularly divisive development.  Many of the more self-consciously <em>cultured</em> residents regard it as having hit a new nadir in bad taste, but it has already established itself as a go-to destination for many locals and tourists.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Media</div><div class="spoiler_body">As was the case with many cities, local <strong>print media</strong> peaked during the Second World War (when Emerald City boasted three daily newspapers, as well as assorted magazines and periodicals).  Nowadays, it (barely) supports one daily paper: the <em>Courier-Express</em>.  Propped up by a declining list of subscribers and its 87 year-old owner (Luther Heggs), it remains the primary reference-point for quality local news reporting and investigative journalism. <br/><br/><strong>Broadcast media</strong>, in contrast, is all too often painfully generic.  On TV, only the news coverage retains any sort of genuine local flavour... and that is now thoroughly dominated by the "human interest" style, in preference to anything that might constitute actual journalism.  Any given hour of interviews with locals and tourists about the highs and lows of life in and around Malory Bay is likely to be much like any other.<br/><br/><strong>FM radio</strong> is increasingly dominated by corporate-sponsored and computer-generated playlists, which are notionally 'cost-effective' but tend to do a poor job of retaining listeners... and thus slip ever farther into depending upon sponsorship and commercials to make ends meet.  The student-run KCEU station (based in Emerald City University) stands out as a not-for-profit radio service winning broad appeal; a number of other college-run stations are now threatening to put serious dents into the corporate mainstream, too, while Public Radio is seeing something of a resurgence.<br/><br/><strong>AM radio</strong> service in the region is perhaps best epitomised by the local KSKY 'talk radio' station.  As television became ever more bland and FM radio more automated, AM increasingly fell to the conspiracy theorists and crazies.  KSKY's presenter-recruitment policy is rumoured to boil down to "anyone who can sustain an audience and doesn't get us sued <em>too</em> often".  Amidst the offence and madness can sometimes be found shows that coherently make considered points... but those tend to be more expensive to produce and less popular than a shock-jock revving up an audience.  The most respectable remaining corner of AM broadcasting is KVBE 610, a dedicated classical music station that does its best to fly the flag for more highbrow local culture.<br/><br/><strong>Online</strong> is the medium in which Emerald City most visibly stands out.  Significantly more people are active online than the national average, and both USNet and MarsTech are keen to continue promoting that trend.  Freely-accessible wifi hotspots, active support for businesses integrating online services with real-world shops and products, and collaboration with everything from local transport systems to tourist centres and local-government announcements - the big tech companies are very keen to present Emerald City as friendly and accessible in both the physical and the virtual worlds.  Community bulletin boards, free online access to seasons of lectures and museum exhibits, and similar projects are all intended to build community engagement... and to ensure that USNet and MarsTech remain popular.<br/><br/>In terms of <strong>Media Personalities</strong>, there are a few locals who could be considered household names in the region.  The most respected is Eddie Pollard, who is now in his fortieth year at the <em>Courier-Express</em> (having started at the age of 16, in 1975).  A common joke (with a heavy dose of truth to it) is that if the <em>Courier-Express</em> hasn't yet reported on something, then it either didn't actually happen or else Eddie Pollard is still getting to the real truth behind it.  In particular, he's regarded as the consummate master of the city's "morgue" of paper records, from municipal offices to the annals of the <em>Courier-Express</em>'s now-defunct rivals: if someone at some point left a paper-trail, the odds are that Eddie Pollard can find it.<br/><br/>Much more infamous is Colin Hoke, the host of KSKY's <em>The Nightwatchman</em>.  Seven nights a week, he hosts his top-rated nocturnal call-in show, which prospers because of his unpredictability.  Just about the only thing guaranteed from each episode is a hefty dose of controversy: for his listeners, part of the appeal lies in the fact that they often have no idea what he might say next.<br/><br/>In stark contrast is Caleb Gardner, the anchor for KLEC Channel 12's "Eyewitness News."  He's looked 'about forty' for at least fifteen years, and his face can be seen on TV screens in homes and businesses throughout the city, on a startling number of billboards, and frequently in person out and about on the streets interviewing locals.  He's handsome, charming, has a beautifully mellifluous voice, and can <em>empathise</em> on-camera with just about anyone regarding just about any experience.  He's as popular as he is trusted by the general public... and it's only cynics and nay-sayers who dare to point out that he rarely covers anything truly newsworthy, and even more rare that he gives a hint as to anything resembling an opinion of his own.<br/><br/>Much more mysterious is "The Gray Ghost": an apparently-female author operating the "Ghost Sightings" website.  She doesn't blog to a schedule, and doesn't seem to either pursue money or answer to any corporate masters... but Ghost Sightings is the absolute go-to for reports on strange and unexpected events in the region.   Her stories run from hikers spotting cryptids in the Elysian Forest to detailed reports on 'undisclosed budgets' and trails of dirty money in local business and politics.  It's widely believed that more than one police investigation has been triggered by her work, though she seems to be even more keen than most journalists to avoid giving away any hint of how she obtains her information.  Certainly, she appears to have exceptional insight into both goings-on at city hall and misdeeds in the Emerald City's corporate boardrooms... but the literal ghost stories and "tales of the weird" seem to be where her personal passion truly lies.  Claiming to be (or to know) the Gray Ghost is now a cliche on call-in shows on other media; her actual identity remains very much a mystery.<br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Noteworthy Districts and Locations</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>The Bay Bridge</strong>: A six-lane (i.e. three in each direction) highway raised high up above much of the Riverfront district, so that it can span the full width of Malory Bay without interfering with the passage of large ships.  It links the city to the mid-stream Council Island, before continuing on to the Northern bank... where the metropolitan sprawl is now starting to spread quite significantly, though the vital commercial role of the Bay Bridge is in providing the main land-link towards Seattle.  Farther upstream, smaller bridges link the city to four of the Stepstone Islands and then on to the Northern bank - but they are narrower, lower, and less frequently used.<br/><br/><strong>The Eastern District</strong>: The source of much confusion for visitors, the Eastern District is found in the South of the city - its name coming from the 19th century migrants who settled there, rather than from its own location.  One of the most thriving centres of East Asian culture on the US West coast, it houses both "Jadetown" and "Little Osaka" as foci for Chinese and Japanese cultural expression, as well as smaller presences from other parts of Asia.  Temples, restaurants, tea-gardens, and street-festivals make up much of its enduring appeal; organised crime seems, as in the rest of Emerald City, to be either non-existent or determinedly careful in maintaining a low profile.<br/><br/><strong>The Elysian Forest</strong>:  Vast, beautiful, and surprisingly wild once one gets away from its well-travelled periphery, the Forest is the focus of most local folklore.  It's said to be home to everything from a lost elven kingdom to crash-landed aliens, with (in spite of their non-engagement with the weirdness-tourism industry) many attempts to tie Hekawi tribal lore into it all.  Certainly, it's the US's prime place to search for cryptids - close to a major city, easily accessible, but large enough to get hopelessly lost in if you venture up into the mountains and the deeper valleys.  The decline of the logging industry has allowed for even many formerly-devastated areas to recover significantly, though truly old-growth stands of trees are hard to find anywhere close to the city.<br/><br/><strong>Emerald Tower</strong>: Completed in 1968, "the Tower" has been one of the region's key landmarks for as long as most residents can recall.  It's the one great remnant of a previous attempt to provide the city with an economic and cultural renaissance: a lingering white elephant constructed with a great deal of public financial support, the skyscraper has loomed over the heart of Emerald City for two generations without really finding a <em>purpose</em>.  A couple of years ago, however, Maximillian Mars bought it and commenced renovations.  It's often assumed that he is going to make the Tower into the global headquarters for MarsTech, though he has thus far seemed to be thoroughly happy with the campus he built in the '90s; another rumour is that he might use the Tower to provide top-of-the-line office space for the start-ups he sponsors.<br/><br/><strong>Fort Breckinridge</strong>: The oldest and largest military installation in the Emerald City region, the fort sits at the end of a promontory beside the mouth of the Red River.  Linked to the city by a single heavily-guarded road but legally entirely separate, it plays little role in civilian life... but (along with the State Penitentiary on Fortress Island) it is perhaps <em>the</em> location of choice for conspiracy theorists wanting a secure, hard-to-access location in which assorted shadowy organisations and / or government agencies might have secret bases, covert laboratories, and black site prisons.<br/><br/><strong>The Maze</strong>: Another renowned tourist-trap, the Maze consists of a number of streets 'buried' beneath later developments in the Riverfront district.  Rediscovered by 1960s counter-culture types, it is now home to a number of craft shops, artistic communes, and nightclubs.  Naturally, the weirdness-industry in Emerald City tends to insist that it <em>really</em> connects to all manner of hidden laboratories, lost cities, and more... but its best-known figure is Benjie Carver, a renowned old hippy-activist (fighting for environmentalism, social justice, and legalisation of marijuana) who led the 1960s explorations and still gives popular tours fifty years later.<br/><br/><strong>Overlook Park</strong>: Emerald City's go-to destination for picnics, scenic views, romantic assignations, and general enjoyment of the great outdoors with only a <em>small</em> touch of wildness thrown in.  It occupies a great swathe of now-prime land: courtesy of a 19th century grant to the city by the Malory family, it is explicitly to be reserved for common use by all.  For some years, that grant has been under political and economic pressure, as efforts are made to 'redesignate' it as suitable for development.  Thus far, all such efforts have failed, though campaigns in support of both sides of the debate are now a perennial feature of life in the city.<br/><br/><strong>Red River Dam</strong>: A 500'-high masterpiece of engineering lying to the South of Overlook Park, the dam has a role to play in regulating waterflow through the Red River (protecting the Western parts of Emerald City from flooding), but is of primary importance as the city's main source of electrical power.  A vast hydroelectric plant supplies the metropolis... though most visitors are more concerned with the photo-opportunities presented by the spectacular views one can gain from atop the publicly-accessible road bridge (part of the aptly-named "Sunset Highway") that spans the valley near the great structure.<br/><br/><strong>Sunset Hill</strong>: Once home to a scatter of mansions and elite recreational resorts that depended upon large swathes of land (such as golf courses and riding clubs), Sunset Hill is now in large part a private gated community that shares a lengthy border with Overlook Park.  Many 'ordinary' people work there in private homes and the array of exclusive clubs, but the official house-holders are almost all multi-millionaire business types.  The gated community began developing in the '70s, and is now well-established - to the extent that its residents founded the Elysian Academy to better cater to their offsprings' need for a suitably-privileged education.<br/><br/><strong>Yellow Brick Row</strong>: For many of the more staid residents of the city, Yellow Brick Row's bad taste is epitomised by the fact that it starts mere yards away from both the State and Federal court buildings in Downtown.  To others - including some who flock to it from around the globe - it is a joyously playful hub for shopping and indulgence.  Paved all the way in yellow brick (touched up to suitably-impeccable status on the city's official birthday each year), it is a pedestrianised shopping district that runs from the huge Atlas Mall to The Cannery Marketplace - a 19th century dockside factory complex, now converted into a shopping and artistic centre that caters to the eclectic end of the market.  The Row itself tends to be rather upscale, in spite of its kitcshy theme, though it is scattered throughout with coffee shops and 'quirky' businesses likely to appeal to students and tourists alike.<br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Sports</div><div class="spoiler_body">For decades, Emerald City was the forgotten 'middle child' between Seattle and Portland.  In 1985, its fortunes hit a nadir when it couldn't even attract a team from the United States Football League's breakaway, once again losing out to Portland.  Many older sports enthusiasts in Emerald City would say that there is no greater indignity than being deemed unworthy of even the USFL.   Almost a decade later, the Canadian Football League conducted its expansion into the US - and for one glorious year the city had a high-profile professional team to support.  Unfortunately, the CFL abandoned its experiment after one year... but it had now been demonstrated that there was an appetite for high-end sport in the city.<br/><br/><strong>Amateur Sport</strong>: ECU's assorted sporting programs are often seen as representing the city as a whole, in a way that few professional teams can hope to.  The ECU Sasquatches are both successful and popular in gridiron; the Lady Sasquatches are a real force in women's basketball; and national lacrosse titles have been won by both men's and women's teams.  Most other teams, such as men's basketball and the soccer, gymnastics, baseball, and softball teams, are most outstanding for their punctuality.  Other educational institutions support teams of various kinds, but (overshadowed by ECU) tend to promote them as character-building more than competitive.<br/><br/><strong>American Football</strong>:  In 1999, the Owens family of banking magnates provided the financial banking to secure a NFL expansion franchise for Emerald City, leading to the creation of the Emerald City Bulldogs.  Internal feuds saw Tammy Owens-Hines emerge from a field of older male relatives to secure firm control of the team; under her leadership, the sponorship deal with USNet was arranged that allowed the team to stop renting facilities at ECU and move to the new state-of-the-art facility at USNet Field.  When the Seattle Seahawks moved to join the Bulldogs in the NFC West Division, a 'local' rivalry was established that helped to cement the Bulldogs' financial and popular positions.  Indeed, the team's pure-bred English bulldog mascot, Buster, routinely comes third as a write-in candidate in city elections.<br/><br/><strong>Baseball</strong>: Throughout the 20th century, the Ospreys ("the scrappiest club in the Pacific Coast League") were a staple of triple-A competition.  Never quite managing to secure a slot in the big time, they nonetheless maintained sell-out crowds almost every season.  Unfortunately, one of Maximillian Mars's early attempts to rejuvenate the city initially backfired somewhat: a childhood fan of the Ospreys, he persuaded the owner of the Freedom City Flags to relocate the franchise from devastated Freedom City to Emerald City so that his home town would finally have access to a team eligible to try for the World Series... only to drive the Ospreys out of business, while delivering a 'big-league' team so bad that they became known as the "Emerald City Munchkins".  After a decade of embarrassment, Mars bought them out, rebranded them to restore the old Ospreys name, and turned their fortunes around.  Though they sport replicas of the Ospreys' old uniforms from their most successful period, the new Ospreys play in MarsTech Park - a glorious new stadium with a retractable roof and all the benefits that their billionaire owner can lavish upon the team.<br/><br/><strong>Ice Hockey</strong>: The Emerald City Chiefs are something of a skating cliche.  Long-running civil rights efforts to get them to change their name have failed, though some updates to make their iconography less offensive have been pushed through - and there are suggestions that at least one faction within the Hekawi tribal leadership is content to receive annual compensation from the Chief's owners in return for not pursuing a legal case.  Playing in the second-tier American Hockey League, they have a good record in producing players who get picked up by their 'parent' club in the NHL, the Freedom Blades... but games at the battered old War Memorial Stadium are infamously brutal.  It's quite widely believed that the Chiefs' strategy against more skilfull teams is to try to put as many in hospital as possible before the Chiefs lose the game itself.  That might be a (marginally) unfair description, but each year it is expected that the team will top the end-of-season charts for penalties incurred.  Still, the games are always exciting, the beer is cheap, and the profits are steady: repeated attempts to buy out the current owners have failed.<br/><br/><strong>Emerald City Tournament of Martial Arts</strong>: Arguably at least as much a cultural festival as a professional sporting event, it started in 1973 as a contest between a few dojos and martial arts schools in the Eastern District, with some attendees from the US military (serving or retired) and a smattering of enthusiasts of the '70s trend for martial arts movies who had happened to hear about it.  Four decades later, the tournament itself is hosted at MarsTech Field (with television cameras covering it all), while the broader <em>event</em> spreads throughout the city.  A host of different contests and demonstrations are held, from competitions within a particular style to groupings of similar techniques testing themselves against each other, to 'open' events, and more.  It's an unusual mixture between a comic convention and an elite sporting challenge, with a heavy dose of commerce thrown in - talent scouts representing Hollywood studios rub shoulders with headhunters from private security organisations, while fanboys in costume seek autographs alongside serious competitors queueing up to meet an inspirational sensei.<br/><br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Transport</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Air</strong>: Benjamin Jacobs International Airport (formally, 'BJI'; informally 'Jacobs' or 'Benjy') sits at the Northern end of the Outer Peninsula.  It provides services connecting across the US and Canada, as well as linking to the Pacific Rim - with especially good connections to both China and Japan.  Nolan Aircraft maintains 'Nolan Field' somewhat to the South of Jacobs: this serves as a base for both corporate and test flights, as well as sometimes being leased out to other companies who want to move large quantities of goods by air.  It serves as the primary emergency alternative to Jacobs, should something go wrong at BJI or in the air.  At the other end of the scale, a number of businesses operate helicopter and seaplane services (mostly catering to tourists), while some corporate buildings and most hospitals maintain helipads.<br/><br/><strong>Bridges and Highways</strong>: Depending upon quite how one defines the limits of the city, it contains around a dozen major bridges - most notably including the epic Bay Bridge, beneath which modern supertankers (or warships) can pass unhindered.  The city's own major highway, however, runs East-West in parallel to the Southern shore of the Albian River... but the core part of this is now all too often virtually unusable, courtesy of inner-city congestion.  In recent years, Emerald City's governing council has done what it can to fight this, not least by supporting GECCO and creating the Yellow Brick Row as a pedestrian zone.  Another element in its strategy is backing for the AutoTemp car-rental service: cars are scattered throughout the city at specific parking sites, and can be booked via a phone app.  It's proving popular with both residents of Downtown and the city's student population, as a way to have access to a car when one is genuinely needed, without incurring the expense and trouble of maintaining it in a burgeoning metropolis.<br/><br/><strong>GECCO</strong>: The Greater Emerald City Commuter Organization operates the majority of buses within Emerald City, as well as the new 'light rail' (i.e. tram / trolley) service.  Its cheerful cartoon lizard mascot is popular with many local children, while the 'Free Ride Zone' it operates in the central ten-block sector of Downtown wins it a lot of fans among visiting tourists.  Within that zone, anyone can get onto any bus and travel for free... though transit outside the zone requires buying a ticket for access to a 'paying' bus.  GECCO focuses firmly on the city itself: longer-distance bus services are run by an array of other companies.<br/><br/><strong>Rail</strong>: Given its combination of hills and waterlogged plains, Emerald City missed out on the 19th and early 20th century enthusiasm for subway-building - but the "Mars renaissance" has seen several old industrial rail lines linked up and renovated, creating an impressive network of surface light rail services.  This connects both the Inner and Outer Peninsuals; runs on both sides of the Red and Bronze Rivers; and grants access to both the international airpot and Downtown.  It's GECCO's crowning achievement, and biggest money-spinner.<br/><br/><strong>Taxis</strong>: Emerald City Taxis paint their vehicles a distinctive green.  Pacific Taxi sells itself on a more modern fleet of cars.  Gold Cab fields yellow-painted vehicles much as might be seen in New York.  An array of limousine companies offer everything from sedans with discretely-tinted windows to stretch limos and 'party SUVs'.<br/><br/><strong>Water</strong>: Since its foundation, Emerald City has always been a significant port, and cargo ships still make their way to it from across the Pacfic Rim.  Nowadays, most of the shipping that would once have docked at the old waterfront in Downtown has now shifted to the Outer Peninsula: there, one finds the modern port's signature stacks of multi-coloured cargo containers and the huge cranes that built them.  Farther upstream, most of the old docklands have been converted to trendier purposes, but a few still support the array of ferry services that provide connections to the Bay's islands and to the opposite shore, or serve as bases for the popular water-borne tours (nocturnal cruises in Summer are famously romantic).  A few downtown docks provide (well-guarded) sanctuary for privately-owned yachts and pleasure-craft.  Similar facilities can be found in many of the more expensive residential districts lying along the banks of the rivers; in some places, individual houses have their own private boathouses and jetties.<br/></div></div><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Weirdness</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Viridian </strong>is the most-widespread 'strange' export from Emerald City: when New Age theories developed, viridian gained a reputation for not merely being 'spiritually resonant', but for having particular qualities associated with each individual colour and shade of crystal.  It is commonly incorporated into jewellery aimed at the tourist market, with various tones of green naturally the most popular.<br/><br/>Less tangibly, the <strong>forests and mountains</strong> to the East of the city are widely rumoured to be host to all manner of cryptids and strange creatures.  Cryptid-hunters, would-be photographers of Bigfoot, and UFOlogists make up a significant minority among the region's tourist trade, and a number of local businesses serve their eclectic needs.  The trade thrives in spite of the fact that the great majority of these legends seem to have sprung up within living memory, with many emerging in the years immediately after the Second World War.<br/><br/>Even the near edge of the <strong>Elysian Forest</strong> is widely rumoured to be 'strange' or even 'fey', while ghost-stories abound - especially in connection to the high ground from which many of the new mansions and the Elysian Academy overlook the city.<br/><br/>The local <strong>Hekawi </strong>tribe are often pestered for 'native insights' into such matters, but seem disinclined to make themselves part of the tourist-trade.  Instead, strange insights and hints are far more likely to be provided by "<strong>the Gray Ghost</strong>" - a determinedly anonymous (but apparently female) blogger, who seems to mix exceptional knowledge of the inner workings of the city's political and corporate elites with reports of paranormal phenomena and unsolved mysteries.<br/><br/>Within the city, what is now known as University Hill (imaginatively named after Emerald City University's first campus was built atop it) was originally known as <strong>Gallows Hill</strong>.  Even before the last public execution took place there, it had a firmly-established reputation for nocturnal hauntings.  Rumours of unquiet spirits have never gone away, and many ECU students report varying degrees of 'strange experience' in the course of their studies.  Some even suggest that ECU's Parker Sciences Buiding was sited to carefully take advantage of especially intense activity, to better aid its para-sciences departments.<br/><br/>In <strong>superheroic </strong>terms, Emerald City barely registers on the map.  The local military base, Fort Breckinridge, received a range of upgrades and is said to house assorted secret agents dedicated to serving as the modern-day equivalent of the Victory Squadron.  Certainly, after something of an upsurge in grim-and-gritty street crime and vigilante activity in the 80s and 90s, the combination of the city's renaissance and the military presence seem to have made the area into an exceptionally safe one.  Arcadia College is known to accept students wanting degrees in such things as <em>Superheroic Influence Upon the Imagination</em>, but much of the rest of the city prides itself on a dedication to progress in science.<br/></div></div><br/><br/><hr/><br/></div>