Since most of this game will take place through PM's, I don't expect much to happen in this thread, but it will be a place where questions can be asked and information will be shared and where the final write-up will be posted.
Currently in game are Netzgeist, vinnmun, Glyph and
Jackleg Rooster Scare_Crow.
Expect a PM to tell you your starting locations.
Puyallup North
Shopping & Entertainment Center
HistoryNot to be confused with Puyallup's more infamous shopping center The Crime Mall, "Puyallup North Shopping & Entertainment Center" is the place where many of the people in the district that aren't directly involved in serious crime go to buy their things.
About three decades ago, several shop owners in the crime-plagued area decided to band together in a single place in the hope of decreasing the thefts and damage done to their stores by the region's gangs. Local politicians and mobsters (often one and the same person) didn't much like the idea at first, worried they might lose some of their income and influence. But once they realized that the construction and exploitation of a mall made it much easier to launder money, hide their smuggling and even offered a legitimate way of asking
protection moneyrent, they decided to back the project. What started back then as little more than a bunch of local shops grouped together in some once-abandoned warehouses just south of the Puyallup neighborhood (The most northern neighborhood of the Puyallup District) has since been added on and renovated to form what now is the Puyallup North Shopping & Entertainment Center.
Current dayNorth Puyallup is the safest part of the Puyallup Disctrict... but that says more about how dangerous the rest of the region is than about the safety of the mall. Frequented by the middle-class citizens of the north, the Latino's and Orks from Carbonado, Tarislar Elves and Loveland's mobsters, the mall is a powder keg, the only thing stopping anyone from lighting its fuse is the fact that they all have their reasons to sometimes go shopping there.
The clothing stores sell things that was last year's fashion, last year. Electronic stores occasionally display some new hardware to lure in customers, but earn most of their money selling cheap commlinks to replace the one that just got stolen or destroyed by acid rain and sell discounted home appliances with the glue of their DOA stickers still on them. Some stores don't make too much of a secret of it that their goods may have once belonged to someone else and may barter for other items instead of money, caring a lot more about how much they can earn than about the origin of the goods they're purchasing.
But all in all this is a place where people can buy things for not too much money without having to worry about it breaking the next day, and in these parts that's a rare thing indeed.
Weapons, Gangs and SecurityAs mentioned earlier, lying on the edge of the 'safest place in Puyallup' doesn't mean the mall is a safe place by the standards of the average law-abiding wageslave.
While legally under the jurisdiction of Knight Errant, the odds of running into a KE squad inside the mall itself are low. The local crime bosses didn't really feel much for having the Knights snoop around the place where they do most of their business and got the local politicians to do something about this. Knight Errant from their side didn't much like the idea of being in charge of security in a mall everyone knows to be owned by mobsters and is visited by all kinds of different gangs.
So the mall has its private team, North Puyallup Security Services, to deal with the everyday security concerns. Knight Errant is on stand-by to assist only when called in case things really get out of hand.
NPSS has all kinds of people in its ranks; many are ex-Lonestar or ex-KE officers, fired from the force for different reasons (most often being caught accepting bribes from the mobsters running the mall) and hired by NPSS because of their experience. Others work for the mob, their job with NPSS a legal way to declare their income and a convenient way to keep an eye on the families business in the mall. And then there's discharged ex-military, a few who actually just work there because it's a job like any other and some others that really like the feeling of being in authority. Despite the many differences, NPSS personnel gets along remarkably well. Probably the result of a us-against-them feeling, they stand united against the always present threat of gang violence.
Security long ago realized that scanning for and confiscating weapons caused a lot more problems than posting a "No weapons" sign at the entrance and leaving it at that.
Over the years, different gangs have chosen different parts of the shopping center as their turf. Realizing that physically harassing every customer in the mall will get them into a fight with the NPSS and kicked out of the mall, they hang out at these places without causing much more problems than (AR) graffiti, verbal aggression and small brawls amongst each other. Visitors are strongly advised to simply ignore their actions, talking back (or any other provocative action such as flashing a weapon, flaunting wealth, showing condescension) will be seen as disrespecting and taunting the gang and their turf. The gangers will then have little choice but to prove their dominance, usually escalating in violence. Gang members know better than to enter another gang's turf, doing so is considered an insult no matter what the reason and will result in a fight.
Violence between gangs is usually solved with fists and the occasional melee weapon. Unless there's too much property damage being done, security will usually let the fight go its course and wait for the gangers to leave after they've had their share of beatings. Fighting gang members rarely reach for their guns, knowing the other side will be packing too and more importantly, that the ones left standing will be gunned down by security and tossed in a dumpster.
So for the most part the gangs take care of each other while the NPSS makes sure the building stays standing and the shop owners aren't harassed too much. It's a fragile peace, but it works most of the time.
The majority of the security cameras in the mall are probably broken, the ones inside the stores themselves tend to be in better order. A couple of drones patrol the hallways alongside the guards and a number of turrets were mounted near the entrances of the mall and at key intersections, but most are in various states of disrepair, not having seen much maintenance since they were installed after a serious three-gang-battle followed by a Yakuza attack almost a decade ago.
The guards themselves are all provided with a taser, a mace or stunbaton, a light sidearm and standard security armor. In addition to their standard 'low profile' carrying-gear, more powerful weaponry is available to the guards in secure storage. Of course, since no one really cares to regulate the guards, most choose to bring their own things to work in addition to their standard gear. Depending on how much of a gun-nut they are, this ranges from heavier pistols to military equipment.
In the event that things get too much for security to handle themselves, Knight Errant is still contractually bound to enforce law and order in the area and can be called upon to assist in restoring peace and safety.
