Downtown

As clean as the drones can keep it. The streets are clear and in good repair. The storefronts are all corp, neatly arranged and packaged up for the exceedingly high standard of consumption the suits demand. Even the air smells clean, which is saying something in a place piled high with industrial pollution and volcanic discharge, and one famous for its acid rain. The cars are high-end, as are the suits and the bodymods. You aren’t dodging traffic to cross the street but if you had to, you can be sure the occupant of the limo or latest Westwind that mows you down has either a killer insurance plan or a bloodsucking lawyer. Probably both. The public façade of Downtown Seattle is the model of modern success and luxury.

Behind the scenes takes a somewhat different look depending on whether you’re inside or out. In the skyrakers and offices and meeting rooms, it’s more of the same. After all, those streets and shops and restaurants are just extensions and subsidiaries of the corps, the tentacle tips of the big killer squids that run everything. Boardrooms and CEO offices and auditor cubicles are about the same between different corps, depending on the culture each has cultivated.

But keeping that world squeaky clean means a whole lot of upkeep and that’s where your janitors, your mechanics, your blue-collar workers lurk, stained in hydraulic fluid and red-eyed from the stims they need to keep up a sixty-hour work week. They stay in back halls, workshops, and closets, most of them barebones and utilitarian. It’s the most likely place you’d have ended up if you hadn’t turned to a life of crime at some point. Back here in the loading docks are the real arteries that keep Downtown running, under the designer patina that maintains the whole illusion that sells skinny soy lattes and keeps the unseen stripmining going.

Keeping it shiny and perfect means crackerjack security. The Star is back, and they couldn’t be happier to remind you they’re the better option over Knight Errant. In other neighborhoods they might pull the drek-eating smile and say “Miss me?” Here they represent their paymasters and only the finest get assigned to this district. That doesn’t just mean the squeaky-clean records and spit-shined boots - it means the best training, equipment, magic, Matrix overwatch, drones, and everything else. If there is one neighborhood where they can’t brush a fuck-up under the rug, it’s Downtown, as many eyes and cameras are always watching.

Every corp has its own standing security force and with regional HQ right there you’re facing their finest. Knight Errant still plays watchdog at the Ares Tower. Red Samurai patrol Renraku interests. You’re rarely going to find so many elite corporate forces packed into one place. They’re watching out for you. They’re watching each other. They’re watching everything. They have to make the area look like a well-oiled, crime-free machine.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, has cameras on and recording. You want a headache? Try to map out the surveillance nets in Downtown. Everybody has their own servers and cameras and wiretaps whether legit, illicit, or tied up in some kind of shared agreement. The sheer volume of transmission crossover is a digital nightmare. I’d like to say there’s some wiggle room in there and maybe there is but the networks are perhaps more locked down than any other aspect of the district. You’re not going to find them unattended unless they’re some ambitious newshound, as every cop and corp’s deckers are navigating the tangle, watching each other as much as the spans they’re meant to monitor. And that’s before you get into the spies!

Everyone is watching, waiting, anxious and bored enough to hit the deployment alert at the first sign. They believe it’s better to sound a false alarm than miss an incursion.

Major Neighborhoods

Seattle Arcology

At nearly a kilometer high with hundreds of floors, the enormous pyramid that is the Seattle Arcology (or Arc) is a neighborhood unto itself. A project started in 2040 by Renraku to build a complete, self-sustained city-within-a-city, it got about five years of real, complete use after work finished in 2054 before the infamous “Shutdown.” Renraku had bred an AI (or two, depending on who you ask) in its Ultraviolet host, and at least one went crazy as an outhouse devil rat.

After the Arc was taken back in 2061, it was given over to the Metroplex government, who swept out as much of the horror as they could (nowhere near enough) before turning it into low-income housing, called the Arcology Commercial and Housing Enclave, or (aptly) the ACHE.

In the time since, Shiawase has negotiated its purchase, with plans to make more efficient use of its industrial capacity and turn it into a new North American HQ. They’re upping the ante by replacing the original nuclear fission reactors with better fusion models, and with three of them, they’ll be in a position to challenge Gaeatronics’ city energy contracts.

The displaced population has largely been relocated into Olympic City, over in Renton, as well as Redmond and Puyallup.

Ballard

Just north of Lake Washington Ship Canal, Ballard is a middle-to-upper-class neighborhood centered on Market Street. Its citizens celebrate their proud Scandinavian heritage in various local festivals and events, including their kinship with their "sister" community Poulsboro in the Salish-Shidhe Council and the celebration of Norwegian Constituion Day on the 17th of May.

It is home to the Nordic Heritage Museum and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, known simply as "the Ballard Locks," on the Ship Canal.

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill was originally known as Broadway Hill, and even after being renamed in 1901 was still frequently known as "Catholic Hill" due to the large Catholic population and number of churches in the area. The neighborhood is also home to Seattle's "Millionaire's Row" along 14th Avenue East and has many luxury apartment buildings and condominiums.

The most avant garde of Downtown's neighborhoods, Capitol Hill is where you can find independent cafes, second-hand and vintage clothiers, occult and specialty bookshops, galleries, and chic boutiques.

It has also long been the center of Seattle's alternative sexuality subcultures, including several neighborhood bars, nightclubs, sex clubs, and hangouts and it remains the Metroplex's LGBT agenda headquarters.

Downtown

The Downtown of the Downtown District may seem alliterative just for the sake of it but it really is the absolute heart of the district, sitting around the ACHE, east of Pike Place, and south of Seattle Center.

This is mostly where the Metroplex administration runs the entire show of the Free City with several hundred Metroplex Guard on station at any one point at various government buildings including the Metroplex Hall, a correctional facility, the Seattle Supreme Court building, and several headquarters for various departments including Energy, Transportation, Education, and more.

The Elven District

Following the events of the Night of Rage in 2039, many of Seattle's elves and dwarfs settled in this area just west of Seattle Center near the southern end of Lake Union. In the decades since, they've transformed the neighborhood now known as the "Elven District" into a unique metahuman community reflecting their particular tastes, talents, and needs. Ordinary middle-class housing has been converted into ivy-covered townhouses, often with fine sculptors of wood or stone and small parks and gardens have sprung up in the area, many surrounded by wrought-iron or stonework fences, some of which are designed to look like standing stones.

The Elven District is home to many of the metroplex's magically active population of various metatypes and ethnic groups and over the past decade has increasingly become home to a great many changelings as well.

First Hill

Sitting directly next to the ACHE and north of the International District, First Hill was named for being the literal first hill you'd have to wheeze yourself up when traveling east from old downtown Seattle.

Its home to Seattle University - a private Jesuit university - since 1891, as well as the majority of headquarters for the multiple faith-based instiutitions of Seattle. The Jesuits, Baptists, Episcopals, Lutherans, and several other Christian sects make their home in First Hill - a majority of them operating their faith-oriented private schools.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle still rests in the picturesque St. James Cathedral, and even the Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and a few other smaller or non-denominational churches (including a Jedi Temple) have settled their institutional buildings between the tree-laden wide avenues, apartment buildings, and mid-sized houses that house a lot of Seattle's non-arcology corporate drones.

The International District

Seattle’s International District is unique in that it is a blend of several Asian cultures that have settled here over the years. After the Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the city’s Chinatown, Chinese-American residents established a new community centered on King Street, which became the heart of the current International District. Since then, waves of new Asian immigrants have settled in the area, including Japanese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans, Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, and Burmese.

According to the most recent census, the neighborhood is 59% Asian, 17% Caucasian, 14% Latino, and 10% African.

The district is home to numerous Asian cultural festivals (notably Chinese New Year in February) and also contains the Wing Luke Asian Museum on King Street.

Pike Place

A miniature neighborhood all of itself, Pike Place contains the historic Pike Place Market and within that the iconic red sign, the lively fish market, and Rachel the Piggy Bank.

Famous for its fishmongers, Pike Place Market has been around since the early 1900s overlooking the Bay. Now, it's a market for all things - legal and illegal. A melting pot of the haves and have-nots.

Unless you're paying attention, you're going to pay more for your drinks and food here than you would elsewhere in Seattle, mainly because its worth it. It's still the center of tourism in the city and its one of the longest running farmer's markets in North America.

Queen Anne, Interbay, and Magnolia

The peninsula northwest of the downtown core includes the Queen Anne, Interbay, and Magnolia neighborhoods, some of Downtown’s largest bedroom communities.

Queen Anne Hill is divided into Upper and Lower Queen Anne. The lower neighborhood, near the base of the hill and Seattle Center, is a mix of middle- and upper-class apartment buildings and condominiums, corporate offices, and shopping centers. Upper Queen Anne is more residential and upper-class, including some lovely homes dating back a century or more and listed on the Metroplex Registry of Historic Buildings.

The Interbay area lies along the valley between Queen Anne Hill and Magnolia, with the southern end of the Ballard Bridge crossing the Lake Washington Ship Canal north to Ballard. Most of Interbay is taken up with the Burlington Northern Train Yards and their supporting maintenance shops and buildings. Interbay is known for its politically active community, including a strong metahuman rights movement with connections with local labor.

Magnolia, at the end of the peninsula, is connected to Seattle proper by only three bridges that cross the railway tracks in Interbay. It is home to large areas of parkland, particularly Discovery Park, and West Point, the westernmost point of Seattle, including the historic West Point Lighthouse. The remainder of Magnolia is largely suburban, save for the central Magnolia Village shopping area.

The Magnolia area features many spectacular homes, including the Governor's mansion, located on West Blaine Street.

Seattle Center

In 1962, Seattle hosted a World’s Fair, the Century 21 Exposition, and Seattle Center was built to host it, leading to the creation of some of the metroplex’s most famous landmarks, most notably the Space Needle. The 74-acre campus is located in Lower Queen Anne, but makes up a neighborhood unto itself. It includes a monorail terminus, the International Fountain, and numerous pavilions, amphitheaters, athletic stadiums, and other event sites, including the Pacific Science Center.

For more than a century, Seattle Center has hosted various special events and annual festivals, including Heritage Week during the last week in May, celebrating the metroplex’s diverse cultural background, and the annual Bumbershoot music and arts festival in September, the last major outdoor festival before the start of Seattle’s rainy season.

Seattle Center has seen renovation several times in its one hundred-and-ten-year history and it is maintained and protected as a metroplex historic site.

The University District

Known locally as the “U-District” and home to the University of Washington (or “U-Dub”), Downtown Seattle’s University District is, in many regards, a typical “college town” contained within the larger metroplex.

The area is still home to numerous UW students and businesses catering to their needs and interests, including the University Village shopping center and the Northgate Mall, as well as various brewpubs, cafés, and a local farmer’s market.

Places of Interest

Hotels

Chez Ogino

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥180

Location: 1st Avenue & Stewart St., Pike Place

Description: This family-owned, mid-range hotel in the downtown area is a popular destination for tourists and business travelers.

Try the “ork style” fish and chips in the hotel’s small restaurant, if you like your food spicy.

The family that owns the building, the Ricciardi family, are pretty sympathetic to the Humanis Policlub but the restaurant itself doesn't have that bias.

Cirrus Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★

Price: ¥125

Location: East McGilvra Street & 39th Avenue East, Capitol Hill

Description: The Cirrus Hotel is a fairly iconic-looking building but is an otherwise nondescript Seattle hotel that overlooks Union Bay and is right next to the Washington Park Arboretum and Foster Island. The service here is unbiased, prompt, and everything more or less runs as it should.

Its clientele tend to be of the sort who appreciate the multiple green spaces around it and utilize the hiking trail that goes from mainland, Foster Island, Marsh Island and then back to the mainland via East Montake Park.

The Cirrus Hotel is also notable for having a prominent Underground entrance over Zone Three which leads directly to the settlement of Fisherman's Cove.

Gates Undersound Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★★

Price: ¥1,100

Location: Pier 69, Seattle Center

Description: The 20-story Gates Undersound Hotel attracts guests and visitors with the lowest six of its floors built under Puget Sound. Five have guest rooms with specially reinforced floor-to-ceiling windows, affording an unobstructed aquatic view.

The lowest floor is a mall with transparex walls and ceiling panels to allow for a view of the seabed, enhanced with artificial reefs and daily feedings to encourage schools of fish. The best view is available from the Gates Seaview Restaurant at the far end of the mall.

The big draw is the hope of spotting some exotic underwater paranormals, which show up once in a blue moon, or used to, until the hotel wised up to the idea of hiring an on-staff illusionist to magically create images of frolicking merrow, sea lions, and whatnot from time to time to entertain the guests. Funny thing is that all the added magical activity in the area seems to be attracting more real paranormal sea life around the hotel.

Hotel Nikko

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★★

Price: ¥400

Location: 3rd Avenue & Pike Street, Pike Place

Description: The Asian decor of the lobby and restaurant of this boutique hotel appeals to foreign visitors and those seeking a sleek, understated sense of style.

The restaurant has a fine selection of sake, sashimi, and sushi, all expertly prepared, and some suites have private kitchens and dining rooms where the hotel’s staff can prepare individual meals for guests.

No surprise, the Hotel Nikko is a popular stay for visiting Japanese suits.

Although owned by the Lucas hotel chain, the Nikko maintains its “boutique hotel” style and feel. For once, the management was smart enough not to mess with something that was already working.

Lucas Palace

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★★

Price: ¥1,250

Location: 3rd Avenue & Virginia Street, Pike Place

Description: The flagship of the Lucas family of hotels, the Lucas Palace is the epitome of high-class luxury, from the spacious, grand guest rooms, furnished with every amenity, to the attentive and well-trained staff.

The Palace maintains a standard of magnificence that’s difficult to beat.

This is a hotel for rich people who want to be constantly reminded just how rich they are. The “attentive” staff is sneeringly arrogant and stuck-up, just like many of the guests, and everything is overpriced for people who want to throw money around as if it were nothing. In spite of this (or more likely because of it) the Palace is always booked and never has a problem finding guests.

Mayflower Park Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥150

Location: 4th Avenue & Pine Street, Pike Place

Description: One of Seattle’s best kept secrets, the Mayflower Park Hotel offers a 1990s ambience and excellent family accommodations for an outstanding price.

The rooms are large and airy, and the attached Mayflower restaurant serves excellent American-style meals at equally great prices.

Legend has it the Mayflower is secretly owned by a group of retired shadowrunners known as “the Bishops” who ran back in the 2030s.

They supposedly made some big score and got out of the business.

New Century Square Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥450

Location: 2nd Avenue & University Street, Pike Place

Description: Opened in 2050, this hotel was infamous for breakdowns and mechanical problems, as well as strange poltergeist phenomena like levitating tables, knocking and tapping sounds, and floating lights, along with sightings of a spectral hound. Later investigation proved the hotel(technically the previous hotel it replaced) was haunted.

Attempts to exorcise the ghost failed, so hotel management, faced with an ongoing problem, turned the haunting into an attraction. Guests are expected to sign a waiver acknowledging the presence of “paranormal phenomena beyond the management’s control” in and around the hotel. Still, in more than twenty years, they have been no serious injuries resulting from the largely benign haunting by the spirit the staff has nicknamed “Baskerville” and the hotel offers guests a truly unique stay.

Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥300

Location: 2125 Terry Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Despite being a chain of hotels, the Pan Pacific brand has managed to keep each location feeling unique and that continues in the Seattle branch.

The furniture has hints of what appear to be emeralds, and the view of Puget Sound from the rooftop bar is said to be astonishing.

Seattle Hilton

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥500

Location: 6th Avenue & University Street, Downtown

Description: More than a century in operation, the Seattle Hilton is the granddaddy of metroplex luxury hotels, although you’d never know it, since it has been regularly updated and refurbished to keep up with the times.

Stouffer-Madison Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥450

Location: 6th Avenue & Madison, Downtown

Description: The Stouffer-Madison is a reasonably priced mid-range hotel, popular with business travelers and visitors to the metroplex.

Although showing its age a bit with some acid rain scarring on the outside, the inside remains warm and hospitable.

The Red Lobster restaurant on the top (10th) floor affords a nice view of the area and offers a well-prepared selection of seafood and soy substitutes.

The Westin Seattle

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥300

Location: 5th Avenue & Stewart St., Seattle Center

Description: The flagship hotel of the Westin International Corporation, the Westin Seattle maintains a combination of affordability and luxury.

Locals often refer to the hotel’s triple towers as “corncobs,” but they do afford guests an excellent view of the downtown area.

Each tower has a top-floor restaurant (Trader Vic’s, the Emerald Room, and the Elven View), all top-flight offerings giving visitors a wide selection of options without even leaving the complex.

Warwick-Hilton Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥175

Location: 4th Avenue & Lenora Street, Seattle Center

Description: This 20-story hotel is a study in 20th-century elegance, extensively renovated in the late 2040s to restore its original charm.

Ideal for a romantic getaway, it offers a variety of romantic weekend and spa packages for guests.

West Coast Hamlin Hotel

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥200

Location: 8th Avenue & Pine Street, Pike Place

Description: The West Coast Hamlin has reinvented itself a number of times over the years, looking for the right theme or style to attract guests, leading to its current eclectic (some would say “confused”) combination of styles that leans towards the eco-green and neo-tribal.

It remains a reasonably priced choice for the eco-conscious traveler.

Wylie's Gala Inn

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥115

Location: 4th Avenue & Pike Street, Pike Place

Description: Step into the 1930’s decor of Wylie’s Gala Inn and you’ll think you are on the set of an old-style film noir in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

The first and flagship hotel of the local Wylie’s Gala Inn chain, this establishment offers fewer amenities than some, but keeps prices low while maintaining a charming atmosphere.

Restaurants

A Little Bit o' Saigon

Type: Vietnamese Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: South Jackson St. & 12th Avenue S., International District

Description: Voted “Best Vietnamese Restaurant in Seattle” for twelve years in a row, this small restaurant and bar serves Vietnamese cuisine with a French accent and flair. Also be sure to try some of the excellent appetizers, because your entrees might take a bit of time getting to the table. Still, it’s well worth the wait. Some of their dishes are surprisingly hot, so be sure to ask your server to go easy on the spices, if that’s what you prefer.

Seating is somewhat limited, so check in advance for a waiting list, especially on weekends.

The Nguyen family owes their reservation only success to the Red and Yellow Seoulpa Ring for old favors, which are returned every now and again, though never in any particularly dangerous ways as anyone knows.

Bosco's

Type: Bar & Grill

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Roy St. & 9th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: A sports bar and grill that caters primarily to elven clientele. Bosco's has the old-school style, impressive imported beer selection and hearty cooking that appeals to fans of professional sportcasts who can take in their game of choice on any of the widescreen flatvids covering the wall.

If you're not an elf, its advised you steer clear in general - anything the elven waitstaff can spit or piss in they probably will. Its also wise to stay clear of Bosco's during Seattle/Tir Tairngire sports games of any sort - it gets ugly.

Cafe Sport

Type: Salish Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: Virginia St. & Western Avenue, Pike Place

Description: A first-class restaurant offering local Salish and seafood dishes in a cozy, lodge-style environment.

Try the cedar-plank salmon or the prawn salad, for starters

Damian's

Type: American Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Bell St. & 2nd Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Like the ads say, Damian’s is “the best all-American family restaurant in Seattle!” If you like meat-and potatoes (and plenty of them), then you’ll enjoy the menu at this down home establishment, decorated with memorabilia of the mid-20th Century.

The beef is all real although mostly vat-grown, but keep in mind that at Damian’s “well-done” tends to mean “charred enough to shatter if dropped” and order a shade or two rarer than you usually do.

The real downside is that the owner, Royce Stoddard, is a historic local metaracist piece of drek and has been involved with the Humanis Policlub as long as its existed in the Seattle Metroplex.

In recent years, thanks to his advancing age, he's retired from on-site supervision and most of the business. That hasn't stopped his daughter Jessica from the Damian's tradition of treating metahumans like shit and ensuring that all the employees share certain "sympathies."

Dick's Drive-In

Type: Fast Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 111 Northeast 45th Street, University District

Description: For over a century this drive-in burger joint has been enabling Seattlite to get a delicious warm bag of Dick's regardless of the day and open late.

Dick's serves a selection of fast food style foods including soyburgers, fries, shakes, sodas, and ice creams. The menu has barely changed since it opened in the 1950's, barring the notable exception of adding plain hamburgers. The prices are some of the cheapest in the metroplex. For that reason, its not uncommon for a line at Dick's to take up the entire lot that its on.

While it only employees roughly 500 individuals in the Seattle Metroplex, getting a job at Dick's is highly valued simply because they somehow are one of the few places in the metroplex to understand benefits and a living wage. After six months of employment, employees gain a 50% matched 401(l), 100% Dick's paid medical insurance, and a college tuition scholarship of ¥30,000.

Currently, Dick's has about ten total locations - all of which are in the Seattle Metroplex. The Redmond and Puyallup barrens locations are notable for their hamburger-shaped gun turrets and triple-proof bullet resistant plastiglass.

Elliot's

Type: French Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: Pier 60, Seattle Center

Description: A first-class French restaurant on the waterfront, known for its choices of both soy and meat items.

Don’t overlook the soy choices, some are so expertly prepared, you may like them better than the real thing!

The views of the waterfront and the Sound are spectacular, particularly at night, with the tables lit by candlelight, making this a great spot for a romantic dinner.

Freddie's Salmon Eatery

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Pier 59, Pike Place

Description: This waterfront dive may not look like much, with its decor of old fishing nets and floaters, but as soon as you walk through the door and smell their grilled salmon and delicious pastries, you won’t care about how it looks.

Freddie’s specializes in seafood, particularly northwest salmon, but offers a variety of classic and Salish dishes.

George's Polish Deli

Type: Deli

Cost: ¥

Location: 907 Madison Street, First Hill

Description: George's Polish Deli has been clinging to life despite living in the shadow of the Stuffer Shack superstore just up the hill. They offer a collection of fully customizable sandwiches and soups which are made in the back alongside pierogis and polish donuts, all of which are hits with the locals.

All their food is to-go and the store itself has hundreds of imported Eastern European foodstuffs including drinks, condiments, shelf-stable foods, and candy. They also offer their brown bread by the loaf and behind their meat counter they offer a collection of real meat mixed with soy approximations of popular European cuts like headcheese, kielbasa, and liverwurst.

Gracie's For Ribs

Type: Barbecue Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: Olive Street & Belmont Avenue, Capitol Hill

Description: The striped awning and broad front window of this Seattle establishment are landmarks to local barbeque lovers.

Gracie’s declares that all of its meats are 100% real, with no soy substitutes or fillers, and their menu is priced accordingly, but if you want some of the best ribs, sausage, and barbecued chicken around, be sure to check it out.

Food is served family-style on large platters, with plenty of sides like cole slaw and Gracie’s famous honey corn bread.

Green Village

Type: Asian-American Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: South Main Street & 5th Avenue South, International District

Description: This moderately priced restaurant offers a combination of Asian and American fare.

The salt-and-pepper tempura batter is highly recommended, along with the homemade soy and tofu dishes, like soy-chicken in black bean sauce, soy-octopus, and the spicy orange “beef ” made with tempeh.

Icarus Descending

Type: Elven Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: Harrison Street & Dexter Avenue North, Seattle Center

Description: The first, and still one of the best, Elven restaurants in Seattle, Icarus Descending is best known for its finely prepared seafood and vegetarian dishes, along with an extensive raw foods menu of items prepared without heating (only mechanical preparation like cutting and chopping).

Try the Dungeness crab on a bed of vinegared seaweed or the delicious raw foods salads with herbal dressings.

Many seasonal dishes are also available. The place is on the expensive side, but well worth it.

Icarus Descending is and has always been owned by Daniel Fong, a member of the Yellow Lotus Triad.

The food is more of a fusion of California cuisine and various Asian styles, but put it on a bed of greens and call it “elven” and people literally eat it up.

Ivar's

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Pier 54, Pike Place

Description: A local chain founded in 1938 by the man who built Seattle's first aquarium, Ivar's on the inside looks to be a Native American longhouse on the inside and is built right on the pier.

It has a few other locations scattered around but its been focused on remaining an icon of quality and experience than quantity.

The restaurant itself is more upscale, but the outdoor fish bar services those on the waterfront craving a taste of classic Seattle seafood fare, and it's only gotten better since independence after Ivar's cut a deal with some SSC suppliers for a better quality seafood.

Knutson's Country Home

Type: Comfort Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: Broad Street & Elliot Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: For a slice of down home cooking and country charm in the metroplex, visit Knutson’s Country Home, where you’ll feel like you’ve been transported more than a century into the past to a farmhouse kitchen, complete with checked tablecloths, blue and white china, and real milk served in white ceramic pitchers.

They’re famous for their hearty country breakfast specials, but also serve a great family-style lunch and dinner menu. Try the fresh biscuits with butter and honey or the organic corn on the cob, and save some room for homemade strawberry shortcake with whipped cream!

Knutson’s seems like a Humanis Policlubber fantasy: mid-20th century “real” American down-home values, but the truth is Darrell Knutson, the owner and head chef, won’t tolerate any of that sort of thing in his place, to the point where he was once threatened by some Humanis thugs. They later learned ol’ Darrell had some friends in low places and have left him alone ever since.

Lee Chee Garden

Type: Chinese Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 5th Avenue West & Elliot Avenue, Queen Anne

Description: This small Chinese family restaurant offers an all-soy and-vegetarian menu. The prices are low but the food is only average and the service is slow. Order takeout in advance and pick it up if you are on the way to somewhere or in a hurry.

The Yellow Lotus uses the Garden as a front for selling drugs and chips, and pours that money back into keeping it open.

Most other patrons are either locals who don’t care, tourists who don’t know any better, or sad cases who sit and smoke and drink cheap liquor in the dingy bar area.

Ling Ho

Type: Chinese-Japanese Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Cherry Street & 8th Avenue, First Hill

Description: Fine and moderately priced Chinese and Japanese food, including an extensive selection of sushi and sashimi.

Marcus' Hovel

Type: Family Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Virginia Street & 8th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: In spite of the name, Marcus’ Hovel is actually a charming, family-style restaurant located in the lobby of the Misner Aquaculture Building on Virginia Street.

It’s known for the large aquarium extending from the lobby into the middle of the restaurant’s dining area, providing an excellent view for the various species of exotic fish and marine life.

Not surprisingly, their specialty is seafood, which is excellent, and the prices reasonable.

Maximillion's

Type: Aztlan Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: Pier 64, Pike Place

Description: First-class Aztlan cuisine at this waterfront restaurant, including a selection of both soy and natural foods.

Owned by Diego Mencina, an Aztlan immigrant by way of Denver, he doesn’t appear to have an agenda other than making fine tostadas and huevos rancheros, among other things.

Maximillion's is aimed primarily at wage slaves with middle or lower incomes who want to experience a nice evening. The chain is notorious for being rather unfriendly towards orcs and trolls.

McHugh's

Type: Fast Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: Republican Street & Pontius Avenue North, Seattle Center

Description: Built off of the ailing husk of McDonald's which had collapsed in the aftermath of the Ghost Dance War (and the American beef industry), McHugh's is a Seattle-based global fast food chain offering soyburgers and similar post-American fast food classics. Their food is greasy, salty and completely artificial - all of it based on pressed vegetables, soy and krill products.

McHugh's products are packed into edible, biocompostable paper for especially hungry but less picky customers. Connoisseurs think that the packaging gives a McHugh's burger the perfect seasoning.

McHugh's is not only popular because of their products, or their focus on children and their families, but above all because it promotes that one can sit in a McHugh's anywhere and be able to eat in a safe, affordable environment.

McHugh's has recently supplanted McDonald's legacy, with an official location in every single nation on Earth, even Asamondo.

Miner's Landing

Type: Theme Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Pier 63, Pike Place

Description: Step into Seattle’s past with a visit to Miner’s Landing.

This theme restaurant is located in a converted warehouse decorated with memorabilia of Seattle’s frontier past, and a cast of actors in period costume enacts skits about the area’s history while you dine on authentic cuisine from the time, including some local Salish dishes. Fun for the whole family!

Murphy's Law

Type: Pizzeria

Cost: ¥

Location: Cedar St. & Western Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Murphy's Law has a constant dim, smoky haze. The poor ventilation means that burned dough and the smell of stale beer permeates the air. The wall tiling is cracked (with some missing) and the floor is sticky. If you're brave enough to use the bathroom, you'll probably leave in disgust even if you can pee standing up.

There are not many occasions when it is worth braving a seedy atmosphere just for the food, but Murphy’s Law is one of them because they serve some of the best pizza in the metroplex.

It also has one of the best basement card games in town, as long as you’ve got the buy-in. High stakes doesn’t begin to cover it - most people can't afford to even find out about it.

Nukit Burgers

Type: Fast Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: Lenora Street, Seattle Center

Description: Home of the famous "beef-in-a-basket, feast-on-a-bun" Nukit Burger.

The original location here is a popular attraction - not to mention an official historical landmark - and after franchising it in the 2040's it didn't take long to spread throughout the entire Seattle Metroplex and has since become a mainstay of the fast food scene.

Its known mostly for its collection of burgers, hotdogs, and burrots but it also serves fries that are best described as "addicting." In fact, as far back as 2050 Nukit Burgers has faced legal troubles when they were caught using illegal addictive additives and once again in the 2070's for subliminal advertising campaigns used in their stores to assert feelings of joy, happiness, and excitement with the smell and taste of a Nukit product.

The lawsuits are still ongoing, just like Nukit's franchises which have since opened up worldwide, their products also available in the frozen goods section of Stuffer Shack.

Nyen Lang

Type: Tibetan Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: South Dearborn Street & Maynard Avenue, International District

Description: The menu at Nyen Lang is a collection of Mongolian and Tibetan soy dishes.

The uninitiated are sometimes shocked by the exotic Tibetan cuisine, for the common base ingredient of half-curdled goat's milk is definitely an acquired taste.

The first-class restaurant also features a magic show by the owner and his assistants in which fierce figures of a Tibetan mandala come to life.

Ohgi-Ya

Type: Chinese Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: 4th Avenue South & South Main Street, International District

Description: The food at this American-Chinese restaurant is first-rate, although the decor is a jumbled mix of Eastern and Western styles and the service can be a bit slow, especially at peak dining times.

Reno's

Type: Southwestern Bar & Grill

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Battery Street & 4th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: You might dig on Reno’s for the Sioux, Pueblo, and Aztec-Mex cuisine, or the combat biker memorabilia and tournament nights, but the real draw for us is the owner.

Reno Pyatt used to be a biker, but he’s been a fixer for years. He’s got a sharp eye for talent, a great sense of how to match the right team with the right job, and the kind of gut that keeps him one step ahead of a bad run—or runner. He expects top performance, but if you can deliver, you’ll have one hell of an agent.

Run Run Shaw's

Type: Chinese Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: South Weller Street & 6th Avenue South, International District

Description: If you are looking for good, quick, and inexpensive Chinese take-out, then visit Run Run Shaw’s.

The seating is minimal, but this little Chinese take-out spot is top-notch and super fast.

Calling ahead for take-out is recommended, however, since the interior seating is industrial plastic booths with little or no ambiance.

Get it to go and enjoy it at home or at your hotel.

Soybucks

Type: Coffee Shop

Cost: ¥¥

Location: 1912 Pike Place, Pike Place Market

Description: Originating as an off-shoot of the great "Starbucks Schism" which followed the Ghost Dance War, Soybucks retained its progenitors legacy as one of the greatest Seattle-based soykaf chains in the world, competing with other Starbucks Schism survivors like the East Coast-based StarKafé owned by Ares and Aztechnology's Quaf.

Soybucks is almost synonymous with soykaf. The chain is present worldwide in most major sprawls from Denver to Cheyenne to the Allied German States, Austria, and Russia. Soybucks cafes are open 24/7 and are therefore a popular starting or ending point for late night clubgoers looking to meet up with friends or sober up after spending too long partying.

The logo of Soybucks is a green circle, in which a stylized image of a happy, caffeine-loving troll can be seen. This logo has had some believe them to be extra-friendly to metahumans but it was only as late as 2075 before they adopted the sale of troll-sized cups.

Soybucks is located in the iconic location of the world's first Starbucks which opened in 1971. They've updated everything via augmented reality overlays only, treating the building itself as a historical site. After a partnership with Renraku Computer Systems, you can order Soybucks via any device connected to GridGuide to ensure that your order will be ready the moment you arrive - not a moment before or a moment after - so that you can enjoy their premium soykaf sold at consumer friendly prices.

Takuri's

Type: Japanese Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: Marion Street & 4th Avenue, Downtown

Description: Takuri’s is the next best thing to visiting the finest restaurants in Neo-Tokyo, because their finest chefs come to you!

The restaurant runs an innovative “exchange program” where Japanese restaurants send their star chefs on “working vacations” to Seattle, and Takuri’s puts them up in first-class accommodations right on Lake Washington while they work their magic and experiment with new recipes at the restaurant. Reservations are a must.

Tam's Under The Needle

Type: Fusion Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: Denny Way & 5th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: This charming bistro in the shadow of the Space Needle serves a combination of Asian, Salish, and Americanadian cuisine with some elven accents.

Tam’s also has a rep as the place you go when you can’t get into the Eye of the Needle for one reason or another, or if you just want to keep an eye on the comings and goings at the Space Needle.

Be sure to call ahead, although it is well worth the short wait for a table.

The Big Rhino

Type: Ork Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: 1st Avenue & Seneca St., Pike Place

Description: The Big Rhino is known as the birthplace of Orkish food. Orkish cuisine is a high protein and high carbohydrate fusion food - mostly of soul food, barbeque, Creole, and Germano-Slavic. Emphasis is placed heavily on portion size, spice, saltiness, heat, and usually discarded components.

It doesn't surprise anyone that the place that invented Orkish cuisine also happens to do it the best. Big, spicy food served with big, strong drinks to loud, awesome Goblin Rock.

This place is an icon of the city, right at the entrance to Downtown's Underground. Get in good with the regulars and you can find all kinds of contacts.

The Edge

Type: Asian-Native American Fusion Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: 9th Avenue & Denny Way, Seattle Center

Description: This first-class elven restaurant offers an exotic mix of vegetarian Asian, Native American, and fusion cuisine in an open, airy atmosphere with lots of planters and terrariums providing a feel like a forest glen. Outdoor patio seating is available in good weather, and an extensive wine list is available.

The all-elf waitstaff is also renowned for a surly attitude that would be the envy of any high-class French restaurant. This is the place to come if you want to have elves both wait on you and look down their noses at you all at the same time.

The Edge used to be fairly in, but that hasn’t been the case for several years now.

Efforts to get them back on the map have fared poorly due to a declining interest in all things elven.

The Eye of the Needle

Type: New American Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: 400 Broad Street, Seattle Center

Description: 185 meters high in the sky, this restaurant is one of the most elegant and iconic locations in all Seattle. Situated in the Space Needle, arguably the longest surviving signature architecture in the city, the view is spectacular, and the food and service keep pace. The price matches the exclusivity, and reservations are often booked weeks in advance.

Its privacy, physical, electronic, and astral, are all top-notch, making this an excellent place for the upper crust to deal in both style and safety. Show up in your finest, and leave any questionable items at home. Anything less need not apply.

Mr. Johnsons love to hold meets here to wow runners, but it’s been done so many times any shadow talent with some scars almost considers it funny. Almost, because the cuisine is as good as they say. Never turn down real coffee - just scan it for trackers first

The Gray Line

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: Pier 63, Pike Place

Description: Located out past and below the pier, this restaurant sits in Puget Sound, so that at high tide the water covers the glass-walled lower dining area completely. Buried spotlights provide a soft glow, making various marine animals, like sea lions and otters, visible through the windows.

Naturally, the Gray Line specializes in seafood. Try the oysters and the king crab legs in particular.

The Haunted Mug

Type: Cafe

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Madison Street & 2nd Avenue, Pike Place

Description: This kaf-culture place on the corner has built up a reputation for the strange: levitating cups and plates, beverages that go from steaming hot to frozen in a flash, spectral music, and more. The odd events are infrequent, sometimes only one or two a month, but they’re still enough to keep patrons coming back to this supposedly haunted cafe in hopes of getting a touch of the supernatural with their triple soy-espresso.

Expect long lines and note the sign that says, “ghosts not guaranteed.”

The Other Place

Type: French Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: 5th Avenue & Union Street, Pike Place

Description: Four generations of the Rosellini family have run this Seattle landmark for over 100 years. The menu is still primarily French country cuisine, but with a variety of American, Salish, and Asian touches.

Try their specialty coq au vin or fresh seafood bouillabaisse. The extensive a la carte menu provides options for the price- and portion-conscious.

They also have a first-rate wine cellar.

The Purple Haze

Type: Pueblo Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥¥

Location: Bell Street & Elliot Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: For the finest authentic Pueblo cuisine outside of the Pueblo Corporate Council, visit this luxury restaurant near the waterfront, with public parking available close by.

Spicy hominy and pork stew in chili sauce is their house specialty, and be sure to order extra corn cakes for the table, they go fast.

You Should Not Eat So Much!

Type: Buffet

Cost: ¥

Location: Pier 60, Pike Place

Description: The downtown franchise of this popular all-you-can-eat family restaurant is nearly always packed, so be sure to call ahead to get a table, especially for any party larger than four.

You can expect the same buffet of American, Italian, and Chinese style dishes, all available for the same low price.

This place, and the others in the chain, are a classic example of excess. People mound their plates with food and stuff themselves until they can barely roll out the door. The food here is so heavy with artificial fillers it barely qualifies as “food” although, sure, it’s plenty tasty and there’s a lot of it. You see a lot of families in here, including some low- and mid-level corporate types.

The Pier 60 franchise is unusual in that it has a few natural food items on the menu, and they serve actual coffee (largely a Seattle thing rather than for the chain).

Bars & Clubs

Club Penumbra

Type: Nightclub

Location: 5th Avenue & Yesler Way, International District

Description: Some of the most famous runs and runners got their start here in the retro ultrablack laserlight of Club Penumbra.

Some novastars, too: Concrete Dreams performed their first and last public sets here, and Down for Stevie and Project ANTHEM got their initial breaks after playing their first big shows on the Penumbra stage.

Runners have loved it for years, and it’s become a fairly open secret that the place is a runner hotspot. It has managed to stay open no matter what’s going down, up to and including being literally right next door to the ACHE.

Dante's Inferno

Type: Nightclub

Location: 5th Avenue & Madison St., First Hill

Description: The older of a pair of nightclubs (the younger being located in Hong Kong), Dante's Inferno has a decidedly dramatic bent and is one of the hottest nightclubs in the world, appearing frequently on social media posts by metroplex influencers.

Dante's Inferno offers nine levels of dancing through the allegory of Hell, with each level having its own sinful theme. Even digital and astral visitors can enjoy the experience. It’s a decadent affair, with novahot acts, pulsing music, bleeding-edge fashion, and exquisitely trained security that keeps private affairs very private.

Infinity

Type: Nightclub

Location: 1st Avenue & Prospect St., Seattle Center

Description: Infinity features state-of-the-art holographic and sonic projection systems, known for its spectacular light shows, images, and music. The club’s design is meant to enhance its appeal, with plenty of gentle curves, and cunning use of dark glass and mirrors to give you the feel of near-infinite space, even with the biggest crowds. Whatever night you choose to visit, you are virtually guaranteed to see some of the best musical and dance acts in the metroplex.

Infinity also guarantees some of the best-secured private rooms in the ‘plex. They use a color-coding scheme from red to violet, with a premium for their top-flight “ultraviolet” suite. In terms of both nightspot and meeting place, the club is gunning to displace Dante’s Inferno.

Matchstick's

Type: Jazz Lounge

Location: 4th Avenue N & Denny Way, Seattle Center

Description: A private jazz-club located near the Space Needle, Matchstick’s transports you back to the smoky jazz-joints of the 1930s, decorated in dark wood, rich leather, polished brass, and green glass.

Admission is members-only, although members are permitted to bring guests (¥5 cover charge per guest).

Pier 62

Type: Music Club

Location: Pier 62, Pike Place

Description: This club is one of downtown Seattle’s major live music venues, providing a more intimate setting than an auditorium or stadium show.

Pier 62 is known for spotlighting local talent and as a launch point for the careers of new music stars.

The main stage and performance area of the club is upstairs, with a bar and lounge area downstairs. Pier 62 attracts plenty of media execs with cred to throw around, along with major acts looking to keep their “street cred” by playing the venues that still have some.

If you’re looking to scope out some new or up-and-coming rock idol, this may be the place to do it.

Psychedelic Pirate

Type: Nightclub

Location: University Way & 52nd St., University District

Description: Flash and glitz still have their place in the Seattle music scene, and it is often found at the Psychedelic Pirate. This club still attracts young new talent performing for crowds of local fans, with regular AR-casts to music fans worldwide. Not only do media producers find new acts at the Pirate, but also many bands have broken through entirely on their own in recent years, thanks to the viewing and listening venue the club offers.

The Pirate is also a favorite hangout for some of the young and Awakened from the U-District, mainly Magical Studies undergrads and Thaumaturgy grad students, some of whom occasionally like to show off for the crowd.

Syberspace

Type: Dance Club

Location: 7th Avenue & Columbia St., First Hill

Description: Walk into this downtown nightspot “unplugged” (that is, without your AR display active) and you might think you’d wandered into some sort of strange performance piece, or possibly an asylum. Always on the cutting-edge, Sybrespace has replaced nearly all of its laser-lights, speaker systems, and fog-machines with dense banks of AR processors to provide you with the experience of walking bodily into the Seattle Matrix, an experience of sight, sound, and sensation. With the AR overlay, you actually see very little of the real building at all, which is just how the patrons prefer it. Go to Sybrespace and truly be transported.

People gyrating and moving to music you can’t hear, reacting to things you can’t see, often even wearing or being things you know nothing about is something a lot of oldheads find weird. On the other hand, some people who like to take advantage of the fact that if you’re not in on the illusion you can be almost invisible in the place, which has its good points.

The Alabaster Maiden

Type: Nightclub

Location: 12th Avenue & E Mercer St., Capitol Hill

Description: The Alabaster Maiden is a high-class nightclub with the latest in dance music and holographic light shows. Magical acts show up on the weekends but are always sold out day-of, so make sure to buy tickets in advance.

The owner, a mundane elf named Cheri Ostler, allegedly owns a talis cat, so try not to piss her off.

Outside is the club's namesake: a statue of a woman, seemingly petrified. Urban legends say it’s one of the first mages in Seattle, Gabriella Dematto, who was turned to stone in a magical backlash while defending herself from gangers. While most mages say the story doesn’t have any truth to it, the statue does have a faint magical aura and is rumored to move ever so slightly from time to time, backed up by recorded changes in posture and pose. Whether touching her for luck grants wishes or drains the soul depends on the legend, but it’s tradition all the same.

The Cutting Edge

Type: Bar

Location: Maynard Avenue & South Lane St., International District

Description: The Cutting Edge (not to be confused with the Edge on Ninth Ave.) is a bar and strip joint near the International District. They get a fair number of customers from both the local Japanese corps as well as the Yakuza, and some of the girls have contracts with the Yaks, providing “hostess services” along with their performance skills. Yak recruiters have kept a lookout for potential recruits for some of the puppet-parlors they run, too.

Not a bad place to meet up with a mark (sorry, “client”) as long as you stay on the good side of the management and the Yakuza.

The Gravity Bar

Type: Bar

Location: Stewart St. & 1st Ave, Pike Place

Description: This Manhattan-style singles bar is known for its stylish decor and somewhat expensive cocktails, and is a popular nightspot for locals and visitors alike. Try one of the bar’s broad selection of specialty martinis.

There’s an entrance to the Ork Underground in the building’s basement. It was put in by a - now closed - illegal chop-shop next door, and it’s now covered with a locked hatch, but Gary McCain, who manages the Gravity Bar, has a key, and so too might a few others.

The Pink Door

Type: Bar

Location: Western Avenue & Clay St., Seattle Center

Description: This no-frills bar is located next door to the Western Avenue Bakery, meaning that a variety of pastries, breads, meat pies, gyoza, bialys, and other fresh baked goods are available daily, making it a fun and offbeat place for a quick breakfast or brunch.

The bar also serves excellent coffee and soykaf drinks (with and without liquor).

The Sports Bar

Type: Bar

Location: University St. & Terry Avenue, First Hill

Description: This Seattle bar and grill specializes, just as the name suggests, in sporting events. The two large main rooms feature two different sports, shown on large trideo displays, and the walls are lined with sports collectables, including autographed photos of many Seattle sports legends.

It’s a popular location for university students and sports-fans of all stripes, as well as the occasional mafioso who wants to catch a game and a beer in "safe" territory.

Tickler's

Type: Strip Club

Location: Alki Avenue Southwest, North Admiral

Description: Tickler’s is an independent strip-joint popular with the Downtown working class, along with visiting suits looking for a little “what happens in Seattle” to stay in Seattle, as it were.

They’ve got a mix of ethnic and racial types among the dancers, and actually treat their entertainers reasonably well, given what’s expected.

Like a lot of clubs of its type, Tickler’s has “champagne rooms” in the back for “private shows” (all monitored by concealed cams).

Attractions

Evergreen Kingdom Arena

Type: Public Urban Brawl Arena

Location: West Thomas St. & 2nd Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Once a conjoining of metroplex grants and Disney Corporation land that produced a full-on amusement park, steadily declining profits in the 2070's and escalating maintenance costs had stock prices plummeting and the owners looking for buyers.

After several experimental games in the amateur league, the Urban Brawl governing body decided to shift its focus and they teamed up with Disney to buy out all the shares in Evergreen Kingdom to form a new venture: The Arena, where everyone can be a brawler!

During the season, retrofits and rotating construction create new combat scenarios for matches, while off season, fans can come and engage in much safer variations on the past year’s most famous scenarios. It’s proven to be successful enough to inject new life into the park and keep it from shuttering.

Before you even ask: the Arena does not provide an even vaguely adequate education in combat. The “weapons” are RFID paintballs, the armor is ultra light foam. You might squeeze something out of squad tactics, but your competition is made up of civvies, and security has a habit of scouting actual professionals who demean themselves to play there.

Exhibition Hall

Type: Convention Hall

Location: 538 West Harrison Street, Seattle Center

Description: The site of numerous conventions, trade shows, and consumer fairs, the Exhibition Hall consists of a cavernous central hall with numerous smaller, adjoining modular roomss.

It is just blocks from a selection of downtown hotels and restaurants, too, making it a downtown staple for any large convention or event that needs the space.

The Exhibition Hall has also served as an emergency shelter in a number of instances, and on at least one occasion when someone hid something in the Hall during a crisis, thinking they would be able to go back for it later.

Said item is no longer there, of course, but who knows what other things people may have squirreled away in the various nooks and crannies of the place over the years?

Federated Boeing Field

Type: Private Airfield, Museum

Location: Airport Way South, Federated Boeing Field

Description: This airfield is used for some of Federated Boeing’s smaller aircraft projects, particularly VTOL tilt-rotors and remote-piloted drones. Aircraft built at other facilities are also painted, maintained, and tested here before they are delivered to buyers worldwide. Federated Boeing gives tours of the public areas of the airfield as well as the Museum of Flight, providing a history of the corporation’s involvement in the development of aircraft over the years.

Boeing Field was officially designated “King County International Airport” for decades, until the corporation bought the field and facilities from the Seattle Metroplex. It had been called “Boeing Field” for years before that, however, and most don’t know that Boeing has only owned the airfield for a fraction of the time they’ve been using it.

Despite being privately owned, several of the old commercial hangars have been converted to hold aircraft new and old for the sake of the museum, which is a constant draw within the region and the continent.

Laubenstein Plaza

Type: Art Gallery & Hotel

Location: 6th Avenue & Pike Street, Pike Place

Description: Named for the famous 20th century artist, Laubenstein Plaza is built in a neo-deco style, and features an extensive gallery of Laubenstein originals, open to the public.

Below street level and accessible from a separate entrance as well as inside the hotel, is Laubenstein Lights, a popular downtown nightspot also decorated with works by the famous artist.

Those Laubenstein pieces are well guarded, too. Although open to the public, they have an invisible network of IR sensors around them, along with pressure sensors on the walls where they hang, so moving or even touching them will set off alarms.

They’re also extensively RFID tagged so, even if a painting were to wander, it would be an easy matter to track it down.

Pacific Science Center

Type: Science Center

Location: East Mercer Street & Harvard Avenue, Capitol Hill

Description: With its graceful white arches and gentle reflecting pools, the Pacific Science Center is a place of culture and ideas. The Center hosts a number of rotating exhibits on science and culture, along with semi-permanent exhibits on physics, mathematics, biology, astronomy, and metaphysics. Most of the displays are AR interactive, answering simple questions and allowing visitors to play with or experience something about the subject.

The Center also includes a planetarium and omnidome theater with AR projection capabilities, showing a variety of educational programs.

Seattle Aquarium

Type: Aquarium

Location: Pier 64, Pike Place

Description: Focused on the marine life of Puget Sound, the Seattle Aquarium features a number of attractions for visitors.

There are various traditional display tanks, equipped with guided AR tours and informational downloads, and recreated coastal habitats, including seabird and shorebirds.

The main attractions of the aquarium are a glass-domed room surrounded by a tank of Puget Sound sea life (including varieties of sharks, salmon, snapper, and octopi) and a pen for sea lions and sea otters, with twice-daily performances.

Admission is ¥10 for adults, ¥8 for students and seniors, and ¥4 for children under twelve.

Seattle Art Museum Pavilion

Type: Art Museum

Location: 1401 East Observatory Drive, Queen Anne

Description: With a design resembling a collapsed tepee, the Seattle Art Museum Pavilion features a collection of local and Salish art, with regular guided tours by in-person trained guides.

The Salish art is officially on loan from the Salish-Shidhe tribal council, although about half of it is reproductions and the rest is heavily insured, since anything happening to it would be an embarrassment to the museum as well as the metroplex government.

Seattle Coliseum

Type: Sports Arena

Location: 250 North 1st Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Home to the semi-pro basketball team the Seattle Transonics, the Coliseum has received a generous renovation after their purchase from Federated-Boeing by the Metroplex government (with Horizon backing).

The Coliseum has recently re-opened after its renovations, hosting regular semi-pro and professional sports games as well as conventions and concerts with state-of the-art technology.

Seattle Convention and Trade Center

Type: Convention Hall

Location: 8th Avenue & Pike Street, Downtown

Description: Spanning Intercity-5, this multistory convention center includes a broad show floor, meeting rooms, a multi-level parking garage, hotel, and private garden.

Seattle Opera House

Type: Opera House

Location: 800 North Taylor Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: Home to the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera Company, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Seward Club

Type: Casino

Location: Juneau Street & 28th Avenue South, Beacon Hill

Description: One of Seattle’s licensed independent casinos, the late 19th to early 20th century decor is worth the trip alone.

Classic, non-digital games don’t ensure fairness, but the experience among gilded architecture with Yakuza and Japanacorp suits makes for some interesting opportunities.

The most interesting might come from without: Tom Sinclair is the son of the former owner who the Yaks murdered to get the place. Tom made a strong showing in Knight Errant’s Organized Crime Division and came into a generous trust fund a couple years back.

He’s retired now, and putting his connections and training to work to get the club back. Ask your fixer if you’re willing to do some work against the Yakuza, because that trust is begging to go into your credder. Sinclair knows what he’s doing and might make for a great contact if you can prove yourself a professional.

The Space Needle

Type: Observation Tower

Location: 410 West Thomas Street, Seattle Center

Description: This famous landmark has been the symbol of Seattle for over a hundred years. The 185-meter metal tower has a broad observation deck, two restaurants, and three bars.

The finest of the restaurants is the Eye of the Needle, located just below the observation deck (see its listing for more details). The restaurant rotates slowly, providing a spectacular 360-degree view of the metroplex over the course of a meal.

A ride in one of the gilded elevators to the observation deck costs ¥5 and is well worth it for the view if you’re not planning on staying for dinner.

The Renraku Omidome

Type: Trideo Theater

Location: Pier 64, Pike Place

Description: Located next to the Seattle Aquarium in a restored and refurbished warehouse, the Renraku Omnidome is the largest trideo screen theater in the metroplex.

The Omnidome has been going steadily downhill for years, and rumor has it Renraku is trying to unload it or, if that doesn’t work out, arrange a suitable “insurance accident” for it, although they’re reluctant to do so, given their history in the ‘plex with the Arcology debacle.

Government Buildings

Metroplex Hall

Type: District Hall

Location: 4th Avenue & Seneca Street, Downtown

Description: The Charles Royer Building, better known simply as “Metroplex Hall,” is a 30-story, green glass structure that houses the municipal offices of the Seattle Metroplex, including the governor’s office. The main entrance to the building is flanked by two statues, one of Chief Sealth, for whom the city and metroplex of Seattle was named, and Charles C. Lindstrom, the first governor of Seattle and “father of the metroplex.

They have heightened security in and around Metroplex Hall ever since Governor Brackhaven took office. It was one of the first things Knight Errant did when they took over the metroplex security contract, no doubt to assure the governor that protecting his sorry hide was their top priority.

The high security never died down, even after Brackhaven left office and Seattle became a free city. Staffed by the Metroplex Guard now, they and Lone Star ensure that none of the multiple protests that happen outside the building get out of hand.

Metroplex Prison

Type: Correctional Facility

Location: 6th Avenue & Spring Street, Downtown

Description: Known as “the tower” to many locals for its fortress-like shape and dead-gray color, the Metroplex Prison is designed to look oppressive and dangerous, and it is both of those things.

Located right on the I-5 on-ramp, it is a regular and stark reminder of law enforcement and the Metroplex's authority as it sits in the shadow of the ACHE and not far from Metroplex Hall.

Metroplex Supreme Court Building

Type: Courthouse

Location: Spring Street & 5th Avenue, Downtown

Description: Built in 2045, the imposing edifice of the Metroplex Supreme Court Building has been a source of debate among Seattleites and visitors.

Some appreciate its dark marble exterior and the tall sculptures of robed and hooded justices bowing their heads that flank the main entrance, saying it carries a somber air befitting its purpose. Others say it is an oppressive eyesore.

Visit and decide for yourself, and take the opportunity to go on a brief (45 minute) walking tour guided by AR placements, with information about the building and the history of the judiciary system in Seattle.

Seattle Federal Building

Type: Municipal Building

Location: Seneca Street & 1st Avenue, Pike Place

Description: Once the headquarters of UCAS Federal offices for Seattle, now it’s 72 stories of reorganization.

The CIA and NSA spooks who used this as a base of operation to keep an eye on secessionist movements and neighboring political entities now find themselves without a nation to call home, and many have started to scatter.

Some are joining up with Seattle to keep up the job they were doing, using what they’ve learned for the benefit of consolidation efforts, while others are accepting attractive recruitment packages from megas and rival governments.

The real rogues are refusing to see the writing on the wall, and they treat Seattle’s independence as a secession effort to be thwarted.

Seattle Metroplex Post Office

Type: Post Office

Location: Union Street & 4th Avenue, Downtown

Description: The main offices of what once were the UCAS Post Office and now are the Seattle Metroplex Post Office were crafted over a century prior, though its seen constant updates - most recently in 2080.

It holds inside a state-of-the-art facility which serves as the main offices and distribution center for all incoming mail through the Seattle Metroplex's federal mail service in Sea-Tac.

In the 2050's it had quite a scandal when the postmater was investigated for possible connections to a Seoulpa ring and for using his position to gather and create profiles on "potential targets." Since his arrest and incarceration the office has had something of a black eye for decades.

The new Postmaster General of the Seattle Metroplex Postal Service (SMPS) has already made progress on reversing, bringing back the positive public image of the office and postal workers at large after wholeheartedly embracing local delivery services in the Seattle Underground, where drone deliveries and private companies often ignore.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Type: Airport

Location: Perimeter Road, SEA-TAC Airport

Description: SeaTac, as it’s locally known, serves over 30 air transport services moving in and out of the metroplex.

Sea-Tac offers a range of restaurants and shops for your travel convenience, including some good opportunities for those last-minute souvenirs of your visit. Be sure to explore the Salish-Shidhe Council heritage shop!

Security is handled by Lone Star, the United Corporate Council, Federated Boeing, and Knight Errant, which leaves rare exploitable gaps when they fail to coordinate efficiently.

Still, the airport remains one of the most important structures in Seattle, and every effort is made to scan luggage and freight. Astrally active passengers are AR tagged for additional scrutiny

Businesses

Aurora Village Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: 1100 North 200th Street, Aurora Village

Description: Five levels of shopping, entertainment, and restaurants make this one of downtown’s best places to shop - even if its closer to Everett than anywhere else.

The 200 businesses under its roof attracts a lot of attention, especially the bordering Everett and Snohomish populations looking for some of that Downtown glitz, glam, and goodies that their districts comparatively lack.

The two body shops, A Whole New You and the slightly better Body+Tech, are SIN-only and don’t serve outside legal implants, but if you've got the cred and the documentation and the mods you're looking for are legal, they're a decent option.

Bagley Wright Theater & The Playhouse

Type: Performing Arts Theater

Location: Boren Avenue & West Thomas St., Seattle Center

Description: The Bagley Wright Theater is home to the acclaimed Seattle Repertory Theater. The smaller Playhouse is used primarily by the Kerensky Comedy Troupe. Both offer regular live shows, so be sure to check the schedule.

The Repertory Theater has won rave reviews (and drawn some criticism from theater purists) for their incorporation of AR elements to enhance performances.

It is well worth checking out.

Body+Tech

Type: Cyberclinic

Location: Madison Street & Minor Avenue, First Hill

Description: Body+Tech has been considered a first-class choice among those looking for a body enhancement clinic since the 2050's and it still remains as a top-rated medical facility even in the 2080's, not far from the luster of luxury-class body shops like Executive Body Enhancements or Red Star.

A local corporation, Body+Tech is firmly limited to the Seattle Metroplex with 11 fully functional clinics - all of them in the Metroplex's many malls.

The clinics themselves relatively small but have a well-trained and courteous set of doctors, nurses, and orderlies that seem genuinely motivated to do well by their patients. They will help not only in the implantation of augmentations but in helpfully explaining the brands themselves with their listed strengths and weaknesses and they happily engage in cyberware maintenance unlike a lot of the larger chains.

In addition to all of the normal brands from the renowned manufacturers, Body+Tech actually offer their own product: the Verticalist Cyberarm and Verticalist Cyberleg, both of which are designed for freeclimbing.

Brackhaven Investments

Type: Investment Company

Location: 3rd Avenue & Union Street, Pike Place

Description: These offices manage the financial and investment portfolios of BI’s clients all over the world but of late they’ve proven to be a hotzone of controversy given the varied scandals of the former Governor Brackhaven administration. No doubt Kenneth thought the downfall of the UCAS might provide an out from investigations by government agencies, but he underestimated the value of both political and economic capital to be gained by the newly independent metroplex in justice and fines.

The former governor is effectively under assault by the Free City's new government, with agents of the new administration at Brackhaven Investments' headquarters at all hours combing through data for the sake of the case against Kenneth himself.

All that scrutiny has seen a lot of their clients run for the hills, sending BI stock into the crapper. Shorting it has become easy sport among casual daytraders.

Center House

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Roy St. & 4th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: This towering ten-story mall features stores and restaurants from around the world as well as a great pedestrian core that makes it a fun place to walk, window-shop, and people watch while enjoying an ice cream cone or a bag of the local roasted almonds or peanuts.

Dassurn Securities & Investments

Type: Financial Company

Location: 4th Avenue & University Street, Seattle Center

Description: Dassurn Securities and Investments (DSI) handles financial instruments: stocks, bonds, securities, and so on.

Most people don't really understand the intricacies of the stock market of the securities business. Corporations like Dassurn have considerable influence because they have their fingers on the pulse of corporate lifeblood: the rise and fall of the market

They also have considerable interest in manipulating the market to suit their own ends. Insider trading, junk bonds, illegal stock deals and such can net a lot of money with very little risk if done carefully. The financial wizards at DSI do just that, with a little help from some "special consultants" once in a while.

Emerald City Cabs

Type: Taxi Company

Location: 2nd Avenue & Wall Street, Seattle Center

Description: Emerald City Cabs is a metroplex-based taxi company which gears itself towards family-style, no-frills transportation.

Their fleet is only ten years out of date (maybe a little more, depending on the specific garage) and they employee several thousand metroplex residents without a care to their metatype and their dispatch offices and garages have a few contracts with the metroplex government which allows them to train and employ those with a criminal SIN.

While some find the idea of actually being driven somewhere a novelty, those with physical disabilities, passengers with heavy suitcases, and people traveling to places where they know there are shortcuts or GridGuide isn't the best tend to choose Emerald City Cabs for their prices and availability.

Executive Body Enhancements

Type: Cyberclinic

Location: 501 South Jackson St., International District

Description: A private cyber-clinic in the International District and part of the Executive Body Enhancements chain, this place caters primarily to local and visiting Japanese suits looking for minor upgrades, from eyes and data to a “downstairs elevator” for the older gentlemen (“all night, every night”), but they also do a fair amount of business with the Yakuza, which makes them a potential source of information as well as a target. Dr. Eji Komatsu is the head surgeon and a skilled cutter with over 15 years experience.

They’ve got a rep for quality work, but you can expect to pay accordingly, and keep a close eye out to make sure whatever work you’re having done doesn’t get reported back to the Yaks (if you’re worried about that kind of thing).

Federated Boeing Offices

Type: Business Offices

Location: Corson Avenue & East Marginal Way, Georgetown

Description: This 70-story skyscraper contains the main business offices of Federated Boeing, which coordinate the company’s other facilities throughout the metroplex area and around the world.

Federated Boeing Shipyards

Type: Shipyard

Location: Southwest Florida Street & 26th Avenue Southwest, West Seattle

Description: These shipyards construct and test Federated Boeing’s hydroplanes and hovercraft for both military and commercial clients. The main factory and business offices are located in the 20-story building at the edge of the west waterway.

The shipyards span the Duwamish Waterway and include FB’s facilities on Harbor Island on the far side. The rail-lines still bring in parts and supplies to the cargo area to the west of the shipyard, and the place is a virtual maze of structures, shipping containers, and the like.

Fast Freddie's Surgery

Type: Cyberclinic

Location: Pier 59, Pike Place

Description: Freddie’s Salmon Eatery provides cover for the chop shop hidden underneath, which has been providing covert medical services for years.

Fred Tschida owns both places, but makes most of his money off the body shop. He has a great eye for picking the right docs to work there, and an unusual amount of concern with patients’ health compared to most chop shops. Back during the whole mess with the Arcology, Fast Freddie’s took in a lot of people with some pretty serious injuries and got them patched up. It nearly cost them, too, when at least one guy went nuts in there.

Dr. Bruce McKittrick is Fast Freddie’s top surgeon. He oversees two others, Dr. Daniel Kim and Dr. Sarasa Salman, both of them skilled doctors. Their work isn’t cheap, but they’re the best underground clinic in downtown, maybe all of the ‘plex.

Ingersoll and Berkley Tower

Type: Business Center

Location: Aurora Avenue North & Mercer Street, Seattle Center

Description: The broad terraces of this stepped skyscraper allow a variety of conventional and aquaculture gardens to soften the building’s hard lines and provide a lovely swath of greenery in the downtown landscape.

In the spring and early summer, flowers bloom along the terraces, and tours of the rooftop gardens are available from the Ingersoll and Berkley Public Relations Department

Io Pan!

Type: Lore Shop

Location: E. Pike Street & Bolyston Avenue, Capitol Hill

Description: This small lore-store in the Capitol Hill district focuses heavily on Hermetic and European pagan goods and materials. You can easily spend an hour or more perusing through their wide selection of candles, essential oils, jewelry, and books.

This place is a long-standing Seattle landmark; it’s a hole-in the-wall, but surprisingly well stocked for all that. The owner, Harrison Kellerman, is a mean and opinionated old wizard who hates anything to do with “the New Age” with a passion. He’s a hard-core occultist, and has been known to chase wannabes out of his shop, shouting obscenities and pointing to the hand-lettered sign behind the counter that reads, “WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE.”

The store is also a good place to put the word out that you’re looking for a mage, since Harrison and his staff know their business and can tell the real deal from the poseurs.

Lordstrung's

Type: Department Store

Location: 500 Pine Street, Seattle Center

Description: Founded by Norwegian immigrant Jens N. Lordsterke (Anglicized to James Lordstrung on arrival to the U.S.) and Erik G. Pallman in 1898, Lordstrung's has emerged to become one of the most successful and well known luxury department store chains in the world.

The outside of their Seattle flagship store matches the Emerald City AR perfectly, it’s the standard to which the rest of the city sets itself, much like their customer service and other businesses.

Inside though, as the same for every Lordstrungs, it’s an off-white clean and streamlined motif with animated interactive models wearing the menu items.

There are the general departments where top brand names can be found; such as Active Wear, Men’s Wear, Children’s Wear, Handbags, Fragrances, Gifts, Jewelry, Lingerie, and Make-up.

Strategically placed between the general departments are the special-focus departments that cater to specific apparel and items; Chrome Peach (teen and 20-something’s designer apparel and shoes), Elegance (top designer apparel such as Vashion Island and Zoe), Insight (up and coming designer apparel), Personal Vistas (women’s business wear), and Studio Shoes (designer shoes).

As their first location, the Downtown Lordstrung's also includes the newest departments spawned primarily from the imaginations of the owning family's youngest children: InnerYou (lingerie), Civilized Armour (meta-friendly men’s fashion), and Polite Society (holsters, scabbards, and other fashionable weapon’s accessories).

Every department store also sports a café where employees and customers are encouraged to grab lunch during their shopping experience and the world renowned mBar; a coffee bar that serves only real coffee and has state of the art AR menus that allow you to continue to browse while you sit and relax with your favorite drink and pastries.

The basement level also includes a cleaned-up and welcoming entrance to Zone One of the Seattle Underground.

Lou's Tattoos

Type: Tattoo Parlor

Location: Roosevelt Way Northeast & Northeast 65th Street, Roosevelt

Description: Looking for a long-lasting reminder of your visit to Seattle? Then you might want to visit the place voted #1 tattoo parlor in the metroplex. Lou, the proprietor, still does most of the tattoo work himself, and you can get anything from traditional ink to biolum, nanotats, or full-body dye jobs.

Make sure you have some idea what you want before you sit down in that chair, though, or schedule a consultation with Lou to create your own unique design, because Lou’s doesn’t do “off the wall” tattoos; each is an original piece of art.

Does your body deserve any less?

McKuen's Scrap & Salvage Yard

Type: Salvage Yard

Location: 3rd Avenue & Madison Street, Pike Place

Description: This fenced-off lot contains neatly organized piles of scrap machinery standing in tall rows, like a quietly rusting tech-farm.

Janey McKuen inherited this place from her dad, and she’s a grease monkey through and through: able to tear apart and rebuild engines, servos, you name it.

The hulks in her yard range from old cars and trucks to various drone bodies she has collected over the years. Janey pays a decent price for salvage and makes it back by stripping off any useful parts and selling them to customers looking for spares, “good prices for good junk,” just like her old man used to say.

Metroplex Transport

Type: Luxury Chauffeur Company

Location: 4th Avenue North & Prospect Street, Seattle Center

Description: Metroplex Transport is a locally-owned luxury chauffer service that offers the highest quality vehicles and drivers, rentable either by the hour or on long-term contract, throughout the entirety of the Seattle Metroplex. Their fleet of limousines, sedans, SUVs, VTOL aircraft, and watercraft are always fueled and at the ready for when those who need to arrive in style also need to arrive safely and on-time.

A thorough credit and SIN scan are required to hire Metroplex Transport's services, as it banks its reputation on its clientele and they never advertise - word of mouth is just fine by them.

Criminals aren't known to target them often, though, as their reinforced bodies, run-flat tires, and bullet resistant tinted windows leave little room for the average street thug to do anything but angrily kick at the bumper. When they do, they find the active anti-theft system is more than happy to electrify them until the authorities arrive.

Nightengale's Body Parts

Type: Cyberclinic

Location: 104 John Street, Seattle Center

Description: This 3-story glass enclosed building is a private clinic, catering to the ‘plex’s elite, essentially anyone able to afford their rates, which are top of-the-line along with their services, which include cyber- and bio-mods and their upkeep.

The clinic is named after Nurse Nightengale, an infamous hacker back in the ‘30s who retired after a big score from a couple of jobs and used some of the proceeds to set up the clinic. Nobody knows if she’s still involved with the business and the current administrator is Dr. Nicholas Flemming, an MD originally from Vancouver.

Northgate Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Northgaye Way & 1st Avenue, University District

Description: With its selection of shopping and nightlife, the Northgate Mall appeals to an upscale clientele.

You can find all the latest fashions, including the literal cutting edge in body enhancements at one of the mall’s five different body shops, plus enjoy the attractions at one of its three nightclub entertainment centers: the Play Fair, Ricky’s, or XCite.

Pike Place Market

Type: Farmer's Market

Location: Pike Street & 1st Avenue, Pike Place

Description: A famed Seattle landmark, located at the intersection of the base of Pike Street where it crosses First Avenue, under the famous market sign and clock. First opened in 1907, the Pike Place Farmer’s Market still draws numerous tourists and visitors every day to wander through its multi-leveled collection of farmer’s stalls, kaf culture kiosks, book and antique shops, bakers, crafters, herbalists, and more.

Particularly well known is the fish market, where fishermen sell their catch on beds of ice, fresh from the lakes and the sea, and tourists stop to watch them call out orders and toss fish to each other, expertly filleting and deboning them with sharp knives. The Market is a great place to buy some of the freshest food in Seattle and to sample all kinds of local delicacies while soaking in the culture and atmosphere of the various shops.

There’s a life-size brass statue of a pig out in front of the fish market. It was long believed that rubbing the pig’s head or snout would bring good luck, and you can see the more polished brass there from countless hands. Thing is, after the Awakening, the brass pig - Rachel - became the vessel for a guardian spirit associated with the Market.

Even though people don’t live there, the place is always “inhabited” and has a community, magically speaking. People tend to believe Rachel grants blessings to those she likes, and she safeguards Pike Place and its people from harm.

Renton Shopping Center

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Rainier Avenue South & Houser Way South, Bryn Mawr

Description: Located just on the border with the Renton district, the Renton Shopping Center is four levels of shopping to suit almost any taste and priced to fit a family budget.

Which is to say, bland and gentrified, and expensive enough to keep the real low-lifes out, especially since the mall association offered out a tasty new security contract that Horizon's Minuteman Security snatched up just a few years ago.

Since then, their issues with juvie thrillgangers and wiz-kids have mostly subsided.

Seattle Star

Type: Taxi Company

Location: Madison Street & Boren Avenue, First Hill

Description: A flashy, first-class private driving service that services exclusively the Seattle Metroplex - and not all of it, they won't so much as touch either Barrens or anywhere rural - Seattle Star bills itself as the middle class' closest affordable approximation of luxury driving services. The drivers themselves are extensively background checked, have a good knowledge of the metroplex at large, and are all physically able to help out their passengers with luggage, the storing of wheelchairs, or helping deploy their fleet's built-in child safety seating.

While a lot tend to scoff at Seattle Star since they never go anywhere that the driver would need to drive, they're definitely not the target audience and Seattle Star bills itself on allowing anyone who can afford them to ride in plush, climate controlled seating with complimentary ice water.

Seattle University

Type: Private University

Location: 1701 Broadway, First Hill

Description: The ivy-covered halls of Seattle University offer a wide range of courses and degree programs, but it is best known for its Masters in Magical Theory and Arts, the most prestigious such program in the metroplex (closely rivaled by Pacific University).

SeaSource Archives, Downtown Branch

Type: Library

Location: 1000 4th Avenue, Downtown

Description: Once the Seattle Public Library, the archives represent the greatest publicly accessible source of physical media in the metroplex, from hardcopy books and periodicals to microfiche and cassettes, and the means to play them.

While most of this information is available online, with more available every year through scanning and updating services, vast stores of old data remain to be discovered at a very modest price - Seattle citizens pay a modest access fee of ¥2 (or a ¥15 per year membership).

Stoddard Security

Type: Security Corporation

Location: Roy St. & 6th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: A small-time security firm with prime Downtown Seattle real estate.

Royce Stoddard - the founder and business guru who got the popular restaurant Damian's off the ground - put his (and his wealthy friend's) well earned nuyen into this small-time private security firm because his son RJ (Royce Junior) refused to join Knight Errant in the early 2070's when Lone Star left town.

Stoddard Security (you gotta love those initials) is just as poisonously racist as Royce and RJ want it to be and they tend to hire almost exclusively out of the Humanis Policlub. Their "type" hasn't changed in years, and SS is made up of professional legbreakers who take any and all opportunities to hassle metahumans on behalf of their clients.

Stuffer Shack

Type: Convenience Shop

Location: Madison Street & 9th Avenue, First Hill

Description: From soymilk to the latest Simsense chip, Stuffer Shack offers the widest variety of goods 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year at locations throughout the entire Seattle Metroplex.

The Madison and 9th Avenue location in central Seattle is Stuffer Shack's largest and offers the most complete inventory around with four floors of shopping that offer you everything you could ever want.

The Blue Moon Lore Store

Type: Magic Shop

Location: 16th Avenue & University St., University District

Description: A cozy little spot with an impressive selection, this University District magic shop is owned by Dylan Pike, Grand Master of the Hermetic Order of the Auric Aurora, one of Seattle’s first magical orders. It serves both the local Hermetic Studies student body and as headquarters for the Order.

Attitudes at the Blue Moon can be a bit snobbish, but the store’s excellent reputation is deserved.

University of Washington

Type: Private University

Location: Montalke Boulevard Northeast, University District

Description: The Pacific Northwest’s oldest university, U-Dub maintains partnership with several megacorporations to provide top-flight computer science programs, though its expanding thaumaturgy departments have turned out both excellent graduates and scientific developments

Weapons World

Type: Weapon Shop

Location: 6th Avenue & Olive Way, Downtown

Description: The Downtown Weapons World location is the flagship of Diderson Ksyogi's 33 stores in the Seattle Metroplex. It offers a bewildering array of weapons.

On the second floor are several small test ranges where customers can try out the weapons before they buy them. There is even a small combat simulator arena on the third floor for those who want to see how a weapon stands up in battle.

Diderson Ksyogi himself retired from running the business directly just before the Crash 2.0, leaving it as the jewel in the parent company's (Monobe International) crown. Monobe International has since expanded Weapons World into a worldwide franchise, with one location in the largest metroplex on every continent.

WP Express

Type: Taxi Company

Location: 3rd Avenue & West Highland Drive, Queen Anne

Description: This luxury taxi service and limousine rental is one of several such services in Seattle, and can be booked for single rides, round trips or several days.

If you have the necessary nuyen and do not want to drive with greasy GridCabs and want to be chauffeured in style, then you are exactly the right client for WP Express.

WP Express primarily serves corporate customers, and also offers taxi services for such taxis on many routes.

WP Express also operates two limousine taxi routes - A2D (Airport to Downtown) and A2B (Airport to Bellevue), which have now established themselves among frequent travelers and enjoy great popularity, especially with traveling businesspeople.

The vehicles are chic, the drivers are well trained and polite and not only software, and the prices are appropriate. A2D costs at least 70 nuyen for one ride, A2B is not available under 100 nuyen.

YMCA

Type: Health Club

Location: University Street & 4th Avenue, Downtown

Description: Just north of the Arcology, the Seattle headquarters of the Y is also one of the organizations largest branches. It has full service swimming pools, two gyms, health and wellness offices, on-staff medical personnel, and hundreds of rooms and programs catering to parent-child programs, youth development, and even cheap rooms which are available to travelers with a SIN.

The rooms themselves are effectively coffins and there's no possibility of extended stay in this location but the foot traffic speaks to the Y's popularity even after sixty years of operation in this location.

Medical

CityHealth Health Maintenance Organization

Type: Hospital

Location: East Thomas Street & Bolyston Avenue East, Capitol Hill

Description: The main offices and headquarters of the Seattle Metroplex's primary health maintenance organization, CityHealth, is a particularly stunning, stout campus just a stone's throw from the Aztechnology pyramid and covered in a ludicris amount of green space.

This green space tends to have a calming effect, which is really useful because the poorest of the poor in Downtown flock to the CityHealth hospital at all hours of the day and Lone Star often struggles to keep up with the demands of shooing SINless or houseless folks away from campus.

To help the beleagured Capitol Hill precinct, the Seattle Government recently placed a Metroplex Guard military police station nearby, which Aztechnology is none too thrilled about.

Group Health Central Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 201 East 16th Avenue, Capitol Hill

Description: This hospital building in Capitol Hill was declared a historical landmark in 2048, as a prime example of late-90s architecture.

The campus is also home to the Group Health Cooperative’s Family Health Center, Family Beginnings Birthing Center, Women’s Center, Teen Pregnancy Clinic, and other facilities.

The Group Health Cooperative facilities are some of the only places in the metroplex where people in need can go for care: their free clinics are actually free and they don’t ask a lot of questions.

There’s been at least one scandal involving Central Hospital staff members selling black-market organs, and although the administration claims to have cleaned up the problem, rumors persist that it’s still happening.

Harborview Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 325 9th Avenue, Seattle Center

Description: A top hospital specializing in burn and emergency medicine, associated with the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Harborview’s lesser-known specialties are neurology and the treatment of mental illness.

There are always research projects and studies going on concerning the operation of the brain and the diagnosis and treatment of mental problems.

One area of study in the past couple of years has been AIPS, which has supposedly branched off into research involving technomancers and their specifically-related conditions.

Mitsuhama Public Health Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 1200 12th Avenue South, International District

Description: This hospital is noteworthy for its work program for the handicapped, as well as research into the treatment of disabilities through biological enhancement.

A “public” hospital, this place is another HMO owned by MCT. They’re most interested in the cybernetic research that goes on, often with hopelessly handicapped patients as willing guinea pigs, since they feel they’ve got nothing to lose.

University Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 1959 NE Pacific St, University District

Description: University Hospital is a major research and teaching hospital connected with the University of Washington.

They remain at the forefront of medical research in the metroplex Making their various research programs of keen interest to medical and bio-tech corporations, many of whom fund said programs.

A lot of University Hospital’s research involves collaboration with the comp sciences and engineering specialists of UW on cybernetics and man machine interfaces.

Corporate Enclaves

Haukshorn Chemicals Complex

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: Roosevelt Way Northeast & Northeast 50th Street, University District

Description: Haukshorn Chemicals built its twin red and blue skyscrapers in 2038. Since then, the buildings, as well as the company, have been steadily going downhill.

The metallic colors that used to shine at night are now dull, dingy, and stained by acid rain.

Tours of the edifice are still interesting but also reveal how much decline it has suffered.

The Haukshorn's many legal woes, sloppy management, and numerous pollution lawsuits have left the corporation nearly bankrupt as far back as 2050. There are rumors that the Haukshorn family is looking to sell the company.

Their factories, particularly the ones in Puyallup and Redmond, have been polluting Seattle for almost 90 years.

Lone Star Security Building

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: 2nd Avenue & Union Street, Pike Place

Description: Looking like a truncated pyramid covered in blue tinted mirror glass, this building houses the main offices of Lone Star Security Services in Seattle.

Tours of the building and the company’s Museum of Law Enforcement run every hour on the hour.

This place is designed like a fortress: 20 below-ground levels surrounded by natural earth and astral containment barriers with an arsenal of weapons, patrol cars, assault vehicles, and more. The above ground portions of the building are heavily reinforced with bulletproof composite windows and a rigged security system.

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies Complex

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: MLK Jr. Way & 68th Avenue South, Tukwila

Description: The 6 black-and-chrome towers of MCT spike into the sky like a claw, sealed off from visitors and almost completely self-sufficient as they oversee North American operations for the megacorporation.

This is the epitome of MCT's infamous zero-zone: you’re not going to find tighter, or more lethal security which to date there are no tales of a team surviving whole and in one piece (let alone alive).

The Aztechnology Pyramid

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: Broadway Avenue E. & East Harrison St., Capitol Hill (main entrance)

Description: The imposing Aztechnology North America Complex may not be the highest point in the Seattle skyline, but is unique style more than makes up for whatever it lacks in size. A step pyramid in Aztlan style, its walls are made of white quartz crystal a half-meter thick, carved in mythological symbols. By day, it’s an unobtrusive gray, but at night it lights up, becoming one of the most distinctive corporate strongholds in Seattle. On Aztec holy days, the lights shift to a blood red.

The ground floor is open to the public, with a variety of shops and Aztec-Mex restaurants dispensing Aztechnology goods at excellent prices.

The upper floors of the building are office space, housing for on-site employees (including employee-only shopping areas), and the executive offices for Aztechnology North America in the uppermost floors.

It also houses a 1,000-soldier strong battalion of the 5th Leopard Guard, 250 standard facility security, bound spirits, incredible warding, rooftop missile batteries, weekly changed RFID codes... anyone trying to get in without authorization is going to have their hands full.

The pyramid is home to blood-magic rituals that even those powerful wards cannot contain. Whether they are prosperity observances or even darker rites, the energy of it overflows into the surrounding area. For those who can feel it, it’s scarier than even the Leopard Guards.

Wuxing Towers

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: Roosevelt Way & 50th Street, University District

Description: A pair of blue-and-red-tinted skyrakers host the North American headquarters for Wuxing.

Perpetually under construction to realign their qi with feng shui architecture, Wuxing has become a hotbed of activity with fresh efforts to expand on their shipping contracts in light of the fall of the UCAS.

Wuxing Worldwide Shipping connects ports such as Seattle to Hong Kong, Singapore, and other points in Asia, the Pacific, California, and South America.

Tours are available of the towers’ lower floors, including their displays of Chinese art and culture.

Wuxing’s wujen are second to-none when it comes to energy alignment, so a decent amount of the displays of Chinese “art and culture” in Wuxing’s corporate HQ is part of the feng shui their corporate magicians do to improve the flows of chi around the place and create a harmonious and prosperous work environment, as well as protect them from bad enemy mojo. Strange though it may sound, it seems to work pretty well, since Wuxing’s magical defenses are first-class.

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