NAGGE - Pueblo: Crosswalk of the West

Pueblo: Crosswalk of the West
"Pueblo? I never shop in Pueblo."
-- unnamed Denver woman, 1986

Here is my home town of Pueblo, Colorado, 2054 style. This is presented as a piece written by a neoanarchist named John Wilkes. His affected prose can be a bit annoying. Maybe that's why even he doesn't keep it going constantly.

When asked by NAGEE to elucidate some of the more savory aspects of human culture for the benefit of those who perambulate in areas void of illumination, I could think of few places more useful to the neoanarchist than the city of Pueblo in the Corporate Council of a similar name. What follows is such a missive, utterly unofficial (save certain factual statistics liberated from other sources) guide to what was once called the Steel City of the West.

Population: 423,120
Human: 55%
Elf: 3%
Dwarf: 13%
Ork: 20%
Troll: 9%
Other: 0%
Per Capita Income: 42,500¥
Below Poverty Level: 8%
On Fortune's Active Traders List: 3%
Corporate Affiliation: 72%
Education (percentage of adults)
High School Equivalency: 20%
College Equivalency: 58%
Advanced Studies Certificates: 8%
LTG Prefixes: 966, 967, 9023

Weather in Pueblo is fairly standard for the Pueblo Corporate Council. Pueblo has four distinct seasons, all of which are fairly dry. Spring and autumn are both pleasant, with little rain, although late spring and early summer sometimes host afternoon thunderstorms (often without rain). Winter can drop below zero temperatures, sometimes as much as 10ƒ C, especially in February. Very low humidity, almost always under ten percent, alleviates most of the stress associated with such a temperature, as well as the July and August highs of over 30ƒ C.

Pueblo offers much for the illicit tourist, especially those craving high technology; the Pueblo Corporate Council is home to cheap, high quality electronics, and Pueblo is a major warehouser, producer, and distributor of such items.

Pueblo is the ultimate rest stop and quick get away hideout, as it is only 200 kilometers from the Ute Nation border, 260 kilometers from the Confederated American States, 180 kilometers from the United Canadian and American States, 50 kilometers from the border of the Sioux Nation, and perhaps most crucially, 40 kilometers south of Denver. Almost all cargo moving from Denver into the Pueblo Corporate Council comes through Pueblo.

Pueblo is also one of the few places in the PCC where getting good guns is feasible, as the military SecForce base as well as weapons manufacturing plants are present in Pueblo, allowing a ballistic version of the trickle down theory.

>>>[Belmont fixers usually are the best place to go for these guns. Don't dare try to get them directly from the base or from the manufacturers.]<<<
-- Metalshade (05:40:01/4-10-54)

>>>[There is a significant enough demand for weird odds and ends from Denver to make smuggling profitable. Students love new simsense releases, for example, and exotic food like shrimp and real alcohol do real well.]<<<
-- Ooze Petal (21:07:02/5-26-54)

Pueblo's Airlink system is a godsend to we, the hooligan's of the night. You can rent aerial transportation and loft at will to any locality within the Pueblo Corporate Council. Within the city of Pueblo itself, there are no fewer than five Airlink stations, operational at every hour--four in the city and one in Pueblo West.

Although smaller than many cities of equal importance, Pueblo is comparatively cosmopolitan, especially regarding fellow beings of the metahumans and non-Indian persuasion.

There are many other reasons to be in Pueblo, but due to the spatial constraints on my impeccable prose, only one will I mention. That is banking. With such a deservedly secure reputation, the Pueblo Corporate Council Matrix is a natural for banking systems, and Pueblo is where most of these systems are springing up. While corporations like these banks for security and a tax break system much like that which allows Swiss banks to excel, illegalists such as yourself will find that, provided you can open an account, unfriendly groups will have time tracing your credit lines (unless, naturally, it is the Pueblo Corporate Council with which you are unfriendly).

>>>[Art is a major part of Pueblo. There is a group of artists who live in the Grove, just outside of the Rust. I was invited to live with the colony (the only musician to do so) and consider it one of the best experiences of my life. Real art is alive in Pueblo.]<<<
-- Patrick (15:41:09/10-5-54)

Planes are served by Pueblo Memorial Airport which boasts regular flights to most major NAN cities, and two Denver locations (Denver International and Colorado Springs). Most flights from other cities come through Denver. Pueblo Memorial can handle normal jets, but not suborbital or semiballistic flights.

Locations within the Pueblo Corporate Council are connected by the Airlink transit system, offering continuous hops to everywhere in the PCC. Short distance helicopter traffic also links locations within the city itself.

>>>[Airlink intown is fast but expensive, around 45€ fixed rate. Stick to cabs, chummer. If you really need air transport in the city, rent it. Airlinks to other parts of PCC are pretty reasonable, though, like 100-200€, depending on distance.]<<<

Overland, Pueblo is on the intersection of Highway 25 (north to Denver and south to Albuquerque) and Highway 50 (west into the Ute Nation and east into Kansas City). Steve's Buses run a shuttle from Colorado Springs into Pueblo on an hourly basis.

Pueblo is, as ever, a train town, being located as it is just before the Rocky Mountains, but no passenger trains journey into Pueblo; however, there are many cargo trains which enter the city, mostly from Denver, carrying foodstuffs and other encumbering necessities.

>>>[Hitchin' on a train is a wiz way of travelin'. Stay outta the fridge cars, though.]<<<
-- Gentledust (14:58:46/1-21-54)

A fairly useless place, but their restaurant guide is good, and look at the package deals for stuff like white water rafting if you need cover to go west a bit. Matrix accessible at LTG: 966 (66-TOUR) and in person downtown at 5th and Main. This group can also set you up with a native lawyer if you need one. If you need a lawyer in Pueblo, do not hesitate to acquire one.

BTL traffic is increasing from both Denver and Sioux lands. A plethora of citizens of all ages, but especially students and the elderly end up addicted to BTLs, living (and consequently dying) in the Rust. Alcohol and normal chips are legal but most inconveniently taxed. Pueblo Corporate Council requires 18 natal anniversaries before one may purchase spirits.

Blue laws are only slightly less Puritanical than Seattle, although conspicuously missing in Pueblo is a red light district. Many prostitutes work and home, so to speak. Many are students and will usually come to you. Catalogs are available over the Matrix detailing each woman and how to contact them.

>>>[Here's how you find the catalog. Dial up the Tourism BBS (see above) and look for an add for Stout's Pet Store. The add will vary from month to month, but will always mention a special and an LTG number. The number is the SAN which holds the catalog and whatever pet is involved in the special is the password.]<<<

Art is extraordinary in Pueblo. The ceramic sculpture and pottery is truly exquisite, among the finest in the world. It is difficult to remove from Pueblo Corporate Council lands, however, a problem which some will hire others to circumvent. Pueblo has a theatre company, which performs Shakespeare and native plays about equally. A symphony exists, but it is, quite frankly, none to good.

Pueblo has no local professional sports teams. Even Pueblo University has the good sense enough not to have a football team. Tennis, for some reason, is widely played in Pueblo, perhaps due to extremely adequate facilities left after the Treaty of Denver.

Pueblo hosts five public trideo stations--KMXX (NBS, channel 5), KATV (CBC, channel 11), KTMV (ABS, channel 13), KSCT (Independent, channel 4), and KUSC (University ran, channel 8)--as well as 235 cable stations throughout the spectrum. The most popular radio in the area is KILO (93.9 FM) and KARK (100.7 FM). Also of interest are KUSC(98.5 FM), the university student station featuring cutting edge music, and KVOX(96.5), a pirate group which often spreads neoanarchy.

The Star Journal provides accurate news coverage for the most part, as far as text media goes. The morning issue can be uploaded at 966(66-STAR). The same company also produces Contrails, a new bulletin which is updated every 30 minutes.

Like it's larger neighbor Denver, Pueblo has a history of picking the exact wrong industries, although in a more subtle way than Denver. Fortunately for Pueblo, events seem to conspire to keep it going as a community.

When Pueblo was founded in 1859, it had already enjoyed a fairly robust life, both as a trading post and military fort. Built at the confluence of the Arkansas and Fountain Rivers, Pueblo was a natural spot for a trading post and rest stop for explorers of the Rocky Mountains immediately to the west, and for migrants on their way to California.

This first outpost existence created an initial boom, because gold had just been discovered in Colorado, and Pueblo was the most natural place to get supplies for prospecting. The gold ran out, ending the first boom-bust cycle in Pueblo. Silver was found, and Pueblo held on for a while longer. The land, however, was not as rich as everyone thought, and soon Pueblo was seeing fewer and fewer prospectors.

Just as things looked their worst, trains came to Pueblo, making it a major hub for the west, and a major source of conflict for the town. The Rio-Grande range war involved armed employees of three separate rail empires, all fighting over territory and customers. In many ways, this war echoes modern corporate practices, using force and thugs to divide market share. Eventually, the war ended, and more eventually, trains in Pueblo began to wane as lucrative business.

During this time, Pueblo's untraditional enemy, nature, struck in full force. From June 3 to June 5, 1921, unseasonable, heavy rains pounded Pueblo, eventually breaking through a levee system built to contain river water. Pueblo was flooded quickly, to a depth of nearly 4 meters in some places. This flood brought in the military to help clean up, a process which took almost two months. After this flood, Pueblo began to build much more robust embankment systems. Currently, the Arkansas River is flanked by twelve meter concrete embankments at nearly every point as it passed through Pueblo west of City Park.

>>>[I heard that there were a bunch of tunnels under Pueblo that orks now live in. Why didn't they prevent the flooding?]<<<
-- Mikey (14:32:25/1-25-54)

>>>[That's right Dog. In fact, they still haven't been. Naturally Pueblo has a sewer system, but it is nowhere near the size that rumors would indicate. While, perhaps, some squatters might live in one or two spots, there is just not enough room for an underground town. The Pueblo-Under of popular legend does exist, but not under the streets of Pueblo.]<<<
-- Great Steam Eye (14:57:09/12-25-54)

The flooding past, trains were on the way out when steel came to Pueblo just in time to save it from economic ruin. From a multitude of micro-smelters, the Colorado Fuel and Iron company was eventually built. Pueblo became one of the largest steel producers west of the Mississippi, earning it the name of the Steel City of the West. At one point, the CF&I employed over half the city. During the 1970's, with the United States having a monopoly on steel production, a CF&I employee could make over $20 per hour (1970's dollars) without a high school diploma and qualified technicians made even more. Then, the United States lost its monopoly and U.S. steel producers could no longer afford the wage spiral within which they and the Steel Workers Union had become caught. The CF&I dried up, and Pueblo almost did with it.

>>>[The hulking buildings and towers of the CF&I still form a large portion of the Pueblo skyline. It tried to stay in the steel making business after the '70's, but closed for good in 2010. Known by locals as "the Rust', currently it provides shelter to a fairly large community of homeless of all ages.]<<<
-- Coma (13:13:24/10-30-54)

After years of unemployment rates of 20% or more, Pueblo began a concerted effort to attract businesses. The arrival of Sperry Technologies heralded the beginnings of Pueblo's move to high tech and good times. Being named America's Best Place to Live in 1988 helped Pueblo gain even more industry. Many of the more advanced parts of Pueblo were built during this boom period, most notably the arts center and the refurbishing of the university. Unfortunately, most of the industries attracted by Pueblo were defense contractors, mostly missile assembly, and when President Clinton cut the defense budget in 1998, these industries had to shut their doors, leaving Pueblo abandoned once again.

Many Pueblo natives were not involved with the companies and elected to stay, hoping for opportunity to knock. When it did, many weren't sure they should get the door, but in the end they had little choice. Fleeing the rioting and uncertain future of southern California, thousands of people came to Colorado and many settled in Pueblo. With them came many businesses, most notably insurance and finance companies as well as various computer manufacturers. Boom time hit Pueblo again.

On these high times came the Resource Rush. With its rail system, location and cheap real estate, Pueblo became a locus for redirecting newly mined resources in 2004. Minerals and ore came from all over the west, usually from Indian reservations and previously national parks, to be sorted and redirected to points east. Puebloans became hotly divided over this issue; many saw the Resource Rush as unnecessary, especially at the expense of the land they respected, others saw the money and the jobs which the Ferris redistribution sight brought to the city. As the Ferris site became larger, both noise and pollution levels increased and Ferris began to put legal pressure on homeowners to sell their land to make way for Ferris expansion. Pueblo had never had a pollution problem and was inherently wary of big business and government, and Ferris supporters began a slow steady migration to the faction which opposed the Resource Rush. By the time Shiloh Launch Facility was taken over on May 5, 2009, much of Pueblo was rooting for, or at least sympathetic towards, the SIAM terrorists.

Although many Puebloans feared the SIAM demands, which would likely remove them from their homes, few thought that Native sovereignty would ever come to pass. One year later, when an old WWII Japanese internment camp near Pueblo was opened by the government to hold hundreds of Native Americans, many Puebloans were outraged and began to organize for the impeachment of the President. Some were more vocal, assaulting guards at the Pueblo REC and attempting break-outs.

By this time, with the arrival of large electronics manufactures like Vision Electronics, Pueblo was booming, its population was at its peak of 750,000. There were protests against the government nearly weekly until VITAS made its first appearance. An insulated, non-tourist community, Pueblo was spared most of the effects of VITAS, but still lost 15,000 people to it. The disease, and the UGE babies--mostly dwarves--born a few months later took the edge from Pueblo anger and replaced it with confusion and fear. Many sighted UGE as a government conspiracy, and few in Pueblo trusted the country in which they lived.

>>>[I was just a kid then, but I remember swastikas and other Nazi imagery being painted on government buildings. One of the tee-hees painted this huge American flag with swastikas instead of stars. It summed up how we all felt. Our government had become a police state, selling out to corporate greed. As always, the ignorant people on the east coast (which is to say, all of them) didn't really see what was really happening out here. The sky is never visible, so they never look at it.]<<<
-- Christina (14:25:45/3-3-54)

>>>[Um... the tee-hees?]<<<
-- Doomdancer (09:23:33/10-12-54)

>>>[The Arkansas River has these huge cement banks flanking it where it runs through Central. In the 1970's students and others began to paint huge murals on them, sometimes signing with "tee-hee". The Man hated them, but they were a big hit with the locals at the time. The tradition lives on.]<<<
-- T. H. (10:59:19/11-29-54)

Revolt

On December 30, 2011, the ZuÒi, Hopi, Acoma, Laguna, Nez Perces and a handful of Commanche who had been held in Pueblo REC broke out, led by JosÈ Tornado-blood and is wife Maria, a shaman. Nearly immediately, this group began to perform guerrilla attacks on nearby military targets like Fort Carson, the Air Force Academy, and the Pueblo Army Depot. These attacks were made possible, to a large extent, by sympathizers from Pueblo who donated shelter, medical supplies, food and some weapons to the group.

>>>[He makes it sound like the group all held together. This really isn't true. Some of the elderly and the very young went to help Coleman, sacrificing themselves in the Dance. Most of those who escaped didn't really fight in the front lines. Some came from other tribes to fight, some Anglos even fought. But mostly, we used magic to blow stuff up from a distance, then flee. Maria Tornado-blood figured out early on how mask people to look like Anglos. Combined with the hospitality of Pueblo, this led to some pretty devastating attacks without ever really getting into shoot-outs.]<<<
-- Smellbody (21:02:02/10-22-54)

The U.S. Army knew Pueblo was harboring the Native Americans, and sent in tanks and began to shoot known "traitors". These actions increased in intensity, but generally worked to the detriment of the Army. On New Years Eve, 2016, the Army shut down Vision Electronics, which had been building makeshift ECM systems and donating them to the guerrillas; in a drumhead, CEO Tim Chavez was hanged. Five days later, the sun rose to reveal every tank in Pueblo melted, blown-up or on fire.

>>>[We were pretty busy the night the tanks melted. We were beginning our fifth year of resistance, although most of it took place outside Pueblo. By then, more of us had heard the magic in our blood. The tank melting came from an old ceremony. This one guy, Imran Blacknose, was not all that into the whole native religion thing. He did it because it worked, but he pretty quickly figured out how to get the effect without all the dancing. Maria didn't like it, but he taught the rest of us, and pretty soon we were inventing whole new fields of magic, at least for the time.]<<<
-- Prof. Great Steam Eye (00:26:15/12-8-54)

By this time, the Army was expending such an effort (and having such difficulty) in finding Coleman that the tanks were never replaced. A year later, a tremor shook Pueblo, which was believed to be caused by the Army's destruction of the Army Depot before they abandoned it. Two months after that, the Treaty of Denver was signed.

the NAN & metahumanitymetahumanity

Pueblo greeted the Treaty with apprehension. The Anglos didn't really know what would happen to them, but that didn't last long. When the Pueblo Corporate Council was formed, the first official action of the Board of Directors was to banish all non-Native people. No exceptions. This caused quite a stir in Pueblo, with opposition being voiced from Anglo and Amerind alike. There were protests, but when the Chairman of the Board thanked the Anglos for their support and politely asked them to leave, it seemed no other options were available. Many Puebloans moved to Denver and Seattle. A few preferred to kill themselves rather than leave. One Daniel Trujillo even hid on the river for 8 months before reappearing to assassinate the head of Pueblo, Vice-President Wheatfrost.

>>>[When the PCC started letting in non-tribals, a few of the more active Anglos were actually sent invitations to return.]<<<
-- Holly (13:53:24/2-23-54)

After this assassination, a young, charismatic Hopi named Mineral Bullet-Shaman was promoted to be Pueblo's VP. In a short time, Mineral became very popular in Pueblo. His organization, especially of Pueblo University, got Pueblo through the translation into NAN hands more quickly than any other city in the Council. This popularity conspired with events to create a social norm unique to Pueblo; on April 30, 2021, in a live and televised speech to the city, Mineral Bullet-Shaman began to turn into a troll.

It took a day or so to determine that was transformations wracking Mineral with pain on television were occurring to 10% of the worlds population. Goblinization came to be associated with Mineral, not the other way around, and Mineral's popularity made Pueblo's adjustment to metahumanity very quickly.

>>>[Grrrr. I'm about sick of hearing how perfect Pueblo is, dammit. I know people in Pueblo who are just as racist as Seattle Humanis scum. Humanis even has a chapter in Pueblo. Don't give me this shit about Pueblo accepting metas.]<<<
-- Cascade Trog (21:11:36/1-12-54)

>>>[Granted, Pueblo is not the paradise this history makes it sound like, but racism is much less prevalent here than in other parts of North America. I gather that after Mineral's public transformation, he was out among the people very quickly. He also kept his VP position for another five years, which gained him much respect.]<<<
-- Holly (13:59:59/2-23-54)

Timeline

1787: San Carlos de los Jupes, a Commanche village created by the Spanish, created in what would become Pueblo County

1803: Louisiana Purchase gives land east and north of the Arkansas river to the United States

1806, Nov 24: Zebulon Pike begins attempt to climb Pike's Peak from Pueblo

1821: Mexican government, newly independent, assume possession of local territory formerly held by Spain

1842: Fort Pueblo built

1854, Dec 25: Occupants of Fort Pueblo massacred by a band of Utes

1858-1860: Gold discovered in Colorado territory

1859: Pueblo founded at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek

1861: Boone Treaty signed, turning a portion of the southeastern Colorado territory into a reservation for Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians

Feb 28: The territory of Colorado created by act of Congress

1864, Nov: Massacre of Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek

1865: The treaty of Little Arkansas eliminates the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation

Apr 9: [General Robert E. Lee surrenders, ending the United States Civil War]

1867: Fort Reynolds built near Pueblo to "protect settlers from hostile Indians"

1872: Colorado Chieftain begins publishing daily under the name Pueblo Chieftain; the newspaper is published as such until 2011

Oct 11: First Colorado State Fair held, becoming an annual Pueblo event.

1873: Pueblo's population tops 3,000

1876, Jun 25: [265 U.S. soldiers killed by Sioux in Little Big Horn, Montana]

Aug 1: Colorado becomes the 38th United State.

Aug 13: Sam McBride, treasurer of Pueblo school board embezzles $14,000 of school funds and is never seen again

1879, Jun 9: Bat Masterson, supervisor of the Pueblo railway system, surrenders to Denver and Rio Grande Railroad forces, ending the Royal Gorge rail-war

1884: Economy in turmoil as railroad and smelting stockholders fight to control each other's businesses

1885, Feb 26: [United States Congress prohibits importation and migration of foreigners under contract to perform labor]

1886, Mar 9: The cities of South Pueblo, Pueblo and Central Pueblo consolidate into one city--Pueblo--making it the largest city in Colorado

1888: Central High School opens, the site of the Pueblo Plan, one of the earliest attempts at individualized instruction in the United States

Rivals Colorado Coal and Iron Company and Colorado Fuel Company merge to become the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I), which forms the backbone of the cities economy most of the following century.

1889, Apr 22: [Former Indian territory opened for settlement, causing the Oklahoma Land Rush]

1890: Population reaches 31,491, growing 663.4 percent in ten years.

Dec 29: [Battle of Wounded Knee]

1891: Pueblo trolley Car service boasts 25 miles of track on five separate lines throughout the city, with trains running from 6am to midnight.

1894: Budding 14-year old local writer, Damon Runyon covers a lynching for a local paper, his first professional writing assignment.

1898, Apr 21: [Spanish-American War begins]

1900, Aug: Physician Louise Black throws would-be mugger over the side of the B Street Bridge into a dry riverbed

1901, Aug 30: Public gambling made illegal in Pueblo

1910: National Irrigation Congress held in Pueblo's Grand Hotel

1918, Jun 4: The first Baker Steamer, a steam-powered car rolls off Pueblo assembly line

Nov 11: [World War I ends]

1921, Jun 3: Extraordinarily heavy rains cause water to break through Pueblo's levee system (the best of its kind and the time), flooding Pueblo to a depth of 11 feet, killing a least 200 and decimating the city's business and industry. Up to $19 million of Pueblo's $33 million assets were destroyed. The army lends men and equipment to help clean-up for 51 days.

1923: Man gunned down in Pueblo bar, presumably by Mafia hitmen

1929, Oct 29: "Black Friday"--Stock market crashes, bringing in the Great Depression

1934: Dust storms inundate the southwest, driving many to California. Dust masks come into fashion, as does dragging a chain behind your car to prevent static electricity from harming the battery

1941: Pueblo becomes a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church

Dec 7: [Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, bring the United States into World War II]

1942, Apr: U.S. Army opens an ordinance depot in Pueblo, which is eventually renamed Pueblo Army Depot and made home to gas weapons, a missile repair center, the U.S Army historical properties repository

1943: Japanese Puebloans rounded up and shipped to a relocation camp nearby

1945, May 7: [Germany surrenders, ending the war in Europe]

Aug 14: [Japan surrenders, officially ending World Ward II]

1948, Jul 20: After serving as training area for the 208th Bombardment Group (the Flying Tigers), Army Base becomes civilian property.1950, Jun 25: [North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War]

1954, Aug 1: Pueblo Memorial Airport, built on old Pueblo Army Base, opens

1970: Pueblo begins sister city project with Puebla, Mexico

1972, Jun 2: Sangre de Christo Arts and Conference Center opens

1975: Commanche Steam Electric Generating Station opens

Apr 30: [Siagon falls to North Vietnam]

Jul 1: After the pouring of the Pueblo Reservoir, Lake Pueblo opens to the public

1982: Bowing to pressures and profit-loss caused by the breaking of the United States steel monopoly, CF&I Steel Corporation closes down much of its production and lays off over a thousand workers. Unemployment peaks and Pueblo loses a significant portion of its population.

1987: After passing a half-cent sales tax to pay for promotion of Pueblo to business, Pueblo boasts three large military-contracting manufacturing companies

1988: Pueblo judged the best city in America in which to live

1998 President Clinton cuts defense spending. Within two years, all military contractors in Pueblo, and some 5000 jobs, have vanished.

1999: The Pueblo economy gets revitalized by an influx of people and companies fleeing the violence and uncertainty of California

2002: CF&I halts what little production they had left and shuts its doors forever.

2004: In response to the Resource Rush, Ferris mining builds a distribution center in Pueblo from where minerals, ores and other natural resources culled from recently opened regional preservation lands are shipped.

2006: Arton builds a research facility in Pueblo to investigate turning oil shale (which forms most of the ground in Pueblo) into a usable energy source

2007, Aug 16: High levels of uranium in the water supply leave Pueblo without drinking water for three weeks

2009: Vision Electronics, an optical chip manufacturer, moves to Pueblo, employing 3500

2010: Re-Education and Re-Location Act re-opens the Japanese relocation camp near Pueblo (renaming it Pueblo REC) and uses it to hold hundreds of Hopi, ZuÒi, Acomas, Lagunas, Comanche and Nez Perces prisoner

The population of Pueblo reaches 750,000

VITAS plague kills a comparatively meager 7% of Pueblo's population

2011: Year of Chaos. UGE babies, nearly all dwarves, born to 2% of local child-bearing women

2012: A mass breakout of the Pueblo REC begins a long guerrilla war against military targets in Colorado, occasionally using the many Pueblo sympathizers for shelter

2014: Tanks from Fort Carson roll into Pueblo, 14 Indian sympathizers shot publicly for treason

2016, Dec 31: Vision Electronics is shut down by the military for collaborating with Indian guerrillas

2017, Jan 4: The Army tanks used to fortify Pueblo are all sabotaged and destroyed, but no attempt is made to replace them

Aug 17: The mountains in Washington explode, signaling the end of the "Genocide Campaign" against the Native Americans

2018, Jan 30: Tremor shakes Pueblo, possibly caused by an underground explosion at the Army Depot

Mar 25: Treaty of Denver signed, creating the Pueblo Corporate Council, with Pueblo near its eastern border

2021, Apr 30: 10% of Pueblo's population begins to goblinize

2022: VITAS kills another 7% of Pueblo's population, a third of which are metahuman, prompting a gang of metahumans to break into St. Mary Corwin hospital to steal medicine, starting riots and racial violence

2024: Mothers of metahumans (MOM) founded in Pueblo, soon spreading nation-wide

2026: Native Thought occupies Vision Electronics old facilities and begins to produce chips and cheap simsense units

2027: Pueblo University (the old University of Southern Colorado) offers a degree in Magical Studies, the first university to do so in the PCC.

2029: The Internet crashes, taking most of Pueblo's industry with it

2032, Jan 1: The Pueblo Terminex, one of the five original machines making up the PCC Matrix, goes on line, maintained jointly by PCC and Pueblo University

2033: The Arrowhead Foundation is founded as a semi-commercial Matrix software company and the expanding PCC secretly begins to use cyberdeck technology

Jan 23: [Wraith fighter-bombers attack both sides of the EuroWars, ending them]

2034: The Thundermist Fusion Power Plant begins construction south of Pueblo, flooding Pueblo with the workers needed to build the plant

2037: Tsimishan succession prompts many Pueblo elves to migrate there

2039, Feb 7: The Night of Rage--Most Puebloans stay in their homes, avoiding conflict

2041: The Thundermist Fusion Power Plant goes on-line six months early, supplying power to most of western PCC

2045: The Pueblo Computer Workers Guild reaches 150,000 members

2047: Pueblo University's Computer Science Department is sighted as the best in North America by U.S. News and World Report

2054, Jan 1: The PCC revokes the license of Aztechnology, barring them from business in PCC lands.

A serious blow to this racial acceptance was the next wave of the VITAS plague. This time, Pueblo got hit much harder, and during the emergency, several metahumans broke into St. Mary Corwin hospital to steal medicine. This escalated into a few brawls on the river and downtown, and eventually into the hanging of ork Jessica Seven-Bears. This started even more violence, and it wasn't until Mineral got very authoritarian that the incidents stopped.

>>>[One of Mineral's moves was to berate the metas who broke into the hospital. Many metas saw this as him selling us out, and got the hell out. Pueblo Under began that day.]<<<
-- Hulk (07:29:27/2-27-54)

Pueblo prospered in the years following, gaining new business and becoming the cutting edge of cyberdeck software technology. After the crash of '29 was cleaned up, the Pueblo Corporate Council built an internal computer network. The Pueblo Terminex was one of the original five machines in this network, and now forms the regional backbone for the Pueblo Matrix.The Night of Rage passed without much incident in Pueblo. Historians credit a 40cm snowfall in averting most of the violence. Most Puebloans gathered in groups and watched the reports of the riots on the trid in horror. Only three fatalities were reported, all humans. When the snow thawed, there were many marches, but no melee.

Since then, Pueblo Corporate Council has become the most prosperous nation in North America, and Pueblo one of the most prosperous cities within it. Recently, Pueblo Corporate Council has been in financial news for pulling Aztechnology's license to practice within its borders. Shortly after this action, Aztlan cut off diplomatic relations with the Pueblo Corporate Council. Rumors of war have been ripe, but neither side seems to want to push it. Locally, Pueblo has been the site of some run-ins between the Security Force and rigger traffic, especially from the Sioux Nation, who has been accused running BTL chips into the PCC. Two months ago, two local software makers (Virtual Realities and The Arrowhead Foundation) took over and divided a third (Iris) under very odd circumstances, including a fire, a missing person, un-accounted for funds and an armored truck.

>>>[Local humor has it that the "dilation fiasco" also involved a llama, six tons of Crazy Foam(tm) and an inflatable moose.]<<<
-- Irkwell (05:27:03/1-6-55)

>>>[Pueblo sounds a bit boring, don't it? Be fooled: negative. Under the success and profit and warm fuzzies, Pueblo can be just as corrupt, morally bankrupt and generally fucked up as the rest of the world. You'll find the same viscous power struggles, croocked cops, ad nauseam. It's all much more subtle though. That's the one rule: subtle. Cars blowing up and arson are not common place here; Pueblo is a pretty small city.]<<<
-- Mind Frost (10:48:56/1-7-54)

Being a city within the Pueblo Corporate Council, Pueblo is run as a branch of the corporation. The top dog in Pueblo, an office very like a mayoral one and officially known as Vice President (Pueblo Branch), is one Whittiker Ramirez, only recently appointed to the post. V.P. Ramirez is heavily cybered, the result of an almost successful assassination attempt made a few years ago when he was lower on the corporate ladder. Insiders tag him as very capable, and dedicated to technology and metahumanity. He shows no sign of magical ability.

Ramirez is very close to Maria Alonzo, the current president of the PCC. It is thought that they may be romantically linked, but this has not been confirmed. He is known to dine often at the Pueblo Country Club and to be an avid golfer.

Other notables in the Pueblo branch of the PCC are General Emmanuel Six-Fingers, base commander at Fort PopÈ and coordinator of the Defense Arm of the SecForce. He is a mundane with years of combat experience and a degree in Electrical Engineering. Captain Regina Manzinerez heads the Civilian Arm of the SecForce. She is a hermetic mage, one of the few in Pueblo, and is tough as nails.

Like most of the Pueblo Corporate Council, Pueblo's economy is based mostly on tertiary industry--information processing. Almost all food and manufactured goods in Pueblo are imported. All corporations are locally owned, and major megacorps have a negligible presence here, as in all of the PCC.

Pueblo posts a return on investment of only 3.5 percent, far less than most other facets of the PCC. This is mostly due to the costs of running Fort PopÈ and its sensor array. Most of the PCC's money in Pueblo comes from the development of IC for other corporations and Matrix use fees for the companies which are not subsidiaries of the PCC. The banking system, which is mostly run by the PCC, posts the most profit.

>>>[You need a damn expert system to understand the banking system. As I get it, by PCC law, the PCC cannot keep money in any of the banks which they run, but their employees can.]<<<
-- Fistslime (21:19:37/3-4-54)

Pueblo hosts several companies, some of which are subsidiaries of the Pueblo Corporate Council.

Business Profile: Olric Chiras is an enigmatic character, and his company shares this reputation. Many of the more random ideas in Matrix security and productivity were invented in the walls of the Arrowhead Foundation. The Foundation owns the market in low-cost, high quality presentation software for the business and education markets, and is begun to break into the personal application market with the purchase of Iris Software.

Security/Military Forces: In addition to standard security, the Foundation has a large body of magical security.

Division Head: Sally Twin
Chief Products/Services: Research into new algorithms, effects of psychological IC and networking systems, as well as market analysis of public needs in the computer field.

Division Head: Samuel Martinez
Chief Products/Services: Writing, printing and packaging of commercial software, including Hephastus (a virtual physics simulator), Muse (photo realistic architectural design) and other educational programs.

>>>[The Foundation's been weirding out lately, like they want to branch into more than computers. My guess is that they've stumbled upon a major magical breakthrough and are doing handsprings to figure out how to market it before someone else figures out what is going on.]<<<
-- Magma Magnet (01:49:31/7-29-54)

>>>[Several Arrowhead managers have been seen talking with known Antlantean Foundation fixers.]<<<
-- Daysonic (10:27:44/11-3-54)

Business Profile: Native Thought makes most of its money through B-grade simsense, and covers all factors of production. Recently, Native Thought has been producing mid-range skillsofts, mostly of Native American languages and culture.

Security/Military Forces: Native Thought subcontracts all security, and has been known to employ gangs as muscle.

Division Head: Brian Trujillo
Chief Products/Services: Manufacture of low-end simsense players, and printing of simsense chips produced by the Production Division.

Business Profile: Ratech is a subsidiary of the Pueblo Corporate Council. Ratech weapons are all of Ares Macrotechnology design, under license to Ratech. The guns produced here are almost entirely for the PCC Security Force, save hunting and hand weapons, and are known for their quality.

Security/Military Forces: All Ratech employees are trained with firearms, and many have worked with SecForce in varied capacities. All security matters are handled in house, with close liaison to SecForce.

Division Head: Syryl Morgan
Chief Products/Services: Manufacture of military grade weapons, from sidearms to heavy support weaponry.

Business Profile: Although the home office is in Santa Fe, most of the creative work happens at White Dawn. (The name is a reference to a Hopi creation myth.) With the new release of Synthesis, Tablelands has become the largest software firm in the world, discounting multi-national conglomerate companies. Many in the industry feel that Synthesis will remain the standard programming environment until technology changes drastically. Tablelands has a very large influence over the skill sets put on the immigration lists, and hire more Anglos than average.

Security/Military Forces: Tablelands subcontracts all security operations, save Matrix security which is handled in house.

Division Head: Kalia Bienivedez
Chief Products/Services: Creation, packaging, and marketing of commercial software, mainly for business and programming needs. Chief among their products are Synthesis (a sophisticated, icon based, Matrix software authoring system for mainframes) and Wren (a multi-user, multi-relational, seeking database).

>>>[Most deckers salivate over a chance to work for Tablelands. They are very lenient towards personal expression and pay very well.]<<<
-- Neckberry (01:39:00/6-4-54)

>>>[I personally would rather have a copy of Synthesis than a job with Tablelands. Very slick. I'm told that, in a pinch, it can distribute itself over five or six top-line cyberdecks and work fairly well. You need lots of storage space, though.]<<<
-- Horse (06:06:29/8-12-54)

>>>[Wren is also a marvelous product. Nearly any time you search the Matrix, Wren is getting used somewhere along the line. Wren dÊmons are pretty common in the Matrix. They appear as very small, golden birds. They are almost always in flight. Apparently, if you find one pearched anywhere, you should give it your name and tell it to fly home. Some sort of reward is involved. I guess its an inside joke at Tablelands.]<<<
-- Percy (00:01:29/8-14-54)

Business Profile: Most pocket secretaries come with VR software installed, most notably Mimic, the voice-to-text subsystem. With the recent acquisition of part of Iris Software, VR, a loose subsidiary of the Pueblo Corporate Council, has become second only to Tablelands in the software market. The Iris division is temporary, eventually to be merged with the Software production division, while putting marketing into its own division.

Security/Military Forces: VR maintains its own security, but can call upon SecForce reinforcements if needed.

Division Head: Michelle Garcia
Chief Products/Services: Authoring and marketing of commercial software, ranging from home use word-processing to mid-sized business software.

Division Head: Janet Three-trees
Chief Products/Services: Authoring and packaging of commercial software for large businesses (such as RavenMail and Windfall, a stock expert system) and Matrix administration (from small tools like Tricorder to large Matrix controllers like Interlok.

Being in the Pueblo Corporate Council, Pueblo doesn't seem to possess much need for standard Sino-European organized crime monoliths, or even fragments thereof. Mafia, Yakuza, and Seoulpa rings are all extremely absent from the Pueblo scene; however, information and computers being such a vital commodity in the PCC, groups of fixers, deckers, street hoods, and even corporates can be found which are organized much like Seoulpa rings, and many which adopt their tactics, although plying them towards the discovery and brokering of information and technology. Known to civilians as tÛho (a Hopi word meaning, inexplicably, "black shale"), some of these small pocket groups dabble in BTL and other trades normally delegated to organized crime as a source of income. These are rare, however, as most of this type of activity in Pueblo is handled by gangs.

There are few large gangs in Pueblo, but a multitude of smaller ones. The more diminutive of these youth groups are often built around a political philosophy are particular activity. For most consideration, these smaller gangs should be considered only cannon fodder, if at all, by real criminals; if you do need such a service, however, discovering a pack's political motivations and approaching them by that vector will likely breed success.

>>>[A pretty huge chunck of these small gangs are based on anti-Anglo prejudice, so scout well.]<<<
-- Head (11:03:42/6-16-54)

Regarding gang membership, most are Hopi, although ZuÒi numbers are growing, and many of them are magicians.

>>>[Another weird trend is that with the PCC emphasis on tech, larger and larger cuts of these blooming wizards are hermetic.]<<<
-- Greybridge (03:55:32/8-1-54)

Of the larger, standard gangs, two are on the East Side, three are on the West. All but one of these gangs are sufficiently into vehicle use that they could be classified as go-gangs. The East side houses Sword Mind, a multi-race go-gang with what they call a "hive mind". Without individuals, Sword Mind favors body-sculpting to remove as many facial details as possible, making all members resemble other members, within racial limits. Their colors are blue and grey, and their symbol is a brain, viewed from above, surrounded by 7 outward pointing swords. Sword Mind deals in BTLs, protection rackets, and small time smuggling. They claim all of the major streets on the East Side as turf. Scorpion Set is the other East Side gang, and are the lone non-go-gang. They deal in selling smuggled goods, although they do not smuggle them themselves. They are mostly human with quite a few orks, and operate throughout the city, but mostly on the East Side. They wear no colors, although many sport a scorpion tail earring. They have their own invented language, which they use to identify one another.

>>>[Any rigger worth his salt who moves through Pueblo knows a Scorpion Setter. They'll buy almost anything if they can sell for a profit, and it saves the rigger from having to push his own cargo. Trusted riggers, I'm told, sometimes get Denver contracts from the Set.]<<<
-- Dune Dancer (23:57:43/3-3-54)

West side gangs are marked by a staggering animosity towards one another. Turf wars are common, especially at I-50 and I-25, Holbrook and 27th, and most of the other major intersections on the West Side. Doom, a racist, human go-gang, is currently the deepest of the gangs, although that may soon change as their rides into the South Side, downtown and the North Side have been increasing in frequency. Their bikes are of high quality and usually armed. They wear traditional Hopi garb and eagle feathers (their symbol) in their hair. Doom doesn't seem very interested in much business except irradicating Anglos and metahumans. The Fury Jaguars, an ork and troll gang, are not technically a go-gang, but smuggling is high on their activity list, so they often use vehicles of all types. The richest of the West Side gangs, the Jaguars focus mainly on pulling contraband from close borders. They often sell to Sword Mind, although only when their own channels are clogged. All the Jaguars learn falconry, and having no symbol or colors, a falcon on the wrist is often all that will distinguish them. A recent, and still small, force in the neighborhood is Snappershock, a mixed-race, mixed-tribe semi-go-gang. Almost five percent of Snappershock are magicians, so they are coming on strong, though they are often side-tracked by random, non-sensical projects, assumedly of a magical nature. Snappershock wear purple and black and have tattoos of electric eels the soles of their feet.

Another gang worth noting is the Eternity Merchants. The EM's are a group of young deckers from all across Pueblo who hold that the Pueblo Terminex is their turf. They spend most of their time in a virtual gang hall, or raiding databases. EM's are a bit erratic, but legitimate and criminal Matrix users treat them, usually, with respect, as they often know the Pueblo Matrix better than anyone else. EM's are famous for requiring extremely trivial bits of irrelevant information as a price for their own data or assistance. Merchant graphics tend to be flashy, but all have a chrome globe somewhere on their person.

Last, but certainly not least, with Pueblo's location, smuggling is a major pastime. Although goods brought into Pueblo often make their way back out again (more profitable that way), a large network of smugglers has developed. At first glance, the network appears homogenous, and to many extents is; however the network is made up of cells, and although these cells often cooperate, they are really in direct competition. Relations between cells are dynamic, complex and often volatile. The level of intrigue, in-fighting within a cell, duplicity between cells, and double-, triple- and even quadruple-crossing in Pueblo smuggling is like nowhere else on earth, even Denver. Pueblo is small, making competition more intimate, and computer information is much harder both to retrieve and to forge. Currently, about eight cells exist, all of which will use any tool at their disposal to gain superiority over the others without, in so doing, leaving themselves open to annihilation by the other cells.

Pueblo is divided into six basic districts, differentiated by compass orientation. The labels are highly inaccurate, but serve well enough. For your perusal, each district is listed below, complete with neighborhood information. Do note that because Lone Star ratings are not officially used in Pueblo, security entries reflect this writer's own biases of what Lone Star would label them.

Once the northern most point of Pueblo, expansion of the city towards the military base has made this the central area of the city. Downtown is eminently unimpressive, featuring only a few buildings, none of much height. It is where most Pueblo Corporate Council offices and public buildings are located. Belmont houses many of Pueblo's wealthy, especially non-corporate types like doctors and well as a few more affluent professors. Goat Hill is almost entirely occupied by direct employees of the Pueblo Corporate Council.

Neighborhood	Security Rating
Belmont	AA
Downtown	AA
Goat Hill	B-AA

>>>[Security downtown can get fairly lax at night, except on weekends.]<<<
-- Metalshade (05:55:03/4-10-54)

Subtle and sedate, this modern hotel houses an excellent staff and all the modern convenience, including ballroom, three meeting rooms of various sizes, spa, high-speed Matrix access, valet parking, and two restaurants. Rooms are large and are very reasonable.

This hotel is mainly for visitors and guests of the University of Pueblo, but during slow times rents rooms by the hour, making it popular with nearby students and hookers.

>>>[Stay outta here during the graduation season. Loco parents abound!]<<<
-- Roadsoul Ghost (15:17:10/6-28-54)

With better than average food for the price, this all day breakfast attracts, depending on the time of day, PCC employees, students, families, and workers of all stripes. This provides an alert tourist with the most average of Pueblo surroundings, complete with a stunning cross-section of the humanity which dwells within.

Weeknights, this establishment provides quality (if expensive) semi-formal dining. On weekends, it provides mainly a locus for well-dressed post-graduates and corporate climbers to mingle. Regurgitation is highly frowned upon.

>>>[Getting kicked out of here--or even not let in in the first place--is pretty easy. Hell, they near booted me 'cause I ordered straight whiskey instead of some fruity thing. Still, I've never seen corp people as loose-lipped as in this bar late Fridays.]<<<
-- Demon Cannon (16:07:36/6-17-54)

Always featuring live music, usually jazz or some mutation thereof, this club has a very purist feel to it. Glitz is absent altogether, but the music is terrific. The food is respectable, but the wine list is abhorrent.

>>>[I don't know if it's "real" jazz, but the music here is pretty fragging impressive. And if you say "Injun" again, I'll kill you.]<<<
-- Enrico Hillnever (17:17:53/6-1-54)

A very small restaurant with a large following, especially in Pueblo's music community. Strangely, no live music is performed herein, but occasionally patrons will be writing new material here.

>>>[The cook can also score some of chemistry's better achievements for a sum, if ya catch my meanin'.]<<<
-- Neverday (21:36:59/3-21-54)

Directly across from the Fencing Sun, this is the seedy dive with few lights that we have come to know and cherish. The smallish room is perpetually filled with smoke, even when vacant, leading this writer to believe that artificial smoke is pumped in for effect. There are many booths, which is good for meets, and the liquor is watered down, which is also good for meets.

>>>[Drop 20€ on Mikey the bartender when he asks you what you want, and tell him you want to inspect the casks. He'll set you up with a back room if you need one.]<<<
-- Edward Shallow-Bear (21:42:28/9-27-54)

A large sports bar, count on waiting for a table and drinks, as well as on seeing seemingly half of the people in Pueblo when a big game is on. During non-event nights, this restaurant is a favorite of PCC employees, especially those with families. Light is dim and portions are generous.

>>>[This does a booming family business, but it also serves as one of the sell points for Sioux BTLs.]<<<
-- Corpsemethod (00:52:58/4-14-54)

>>>[Interesting, as the Shaft is owned mostly by the PCC. I wonder how much they know about the beetles?]<<<
-- Feather (13:27:31/5-1-54)

>>>[Three low-level PCC employees were found dead behind the Shaft today. No word on BTL involvment,]<<<
-- Feather (13:27:31/6-7-54)

A pricy alternative to semi-formal/casual dining, Spirit's serves very trendy food, some of which is magically prepared. The staff is good, and the whole place can be rented out for an afternoon or evening. Many small PCC receptions are done here.

>>>[It is a fairly open secret that local free spirit Dion Kimber finances this place. PCC law doesn't let him own property, but he's the de facto owner. When he's not teaching, he's sometimes entertaining guests here, even cooking.]<<<
-- April Cloud Dayfire (10:18:03/5-28-54)

>>>[Kimber's rumored to be quite the ladies man, but I never hear anything more than friend-of-a-friend stories about this.]<<<
-- Nikki (04:59:34/6-19-54)

This is the old Pueblo Court House, your standard marble columned affair. If houses the offices of the Vice-President of the Pueblo Branch of the Pueblo Corporate Council, and those of his staff. It is also where inconveniences such as vehicle, weapon, and cyberware licenses must be filed.

This seven floor building is divided into two major sections: the Pueblo City Tribunal and the Pueblo Regional Tribunal. Tribunals are the PCC answer to the court system, so if you are tried for an indiscretion, it will be here. The City Tribunal handles cases within the city limits. The Regional Tribunal handles matters in the smaller towns and areas near Pueblo, but outside of city limits. This is analogous to the division between District and County Courts.

The police station. The building contains both offices and detention cells, as well as training areas. While the PCC SecForce is both the police and the military, this building involves mostly police functions. Most of the building is directly above the intersection of 8th and Grand, with the building covering the four square blocks around the intersection, with arches allowing traffic to pass between.

>>>[The ground floor is wider than the others, holding a covered garage for patrol cars and so on, as well as reception, waiting and a few offices. The next six floors all hold offices, mostly one division per, save the second and third which both have two. There is a helipad on the second floor, atop the garage. Floors eight and nine hold training areas (like firing ranges and weight rooms), interrogation rooms. The rest of the floors hold cells.]<<<

>>>[Missed a few. The basement, for one. Most of the artillery is in the basement, really heavily warded. Astral security at this place is phenomenal; no eavesdropping. Level under the basement holds all the computer stuff.]<<<

>>>[Matrix stuff is hairy, like all PCC systems. Bring body bags. Way black. I think they may store backups at Fort PopÈ, and most likely have a direct SAN there. By the way, the "artillery" mentioned above is formidable, but is security stuff mostly. The mil spec nasties are in the Fort.]<<<

The one true mall, as American culture would recognize it, in Pueblo. Hence the name, I suppose. Each of the major software makers in Pueblo has a small outlet here, guaranteeing the lowest price you'll get for their wares. There is a locally owned Body+Tech franchise with competent docs. I'm told that Leaf Radiance has the widest selection of any lore store in Pueblo. Three Tree offers quality cyberdeck components most inexpensively, but with an utter lack of full purchasable cyberdecks in their inventory. The clothing retailers within the mall offer a wide variety of fashions and price ranges, including very reasonable natural fiber styles.

>>>[The Pueblo Humanis Policlub reportedly meets after the mall closes in one of the stores.]<<<

>>>[There is a Sasquatch named Smoke in mall security who is really great. You'll like him if you meet him, but if you screw with him, lots of Puebloans will be unhappy with you.]<<<

Office Building (7 floors) & Large Bank / 4th & Main / Information: 966(19-4356) / Downtown, D7

The Thatcher Building is a very old office building, hosting a variety of lawyers, dentists, investigators, insurance groups, and First Bank. The offices are somewhat separate from the bank, so both keep different security.

>>>[Ain't that the truth. While First Bank security is about what you'd expect, the office security blows major monkey. High school students routinely break into some of the dental offices to steal nitrous oxide. The security guys, according to rumor, have helped on at least two occasions.]<<<
-- Torman (23:19:02/7-26-54)

>>>[One of the top floor corner offices has a surprisingly powerful astral ward. Anyone know what's up?]<<<
-- Roadsoul Ghost (14:29:04/7-27-54)

Office Building (9 floors) & Large Bank / 8th & Court / Information: 966(96-9032) / Downtown, D7

This is where most non-native corporate offices are in Pueblo. The top floor, previously occupied by Aztechnology is now vacant. Other corporations which have offices in this building are Fuchi, Ares, Gaeatronics and the Atlantean Foundation. None of the offices are very substantial, with the exception of Ares, which has a liaison office to Ratech.

>>>[Corporate circles call this office the Ladder, because it provides a means of elopement and defection for other corpers. Usually, defections don't happen here, but often the cycle begins here, with people from each office being closer to each other, both spatially and socially, than anywhere else. It is incredibly easy to move secrets into someone else's office in this building. As a result, Matrix resources here are minimal and non-sensitive.]<<<
-- Fastjack (17:16:24/7-17-54)

>>>[So why don't the corps move, if it's such a security leak?]<<<
-- Torman (23:29:26/7-26-54)

>>>[Two reasons. One: the door swings both ways. Though corps can lose employees to the Ladder, they can gain them from it as well. Two: The PCC makes it much harder for non-native corporations to get leases in other parts of the city. Since the city of Pueblo is not that big a deal to the corps, this works well here, although, in Albuquerque, it is much different.]<<<
-- Edward Shallow-Bear (21:57:35/9-27-54)

The Pueblo high school system has divided the schools by academic area, although a basic core curriculum is required at all the schools. East, rival of South High, focuses on mathematics and art. Its symbol is the Eagle and its colors are white and gold.

>>>[Actually, high schools are great, because rooms are empty at night, they have equipment which you might have use for--like good Matrix connections and analytical software--odd trid libraries, chemical stores, and so on.]<<<
-- Day Stem (04:51:16/4-1-54)

>>>[One good thing about Pueblo's split curriculum is that you can often make a good guess at what interests any teenager in the city just by looking at the colors of their jacket.]<<<
-- Hippopotamus Maiden (21:36:33/7-2-54)

Policlub Chapterhouse (3 floors) / 1st & Greenwood / 966(KACH-SO) / Downtown, D7

This is the local circle of the Kachina Society, which is detailed on page 108 of PCC section of the NAN download. It is of interest to the shadows mainly due to an inner circle of real shamans within. It is, apparently, guarded by at least a naga.

Policlub Chapterhouse (5 floors) / 2nd & Greenwood / 966(MET-MOM) / Downtown, D7

This is the founding chapter of the Mothers of Metahumans (MOM) organization, founded in this very building in 2024. Metas in Pueblo should go here for legal hassles.

>>>[After thirty years of dues money, this place has some serious Matrix presence. Not impossible, and worth the run, especially if you want dossiers on MOMs nationally or dirt on Humanis. Donations of the later, I'm told, they will pay for.]<<<
-- Aquasonic (20:59:53/10-3-54)

This facility holds a 700 seat theater, art studios, dance studios, music practice rooms, meeting halls, ballrooms, and exhibit spaces. Prime examples of Pueblo's exquisite artistic talent are exhibited here. More interesting to the less cultural of you runner-types is the fact that many large corporate banquets and receptions are held herein.

Although no passenger trains come into Pueblo any longer, bus traffic into Union Station is still substantial. Parking is atrocious, and in a rare lapse of design efficiency, the Airlink station for the Central District is a kilometer to the north.

This campus is known as UP, U of P, Pueblo University, and the University of Pueblo. Walking Stick, a public golf course, forms the west and north borders of this campus. The school holds satellite active trideo station, a diverse curriculum, and their computer department was voted the best of its size in North America. UP excels at three things: art history (with an odd slant towards Matrix painting), software design, and veterinary medicine. The departments of occult science, chemistry (especially those branches relating to electronics), and business are also notable. The campus contains no dormitories, but does have a large student center.

>>>[One of the most notable faculty is Dion Kimber, who teaches an introduction to magical theory. This is a pretty huge course, which is open to all students, even mundanes, and Kimber dynamic teaching style make the course easy and popular. Kimber is most noted as being a free spirit.]<<<
-- Barbara Halfmist (12:48:13/8-19-54)

>>>[Kimber says he started life as a city spirit, but he won't disclose the city. Kimber likes to be around humans, so fits into the animus or player category. His powers are unknown, though he can obviously take human form and is known to be a sorcerer. He shows hints of having personal knowlegde of events from 2012, which probably makes him one first free spirits.]<<<
-- Rosebark (03:23:02/9-9-54)

The East Side is set mostly upon a mesa and is more sparsely populated than other parts of Pueblo, excluding Pueblo West. What little manufacturing occurs is here, mostly in the Tech Center around the airport. Many of Pueblo's more "back-to-nature" types live out here, as well as a higher percentage of metahumans. Most residents work either for manufacturing, the airport, or in small businesses. The Rust bears special mention; it is a large squatter village within the ruins of the old CF&I factories.

Neighborhood	Security Rating
Blende	C
Dog Patch	B
The Grove	D
Lombard	B
The Mesa	C-B
The Rust	Z
Vineland	C

Hotels

This is a pretty sleazy motor lodge, notable for you shadow-types for three outstanding features: the rooms all contain kitchens, the rooms may be reasonably rented on a monthly basis, and the manager, shall we say, chooses to remain ignorant of his guest's habits.

This is a pricy and fairly innocuous bar within the Pueblo Airport. It is generally not crowded (much like the airport itself) and therefore ideal for illicit rendezvous.

>>>[The owner knows everything about the airport and can get some serious drugs. He costs, though.]<<<
-- Shark Dust (05:44:49/5-19-54)

This club an extremely cutting edge place. Many bands which play here become very big. Its reputation among musicians and fans is about equivalent to Underworld 93 in Seattle, or more accurately, its little sister.

A favorite among working class orks and trolls, every facet of this bar is enlarged. Drinks are robust (lethally so in some instances) and even the snack foods may serve as meals. Prices are cheap. Kurmudgeon's only drawback is long lines, mostly on weekends. Wednesday nights feature strippers, mostly human females.

This club was built for dancing, featuring a tiered design. The ground floor is the main dance floor, with booths and the main bar surrounding it. The next two floors are basically balconies which look onto the dance floor (the third floor balcony looks down onto about 4 meters of the second floor). The second floor holds the DJ's booth and a stage, with more dance space, three cages, and tables. The upper floors are mostly small tables and large booths, as well as some private rooms.

>>>[The place to see and be seen in Pueblo, but expect to pay for it. Cover is 20€ and drinks run from 3-5€. A good portion of the security staff is magical.]<<<
-- Mistress (21:54:23/1-29-54)

>>>[Look out for a waitress named Nikki Crossfire. She's a real bitch, but knows just about everybody.]<<<
-- Tounge Merchant (00:22:11/5-6-54)

>>>[Love you, too, Merch. And don't worry; impotence is usually temporary.]<<<
-- Nikki (05:44:49/5-19-54)

For those who find Orgasm's to odiously trendy, there is Razor, an Edge bar brimming with leather, rubber, spikes, barbed-wire and every other trite leftover from anti-fashion. Security is very good, and the larger metahumans form most of the patronage. When trolls start body slamming, move on.

An inexpensive family restaurant, The Spitroll caters mostly to orks and trolls, with portions sized accordingly. More standard sizes are available as well, though they cost nearly the same amount.

The generic term for a group of firms collected in two patches just south of the airport. The most notable of the firms here are the Arrowhead Foundation headquarters (with research and manufacturing units), Virtual Realities' main office, and Ratech's gun manufacturing plants. Also located in the Tech Center is U-Push-It Inc., a company which rents air vehicles.

>>>[Security here can be hell. PCC SecForce maintains the general grounds, but each firm also has its own security. Most of these places are vicious to intruders, especially Ratech.]<<<
-- Flashking (00:39:21/2-6-54)

>>>[I'm 90 percent certain that the Arrowhead Foundation is doing heavy magical research. This seems a bit odd for a software company.]<<<
-- Rosebark (03:58:09/3-17-54)

>>>[Arrowhead has been acting a bit weird lately, especially with the dilation deal.]<<<
-- Petal Lichpilgrim (00:06:17/4-29-54)

What little presence DocWagon has in Pueblo is here. There are no medical facilities here, as DocWagon is delegated only to ambulance service within Pueblo.

This is a solid hospital, as long as your needs are not too exotic. What little magical healing is available is so at a very high premium. For minor inconveniences like broken limbs, deep cuts and the occasional bullet wound, Pueblo General's emergency service is very speedy.

>>>[General cuts some costs by getting drugs from questionable sources in Denver. I know for a fact that at least three doctors here are addicted to pain killers.]<<<
-- Angerlip (01:02:29/10-19-54)

The Army Depot is a non-location. It was leveled by high explosive by the United States military when they abandoned the site after the Treaty of Denver was signed. Rumor has it that under all that rubble are chambers with mustard gas from WWI, and other chemical nasties from later days. A separate rumor holds that this is the location of Pueblo Under.

Coleman high school focuses on history and philosophy. Its colors are green and black, its mascot is the Spider, and it has about twice the average number of magically active in its student body.

This medium sized airport connects to other parts of the Airlink System and some points outside of the Pueblo Corporate Council (see Access above). It also holds a station for the local Airlink grid. Computers on site maintain the local Airlink system, as well as local air traffic, so Matrix security, in both virtual and real space, is tight.

This small fusion reactor provides environmentally safe power for Pueblo and the region surrounding it. Those of mental acuity warn against attempting gaining egress to this plant.

The North Side is dominated by Fort PopÈ, the military base. The North Side is somewhat sequestered from the rest of Pueblo and is effectively a self-contained army town, with all the trimmings which that entails. Residents are almost entirely military with the exception of the southern section of Dearth, which is almost entirely students and teachers at UP. Eden is home mostly to non-coms, while the sections around the base itself are given to officers. Between Dearth and the base are a long strip of warehouses, many of which are abandoned.

Neighborhood	Security Rating
Dearth	C-A
Eden	B
Fort PopÈ	A-AAA
Warehouse District	D-B

Hotels

This hotel is reasonably priced and almost fully automated. Much procreation tends to occur here, and the walls are thin; the rooms of Eden Inn are often utilized by local prostitutes.

Although spartanly military, this hotel may be the best in Pueblo. Two in-house restaurants are first rate (and expensive) and one has an excellent champagne brunch. Military discounts are available. The Hotel is set on extensive, wooded grounds, including an Olympic sized pool, tennis courts, gym, and immaculate lawns. Rooms are large and feature hi-speed Matrix access and a full cable system.

>>>[Martial House it plugged into a rigger for security, so sneaking about here is not very easy. The grounds apparently have sensors which track movement on the ground, translating it to tingles on the rigger's skin. The rigger (or, rather riggers, 'cause they work in shifts) is in contact with hotel security, especially the three wagemages always on duty. On the up side, if you need security, this is Pueblo's best bet. Extra magical security can be charged to room service.]<<<
-- Aqua Sky (06:44:39/7-2-54)

Luxury Hotel (3 floor house) / 10550 E. Wild Horse Rd. / 9023(87-2877) / Warehouse District, G5

Although the sign on this oddly placed Victorian home says "For Sale", it is the occupants of this structure to which this sign applies, not the house itself. This is Pueblo's only real brothel, which does a booming business thanks to excessive rates and guaranteed health.

>>>[Love this place. A great many more Anglos than is normal for Pueblo frequent this establishment, most of them riggers. It's right on the border, and if you've got the money, the ladies (and I mean that in the absolute best sense of the word) will do many more useful things than satiate your tattered libido, like run errands. That may not sound like much, but to a rigger, it is a Godsend.]<<<

This is a fairly standard nightclub, with mostly military patrons on weekends and students on weekdays (when the cover drops to 3€ from 7€). Musical taste is vapid, leaning toward whatever danceable Song-O-Mat mush is en vogue this week. No real gimmicks, but patrons are usually pretty creative.

This small, dark club caters to Pueblo's gay community. It is a fairly closed community for an outsider, especially an Anglo. Security is tough and plentiful, so the cover charge is high (20€).

>>>[There's a cosmetic body shop in the basement. Marvelous work. It helps to know a regular, though. You might try asking for Excedrin.]<<<

This started as a non-com bar, but was soon beat out by the Rail Gun and Tear Gas. The patrons who remained behind loved natural atmosphere. Most of the steady patrons were and continue to be shamans from the base, but the House has become known as a place where magically active individuals can come to be with their peers.

This is your standard college bar on the ground floor. The upstairs is generally where philosophy and computer majors can be found, arguing over a topic of the hour. The bar opens at noon, but is mostly empty until about 4pm, which provide an excellent meeting location.

This is a semi-formal establishment offers county club-like services to officers of the SecForce military and their guests. Security is provided by MPs.

A haven for family-oriented, less wild non-commissioned officers, this drinking den serves average drinks and no food. The atmosphere is calm and the lighting is subdued, but not dim. I found the help to be the most polite in the North Side.

>>>[They're more polite once you know 'em. You'd think that patrons of such a calm bar would get flack from other soldiers, right? Negative. Many of the patrons served in pretty intense combat (although not often together), and you can feel the camaraderie. You hear the phrase "you know how it is" a lot in this bar. I wouldn't snicker at it, if I were you chummer.]<<<
-- Boydust (08:49:17/4-1-54)

This is a rowdy counterpart to the Rail Gun, popular with younger non-coms, especially metahumans. The drinks are larger, the employee's more rude, the bouncers are tougher, but will allow more rough-housing. Prices are about the same.

>>>[I guess this should go here. The warehouse district was built when Pueblo had 750,000 people, holds more storage space than Pueblo currently needs. Pueblo, in general, has more space than it can use; after the Treaty, many of the apartments were demolished and real houses built in their stead. Anyway, a lot of these warehouses are abandoned, making them prime for runners. Gangs favor them, too, for executions away from their turf. Many already have pirate Matrix connections. Once every few months, SecForce sweeps through them all, though, so don't plan on staying long. The warehouses that are in legitimate use are pretty well guarded, as a lot of the warehoused stuff is PCC property.]<<<
-- Slow Rise (23:04:33/9-17-54)

This is a very large bank, one of the largest I've seen, complete with fenced, landscaped grounds. A major bank, it began the trend of secure, Swiss-like banking which is now common in Pueblo. The second floor holds offices of mid-level executives who handle larger clients. The top level is for top level management and security, and no patrons are allowed. Security Force employees, both the police and military types, get special deals here.

>>>[The Matrix here has low gravity, a micro-world with trees and atmosphere. It is an onion system, with smaller worlds inside, like a Chinese puzzle box (although you can't see the level above you, only sky). Security gets tighter the farther in you go. This is would be your standard B³ (Big Bank Bitch) system if it weren't in the PCC; but here it is much worse. Think twice before you go in here.]<<<
-- Hellrunner (18:45:20/6-26-54)

>>>[This bank uses biologicals at night, mostly hell hounds. Most of the other tricks are in effect as well, especially magical ones.]<<<
-- Captain Door (16:50:42/9-6-54)

A quality hospital, catering mostly to the families of SecForce stationed at the fort. The hospital is no stranger to cybertechnology and will install and repair it, although for military and other illegal cyberware, only SecForce with proper clearance are offered this service. The hospital also does not sell cyberware, although they can arrange for the more common types (and common military types, for SecForce) like datajacks and so on.

This base of the Defense Arm of the Pueblo Security Force mainly runs training and border security missions. When smuggler LAV's rush over the border, these are the guys that get despatched. Often, these LAV's just stop and allow themselves to be inspected for contraband. In the PCC, many standard smuggled goods like some matrix tech and various drugs are not illegal. Also, PCC recognizes (unofficially of course) the necessity for some products, like real alcohol, which they do not produce, and so don't generally prosecute smugglers with these items (although they often make them pay import tax). Other items, like BTLs, can get you killed on the spot.

>>>[The moral here children, is that if you want to get lots of really illegal stuff into the city of Pueblo itself, don't use LAV's. The Defense Arm doesn't send panzers after 18-wheelers or trucks. Just make sure you can pass the border. Do it from Denver, is my advice.]<<<
-- Websmell (21:26:10/9-22-54)

Fort PopÈ, named after the leader of a revolt of Pueblo Indians against European trespassers in 1680, has no airfield, so all air vehicles are LAV's and VTOL craft. Hover vehicles are popular at the base. Security is ungodly, especially around the computer center, armory and motor pool. The base also hosts the Pueblo Terminex, the main Matrix center for Pueblo. Part of this mainframe's duties include virtual training as well as monitoring the sensor arrays which track border crossings.

>>>[The Fort has a crack magical strike force on call, and often they will detect smugglers more quickly than the tech stuff.]<<<
-- Fungus Luck (20:05:20/7-2-54)

The North High School Hornets focus mainly on literature and writing. Their colors are green and gold.

Not shown on the map, Pueblo West is a designed community, built on a large ranch estate paradigm. Each house sits on a plot of land no smaller than five hectares (50,000 square meters), with most properties being much larger. Pueblo West, being further west than the west side, extends nearly to the mountains, and provide homes to many horses. Many of the more affluent back-to-nature types live here, as well as a good portion of Pueblo's small elven population. No corporations base themselves here, with the notable exception of Tablelands, a software firm.

This is a spread out hotel, with individual bungalows being assigned to guests. It features privacy, a pool and spa, beautiful scenery, and peace. High speed Matrix access is available on request. Bungalows hold 4 very comfortable and cost 500€ per night.

A pricy attempt at European elegance that just misses. Service is properly snobby, but the food doesn't quite measure up. They do have a daily champagne brunch, however (50€), and booths are sound proofed.

This is without question the best restaurant anywhere near Pueblo. Classically elegant with a western twist, portions are large and the wine list is formidable. Prices are high as are standards of fashion. Make sure to try the buffalo.

>>>[Check out a place called the Marblehead Estate. I'm pretty sure this is a retreat site for the Arrowhead Foundation.]<<<

This large, landscaped region holds the sixteen buildings of Tablelands Software. The grounds are very secure, and apparently some sections of some of the buildings are reserved solely as trap areas for intruders.

This private residence conceals a shadow clinic. The service is very personal, swift, efficient and very expensive. Dr. Martel Oxbow is the head surgeon, and is very adept. The Ranch can serve up to ten major patients at once and can usually attain most types of alphaware and bioware, at greatly inflated prices.

Anything needed for an animal's physical and mental well being can be found in this hospital. The head of the hospital, Jane Silvereye, is an expert on animals of all kinds, and can connect you with the more exotic species of fauna.

If Pueblo has a version of the New Betty Ford drug treatment center, this is it. Addicts of all kinds live here until cured. Mountain Valley specializes in treating alcohol and BTL abusers.

Owned by Anglo Sas Colby, this estate is a retreat for artists, mostly painters and sculptors. Ms. Colby is well known in the arts community, holding a place along the lines of that held by Georgia O'Keefe in the twentieth century. Admission is by invitation, and Ms. Colby employs her own security.

>>>[Sas also sometimes uses runners for security, bodyguarding and other purposes.]<<<
-- Makerbabe (15:40:37/4-26-54)

The South Side is a hodge-podge of Pueblo's software employees, teachers, non-corporate service employees and families. The houses of the South Side are a bit younger than those of the rest of Pueblo, and it is more neighborhood oriented, providing good opportunity for child rearing. Two of Pueblo's high schools are in this district, as are the recreational facilities for the sports of much of Pueblo high school athletics. The South Side is the most racially integrated of Pueblo's districts.

Neighborhood	Security Rating
Aberdine	AA
Bessemer	C
The Blocks	C-B
El Camino	A
Meadowlands	B
Minnequa Heights	D-C
Regency	A
Sunset Park	A
Thunderhead	C-B
Woods	B

Hotels

This hotel is average in about all respects. Most of its patrons are relatives of those in St. Mary Corwin Hospital.

This is a large, split level private home in a residential area, which is illegally rented by its owner. It is fully equipped, roomy, offers two high speed Matrix lines, and is partially surrounded by tall, concrete block walls. Weekly rent, last time I looked, was 3,559€ plus deposit.

>>>[This house is great to organize runs from. Call a guy named Roper in Seattle, and he can hook you up.]<<<
-- Never Giant (06:54:49/10-19-54)

>>>[The police know about this house and its reputation, which is one flaw, so be careful. Another flaw is that the place is haunted. Nothing malicious, but if some weird things start happening with the lights or you hear noises, its probably just the ghosts of previous owners of the house.]<<<
-- Tallmage (02:17:49/11-28-54)

One of the few places in Pueblo which serves seafood, this casual restaurant imports fresh fish daily from all over the world, through Denver.

>>>[Easily the best fish in Pueblo. The place is run by a smuggling cell called VolantÈ.]<<<
-- Never Giant (07:04:25/10-19-54)

Run by a small family, this is the best TexMex in Pueblo, without question. Following a western tradition which holds that the quality of the food within a Mexican restaurant is inversely proportional to the appearance of the restaurant, this locale suffers from severe appearance deficits, but the inexpensive food is first rate.

Membership only, this private club on the shores of Lake Minnequa boasts a pool, tennis courts, conference rooms and a restaurant. Private parties and reunions are held here.

With its bizarre design cross of stark fortress dungeon and macramÈ hangings, Park East hardly sounds worthy of patronage, but the clash is understated and somehow works aesthetically. Located next to the east entrance to City Park, this steak house is elegant without requiring elegant patrons; dress is anything from tuxedos to shorts. Food is inexpensive and quality. The large dining area is divided by brick partial walls into smaller chambers, creating an intimacy reinforced by dark lighting.

For 22€, you can get a great hair style here, and for a bit more, you can get information on about anyone in Pueblo. Della knows everybody. The staff is schooled magical theory, although they are all mundane, and magical concerns (like asking for all of your cut off hair to be burned) are handled without comment.

This small independent operation manufactures cheap simsense units and some chips. Being the small fish in the large pond, Native Thought often has a need for runners.

Built on the campus of Pueblo Community College, the PCMC is a collaborative effort of area hospitals, where very expensive medical equipment is shared. Very advanced MRI systems are here, as well equipment for just about anything that involves nanites.

Probably the best hospital in Pueblo, St. Mary-Corwin's specializes in general health care and metahuman concerns, especially goblinization.

Rivals of Centennial, the Central Wildcats concentrate in computer science and foreign languages. Their colors are blue and white.

A large park which includes an 18-hole golf course, swimming pool, 35 tennis courts, wooded picnic areas and multiples entrances to the bike trails paralleling the Arkansas River. All parts of the park are open to the public.

Though used only by high school athletics, this football and track facility rivals those of many colleges. Right above the river, you can see the painted banks, which often carry messages backing a competing school. Entrance is on the ground floor, with the stadium recessed into the ground.

The South High Colts are rivals of East High, and focus mostly on the sciences and music. Their colors are black and white.

>>>[Two of the architects of Echo Mirage--Brandon Velarde and Lester Ward--came from the same class at this place. I think Ward was president or some shit like that. Pity about Velarde dying with that girl, but what a way to go, eh? Especially for a 70-year-old.]<<<
-- Dryad (09:06:33/9-18-54)

Originally the site of the Colorado State Fair, this walled collection of buildings, open air stages and midways now hosts the Pueblo Fair, a collection of agricultural auctions (selling items such as bulls, or even bull semen) and cutting edge technology. This is the one time non-Native corporations are allowed to peddle their wares in the PCC. During the three week fair, held near the end of the summer, you can see everything new in technology here.

>>>[He's not kidding. Although some exhibits require corp passes, even the unrestricted displays will curl your hair. Icon sculpting gets an entire building. Locals love this fair, because tech is even more advanced and less expensive than normal.]<<<
-- Love Thing (13:56:24/9-19-54)

>>>[I think that PCC allows other corps in only to show them up. Everything the PCC does is so much better than other stuff, although Fuchi sometimes pulls in some great consumer tech.]<<<
-- Thunderdeath (13:35:59/10-30-54)

The West Side is a slightly disorganized jumble of streets, especially far to the west. The ground is slightly less stable here, which has taken its toll on houses in the area. This is Pueblo's poorest district, although income rises significantly as you near downtown to the east. The result is a mixture of mid-level executives and minimum wage earners, which sometimes causes friction. The West Side is often the site of violence spawned by race and social class.

Neighborhood	Security Rating
Centennial	B
Sundance	C
Honor	D
Horsehead	D
The Wards	C
Uptown	A

Hotels

Once a luxury hotel, the downs has lived up (or rather down) to its name. The carpets and tapestries, those which haven't been stolen, are rotting away and the plumbing is unsatisfactory, but it is cheap, and roomy. Bring your own security.

A standard prefabricated motel, the Hampsted is serviceable and clean. No real amenities, but cheap, as it is based around the overnight tourist market,

Another overnight tourist hotel, the Rent and Rest is much less well kept, but is fully automated. Expect to bring your own sheets or sleeping bag, and you'll be lucky if the phone works.

A dark, rowdy place with a fiercely loyal patronage. Anglos are very clearly unwelcome in here. Many classically-garbed orks and trolls socialize herein.

A private club with an 18-hole golf course, indoor tennis, a swimming pool, bar, and fine restaurant, the Country Club is much less aristocratic than other country clubs. Almost every PCC employee is a member, for example, easily able to pay the 200€ joining fee (compare this to the 30,000€ joining fee for the Denver Country Club). The grounds are well kept and the course is fairly difficult.

A popular sports bar, the atmosphere is one of camaraderie, especially if you are rooting for Denver or against Aztlan.

>>>[The proprietor, a troll named Lee Michealclaw, is well respected on the West Side. He was a SecForce combat shaman for 14 years.]<<<
-- Nottounge (06:16:47/3-2-54)

One of the only Italian restaurants in Pueblo, this establishment features large portions of cheap food and cheap wine.

This club doesn't advertise, but it is almost always packed, usually about half metahuman. Along with searing music, this club features live combat of all types. A Matrix system also functions as a virtual whore house which can be accessed from anywhere in the world, but is half price if you are on site.

>>>[To get into this place, you need the password. Ask around for the "SimDeath Program", and you will be given a program (for about 20€) that will give you the daily password. This program will work forever, as what it does is looks up the previous day's average temperature, then looks at that page number in the Star Journal and does a whole bunch of other stuff to find the password.]<<<
-- Fleshlight (04:03:12/3-17-54)

This junkyard holds mostly old cars. The owner--a troll named Stark--uses the raw materials to create huge sculpture with an arc welder. His pets, Troilius the dog and Cresida the falcon, are well known around the area.

>>>[There are rumors that Troilius and Cresida are shapeshifters and Stark is possessed by a free spirit, but no one is really sure.]<<<
-- Brown Tornado Herd (20:52:31/7-14-54)

Anywhere else, this would be a shadowtech store, but here is one of Pueblo's big attractions. Milo's has bins, stacks, shelves and cases filled with tech toys, electronic meters, radio remotes and Matrix equipment. The staff is very helpful and can tell you exactly what parts you need and where to find circuit diagrams. There is a large software selection, some of it available on-line.

>>>[Naturally, you can find the stuff that is illegal even in the PCC here as well, behind the counter. Ask for Milo himself.]<<<
-- Trial Child (13:28:25/8-29-54)

Doctors here often loose patients and the hospital is currently under investigation for organ-legging. The staff is generally indifferent, unless you have money. Many of the doctors have known biases against metahumans.

Right on the Arkansas River (and this far west there are no cement banks), this small building houses birds of prey which have been injured, and brings them to health.

Centennial focuses on vocational training. Their colors are red and white and their mascot is the Bulldogs. Central is their long time rival.

This hospital is a major center for research and treatment of mental illness. Two special buildings are dedicated to cyberpsychosis and goblinization rehabilitation. Security is very tight. The psychiatric wards of this center lend their name to the surrounding neighborhood of the Wards.

While not technically on the West Side, the lake formed by the Pueblo Dam provides the largest water recreation site for hundreds of miles. The bike trail on the river lead all the way out here. Two marinas hold hundreds of boats, many owned by Denverites.

This small building, opened in January of 2054, hosts the Pueblo chapter of the UB. Thus far, only a handful of people have joined.

Much speculation surrounds the metahuman society hidden within Pueblo, especially as to its location. The name Pueblo Under implies a city beneath the streets, but this is deliberate misdirection on behalf of its inhabitants. The secret could not be kept forever. It is fairly clear that the sewer system underneath Pueblo could not hold such a large colony, nor even a small one for that matter. The current claims that tunnels were constructed to prevent flooding are ludicrous and completely unbased on fact. Pueblo receives less than 27cm of moisture a year, classifying it a only one step above a desert. This means the only reason for Pueblo to have been paranoid about water flow in the past is due to the Arkansas River.

After the flood of 1921, Pueblo looked into ways of better containing the river in cases of unseasonable weather. The solution was a more advanced embankment and levee system. Tunnels were not even mentioned, perhaps because even then the city knew that the rock Pueblo sits upon shifts constantly, making the support of a large tunnel network problematic at best. In addition, even if such tunnels did exist, it would make little sense for a town to grow within them, as rumors indicate. It is easy for city dwellers to believe these rumors, because such city folk are surrounded by urban blight on all sides. Pueblo, however, like most of the Pueblo Corporate Council, is surrounded by wilderness--in Pueblo's case, prairie, as well as the trees and cliffs of the Arkansas River valley. The point being that there are far better places to start a secret society within a city, where the problems inherent in sewer life, not the least of which is health, are not present.

In fact, Pueblo Under is within caves to the west of Pueblo, close to the river. These caves are extensive and have hundreds of entrances, although many have been made by artificial means. I've been inside these caves and the society is truly remarkable. Magic provides light and, to a large extent, food. Quite a large number of Pueblo Under youths, contrary to rumor, attend school in the city, which allows a constant contact with the city and its goods. I've been asked not to relate too many details about Pueblo Under by those who allowed me to announce its location, but I will say that rumors of Pueblo Under being under Pueblo are kept alive by the fact that many small drainage tunnels in Pueblo dump into the river. Although the fit is tight, metahumans can get into these tunnels from various places in Pueblo--mostly, those close to the river--and move to the river. Once there, they can move upstream until they clear the city and get to a cave entrance.

>>>[Somewhat surprisingly, MOM is known to oppose Pueblo Under on philosophical grounds. Their favorite rant is that the sewers and caves are bad the children's health. They openly discourage all metahumans from going Under.]<<<
-- Roadsoul Ghost (15:02:14/6-28-54)

The collections of LTG numbers operative within Pueblo and the Matrix around them is referred to as the Pueblo Terminex. This term is slightly misleading, as there is a Matrix mainframe also called the Pueblo Terminex. This single machine is the main PCC computer in Pueblo, and its icon--a vast array of stairs, catwalks, ramps, ladders and wire--dominates the dreamscape. Many smaller, but otherwise identical icons abound, indicating smaller PCC systems. Other features include Virtual Reality's replica of Earth (complete with atmosphere), Ratech's steel Menger sponge, and the Arrowhead Foundation's black, non-reflective, angular obelisk. Most striking are Tableland's extremely realistic mesa growing from the Matrix gird and Pueblo University's fenced off meadows. Some minor icons are the steel vault door of the Bank of Pueblo set into the Matrix floor, and the Sangre de Christo Art Center's public virtual museum, looking like a brass, stylized S which twists back on itself.

>>>[Its a mathematical construct that looks like a cube with smaller cubes cut out of it. It's done in such a way that, mathematically, it has infinite surface area, but zero volume.]<<<
-- Roadsoul Ghost (15:17:10/6-28-54)

>>>[Don't hop the fence at U of P. Just don't.]<<<
-- Mountainjoy (03:23:02/11-8-54)

The Pueblo Matrix has a well-deserved reputation for being rather brutal. The Pueblo Terminex is no different. Like all of the Pueblo Matrix, everything is by nature tougher here, better designed. [NOTE: as per NAN vol. 1, all IC and nodes in the Pueblo Matrix get +2 added to any die roll they make. Note that this is not a target number modification; they actually add 2 to a roll (after the law of sixes is applied). This means that no IC or system in the Pueblo Matrix can ever fail on a target number of 3 or less.] Expect every trick in the Terminex, especially in the actual Terminex computer. One neat trick is to give an item to everyone who enters a system, then have every node check for that item on anyone it sees. This means that Deception programs will get you in fine, but Sleaze will eventually trip you up. That's a pretty basic trick in the Terminex; life as usual in Pueblo.

Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Shadowrun material Copyright 1998 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.