Minneapolis/Saint Paul

Background And History

The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are known as the Twin Cities. They are located on the Mississippi river in Minnesota, and their respective populations in 2008 were roughly 285,000 for St. Paul and 360,000 for Minneapolis. St. Paul is the capital, and Minneapolis is the cultural center of the state.

However... Despite the histories of these cities, good and bad, disaster struck. As in many of the other cities of the world, the Promethean Nanite Plague struck on February 11th of that year. The initial release occurred near University Avenue, a primary connection between the two cities and also a route heavily trafficked by students of the University of Minnesota. Perhaps because of the cold and perhaps from sheer luck, the plague didn't expand as quickly as it did in other locations, but it was still a terrible blow. Over the next six months the Twin Cities saw their populations reduced from their previous totals to less than a quarter of that.

Of those people that remained, and remained rational, two-thirds are human and one-third are... Otherwise. The largest nonhuman populations seem to be rabbits, raccoons and foxes, with the odd feline tossed into the mix. At the current time the cities are stable and quiet for the most part, with the now varied population still relatively integrated. However, the cities' commerce has been shattered, and the investigation is ongoing as to how this occurred. As with elsewhere, few answers are forthcoming.

Factions

RSX

One of the two companies rumored to have been responsible for the creation and (inadvertent?) release of the plague, RSX has established a beachhead in St. Paul, in the former Travelers Insurance building. They provide assistance and support for the infected seeking a cure, and pursue a rather draconian policy of 'putting down' ferals that are identified as problematic. At the current time these activities are on hold pending lawsuits against them, accusing them of murder. Their position is that the ferals are no longer people, while the Attorney General's Office holds otherwise. However, their more acceptable activities are ongoing.

Prometheans

The Prometheans aren't as organized in Minnesota, possibly because of the level of acceptance the victims of the plague have received. However, they have set up an enclave for like-minded beings in the former Columbia Golf Course in Northeast Minneapolis. They have had multiple neat-military level skirmishes with RSX forces, and are now heavily monitored by elements of the National Guard.

Zephyr

The other of the companies involved with the nanites, Zephyr is established in its own building, a twenty-story tower built only five years back on the southern edge of downtown. They are actively recruiting agents to assess the feral population and locate individuals that might be helped, and are less-publicly skirmishing with RSX; the remnants of the Minneapolis Police have four ongoing investigations concerning Zephyr agents involved in assaults of RSX personnel.

Gangs

Several of the criminal street gangs in the Twin Cities have... Changed. Rather than trafficking in drugs and violence, the trade of programmed nanite sample vials has become big business. Worse, the memberships have polarized along perceived racial lines- no longer simply black/white/latino/asian, now the gangs are all wolf, all fox, all rabbit, all human or all whatever and violently opposed to the other gangs not of the same makeup. Violent crime has escalated to terrifying levels, despite the precipitous drop in the population, rising to levels never before seen in the state.