LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
“Central units, any Central unit, officers need help. Wilshire and Figueroa, Wilshire and Figueroa, 1ADAM-33 is taking gunfire with an officer down. Any available units, respond CODE-3.
Update on CODE-3, all units, be advised: hostiles reported as Youma, automatic and natural-thrown weapons, high regeneration rate. F-SWTI teams en route…”-
Normal LAPD transmission.
Los Angeles, before The Vanishing, was a pretty rough neighborhood to live in. Now, it is a powderkeg. All Reals and Fictions that survived the Hours in L.A. did it out of sheer (and extreme) toughness, and Post-Vanishing they are battling for territory and the right to live. Post-Vanishing street gangs are either tough-as-nails hombres who have earned the right to be called such, or massive ‘armies of the night’, composed of misfits and madmen.
That the average citizen is armed to the teeth does not helps the situation any.
The L.A.P.D. has had to expand in many ways to prevent the city from falling apart, with the average cop now getting training similar to that of Pre-Vanishing SWAT teams and investigation now legally involving the paranormal (L.A. was the first U.S. city to have an F-SWTI division, who is still called ‘The Freak Squad’).
There are a number of gangs that are to be looked out for in L.A..:
+The ‘Magical Street Thunder’, composed purely of magical girls. They are famous for having laid a few police stations under siege during the Post-Hours days.
+The ‘Deadlanders’, composed purely of a collection of Deadlands-verse posses. They are a combination of Old West Steampunk and Post-Apocalyptic Hyper-Tech, with shamanistic magic and psionics covering their incompatibilities.
+The ‘Road Ragerrrs’, who are constantly moving and re-supplying out of a ‘PunkNaught’, a heavily modified military transport.
+The ‘Light Eaters’, a mercenary team of Claymore-verse Yoma. With their shapeshifting/memory absorbing capabilities, they hire themselves out to corporations, gangs and even governments who want their competition (literally) eaten from the inside.
Locations in Los Angeles changed by the 23 Hours:
+Los Angeles City Hall: This building was destroyed during the 23 Hours (rumors of who was responsible for its destruction vary, from magicians (Lina Inverse being at the top of the list) to aliens (The Covenant, Saiyans and alien Tripods (from the new ‘War Of The Worlds’) are at the top of the list) to terrorists to complete nutjobs who did so to stop ‘something Very Bad’. It is currently under reconstruction, with the provisional Major’s offices taking the top 5 floors of Parker Center.
+Parker Center: The main headquarters of the LAPD took a major beating during the Hours, but it is still standing. Several floors are still under major reconstruction/renovation (for example, the holding pens are being modified to hold SPBs, and the corridors leading to them have scanners and automated defenses). As mentioned, the provisional Major’s offices take the top 5 floors of the Center.
+Walt Disney Concert Hall: the original Concert Hall has destroyed to stop a Heartless invasion. It has since been rebuilt with financial backing from the Kingdom of Orlando.
+Echo Park: This park was devastated by a major encounter between The Covenant and the National Guard. It is now being rebuilt (in typical Angelino High-Class fashion, taking the destruction in consideration).
+US Bank Tower: Originally devastated and completely gutted by a massive amount of Yoma (and the consequent ‘flush out’ operation realized by heroic Fictions and the LAPD), it is now home of the local offices of Stingray Industries.
+Disneyworld, Universal Studios Hollywood: They are now outposts of the Kingdom of Orlando. Although they maintain function as theme parks, most (if not all) employees must go to the Kingdom to be screened and trained as official members of the Kingdom Of Orlando’s military.
+Los Angeles River: Many air and space vehicles made their final descent on the River during the 23 Hours, and even now it still is somewhat of a scavenger’s paradise, occasionally finding a rare piece of equipment among the hundreds of crashed vehicles. A newly popular underground street race goes down the River, avoiding the hulks.
Locations in Los Angeles created Post-Vanishing:
+Caritas: Built by an Alternate version of the demon Lorne (who is not as ‘burnt out’ as the canon post-‘Angel’ series Lorne), it is no longer an underground place. Located on Figueroa Street, Caritas is five-star, high-class, reservation-only and catering to everything Fiction, supernatural or otherwise. It is a ‘neutral zone’ as well, this enforced thru magic, high-tech and some rather nasty bouncers (it is the only restaurant in the world with a Claymore in the payroll). After some rather… *bad*…. experiences for Lorne, Caritas no longer has a Karaoke night (and asks all clients to avoid singing, humming or do anything music-related in the premises).
