Renton

Renton is home to almost a quarter million mostly middle-class, mostly law-abiding, mostly SIN-toting wageslaves and for the most part they don’t like people outside of their group. But there are plenty of exceptions to the general rule and there’s more to Renton than suburban streets and endless rows of apartments. For starters, Renton is one of the main retail centers of the metroplex. Auburn Center and the Renton Center Mall are the two largest, with dozens of smaller malls and shopping centers scattered across the district. That doesn’t even count the endless chain stores and restaurants on every main street. With all the suburban sprawl, you may be surprised to find so much green space. The entire area is dotted with parks, waterways, and lakes, designed to be easily reachable from the residential areas. Cougar Mountain Resort maintains a pristine forest around the Squak Mountain ski slopes and in East Renton the Tiger Mountain forest supports a thriving logging industry. There are also thousands of acres of farmland separating the forest from the suburbs.

There are other types of exceptions, too. The veneer of bourgeois respectability might be bright and polished in the suburbs but it’s extremely thin. You don’t have to dig very deep to find the rot underneath. The Yakuza run chip houses and bunraku parlors in back rooms and Mafia-owned gambling houses and bookies are never hard to find. Humanis has a long history with significant support here. At night, the streets are terrorized by the Blood Mountain Boys and other go-gangs, while in back alleys, the Night Hunters look for new victims.

The Renton suburbs have a particular feel, and depending on your personality and background, it can range from “like home” to “a plastic, suffocating, living hell.

Major Neighborhoods

Christopher

The C-rated lower-middle-class Christopher is just about as close to a slum as Renton gets (except for the unofficial Olympic City) but it has power, water, functional sewers, and public transportation.

Many of the human residents are down-and-out SINners, living in government-owned housing complexes and surviving on government programs and handouts from charity organizations. Those who are slightly better off stay in crowded low-rent apartment buildings and take whatever work they can find, primarily in construction or low-end service jobs.

Orks and humans are sharply divided in the neighborhood, living in heavily segregated neighborhoods with each blaming the other for their poor living conditions. The few elves and dwarfs living in Christopher are usually subject to hostility from both sides.

Wandering into a block where you don’t belong is a sure way to get some verbal abuse or even a physical assault. People get killed every day here for being on the wrong street.

Alcoholism, chip abuse, and street drug use are rampant, with organized crime and gangs having a substantial presence. The local chapter of the Renton Neighborhood Watch, called the South Watch, is just as segregated as the neighborhood, with watch teams being either all human or all ork.

The Night Hunters are a constant threat to the non-human residents while the Crimson Crush has formed a new south chapter in the area that’s quickly gaining recruits.

Cougar Mountain

Cougar Mountain has the old resort area and a relatively new neighborhood being developed along the 900 corridor southeast of the mountain with most of the new growth centered around the Apep Consortium Library.

The Cougar Mountain neighborhood carries an A security rating from OmniStar.

Issaquah

Issaquah is a mixed-use commercial/residential area and has a high population density with most of its residents living in low-rent apartment buildings.

It is the oldest neighborhood in north Renton, carries a B security rating from OmniStar, and is best described as a lower-middle, working-class neighborhood.

It has a higher percentage of SINless and metahumans than most other Renton neighborhoods but the rest of the residents don’t seem to mind very much.

The Mafia and the Yakuza both have a strong presence in Issaquah, with chips, drugs, gambling, and sex workers all being easy to find.

Kent

Running along Route 167 south of Maplewood and west of Lake Meridian, Kent is the next step down on the economic ladder.

This B-rated area is more diverse than many Renton neighborhoods and like Issaquah is a mixed-use area.

It’s also a working-class neighborhood and the local stronghold of organized crime, with almost every local business having ties to either the Yakuza or the Mafia.

Four Lakes and Spring Lake

East Renton shares a heavily forested border with the Salish-Shidhe Council.

Past the woodlands, Four Lakes and Spring Lake are both lightly populated, mostly rural neighborhoods. Spring Lake is heavily agri-business and food processing, while Four Lakes leans more toward logging, lumber mills, and woodworking shops. Both neighborhoods have a large percentage of metahuman residents - primarily orks but many trolls have found a home in the Four Lakes lumber industry.

While metahumans are generally accepted, the SINless are usually unwelcome in the area and are encouraged to move along as soon as possible. The OmniStar AA ratings of these two neighborhoods seem to be the result of an extremely effective, mixed-metatype chapter of the Renton Neighborhood Watch and not from any special effort on the part of Knight Errant or Lone Star.

Despite the general law-and-order attitude, the Blood Mountain Boys have an active presence in the area, with many members living here. The Boys seem to get along fine with the local Watch, with some members in both organizations, since the BMB conduct their more illegal activities in other neighborhoods.

Lake Youngs

Located south and east of downtown Renton is the relatively wealthy AAA-rated neighborhood surrounding Lake Youngs.

Residents are mostly lower-tier corporate executives, established professionals and highly skilled tech workers.

Before the Apep library moved in, almost all of Renton’s mages lived in Lake Youngs, since the upscale neighbors usually didn’t have issues about living next to a magician. Renton’s independent software industry was also centered here a decade ago, and many of those companies still operate as subsidiaries of larger corporations.

Service workers in the neighborhood’s numerous shops and restaurants almost all commute in from other areas.

Lake Meridian

The A-rated area of Lake Meridian runs alongside the Auburn border and is a slightly less well-off version of Maple Valley and a close demographic match to Maplewood.

Residents are overwhelmingly middle-class SINners. Racial makeup in this area is about 75% human, 10% elf, with dwarfs, trolls, and other making up the balance. This area is the bastion of Renton Neo-American Tribalism and any deviation from the suburban norm will draw attention.

Maplewood

Just outside downtown Renton, the surrounding A-rated suburban neighborhoods are collectively known as Maplewood.

The suburban sprawl is a mix of retail chain stores, restaurants, single-family housing, and low-rise apartment complexes.

Residents work in the local service industry, commute to downtown Renton, or take the longer commute to Downtown Seattle. Numerous Mafia and Yakuza establishments can be found with a little discreet searching; both organizations are very active here but put a lot of effort into keeping their operations out of sight.

Maple Valley

Southeast of Lake Youngs and along the Auburn border is the upper-middle-class AA-rated neighborhood of Maple Valley.

The area consists of single-family housing and condominium complexes mixed in with small shopping centers, retail chain stores, and restaurants. Most residents commute to white-collar jobs in nearby Auburn or hold management positions in Renton’s sprawling service industry.

Olympic City

Located east of Issaquah and just across I-90 from Olympic Park, Olympic City was built on the Tradition Lake plateau to house athletes and support staff during the 2076 Olympic Games.

Numerous hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs also sprang up on the undeveloped land, believing the influx of tourists would kickstart development.

After the games ended the housing facilities were shuttered, and the commercial developments slowly died off, SINless squatters started to migrate into the neighborhood from other districts. Many of these new immigrants were ork families displaced by the gentrification of the Seattle Underground.

A second wave of new residents started arriving in the neighborhood after the Seattle government reclaimed the housing facilities, relocating people from the ACHE to the area.

Olympic City currently has a C rating from OmniStar, up from the Knight Errant D, mainly because the government is requiring them to provide some service to the new residents.

Downtown Renton

The old Renton downtown is separated from the Seattle Downtown district by Route 167 and it is the economic center of the district.

Densely populated, the residents of the AA-rated neighborhood mostly occupy downtown Renton’s many high-rise residential buildings.

Local employers are a mix of industrial, professional, and service industries while a large percentage of residents commute to the Seattle Downtown district each day.

Tiger Mountain

Tiger Mountain is an unrated wilderness area with no official population and no corporate law enforcement. The entire area is heavily forested except for a north-central section that is still affected by Mount Rainier’s last big ash fall.

Access comes through a network of logging roads, and what little infrastructure exists is there to support the logging industry and the Metroplex Border Patrol, which maintains a series of outpost buildings and runs regular patrols along the Seattle side of the border.

Places of Interest

Hotels

Lake Youngs Hilton

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥500

Location: 192nd Street Southeast & 148th Avenue, Lake Youngs

Description: This twelve-story luxury hotel is built on the shore of Lake Youngs and surrounded by Renton’s most upscale residential developments.

The ground floor of the hotel includes a small shopping mall built out over part the lake. Several of the bars and restaurants in the mall have lower levels with glassed-in viewing areas for an underwater experience.

Security in the hotel and the mall is top-notch all across the board—astral, Matrix, and physical which is why it’s popular with the traveling corporate suits looking for all the protection of home.

Renton Inn

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★

Price: ¥150

Location: Sunset Boulevard & Aberdeen Avenue Northeast, Downtown Renton

Description: The Renton Inn Company has some two-dozen family-style hotels located throughout the Seattle Metroplex with another dozen in California.

This location is their first and it remains the corporate headquarters and flagship of their holdings. The Renton Inns offer excellent accommodations at an affordable rate, and often work closely with local tourist companies and attractions to offer discounts to their guests.

Inquire with the concierge desk about package deals.

Liberty Bell Coffins

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★

Price: ¥50

Location: North 2nd Street & Garden Avenue North, Downtown Renton

Description: The Liberty Bell Coffins are located in the basement of an office building, with the hotel's entrance available only from the side and rear. Gaudy AROs, banners of the UCAS and USA, and memorabilia of the Neo-American Tribalist's wet dream adorn all the walls, the exterior storefront, and every room.

Each room contains two coffins with a shared bathroom and shower and every morning the lobby plays a variety of American battle hymns once it hits ten in the morning. Many consider the place an awful level of gaudy but its remarkably clean, the coffins themselves are air conditioned, and you could do a lot worse than a sub-basement coffin hotel that actually offers a breakfast bar.

Restaurants

Azteca International South

Type: Aztlan Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥¥

Location: North 28th Place & Burnett Avenue, Downtown Renton

Description: Located right on Lake Washington, this fine restaurant specializes in Aztec-Mex cuisine and fresh seafood with a pleasant, airy atmosphere.

Patio dining with a lake view is available in good weather and evening diners enjoy a charming view of the Lake at night.

Azteca International is very exclusive and it can afford to demand ¥3,000 per year for its reservation app, the Azteca International Diner's Card. Without this app, it is hardly possible to get a table in an Azteca International without long advance lead.

Greasy Ben's

Type: Barbecue Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 37th Street Northeast & C Street Northeast, Christopher

Description: Lovers of down-home barbeque might enjoy the fare at this aptly named establishment, but most will find it too heavy or over-spiced, albeit cheap.

It also mostly seems to be nothing more than a thin cover for the illegal chop shop operated out of the back room.

Old Doc Sanderson has been a street doc in various Christopher locations for decades and had a good reputation with those having no other options for medical care but her ties to the Yakuza mean they always take top priority.

Mon Hing Restaurant and Bar

Type: Chinese-American Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: South Central Avenue & I-516, Kent

Description: This small and dimly lit restaurant offers sub-par Chinese-American style food. The prices are cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for.

The service is prompt, and there is a full bar on the premises.

The Mon Hing is a favorite hangout of cops from the West Kent police station nearby as well as former Lone Star employees. It’s a good place to look for some down-and-out muscle with experience on the other side of the law.

Rickey's Ratburgers

Type: Orkish Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: Main Street West & Lund Road, Christopher

Description: The newest addition to the Auburn Center mall food court, Rickey’s Ratburgers caused a bit of a scandal when it was first announced.

Rickey - as in the owner himself - is from the Underground and he opened a shop targeting the orks who’d moved up when he did to give them a slice of “home cooking” but health code issues hit him hard.

He had to switch to SoyRat and he still hasn’t got the taste right - close enough for young ones who want to give it a try. The rest of his offerings come highly recommended, especially by ex-Undergrounders.

His grey gravy is to die for and you can dip about anything into it and it works. Rickey's “Side o’ Shroom” sells out every single day during the lunch rush.

Shirley's Ghost

Type: Novelty Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Southeast 208th Street & 132nd Avenue Southeast, Lake Youngs

Description: This offbeat bar and grill was called “the Terror Pit” back in the ’50s and early ’60s, decorated in a neo-Goth faux-Halloween style and serving gross-out “un-appetizers” like fake eyeballs and “pasta ’n’ guts.” It’s not for everyone.

When the prior owner, Shirley McElyea, a former MCT wagemage, passed away in 2067, the new owners changed the name of the establishment to honor her memory, and the regulars frequently make her “ghost” appear there.

Some say the illusion is really Shirley, some say its an illusion, but the strange part is that no one really knows whether its her ghost or not - or, frag, what ghosts even are to begin with!

Smiley's New England Cuisine

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: North 5th Street & Pelly Avenue North, Downtown Renton

Description: Billed as a family restaurant, Smiley's is most known for it's breadsticks, New England style clam chowder, proximity to the Federated-Boeing Renton Facility, and family-friendly atmosphere.

It caters mostly to the middle-class residents of Renton and opens at noon to serve lunch to many Federated-Boeing employees and Downtown Renton residents. Make sure to call ahead over the weekend, as it requires a reservation for Friday dinner service and both over Saturday and Sunday.

Only a few years ago, Smiley's was a run-down place but since independence the revitalization effort in Downtown Renton has led it to cleaning up its act. Its reputation as a sketchy place filled with sketchy characters has mostly been washed away, mainly because staff actively remove people who aren't to standard from the premises.

Samuel Earling, the owner, has a reputation for fixer-uppers and owns both this and the Anderson Lounge in Tacoma. He's also embroiled in a battle for local politics, and there are a lot of stories about his past. Some say he ran the shadows, some say he got kicked out of Aztechnology, and some even say that he had to flee the United Kingdom because he was a shadowrunner. He has a few strong allies but is definitely facing an uphill battle due to his prior associations - mainly confirmed sightings of him and Neo-Anarchist activists.

Wanda's Witchery

Type: American Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Southeast 208th Street & 148th Avenue Southeast, Lake Youngs

Description: This family-style restaurant may be known for its comfort food but the owner, Wanda Dato, is a well-known Seattle performer and magician.

Wanda’s features an Open Circle Night several times a week that is the real draw for the place. A variety of local artists and magicians show up to perform anything from music and poetry to magical illusion shows.

Wanda is also known to take center stage from time to time to entertain her guests.

McKraken's Seafood

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Jason Avenue North & Cedar Street, Kent

Description: McKraken's Seafood is a middle-class, sit-down restaurant that has it's claim to fame thanks to their unlimited KrillSticks promotion.

Not a lot of people recognize - or care - that the KrillSticks themselves are just shaped and flavored processed soy with a little extra fishiness but between those and the downright addictive cheddar biscuits, McKraken's makes a killing just after church on Sundays and for every kind of event that includes a party of ten or less.

Bangkok Hut

Type: Thai-Chinese Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: 145th Place Southeast & Southeast 142nd Street, Maplewood

Description: Bangkok Hut is a Thai-Chinese middle-class sit-down restaurant that mostly exists to make those who can't afford to come anywhere better feel stylish. The lighting is always a nice, warm yellow shade and the interior decor consists of paper lantern style wallpaper, faux dark wood trimmings, and equally faux dark wood plastic furniture.

More recent locations have cherry blossom trees inside and the ARs in these sorts of places are absolutely egregious, with a mixture of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese writing in the "art" pieces which are equally ethnically confused.

The bar and lounge area are stand-out, though, even if the food is purely the American side of Chinese-American and often little more than fast food placed on a pretty square platter to share.

Bars & Clubs

Type: Private Club

Location: 77 Southwest Sunset Boulevard, Downtown Renton

Description: Some places are famous for their popularity - 77 is famous for its exclusivity. Using the street address as the name, the entrance is a nondescript walk-up between a bar and a men’s clothing store. The interior is done up in the style of a 1960s Las Vegas gentlemen’s club, with lots of leather, brass, polished wood, and the very best in food and spirits. The nightly entertainment is also said to be the best offered anywhere in the metroplex.

Only members and their guests can get inside, and members are responsible for their guests’ behavior, including payment for any damage they may cause. The basic membership fee is two thousand nuyen a year, and the only way to become a member is to be sponsored by one.

Privacy and security are taken very seriously by the owner. He’s told me that scramblers and shielding block all outside Matrix traffic, and powerful magical wards circle the place. For those who can manage a membership, 77 is a very secure place to conduct business

Hole in the Wall

Type: Bar

Location: Maple Valley Highway & Southeast Jones Road, Four Lakes and Spring Lake

Description: It would be hard to imagine a better name for this place than Hole in the Wall. It’s a rough place catering to rough customers from the local lumber camps and farms.

The bar also seems to be popular with shadowrunners for some reason.

The owner, Jeanie Trudel, is a hugely built ork woman who seems to know everyone coming through the door. She does her best to keep the peace but fistfights among the patrons seems to be the local equivalent of a sporting event and are regular occurrences.

Big Jeanie operates as a part-time fixer of sorts; she can always rustle up some muscle for a job. Need a dozen trolls with chainsaws? No problem

The Italiano

Type: Nightclub

Location: 108th Avenue Southeast & 208th Street Southeast, Kent

Description: For a night out and a change of pace, visit the Italiano and enjoy some old-fashioned swing music and dancing, along with a fine selection of cocktails. Bring your dancing shoes!

A large dance floor with nightly live bands are the main draws of this local nightclub. It’s an open secret that the management of the Italiano recruits for the Mafia, making the place a popular hangout for would-be made men.

Directly across the street from the Murdered Mime, it’s also known for nightly brawls and gunfights in the parking lot as both the Yakuza and Mafia prospects try to prove themselves by taking on the opposition.

The Murdered Mime

Type: Nightclub

Location: 108th Avenue Southeast & 204th Street Southeast, Kent

Description: Decorated in a black-and-white theatrical theme, the Murdered Mime has a reputation for putting some of the metroplex’s best up-and-coming music acts on stage.

It’s also famous for low drink prices, a good beer selection, a spacious dancing floor, and for being a Yakuza hangout. New recruits and low-level kobun both believe the place is a good spot to earn a reputation. With the Italiano directly across the street, opposition is never in short supply. Brawls and gunfights in the two parking lots are a nightly occurrence.

A few years ago, a Knight Errant cop was killed in the club. Afterward, a big deal was made about new management coming in, but it looks like it was just a cover story to protect the owners, since nothing has actually changed.

The Umbra Club

Type: Bar

Location: North 4th Street & Factory Avenue North, Downtown Renton

Description: This nondescript little bar west of Route 405 in downtown Renton seems to have an unusual amount of traffic through the rear stockroom door.

Truth is, the only reason for the bar to exist is that back door and the set of stairs behind it going down to Zone Twelve of the Seattle Underground.

The patch of subterranean turf under the bar is part of a network of hideouts and hidden tunnels known as “The Umbra,” which is used by an assortment of gangers, criminals, and shadowrunners.

Attractions

Cougar Mountain Resort

Type: Resort

Location: 182nd Avenue Southeast & 102nd Street Southeast, Cougar Mountain

Description: Located on one of the largest tracts of pristine forestland left in the Metroplex, the Cougar Mountain Resort Complex covers the east slopes of Cougar Mountain and the entirety of Squak Mountain.

The east-facing resort complex offers a full range of recreation and relaxation services, with a seven-floor resort hotel, three fine restaurants, and full spa services.

The Squak Mountain side of the complex features a ski lodge with a variety of slopes. During the summer months, the lodge offers hiking trails, rock climbing, and mountain bike rentals.

Still independently owned, the resort has survived several buyout attempts, mainly by drawing rival corps into bidding against each other and driving the price past what either is willing to pay. The latest takeover attempt was from Horizon and resulted in giving the mega a long term lease to a portion of the property, avoiding an actual hostile buyout.

Horizon Creative Focus Retreat

Type: Private Resort

Location: 1 Horizon Way, Cougar Mountain

Description: Located on the peak of Cougar Mountain, the combination luxury resort and corporate work environment is a decade old.

The only approaches to the ultra-exclusive Horizon facility are the VTOL landing pads and one carefully monitored surface road. Security is top-notch, and it’s only open to Horizon executives and support staff, so information is slim.

Officially it’s a perk offered to successful employees to stay and enjoy a working vacation with spa, gymnasium, pool, game rooms, and exercise areas.

There are also numerous meeting rooms, workstations, several bars, and according to the brochure, a restaurant offering the finest dining in Seattle.

Meredith Comfy Cubicle

Type: Abandoned Coffin Hotel

Location: 37th Street Northwest & Auburn Way North, Christopher

Description: This small, two-story converted warehouse used to be a coffin hotel; you can still see what’s left of the sign outside.

Unfortunately it got hit pretty hard in a Lone Star raid a few years ago and the owner wasn’t able to keep it going. It has been out of business since then but not entirely abandoned.

Squatters, street-people, and others use the Comfy Cubicle as a dry place to sleep from time to time, and some have even set up housekeeping. The locks on the old coffins are broken, and the place doesn’t have power, but it’s still better than nothing.

Word is the Comfy Cubicle is far from safe. People go missing there and no one has squatted there for very long. Some who have left described a terrible sense of unease and being watched, even stalked. Could be the place is haunted, or a hunting ground for something.

Renton Tri-Centennial Square

Type: Park

Location: Downtown Renton

Description: Built off of Downtown Renton's oldest park - Liberty Park - the Tri-Centennial Square is the epitome of Renton's "type." In the past it was called a WASP, but these days it’s far broader than White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The term “Neo-American Tribal” is often used to describe the type of people who live in Renton.

A curious side effect of Renton’s brand of Neo-American Tribalism is a fixation with a mythologized United States.

Even though the USA has been gone for 50 years, the 4th of July is still celebrated here every year throughout the district and the square is always packed during the 4th of July and UCAS-related holidays.

Government Buildings

Lone Star Forces Renton

Type: Police Station

Location: Downtown Renton

Description: Picking up the Seattle Metroplex security contract with no notice left OmniStar a little stretched for resources.

In order to help the Star get up to speed in the district, the Renton council donated a vacant office complex to use as a command center until proper facilities could be set up.

Operations have been hampered by an assortment of setbacks including random power outages and Matrix connection issues.

Renton District Courthouse

Type: Courthouse

Location: 640 Northeast Gilman Boulevard, Issaquah

Description: The Renton distrcit courthouse is located in scenic Issaquah and the building itself is one of the oldest in the city, let alone the district.

Both mafia and yakuza tend to hang around here like truffle hogs and the higher-than-average percentage of SINless and metahumans in Issaquah means that they tend to see the inside of the courthouse fairly regularly, for one reason or another.

Renton District Hall

Type: District Hall

Location: 220 South 4th Street, Downtown Renton

Description: There's not a lot special about Renton's administration facility.

Its located in the heart of Downtown Renton, effectively within spitting distance of the Federated-Boeing Renton facility. Federated-Boeing historically has been a major reason for Renton's financial autonomy and employs enough workers that they tend to be pretty loyal to the Federated-Boeing company line and their desires.

Security has been upgraded and improved a few times over the years, most recently after Knight Errant moved into the metroplex in the early 2070's. It still doesn’t compare with most of the other districts, however.

Shadow Lake Correctional Facility

Type: Correctional Facility

Location: Southeast 232nd Street & 196th Avenue Southeast, Maple Valley

Description: Shadow Lake is a medium-security facility for white-collar criminals, typically repeat Matrix violators. The new wing is entirely detention facilities for technomancers.

It relies on a combination of Matrix shielding, throwback equipment for the guards, and paranormal watch critters. The rest of the prison still relies heavily on electronic countermeasures and drones

Businesses

Auburn Center Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Main Street West & Lund Road, Christopher

Description: This three-floor shopping mall has traditionally catered to the lower end of the middle class and is starting to show its age.

Some of the more popular chain stores began moving out a few years ago, contributing to the perceived downward spiral, but the open space turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The management was forced to search out new clients and leased space to a variety of niche and specialty stores.

Do-it yourself Matrix equipment, magical lore and supplies, collectible retro-media, Penley's, and even a new sports café have all opened and done well.

Auburn Enhancements

Type: Cyberclinic

Location: Main Street West & Lund Road, Christopher

Description: This body enhancement shop in the Auburn Center Mall is located by the south entrance.

It can't handle alpha-grade work but it features more entry-level parts than most cyberclinics in its class.

Most notably, they have an old filing system that sometimes “forgets” data that was entered in, allowing space for someone who wants a little less attention to work done on the lowdown.

BBC Weapons Works

Type: Weapons Shop

Location: Main Street West & Lund Road, Christopher

Description: When Weapons World pulled out of the Auburn Center Mall in 2080, an ex-mercenary named Momma Dot set up shop and hasn't stopped making a killing in the high-traffic location.

As a troll in her forties, Dorothy Simms, or Momma Dot as she likes to be called, doesn’t get around so well these days. Most of the work at BBC (Breach, Bang, Clear) is handled by her son Donnie. As an ex-mercenary, Momma has an unparalleled firsthand knowledge of weapons. Even though she owns a legit business in the Auburn Mall now she still has a lot of friends in the shadows, and mistakes in inventory numbers can always happen when they need to.

Blood Monies Software

Type: Software Company

Location: 116th Avenue Southeast & 240th Street, Downtown Renton

Description: This software development company is known for its brilliant designs and unwavering honesty in its business dealings.

The resident genius of the company, Cham Lam Won, eventually took control of the company at sometime in 2050. Under the leadership of "Cham the Man" (as he's known in the Matrix) they managed to enter a limited partership with Renraku which saw the development of an entire line of cutting-edge IC for personal computers.

This partnership was so successful that Cham the Man was folded into a secret project to create a fully-functioning AI and - along with project lead Dr. Sherman Huang and fellow Matrix designer Vanessa Ellen Cliber - Cham the Man helped create the conditions for the Renraku Arcology Shutdown.

Blood Monies Software still produces some of the designs that Cham Lam Won helped pioneer, including updates to the Renraku Samurai line of personal IC for home dataterms and commlinks, but Cham the Man has retreated entirely since being liberated by Joint Task Force Seattle.

Cedar Mountain Recycling Center

Type: Recycling Center

Location: Four Lakes and Spring Lake

Description: The Cedar Mountain Recycling Center is the largest employer in Four Lakes and Spring Lake, but locals just call it the Dump.

Sitting among the hills of East Renton, the facility consists of more than a dozen buildings along the southwest edge of an enormous landfill taking over nearby valleys.

A constant line of garbage trucks enters the front buildings, where the massive amounts of trash generated by the better neighborhoods of Renton is processed. Anything that has components worth recycling is separated for recovery, while the bio-material is sent to industrial-sized plasma furnaces and broken down for fuel.

Everything left over is buried in the landfill.

The entire east side of the landfill has been off-limits to employees for months and spirits attack anyone entering these areas.

Word is that a group of ghouls led by a powerful Infected shaman have claimed the eastern valleys for themselves. If you have the muscle and magic to run them off, money’s waiting for you.

Denton's Lore Store

Type: Lore Shop

Location: Benson Road South & Puget Drive South, Downtown Renton

Description: Founded in ’41, this small talisman shop specializes in printed books. Denton’s regular stock includes new and used books on spell formulas and magical theory as well as volumes on mythology, anthropology, history, and related subjects. Reagents and various magical paraphernalia can also be bought here, along with the occasional rare or limited-edition item.

Rumors have circulated for decades about how Ol’ Man Denton occasionally acquires and sells magical items that are both extremely powerful and extremely dangerous, supposedly without regard to any potential harm they may cause to the new owner.

Old Man Denton has some kind of feud with the Apep Consortium and is refusing to sell to anyone from that organization. With the same regulars he’s always had, his business hasn’t grown along with the rest of the Renton Awakened boom

Federated-Boeing Renton Facility

Type: Factory

Location: Logan Avenue & North 6th Street, Downtown Renton

Description: This Renton facility manufactures remote piloted vehicles (RPVs), from tiny drones to huge remote cargo planes.

The latest, and currently smallest, product being made here is the new Sky Commander observation drone.

The best-known vehicle from this facility is the Herd Animal series of cargo drones. These have always been Renton products and the latest version, the Aurochs, has been out for several years now. This large, winged cargo drone is near the end of its product cycle, and a new design is in development.

Humanis Headquarters

Type: Policlub

Location: Downtown Renton

Description: While most of its members do not actually admit to being a supporter of Humanis these days, it is still a legal and well-funded international policlub.

The Renton Humanis building in Downtown Renton has survived numerous bombings and countless drive-by shootings.

The reinforced concrete structure has layers of thick ballistic glass and the only entrance for employees and visitors is through a heavily secured underground parking garage.

The old building had a “gas leak” in ’74 and had to be completely rebuilt after an explosion.

KongWalmart

Type: Department Store

Location: Northwest Dogwood Street & 1st Place Northwest, Issaquah

Description: Around the turn of the century, Wal-Mart used to wipe its hoop with American dollars. The Ghost Dance War, and the Crash of 2029 made that dream far from reality. Originally a "mom and pop" chain store, they branched out into grocery stores, warehouse clubs, and discount outlets.

Eventually they became the beast that they were around the formation of the Corporate Court and they survived as an A-rated corporation that had locations more numerous than Stuffer Shacks all across the CAS for years. Eventually their partnered with Wuxing to open Wal-Marts all across Asia and it didn't take long for their CAS locations to lag behind. That lag was enough for Wuxing to bite back and snatch up the entirety of Wal-Mart as a subsidiary and now KongWalmart is their official company name as well as the name on the marquee.

Here you can get just about anything your little heart desires from cheap plastisteel furniture for your doss to electronics like Radio Shack and Allegiance Sigma decks and Sony's simsense rigs and music playback units, to knockoffs of Armanté and Zoë clothes, to chips, stuffers, anti-pollution gear, and cheap souvenirs of whatever area you're unfortunate enough to be stuck in.

The only location in the Seattle Metroplex is rather nondescript, as KongWalmart makes most of its nuyen through massive Matrix advertising, digital storefronts, and just as much delivery as in-store pick-up and other foot traffic.

Maple Valley Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: 220th Place Southeast & Bain Road Southeast, Maple Valley

Description: Built about thirty-five years ago, the Maple Valley Mall began having problems only a few months after it opened. Guests reported feeling weird chills and seeing spectral dragons, ghostly howling warriors, and shadows with nothing to cast them.

It seems the place was built over some type of ancient site of power - rumors are that it was the death site of dragons.

Shamans from the SSC eventually came in and dug up something from under the mall. The apparitions stopped but the damage was done. People didn’t want to shop at the haunted mall; tenants started moving out. Lawsuits went back and forth, and a few years later the place closed completely.

Since then the owners have tried several different tactics to generate revenue including haunted tours and a semi-permanent rave. Eventually they decided to try to reopen the mall, and renovation work started a few months ago with a summer 2086 re-opening date.

Word is that they didn’t get everything back in ’52 and ever since renovation work started, there have been constant accidents. Several workers have been killed. Crews will be walking off the site soon unless something is done.

Night Crawlers Corporation

Type: Software Company

Location: 104th Avenue Southeast & 240th Street, Kent

Description: Night Crawlers Corporation started out in the mid-2040's as an illegal software and hardware company, the owner at the time being able to operate with relative impunity due to his older brother being the head of the Matrix Crimes Division in Kent (and because said older brother was making a profit by ensuring they were the only business in town).

Over the past four decades, Night Crawlers has remained small and focused - never once dipping its toes outside Kent. They ran into considerable trouble when Knight Errant briefly took the metroplex's security contract and the former owner was arrested.

The company managed deniability enough to pay a few fines and get back to business and they pivoted to selling drekky, low-cost programs which border on the illegal as well as much hardware as they could produce in their one and only building.

When Lone Star rolled back into town they practically had an envelope ready for a sketchy deal and have added the illegal stuff right back into their product line as if nothing ever had happened in the first place.

Penley's

Type: Clothing Shop

Location: North 28th Place & Burnett Avenue, Downtown Renton

Description: Located in the Auburn Center Mall, Penley's is a locally-owned independent clothing store which makes most of its nuyen on formal clothing, especially suits, for Renton's metahuman population.

Its been a staple in the mall for almost twenty years and is extremely popular among metahumans simply because its the only place that sells custom-fitted clothing for their metatype in Renton.

It also offers some tailoring and adjustment services to the clothes you already own but make sure to call ahead first.

Renton Bootery

Type: Shoe Shop

Location: North 28th Place & Burnett Avenue, Downtown Renton

Description: For custom-made and imported shoes, boots, sandals, and moccasins, visit the Renton Bootery.

This store specializes in “footwear for active people,” but can outfit you in anything from Italian leather for a dressed-up night out to sturdy hiking boots to take on the hills of Renton.

Native American imports are also a popular item, and the shop offers many hard-to-find sizes such as those in larger or wider metahuman sizes.

Renton Center Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Puget Drive Southeast & Grant Avenue South, Downtown Renton

Description: Catering to the upper middle class, the Renton Center Mall advertises the best shopping experience and the hottest brands in Renton.

Having only two floors, it’s smaller than many other shopping malls but with boutique shops like Whole New You and quality merchandisers like Tjang’s Lore Store the Renton Center Mall manages to keep its status as a prime shopping destination.

The mall’s small paranatural zoo and fun park on the second floor also make this a prime location for family outings.

Renton Neighborhood Watch Headquarters

Type: Volunteer Organization

Location: Downtown Renton

Description: The Neighborhood Watch is only a decade old, and in the last few years it has grown considerably.

The all-volunteer group takes in donations from district businesses and uses the money for equipment, support staff, and headquarters maintenance. The Hall, as it’s known, includes a communications center, an armory, training rooms, and offices for Watch leadership.

Support for the Renton Neighborhood Watch has steadily grown over the last decade, with the number of patrols and the area covered constantly increasing. With little training or centralized control, and almost no accountability, the actions and motivations of any particular chapter or even team of the Watch depend largely on who joins it.

The Watch members have also changed tactics over the last few years, becoming more confrontational and aggressive. Complaints about Watch teams stepping over the line and breaking the law are becoming increasingly common. They have also moved from wearing light armor and carrying purely non-lethal defensive weapons to heavier body armor, sometimes helmets, and an array of lethal weapons. Almost all patrol members now carry a personal firearm in addition to the standard issue stun baton, and many patrols have at least one member armed with an assault rifle.

The recent fear generated over the blackouts and Seattle’s sudden exit from the UCAS has accelerated the growth of the Neighborhood Watch, with money and new volunteers flooding into nearly every Renton neighborhood.

Silver Screen Dreams

Type: Spa

Location: Lake Washington Boulevard North, Downtown Renton

Description: Stressed and need a relaxing spa-day? Silver Screen Dreams whisks you back more than a century to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the beginning of the talking picture! In this offbeat spa, you can enjoy a rejuvenating massage, facial, or any of a variety of spa treatments in an atmosphere like a movie set from the 1930s, complete with period decorations and their extensive library of restored classic films (both trideo as well as flatscreen for purists).

The official pitch is that Silver Screen Dreams will take you back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, where you can enjoy a variety of spa treatments in an atmosphere like a 1930s movie set.

And if that wasn't enough, downstairs is Silver Screen Dreams is one of Seattle’s most innovative bunraku parlors with prostitutes who look and act like some of the great film and television stars of yesteryear.

Word on the street is the “workers” are (or were) aspiring actors offered parts in “cinematic recreations” complete with cosmetic work. That type of work doesn’t come cheap and most of these flesh puppets are little more than automations owned by the Yakuza now.

Talbot Security Vehicles

Type: Vehicle Contractor

Location: 1601 Davis Avenue South, Downtown Renton

Description: Talbot Security Vehicles was once known as Lone Star’s preferred Seattle vehicle contractor and then Knight Errant moved in and they lost the majority of their business overnight.

Tracy Talbot, the owner’s daughter, had a few friends in the shadow community and after Knight Errant forced her dad’s biggest customer out of town, she reached out to those connections, and the shadows are what has kept her in business these last ten years.

Now, with Lone Star as a division of OmniStar, Talbot Security Vehicles has been getting a ton of work but Tracy has decided to keep her shadow connections happy, too.

Tjang's Lore Store

Type: Lore Shop

Location: Puget Drive Southeast & Grant Avenue South, Downtown Renton

Description: Situated on the second floor of the Renton Center Mall, Tjang's Lore Store is a fairly clean, sanitized shop for everything magical and occult that the Neo-American Tribalists of Renton can handle and a lot of things they cannot.

While it doesn't get its windows broken, a lot of people (obvious Awakened especially) who go into Tjang's are often gently stalked by the Neighborhood Watch and a lot of people are keen on keeping their kids away from the store itself.

That being said, the locals show an odd amount of restraint when engaged with directly and it seems like the potential animosity is mostly just a few hard-set biases that are baked into every middle class mind.

The store itself has a good selection of tomes, telesma, and other items but where it shines is that it won't arbitrarily ban you for seemingly no reason like they do at Denton's, meaning that despite the occasional pearl clutcher in this mall, Tjang's doesn't seem like it'll die out anytime soon.

Wordsworth

Type: Department Store

Location: Creek Place & Front Street North, Issaquah

Description: Wordsworth is an international department store aimed towards middle- and lower-class shoppers, the average shopper of the Sixth World! A frequent anchor store in many malls across the Seattle Metroplex, they've shrunk down to a quarter of their size since 2050 and don't seem to be faring very well.

Their departments are numerous but they aggressively target the teen and youth markets, especially clothing, and its been the only thing keeping them afloat.

As part of the ongoing investigation into Brackhaven Investments it was found that Wordsworth was a major lynchpin in the investment firm's portfolio. The name "Brackhaven" is quite polarizing so as you might expect there was a fairly big exodus of customers shopping at Wordsworth. Unfortunately this was balanced out entirely by the influx of racist pigs beginning their support of a "good" company that had views that they liked, even if that wasn't truly the case.

While things look dire, Wordsworth shows promise of bouncing back thanks to their Wordsworth Drive commlink application. It awards customers special offers, discounts and collective rewards on a community level to a consumer and anyone else who shops at their local Wordsworth and it even has its own social zone so shoppers can exchange opinions and engage in friendly, shopping-oriented discussion with one another.

Medical

Auburn General Hospital

Type: Hospital

Location: 20 2nd Street Northeast, Christopher

Description: A fairly average hospital servicing Christopher, as well as the border area with Tacoma and Auburn for emergency services. It has a rumored Essence restoration program which takes up two sub-terraranan levels, both of which are off-limits and heavily protected physically, digitally, and astrally.

Little is known about the project itself, as it is mostly a research project rather than regular ongoing treatments but back in the 2050's Auburn General Hospital won acclaim for research done by the now Chief of Medicine Dr. Brian Pathwalker into procedures to reduce the Essence cost of implants. This research helped pave the way for beta- and alpha-grade augmentation.

City Health South

Type: Hospital

Location: 2700 152nd Avenue Southeast

Description: This hospital is part of the Metroplex health maintenance network (CityHealth), equipped with top-shelf staff and facilities.

A classic example of “you get what you pay for” which, in the case of CityHealth, is not much. The hospital has been suffering from cutbacks in its budget for years, and struggles to make do. That includes sometimes dealing with the black market for much-needed supplies

Maple Valley General

Type: Hospital

Location: 220th Avenue Southeast & Sweeny Road Southeast, Maple Valley

Description: Maple Valley General serves the needs of the surrounding Maple Valley neighborhood, in addition to providing medical care to insured patients from associated HMOs.

This hospital has been going downhill for years, with corruption running rampant throughout its administration. Kickbacks, bribes, overpayments, and skimming supplies are commonplace. Lone Star has busted illegal clinics and organlegging rings associated with the hospital in the past, but without evidence of stopping them.

Corporate Enclaves

Apep Consortium Library

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: Cougar Mountain

Description: Completed in ’78 just southeast of Cougar Mountain, the new North American headquarters of the Apep Consortium has attracted some of the finest minds in arcanoarchaeology and magical research to Renton.

This influx of the Awakened to the area has also encouraged a number of magical service and support businesses to open up near the library campus, creating something of an Awakened village in the middle of Renton.

The Apep Consortium was taken over by Mitsuhama about the same time the library was being built. MCT provided the security setup and still maintains it, with several non-public areas of the campus having a zero zone status.

Knight Errant Seattle Training Academy

Type: Training Facility

Location: 715 Northeast 3rd Street, Downtown Renton

Description: When the UCAS backed out of the BRA, Knight Errant was forced by Ares to back out of the Seattle policing contract. KE forces were re-deployed to protect Ares property in the Metroplex and have maintained that posture ever since.

Looking like an Ivy League college campus in the front and a UCAS Army training camp in the back, the Knight Errant training academy in Renton has been in operation for more than thirty years.

Prior to Lone Star taking over the Seattle security contract, this facility trained and graduated officers for service all around the world. With the Seattle contract over, the campus is slowly returning to its previous mission.

Just before independence, during the partial blackout, the Blood Mountain Boys decided to get some payback from KE and hit the compound.

They quickly discovered the Ares owned facility was still fully operational and broke it off before they were wiped out a second time.

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