Night City Info History Inception (1990 - 1992) Richard Night, a successful businessman who during the early 1990s was concerned by the violence and disruption of the impending Collapse, saw himself in an unique position to deal with the forthcoming issue. Working mainly on corporate-funded projects, Richard decided to start a side company known as Night International, and began to plan an ideal new city — an environment that would be controlled and ultimately be safe from the ravages tearing the world apart. His new city was to be completely planned, self-sufficient, and capable of holding off even the most determined criminals. It would boast planned neighborhoods dedicated to preserving the feel of different types of nationalities and cultures, as well as a super-modern corporate center that would stand as a shining beacon of enlightened capitalism. It was ambitious, far-reaching, and visionary in its approach. Eventually, Night managed to secure the unheard amount of capital needed to finance such a large-scale project. With the Collapse, many corporations had been looking to establish their own urban areas — controlled zones free of crime, poverty or debt. A place where governments would be corporate-run, allowing optimum zoning and no anti-business elements to interfere with corporate growth. Ideally, it would be a capitalist mecca of opportunity. Night's dream city was tailor-made for their purposes and so he provided the design and construction capacities while these corporations lend in their funds. By 1992, Arasaka, EBM and Petrochem had all signed on with the project, leading to the formation of the Coronado Partnership. Planning (1992 - 1994) Needing lots of land for his new infrastructure development, as well as access to both sea ports and modern highways to deliver the huge amount of materials that he would need to construct it, Richard Night sent scouting teams to the East and West Coasts of the United States. Although in the end it was a small article in the San Francisco Chronicle that caught his eye — the article described a dreadful incident that had taken place in a small town called Morro Bay, along the Central Californian coast. Now a ghost town, Night was able to purchase the land where Morro Bay stood for a very low price. Petrochem helped in the acquisition, as the corporation had already taken over the town's then-abandoned Dynergy power plant and was already planning to set up an offshore port and oil terminal site. A leveraged 132 million dollar purchase secured the remaining parcels. Bankrolled by Merrill, Asukaga & Finch — who wanted to make the new city a financial hub — Night and Petrochem employed the Arasaka Corporation to remove the gangs and make the area a safe zone for construction. Further funds came from external investors lured to the project by the promise of lucrative building contracts and possible sources of extralegal income. In order to erase the stigma of the incident, the Partnership renamed the region Del Coronado Bay to make way for their new project of Coronado City. However, thanks to the rather out-sized personality of its founder, it soon became colloquially known by locals as "Night's City." By 1993, the outlining of Coronado City required more terrain than what the geology of the bay originally had. Thus, the Partnership leveled the surrounding hills and dumped them into the ocean as fill, reshaping the bay in order that the formerly narrow sand spit to the west was widened to about 10 miles. They also re-dredged the harbor, making it capable of porting the large ships needed to build the metropolis, with the remaining dirt also ending up as fill on the western edge. The location was also the ideal place to build a station for the Planetran intercontinental maglev. Coronado City truly reflected its creator's eclectic vision. Instead of a huge construction of steel and glass, Night's urban plan broke the city into a series of neighborhoods, each with a different architectural style and theme. It included elements ranging from many notorious North American cities like New York and San Francisco, to faux brownstones and pseudo-Victorian gingerbread homes, while the Asian-like neighborhoods reflected its individual cultural styles. Small shops, restaurants, and businesses were designed to be within easy walking distance from urban living spaces, and a massive construction which came to be known as the New Harbor Mallplex was to be the place of a world-class mall. An open marina area would handle private vessels and other recreational boating activities while the main industrial port would be established north of the city. Night also paid homage to the small former township of Morro Bay by recreating much of its original layout in an open-air environment reminiscent of a seaside village. The city and corporate centers were going to be the glittering locations of high-rises and parks, and it was here where Night showed off his personal architectural skills in the designs of the many corporate skyscrapers, which would become the most visible sign of the city's rising affluence. Construction & Rename (1994 - 1999) Construction began in May of 1994. Although Petrochem and MA&F were the major bankrollers for the Coronado Partnership, they weren't construction companies, and as such they needed someone who could bring in the machinery and workforce to actually dig the holes and put up the steel, an issue that eventually led to employ the mob. The West Coast Mobs — such as the Mafia, Yakuza, and others — had maintained a stranglehold on heavy construction in the region for decades. They controlled the construction unions, transport unions, and most of the governmental agencies in charge of construction licenses, environmental impacts, and other building necessities. By investing a large amount of money into the Partnership, the organized crime mobs hoped they would not only make a huge return on lucrative construction work, but also have the inside track on future gambling, prostitution, and drug franchises in the new city. However, Night's plan required the use his own advanced building techniques and materials; which excluded a number of established unions and construction firms controlled by his new partners. This displeased them, and Night's further insistence that his new city would be safe and crime free angered them even more. During the first four years of construction, there were daily threats against Night's life, and when the threats escalated to the level of sabotage and intimidation, he called in his corporate partners, who dealt with the issue swiftly and ruthlessly. However, despite his influence and his allies promising to deal with it, Night's luck ran out. On September 20th 1998, he was shot and murdered in his penthouse suite at the top of the newly constructed Parkview Tower. Richard Night's killer was never apprehended, and in his memory, the newly appointed City Council officially renamed Coronado City as "Night City" in his honor. A year after her husband's death, Miriam Night restructured Richard's company and founded Night's Foundation, with the primary goal to protect and promote her husband's vision of the perfect city. This foundation would eventually be reorganized to become Night Corporation. Mob Rule (1999 - 2009) The following years were chaotic as the different powers battled for control of Night City, while the mob bosses who had killed the magnate began to appropriate of most of the metropolis.[1][2] By 2005, the mob was the dominant force around Del Coronado Bay. They had been left alone due to the corporations having little to no interest in running Night City, and had most of their corporate strongholds in the outlying "beavervilles" and their lofty Corporate Plaza. In the meantime, the City Council was unable to lead the metropolis without corporate masters to pull the strings and provide the muscle. The organized crime organizations were great in what they did, but it wasn't the same running a whole city. Between 2005 and 2009, much of the city's government was replaced by corrupt mob-selected puppets, and even Petrochem and MA&F found themselves shoved aside in the rush to make the quick illegal eurodollars. Between selling contracts to their colleagues, setting up drug and extortion deals, and generally inviting the worst of the Collapse into the area, the mobs managed to turn a relatively clean, modern metropolis into an embattled war zone. Crime, drugs, prostitution, random violence, and cybernetic terrorism soon became the rule of law. By 2009, the name Night City had taken on a grim and deadly new meaning. These were among the worst years for Night City, with more murders in that four-year span than there were for most cities in ten. The mob ruled the city with an iron fist, destroying anything in its way. Gang activity was at an all-time high during this period, with notorious gangs such as the Blood Razors or the Slaughterhouse making their debut. Night City soon became the closest thing to hell on earth; a war zone where someone were just as likely to have their car blown up as have their radio stolen. The number of unsolved murders documented by the Night City Police Department rose into the thousands. Mob War (2009 - 2011) After four years of street warfare, the corporations around the city finally began to take matters into their own hands. From 2009 to 2011, during the period of conflict known as the Mob War, the corporations battled the underworld for control over Night City. They didn't go to war to help the citizens, but because it was business. Like a rival corporation, the mob had its own goals, and these didn't fit into the corporate agenda. If the mob was not ready to play by the rules, the corporations would deal with them on the same level. Led by Arasaka-trained paramilitary troops in assault vehicles, fan tanks, and combat aerodynes — a wave of bombings, assassinations, and outright street battles descended upon the mob's ill-prepared members. When the smoke cleared, the corporations had utterly destroyed the mob's power base in Night City. From that point onwards, any time the mob crossed one of the corps, they would make sure to do it by their rules. At the end of the Mob War, the corporations placed a puppet mayor in power and started cleaning up the rest of Night City. The newly elected City Council — faced with the return of chaos in the city — deputized corporate security forces and allowed them full authority within city limits. Soon after, the corporate and city centers were cleaned out and restored to their pristine states. The same was done to the other neighborhoods, to varying degrees. Corporate Rule (2011 - 2021) After the governamental changes, the new corporate draconian policies contributed to the city's chronic homeless problem, as anyone who didn't have enough money to pay for the renovated version of the place they were living in were kicked out by force. This put hundreds on the street as affordable housing was upgraded and used to house the troops the corporations needed to maintain order. In the following years, this situation eased as fewer enforcers and security teams were needed to keep the streets safe. By 2013, much of the worst excesses of Night City had been crushed under the ruthless heel of the megacorporations. The basic services such as police, firefighters, and support services had been reestablished. If the corporate masters were oppressive, at least to the average citizen, it was better than dodging gunfire on their way to the convince store. In April the 13th of that same year, famous rockerboy legend Johnny Silverhand held a riot and concert outside the Arasaka Tower in order to lead a strike team into the building to rescue his girlfriend Alt Cunningham. Many rioters and employees died in the event, including the American branch CEO Toshiro Harada, who was murdered during Johnny's assault. The tower was damaged badly, and over the following years was eventually replaced by the newly built towers. By 2020, Night City was a rapidly growing urban region, still rife with urban violence and street crime, but with strong economic growth in the corporate sector. It had evolved into a busy, successful, yet perilous metropolis, but possessed an urban slick and stylish cool that made it unique. The city had all but healed from the ravages of its bleak past. The Corporate Plaza was still pristine, and the NCPD had enough power to keep the downtown streets fairly safe during the day. However, like many other American urban areas, Night City had also devolved into an armed society. It wasn't strange to see as many guns as briefcases on the crowded city streets. The city government kept the control, but when things got out of hand they depended on the corporations to step in. Deals got made, money changed hands, a few people got killed, but others managed to avoid death in turn. Night City was far from Richard Night's original dream, however it worked well enough. Fourth Corporate War (2021 - 2025) Like many other cities around the globe during the Fourth Corporate War, Night City was also caught up in the power struggle between Militech and Arasaka. Due to its Free State status, NC was home to units on both sides of the conflict, and as such, it suffered badly from it. There were constant urban fights all over Night City, especially around the City & Corporate Centers, where both factions maintained substantial office complexes. This is the Status of Night City today.