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Boston is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts in the UCAS. It is also the largest population center in the Northeastern Metroplex Axis (NEMA) and the business and cultural center of the region. It is one of the oldest and wealthiest cities in the UCAS, and its economy is primarily based on finance, education, health care, and technology. It was the home of the East Coast Stock Exchange from around 2029 until after 2064. Its nicknames include "Beantown" and "The Hub" (shortened from Oliver Wendell Holmes's phrase The Hub of the Universe), as well as the "Athens of America," due to its educational and cultural institutions.

Vital Statistics (unofficial)[]

(The population figure and the demographics below represent the Boston Sprawl, but exclude Rhode Island and SE New Hampshire)

Boston (as of 2070)
Population: 4,897,116
Humans: 66%
Elves: 9%
Dwarves: 7%
Orks: 10%
Trolls: 7%
Other: 1%
Size: {{{size}}}
Population Density: 12,864/km2
Per Capita Income: 25,191¥
Below Poverty Level: 14%
On Fortune's Active Traders List: 1%
Corporate-Affiliated: 55%
Felonious Crime Rate: 15 per 1,000 per annum
Education:
Less Than 12 Years: {{{ed_less12}}}
High School Equivalency: 56%
College Degrees: 26%
Advanced Degrees: 10%
Hospitals: 21
Local Telecomm Grid Access No: Regional Telecomm Grid Access: NA/UCAS-NE/BOS

History[]

Boston was founded in 1630 and named after the city of Boston in England. Two great fires in 1760 and 1872 devastated the cities. After the earthquake of 2005 that hit New York, the New York Stock Exchange was moved to Boston and renamed East Coast Stock Exchange.

During the Matrix Crash 2.0, an illusory image of a wolf devouring the sun was cast over Boston.

In 2076, the awakening of the dragon Eliohann and his attack on NeoNET's head office in the Fenway district, and the widespread havoc this caused, resulted in the temporary lockdown of the city until the situation was resolved.

Geography[]

Although the Boston Sprawl has long since expanded to fill the shoreline of Massachusetts Bay, and stretches for kilometers inland as well, the seventeenth-century port at its heart is still discernible. Forget the neat grids of modern urban America; the twisting streets clustered around Boston Common are a reminder of how the nation started out, and the city is enjoyably human in scale.

Boston was, until 1755, the biggest city in America; as the one most directly affected by the latest whims of the British Crown, it was the natural birthplace for the opposition that culminated in the Revolutionary War. Numerous evocative sites from that era are preserved along the Freedom Trail through downtown. Since then, however, Boston has in effect turned its back on the sea. As the third busiest port in the British Empire (after London and Bristol), it stood on a narrow peninsula. What is now Washington Street provided the only access by land, and when the British set off to Lexington in 1775 they embarked in ships from the Common itself. During the nineteenth century, the Charles River marshlands were filled in to create the posh Back Bay residential area. Central Boston is now slightly set back from the water, separated by the John Fitzgerald Expressway that carries I-93 across downtown. The city has routed the traffic underground and disposing of this eyesore (a project a decade in the making known as "the Big Dig"), though the monumental task only doubled the traffic and the Fitzgerald is still there, much to the frustration of locals.

There is a certain truth in the charge leveled by other Americans that Boston likes to live in the past; echoes of the "Brahmins" of a century ago can be heard in the upper-class drawl of the posher districts. But this is by no means just a city of WASPs: the Irish who began to arrive in large numbers after the Great Famine had produced their first mayor as early as 1885, and the president of the whole country within a hundred years. The liberal tradition that spawned the Kennedys remains alive, fed in part by the presence in the city of more than one hundred universities and colleges, the most famous of which – Harvard University – actually stands in the city of Cambridge, just across the Charles River, and is fully integrated into the tourist experience thanks to the area's excellent subway "T" system.

The slump of the Depression seemed to linger in Boston for years – even in the 1950s, the population was actually dwindling – but these days the place definitely has a rejuvenated feel to it. Quincy Market has served as a blueprint for urban development worldwide, and with its busy street life, imaginative museums and galleries, fine architecture and palpable history, Boston is the one destination in New England there's no excuse for missing.

Politics[]

The current Mayor is Meghan O'Rylan -- the former deputy mayor turned interim mayor turned elected mayor who enjoys an almost celebrity status in Boston. Her supporters affectionately call her, "Mayor Meghan." Her reforms to increase security and root out corruption in Boston have earned her many enemies as well.

Economy[]

Up until the Matrix Crash 2.0 in 2064, Boston was the center of the UCAS economy and finance as the home of the East Coast Stock Exchange. After which, the ECSE moved back to New York City.

Despite the move, Boston is still one of the UCAS's most important centers for technology, with both NeoNET and MIT&T (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy) headquartered in Boston.

Corporate presence[]

The largest corporation headquartered in Boston is NeoNET.

Crime[]

Police[]

Organized Crime[]

  • The O'Rilleys are the most powerful Mafia family in Boston, UCAS. They are led by Don Conor "The Mick" O'Rilley. The O'Rilleys share Boston with the Morellis and the Muldoons.
  • The Muldoons are a Mafia family operating in Boston, UCAS, where they share their turf with the O'Rilleys and the Morellis. The Muldoons are staunch allies of the ruling O'Rilleys and support them against the Morellis.
  • The Morellis are a Mafia family operating in Boston, UCAS, where they share their turf with the O'Rilleys and the Muldoons. The Morellis used to be the ruling family in Boston but have since been superseded by the O'Rilleys. Though the the O'Rilleys and the Muldoons don't get along, they will defend one another against the Morellis, leaving them no possibility of changing the status quo.

Index[]

sourcebooks[]

others[]

Ka-Ge, Issue 4 (pp 32–37) and Issue 8 (pp 17–21)

External links[]

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