Confederation of American States

Current Activity: The CAS are playing like they’re all good with St. Louis going independent but they really aren't.

Talks with the UCAS about a joint plan and meetings with St. Louis ambassadors who are pro-CAS are going on, and everyone else wants to know what they’re all talking about.

Tír Tairngire

Current Activity: In truly pompous fashion, the Tír is having conversations with political entities around the globe to talk about taking over shipping into NorthAm now that Seattle is independent. 

Most of these conversations are occurring right here in the heart of Seattle.

Aztlan

Current Activity: They’ve seen border shifts and they’re settling deals and pushing changes where it suits them. 

Plenty of blackmail material is being tossed around here in order for them to push around the officials who could help them get the dirt they want and pawn off what they don’t.

Russian Republic

Current Activity: The current issues between Russia and Yakut are being worked out here on CI. It’s a nice neutral spot, though Russia feels the Yakut are getting favorable treatment due to their Awakened nature, and the NAN respect for arcane nations. 

It’s a little ridiculous, but it makes a great excuse as to why Russia’s shifter bounty is being labeled as cruel. It’s all because the NAN are playing favorites and has nothing to do with metasapient rights.

Japanese Imperial State

Current Activity: With MCT, Shiawase, and Renraku all playing large parts in Seattle’s freedom and future, Japan is here to make sure other nations respect this new nation-state.

Japan talking to Denver and St. Louis. The empire is looking to support all the little free states in order to keep the continent divided.

They’re also talking to the UCAS and looking to reverse their earlier relationship. This is mostly a matter of making inroads for their megas to take more and more chunks of the UCAS, but it could help stabilize the decline of the former world power.

Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone

Current Activity: Recent events that rattled their markets have them talking to everyone - especially others from places that encountered this mysterious “Kechibi Code.” 

It’s not exactly political, but it’s a place to look if you’re interested in whatever the code is or does.

Corporate Court

Current Activity: Now that the Megacorporate Revision on January 1st, 2081 (an audit which determines the corporate rankings) is done, they are back to focusing on the Global SIN Registry, and this is the place to talk to many nations all in one place. 

You’ll frequently see the likes of Danielle de la Mar on the island, along with corporate CEOs and national leaders coming in and out of the Corporate Court offices.

Free City of St. Louis

Current Activity: St. Louis is looking for as many allies as they can find. 

Trade deals, support deals, water deal, energy deals - every kind of deal that can be made is being worked on here.

Azania

Current Activity: Looking around the world for allies to spread their love of Evo while at the same time trying to find other places that could take some of Evo’s attention away from Azania. 

They were noticeably happier with their AA megacorps - having this AAA around and so heavily invested in their politics and society is influencing their national politics.

Asamando

Current Activity: They’re often busy on CI, as it is one of the few embassies they have. 

They’re always fighting for Infected rights and trying to show the world that Infected are not monsters.

That battle went steeply uphill a few years back when some kind of shift occurred in the expression of Infection. They still try and still seek to be part of the world, but it’s not easy.

Congo Tribal Lands

Current Activity: They’re usually as reclusive as they come and in fact they have no real centralized government but an outbreak of CFD brought them to the international table looking for aid and answers.

According to local accounts, two tribes were completely taken over, and infections of others is suspected. While they would normally settle the issue internally, this issue is beyond the simple life they try to live among the lands of central Africa.

Kingdom of Nigeria

Current Activity: Always active in trade, the various kingdoms have many global deals they need to make, and they use CI as a contact point for other important nations. 

It helps that they really enjoy the nightlife in Seattle, and when they come to town, they slip over the bridge and find plenty of activity in the city proper.

Tír na nÓg

Current Activity: This Tír usually tries to maintain as independent a position as possible but recent events in the central region of NorthAm has pulled their representatives to CI in order to deal with the troubles with the Yellowstone caldera. 

Exactly what part they are trying to play is a mystery many want to know. This is the best place to find out.

Rumors say they’re trying to collapse the whole thing in on itself or to let it blow. Whatever exactly is there, they don’t want it accessible.

United Canadian and American States

Current Activity: With the loss of Chief Sealth Lodge, the UCAS delegation sits seething in the tiny little office they’ve been given. It’s supposedly temporary, but no one seems to be rushing to build them something new. 

Their main focus right now is to get a new treaty signed to settle the continent and allow them to get back to trying to salvage their nation.

They haven’t let go of Seattle completely, and plenty of political maneuvers - some polite, some threatening - are being made in order to avoid accepting the full loss of Seattle. 

At the same time, they’re trying to set up the best post-divorce relationship they can. It’s strained, but they’re making plenty of deals to keep coals in the fires where they had them in order to avoid completely losing everything in the region.

Front Range Free Zone (Denver)

Current Activity: After a few years of settling in, Ghostwalker is finally reaching out again to the global world.

He’s made plenty of local deals that have his nation thriving (according to him), but as one would expect from any great dragon, he’s extending his talons to grasp at more power beyond his own realm.

Ghostwalker himself is not kind to outsiders spying on his affairs or stirring up trouble, so there are a lot of rumors, very little facts, and even fewer people who are brave and stupid enough to try and dredge up more.

The Kingdom of Hawai'i

Current Activity: Seattle’s move has created a lot of unrest among the Pacific nations. The representatives of Hawai’i are looking to take advantage of the shifts and potentially pull more traffic through their ports. 

Most suspect it’s the influence of local dragons but without ears inside those political meetings we won’t get chiptruth, just screamsheet salaciousness.

United Kingdom

Current Activity: The UK is no stranger to losing territory to uppity citizens. They know the political turmoil after departure and are planning to take advantage of it, since this time it wasn’t them on the losing end. 

They’d also love to have an ally in Seattle.

The port may be halfway around the world but it’s still a port, and it would extend the UK's reach, which was something they were all about a few centuries ago.

Black Forest Troll Kingdom

Current Activity: After Prop 23 legitimized the Underground the BFTK came to town and had to see it for themselves. Since then, they’ve been messing in Seattle politics trying to keep from happening exactly what is happening. 

As the Ork Underground, it was a place of refuge for orks and trolls. Now, as the Seattle Underground district, it’s getting gentrified and those orks and trolls are getting used as cheap labor while getting chased right out of their former homes. 

Expect work and support coming from these guys as they keep meddling to try to even the playing field for their Seattleite brethren.

Council Island Inn

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥350

Location: Roanoke Way, Council Island

Description: This place is a bit elitist due to the limited number of rooms left once all the diplomats and dignitaries have been accommodated. Many times each year those types are the only guests of the inn and this makes this place a huge target for runners looking to eavesdrop on the conversations going on inside and outside the hallowed walls of the formal buildings. 

Sitting back for drinks at the bar or hosting private guests in your suite are common occurrences, and plenty of deals are made here before being finalized in the official spaces.

All these important people create a huge security risk, and the security for the hotel (which is top notch) and the security contractors and bodyguards keeping an eye on their employers make life extremely difficult for any runner who can’t fit in. They’re not timid, and they won’t stop harassing anyone who doesn’t fit in, with their preferred tactic being following “suspicious” people around incessantly. That’s not to say the place doesn’t have some security gaps. The biggest gap is the staff. It’s a hotel and they don’t pay well so the staff is often glad to take a little extra nuyen on the side to “lose” their keys for a brief time or ignore the person following them through a secure door.

The location itself and construction is remarkable.

Located on the northern tip of the island the inn is constructed to blend in with the shoreline at its base and the water-facing facia blends with the tree line around it. 

It’s only three stories (the limit for most CI construction), but it wraps the small outcropping at this northern tip of the island, with its ends resting against the drop for the island tunnel. The outer rooms offer views of Downtown to the west and Bellevue to the east. Rooms on the interior offer a spectacular forest view, as the surrounding trees make the whole place look like it’s sitting in the center of a dense forest rather than above a major highway. 

As it sits where the highway dips below ground, it helps promote the island’s side access points. The I-90 only lets people off into the embassy district to the south. The land north is as private and privileged as it comes.

Shorewood Cove Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★

Price: ¥90

Location: Southeast 28th Street, Council Island

Description: The Shorewood Cove Hotel is located just off of I-90 and it really isn't anything special - the rooms are adequate (if a little dated) and the amenities are starting to show their age, especially the indoor gym, basement, and their first-floor restaurant which has a pretty retro-looking buffet.

What sets Shorewood Cove apart is that its only available to those holding a NAN citizenship and is administrated in a way to encourage tourists and other visitors from the broader SSC and other Native American Nations to stay on Council Island for more than just a day.

Friendship Restaurant

Type: Salish Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Southeast 22nd Street, Council Island

Description: This fine Salish family restaurant serves some of the best all-natural foods on the Pacific coast, all at incredibly reasonable prices, including many examples of Council Island’s own aquaculture and agricultural programs. 

In particular be sure to sample the salmon, halibut, trout crab, and shellfish dishes crafted by the restaurant’s award-winning chefs.

 Well worth the trip to the island by itself.

Delsin's

Type: Fusion Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: North Mercer Way, Council Island

Description: The only non-native restaurant on Council Island, Delsin's is a first-class fusion kitchen geared mostly towards visiting dignitaries staying on Council Island and serves a mixture of Salish, American, and Japanese cuisine at decent prices when you factor in that most of their food is fresh - especially their sashimi.

Seating is always at a premium and reservations are required for anyone without a diplomatic pass. Despite that, its a popular spot for the movers-and-shakers of the metroplex and a favorite of Salish ambassadorial staff wanting to treat or wow someone they're minding.

Mioposto Pizzeria

Type: Pizzeria

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Southeast 27th Street, Council Island

Description: Council Island's only pizzeria, Mioposto is a famous local late-night pick-up point for those working bleary-eyed shifts at one of Council Island's various municipal, federal, or ambassadorial buildings.

While generally inexpensive, the Neapolitan-style pizzas are smaller (and not what most expect) so it tends to be food that staffers get for their bosses, while those doing more heavy lifting tend to err for a pasta dish or one of their sandwiches.

Eagle Lodge

Type: Aviary

Location: Island Crest Way & 68th Street Southeast, Council Island

Description: The Eagle Lodge is an aviary run by the Council for raising and caring various breeds of eagles, hawks, and falcons native to the Pacific Northwest. Native species are intended for local release while species from greater distances are kept for presentation or offered to fellow aviaries around the globe in order to be released.

It is open daily year-round year-round with special presentations given by the onsite ornithologists in order to educate the masses on these local raptors.

The Windwalker Aviary was dedicated a few years back after the murder of Leona Windwalker. She was a pivotal piece of the care system for rescued birds and was killed shortly after her nature as a shapeshifter was revealed to the public. This aviary is specially purposed as a safe haven for injured or hunted avian shapeshifters.

Beyond the confines of the netted aviaries, there are still magnificent specimens as several mated pairs of eagles use the rooftop as well as the trees on the property for nesting. There are currently two pairs of imperial eagles, a pair of golden eagles, and four pairs of bald eagles on the property.

The Windwalker Aviary is a frequent spot to meet Soleil Ensen, a fixer with heavy connections in the shapeshifter community. The meets are usually all about handing over a bounty or setting up a contract on a hunter.

Medicine Lodge Hollow

Type:

Location: Island Crest Way, Council Island

Description: In an area of cleared parkland in the center of Council Island is a ritual space devoted to the patron totems of the tribes of the Salish-Shidhe nation. The Hollow is decorated with tall, carved totem poles made by hand according to tribal tradition, alongside lodges devoted to each particular totem. Visitors are asked to donate to the upkeep of the Hollow and to be respectful of the sacred nature of the space, but are otherwise permitted to roam freely, making Medicine Lodge Hollow one of the must-see sites of the island.

Dedicated to the four main totems of the Salish but aspected toward all shamanic magic, this large park sees use as a ritual location, a registration spot, and a tourist trap. 

The tourist side talks all about the history of Salish shamanic magic, while applications to register as a tribal shaman and to gain approval for visiting Salish lands to gather telesma are processed in the offices. 

All of this is done in person, as the office requires shamans to be astrally scanned and provide a tissue sample during registration. Falsifying papers for talislegging work, snagging tissue samples, and clearing select registry data are all reasons a runner might find themselves here.

Museum Lodge

Type: Museum

Location: 13th Street Southeast & 78th Avenue Southeast, Council Island

Description: Your afternoon or early evening stop on Council Island (after Medicine Lodge Hollow) should be to this small, but detailed, museum with exhibits on the history and culture of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest. 

Admission is a recommended donation and the Museum Lodge is open until 21:00 most nights.

Aquaculture Lodge

Type: Hatchery

Location: 71st Street Southeast, Council Island

Description: For decades the Council has maintained a successful program of raising a variety of salmon and trout fingerlings, imprinting them with water from local creeks and streams and releasing them so they might return to spawn in the local streams in coming years. 

This has restored much of the lake’s aquaculture and fish stocks and led to further improvements in the aquaculture program.

The big stumbling block of the program since it began is the fact that only the island itself is under Salish-Shidhe jurisdiction while Lake Washington is still part of greater Seattle. 

Under Brackhaven, the metroplex government seemed to delight in faffing about whenever the Council proposed this measure or that to help clean up or improve the lake, tangling things up in endless bureaucratic red tape. 

Towards the middle of Brackhaven's tenure, under Lodge Chief Sam Enteeueh, the Aquaculture Lodge hs had a standing order to just do things without bothering to clear it with the Metroplex first. 

Whenever Brackhaven's administration complained (or even notices) the Council spun it in the media as Seattle being anti-environment, putting the governor’s office in the tough stance of “it’s our lake and we can keep others from cleaning it up if we want!” which was neither popular nor played well in the media. 

Since Brackhaven's ousting and Seattle's independence, the Potter administration has remained largely hands-off, seemingly completely unbothered and often approving of the pro-environment work that Chief Enteeueh's people have been doing at the Aquaculture Lodge.

Chief Sealth Lodge

Type: Seattle Consulate

Location: 31st Street Southeast & 78th Avenue Southeast, Council Island

Description: Dedicated to Seattle's tribal namesake, this lodge served as the UCAS consulate on Council Island until Seattle declared its independence.

Now there is no hotter spot on CI than this lodge - mainly because the UCAS got booted from this embassy forcefully and Seattle took it over.

Not bothering to ask the UCAS, the Seattle government weren’t sure if the UCAS would keep an embassy here and didn’t need the trouble it could cause to have “ambassadors” still around. 

Despite the worry about spies and saboteurs, things have calmed slightly but the departure of the UCAS staff was fast and dirty and not everything they were supposed to dispose of or destroy got nixed in time. Even now, Seattle is discovering tons of little hidden nooks and crannies with data chips, hidden nodes, hidden drives, and genuine paper copies of some sensitive stuff. 

Runners are getting sent in by both sides, too. Seattle wants fresh eyes and innovative thinkers to get the data and it lets them keep it in the grey and black market instead of in official records. The UCAS, for their part, wants their data to stay out of anyone else’s hands. The UCAS has data on nations and people around the globe stowed away on this little island fortress.

Chief Sealth Lodge also had had a tourist museum in the front which provided a problematically anglicized history of Seattle until recently. Shortly after the switch from UCAS to Seattle, while this place was in turmoil, terrorists fire-bombed the little museum. 

It’s currently blocked off for construction but word is the NAN and Seattle are in talks about how it should be rebuilt and Seattle is going to have to go with the more truthful Native reflection of history.

The UCAS is pissed about that, and several former Seattle representatives are wealthy enough to hire people who could cause trouble.

Council Island Police Department

Type: Police Station

Location: Southeast 22nd Street, Council Island

Description: If there was ever a place to make sure you don’t run afoul of the law, it’s Council Island. The Council Island Police are brutally effective, and they don’t frag around. 

Heavily cross trained with the Salish Rangers due to the need for diplomatic security and counterterrorism training, they don’t slack off and don’t take guff. 

The island’s laws give them some serious leeway in their policing techniques and the local weapons restrictions mean they know they generally aren’t facing extreme ordnance. That means they don’t hesitate to come down with a heavy hand. 

That hand is most likely going to slap you unconscious because they don’t like tainting the mana on the island with death but it’s still coming down hard. And do not try to bribe them. They aren’t that type. Better to offer to go quietly or just accept their offer to be escorted off the island.

Grand Council Lodge

Type: Municipal Building

Location: 78th Avenue Southeast, Council Island

Description: One of the largest and most impressively-designed buildings on Council Island, the Grand Council Lodge houses the office of the ambassador from the Salish-Shidhe Council and their staff. It’s also the seat of power on the island for the NAN and their diplomatic mission.

The lobby features art from several tribes and AR documentaries to offer insight into local history and culture, while the upstairs offices reflect the tribal affiliates of their occupants. 

At the moment the role of ambassador is being played by Caylin Sixfeathers. It’s a temporary assignment as they await an official change after the attempted assassination of her former boss.

The decision to back Seattle independence was not universally positive. She handles business with diplomats far and near as well as managing the day-to-day business of the lodge. 

Security tends to be subtle but forceful. Visitors are all issued badges with RFID tags keyed to the security of particular areas and if you take a wrong turn, they come to investigate. 

Anyone in an unauthorized area gets immediate attention and although the guards on duty generally use non-lethal weapons, that’s only because they want to make sure they get to interrogate anyone they catch nosing around.

Passport Lodge

Type: Federal Building

Location: 32nd Street Southeast & 78th Avenue, Council Island

Description: Appearing to look like a classic mud brick two-story structure, this exterior is just a façade. The mud brick is placed over more modern materials and the interior is 2040's modern chic. 

Its intended purpose is for foreign visitors to come and acquire passes to visit the island or anywhere else in the NANs. 

They also handle the actual immigration and visa applications. This means if you want to falsify any form of travel papers, this is the place to do it.

It’s a rather bland place, but it has abundant important information. You want data on who’s moving on and off the island (legally), this is the place to go.

Marge's Flowers & Nursery

Type: Flower Shop

Location: Island Crest Way, Council Island

Description: You can enjoy the natural beauty of Council Island, but if you want to take some of it with you, or share it with friends and family, then visit the island’s largest and finest florist and plant nursery. Marge Peckinpaw’s extensive greenhouses and gardens offer a wide variety of local plants for sale as well as cut flowers and arrangements for all occasions. 

Plus delivery is free within a 50 kilometer radius and they will ship anywhere in the world!

Those in the know on the street are aware of her connections to the Koshari and the fact that her massive greenhouse and gardens are just a front. She launders money for the Koshari and also grows BADs (bio-Awakened drugs) in a cavern complex underneath her property. It’s not large, but it grows well and clean thanks to the mana on the island. People say that Marge’s deepweed won’t just let you see the astral but will let you visit metaplanes. Others say that such things are far beyond the abilities of a mere plant.

Her delivery drones hold the special deliveries in an internal compartment that can incinerate the evidence if stopped anywhere other than their delivery point. 

Street punks in the know will often snag a Marge drone and inhale the smoke from the burnoff. Sometimes it’s a high, sometimes it’s choking on fumes, but either way it’s free.

Council Island Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 30th Southeast & Island Crest Way, Council Island

Description: This small, modern hospital and clinic serves the needs of the island’s residents as well as offering treatment to visitors free of charge, should any suffer a medical emergency while visiting tribal territory.

It also happens to be a place that is heavily into Native healing traditions and is full of arcane healers. The right connections can get you access to a quick magical patch-up as long as you can get to the island. The campus sprawls due to the construction restrictions on the island but it’s still a rather small hospital, as it’s only intended to service the population of the island. It, like most major structures, is near the highway in the north.

If you are visiting the Island legally and get injured, you will be treated at the hospital without regard to your nation or corporation of origin. They offer the highest levels of service to all comers, which adds to the feelings of safety on the island.

Several assassination attempts on the island have been foiled by CIH offering rapid and skilled medical care.

South Island Clinic

Type: Clinic

Location: Island Crest Way & Southeast 68th Street, Council Island

Description: This small, private clinic on Council Island does a brisk business providing high-end treatments to the who’s who of the Seattle scene as well as other corporate clients who want work done outside their own hallowed halls. 

The majority of their work is nanowork and gene therapy but they have the licenses and connections to get any cyber or bio enhancement. If you have an in with this place, you have the golden ticket to near delta-clinic-level service and installation without having to go to some bleak black site in the middle of nowhere or buried in a deep basement somewhere. 

This clinic took a little hit during the CFD scare, but they’ve made sure all their nanite supplies are clean.

South Island Clinic operates under Salish law but hidden somewhere deep in the fine print is some exception for anyone not residing in Salish territory. As long as you’re leaving with those ’wares, they’ll take the money, and the headache belongs to you and someone else over the details of licensing and legality.

Bear Doctor Society 

Type: Health Service

Location: Southeast 24th Street, Council Island

Description: Members of the Bear Doctor Society have long been influencers on Council Island, affecting the health of the ecosystem as well as its residents and visitors. 

They support a free and open clinic every weekend and you can walk into their offices every day of the week to get assistance in all manner of ways. Executives and VIP guests on the island can reach out for personal visits and they do quite regularly when they choose to ignore the Koshari’s services on the island and head off into Redmond for some fun in the slums.

The BDS is all cuddly on the outside but they still understand the strong side of Bear - most of them are capable of defending themselves and shrug off attempts at control by organized crime like the Koshari or the gangers of Redmond.

They’re collecting favors from all sorts of politicos and executives, and when they need something done for the Island of the NAN, they call them in without batting an eye. And they get it.