The Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest in 2050 is very similar to the Pacific Northwest in 2011, so those of you from that area, or who have spent some time in Portland and have at least had to drive through that hole known as Beaverton, you can stop reading now. For everyone else or for everyone who hasn't spent enough time, keep on keepin' on.

The setting was placed in a variant Portland/Beaverton area largely due to logistics. The mods were creating a span of time between 2011 and 2050, and the game at large; creating new cities entirely was off the mark. However, we also didn't want to use real cities and have people worry about getting real geography wrong. Thus we chose to use a fictional city based on a real one, to allow players the freedom to create their own set-pieces while still having a base to fall back on.

The cities we are working with specifically are:
 * Underwood
 * Fall City

The Pacific Northwest, in modern terms, is a liberal, lush landscape of deciduous and evergreen trees, rivers, fields, flowers, animals, and tattoos. We'll break this down into sections.

Geography
The Pacific Northwest is home to just about any geography you'd like. The ocean is one hour west, mountains are one hour southeast, and desert lurks on the other side of those mountains. There's plenty of rain, rivers, bridges, and hills. There's also plenty of valleys, and sometimes from one place to another you'll fall down so low your ears will pop and you won't even know it.

Fall City is criss-crossed by three rivers, allowing for seven different bridges to be used to hop from one end of the city to the other. Handily, the bridges are organized in such a way that Fall City is generally divided into four quadrants: NE, NW, SE, SW. The rivers make something of a triangle, and at the base of that triangle, just outside it, lays Underwood.

Your character can realistically spend time at the Coast or in the Mountains. They can also Go Camping and Head Out to the Desert (though it's a defined desert and not what you commonly think of as desert, so it's not always warm, it just doesn't get any rain).

Climate
There are three seasons in Fall City/Underwood: Wet, Notwetbutcold (otherwise known as Winter), and Summer.

Wet
The stereotype of the Pacific NW is that it always rains and the sun is never, ever out. This is true. Well, almost true. For about 7 months' worth of days in the year (but not 7 months straight) there is probably not much sun. However, days of consecutive rain lasting more than two hours isn't actually very common outside of the Wet Season.

During Wet Season, streets flood. Cars skid. Everything is dripping. Headaches from humidity. Dry skin even though your socks are soaked through. Everyone's snippy because they've all got some form of SADD or another. There's dark and musty and fog in the morning and if it's the Wet before winter there's ice all over the place, black ice, hard to see ice, ice hiding, waiting to surprise you and ruin your day (and bruise your butt.)

Everyone owns a pair of galoshes and if they don't, they're silly. Everyone has hats. No one can straighten their hair anymore. It's just wet. A lot.

There are usually 3-4 days of rain and then one day of mediocre drizzle, however there's never more than a few truly torrential bits a month.

Notwetbutcold, otherwise known as Winter
Days range from 5 degrees to 45, and the air is crisp and rather delightful. People still ride their bikes and heavy coats and scarves can be seen on every individual. Because the weather is generally mild in the Pacific Northwest (outside of buckets of Heaven's tears) 40 is intensely cold, and it only gets chillier. Due to the humidity, it feels like your bones are getting tapped and every last cell of warmth within you fleeing from your pores.

There are also Fog Days involved in Winter. These days are a horror movie waiting to happen. We're talking seven feet of visibility. Streetlights make yellow blockages out of what could be another car drunkenly swerving at you. You look out a store window and expect a zombie to come hopping out. The Fog doesn't let up until the night.

But otherwise, generally sunny, short days. Fall City and Underwood are just north enough that the sun rises late and sets early, creating a pitch-black five o'clock hour.

Summer
There is a game that we play in Portland in 2011, and it's "Tattoo Count." Here's how it works. Summer comes along, and everyone in Portland, regardless of gender, takes their shirt off. The first to 100 unique tattoos wins. Excluded are back wings, stars, crosses, or tribal sleeves. This is still played in the Pacific Northwest in 2050, except ALSO excluded are X-DAV logos.

Summer is the renaissance of the Pacific Northwest. Everyone thinks it's all rain and muck and let 'em, the summers belong to those tough enough to brave out the buckets. Clear skies, 75-90 degree days, iced coffee~ oh! It couldn't be better, really! The Pacific Northwest Summer brings green, brightness and beauty, along with mania.

You see, they've all been depressed under the rain. There's a lot of coupling, wild actions, crazy night outs, and beer, beer, beer. Again, that conspicuously north thing brings about longer days, so there's more play time, less guilt.

There are still rainy days in Summer, and a Summer is "good" or "bad" based on the number of rainy days each month has. Generally, humidity comes before and after a rain but not in-between, or only mildly so. A "good" Summer begins at four days of rain a month or less. A "bad" Summer starts at 6 days of rain or more.

From Game Start
The Game starts in January, and here's what your characters can expect! If a month is hyphenated, the first portion is the first half of the month, etc.


 * January
 * Winter/Wet
 * February
 * Wet
 * March
 * Wet
 * April
 * Wet
 * May
 * Less Wet, But Still Wet
 * June
 * Wet/Summer
 * July
 * Summer
 * August
 * Summer
 * September
 * Summer/Wet
 * October
 * Wet/Winter
 * November
 * Winter/Wet
 * December
 * Winter

Flora
Morel mushrooms grow wild and free in these parts of Oregon, and so there are actually folks who make their living being mushroom hunters! Morel mushrooms are a delicacy, and also extremely expensive. There are also Chanterelle mushrooms further north, closer to Canada... equally expensive, equally tasty! People who hunt for Morel mushrooms are crazy into mushrooms, and knowing about fungi is a hobby for a lot of outdoor enthusiasts, and also something of a dying art.

Fauna
Birds in the PNW include Owls, Wrens, Hawks, Eagles, and Vultures! The most notable Hawk is the Nighthawk. Mod Snapple has actually seen an Owl chilling by the lake near her apartment, a great big white one! There are also a mother eff tonne of angry geese in the PNW, specifically in Underwood. Geese. Everywhere.

Black Widows are up in this hizzouse, too. Black Widow bites are not as deadly as folks from non-Widow'd areas think they are, but they are certainly venomous. A Black Widow bite, in the singular, will make you wanna vomit out everything in you, and if left untreated will eventually, slowly, and painfully kill the victim, but not without a lot of stink and gross. However, in the PNW, Black Widows are exceedingly rare, particularly the coastal areas. They're highly common in the drier mountains, however.

Crane Flies, otherwise known as Mosquito Hawks, are everywhere and that's why mosquitos aren't! They look like giant mosquitos and hover like aliens, but they're actually super friendly and kill the evil biters right out.

Moths are ENORMOUS in the PNW, but not actually that common! The wetter months make sure they're not visible to humans that often, but when they're seen, they're always as big as your hand or bigger. Sigh.

SOUTHERN ALLIGATOR LIZARDS ARE SO FUCKING CUTE.

The most poisonous snake in the PNW is the Western Rattlesnake, meaning there's not a lot of scary poisonous snakes around!

Mammals are generally as usual, the only exception being the occasional crazy big cat that's wandered down from the mountains. This does not happen nearly as often as you think. Coyotes are a yes, as are wolves and goats and all sorts of stereotypical American animals. The big cats that are in the Oregon mountains are specifically Puma and the Canadian Lynx.

The Locals
If you are to believe the Stereotypes Perpetuated by Modern Media, cough-cough-Portlandia-cough-cough, the Pacific Northwest are a bunch of Insane, Extremist, Wild, Pierced, Tattooed, Hyper-sensitive, Passive Aggressive, Trendy, Pushy, Pretentious, Occasionally Arrogant, Cause-Oriented, Goddamn Hipster Music Snobs.

I've taken the liberty of repeating this paragraph with the lies crossed off:

If you are to believe the Stereotypes Perpetuated by Modern Media, cough-cough-Portlandia-cough-cough, the Pacific Northwest are a bunch of Insane, Extremist, Wild, Pierced, Tattooed, Hyper-sensitive, Passive Aggressive, Trendy, Pushy, Pretentious, Occasionally Arrogant, Cause-Oriented, God damn Hipster Music Snobs (sometimes).

This is however the worst of the PNW, and the Fall City/Underwood area. Though some of these are straight up epidemics, some are results of a generalized heightened sensitivity since it rains 9 months of the effing year. People just aren't always pleasant when everything they do is wet and cold and wet!

The real truth is, people in the PNW are really just varied as all get-out. The zanier people do show up here; there are several dreaded hippies doing yoga. (In fact, Mod Snapple's dear friend lives in a house with a man who refuses to have furniture and has built a tent in his backyard to sleep in!) There are also the staunch conservatives/tea partiers. (However, not a lot; Mod Snapple used to work in a Starbucks facing a major meeting place in Portland, and the democratic rally? Thousands. The tea party rally? 20? 30?) What the PNW is really known for in its people, and why it's viewed as so insane, is the blanket feeling of "anything goes" covering a deep-seeded desire to be monochromatic.

The queer community in the PNW is strong and perhaps the most in your face to the straight community, but it also desires that the world be as full-force as they are. The weed/rastafarian/yoga culture is relaxed and slow paced, but it also desires the world be as full-relax, chill, sex-free as they are. The overpowering predominant message from every walk of person in the PNW is that they desire overt sameness with their mission, except they don't want to tell you so--that wouldn't be very welcoming! That's where the passive aggression comes in.

Chances are, your characters are met with disdain or overtly cheery acceptance of their gaming hobby, but nothing in-between. Their friends definitely share the same interest in music, and usually share the same interest in sexual habits and eating and sleeping, as most people in the PNW seem incapable of maintaining friendships with people "too different" from themselves.

Oh, and one last thing: lots of drinking up in there. Most people, when asked, "wanna hang out?" will suggest a bar, or to check out the limited-edition tap down at such-a-place. Further, everything's limited edition. Everything.

One last-last thing: a very strong sense of locality. The desire for sameness is also the desire to self-support. There are not a lot of chains in the PNW.

Example: There are 3 McDonald's in Portland. There are 7 local Burgerville chains, and countless other local burger joints.

The Local "Flavor"
Keywords: Food & Food Carts, Beer, Sexual Freedom, Pro-Queer, Pro-Trans, Passively Racist, Asian stuff!, Anti-Corporatism, Pro/Looking The Other Way Drugs, Religiously Indifferent, BIKES! PEDESTRIANS! PUBLIC TRAAANSPO!

Details:

Some of the culture rests within the people, but a few other things the PNW is known for (and loved/loathed for).

Chain Stores
Mentioned previously, very few chains! The PNW punishes companies who sell themselves to the highest bidder. Example: Local chain Kettelman's Bagels just sold themselves to Einstein Bros. Business drop? 1mil lost in a month. Another Example: Local Coffee Stumptown just sold 90% to Equity Providers. Local Coffee Shops Brewing Before? Over 100. Local Coffee Shops After? Less than 50 and steadily declining.

Eccentricity
The idea of being "strange" or "weird" is lauded here, to a point where it is sometimes pretentiously handled. This breaks my heart to write out, but often, the communities that are the most prejudiced against in other parts of the countries make outlandish stereotypes of themselves in the PNW, mostly due to the fact that there is little "stereotyping" to be done. The passive nature of the assimilation desired by most PNW-izens doesn't actually require that sort of force be used, but because everyone is so weird here, it's common that at-risk or prejudiced-against groups will exaggerate to be extra weird. This leads to a very anxious personality and hum to a lot of interactions. One never knows whether an eccentricity is real or faked.

Food Carts
These are literally carts that sell you fresh-made food. They started in the PNW and have become popular nation-wide, and by 2050 they're a staple, but Fall City is still one of the original homes. There are Pods everywhere, which are collections of various types of food or sometimes various restaurants specializing in different aspects of a food. Example: a dumpling house, a noodle house, a rice house and a teriyaki house! Or: A czech place, a polish place, a french place and a spanish place! These developed in response to the very Pedestrian culture of the PNW, just like how hot dog stands developed in NYC!

Pedestrians
People in the PNW usually have a very neighborhood-first, local-first attitude, and prefer to protect the environment. Though traffic is still awful-bad, it's because most roads are only 2 lanes, and there are still a disproportionate amount of public transportation users and bikers. If people can walk to it they usually will, and the local bus service, FCMT, or Fall City Mass Transit (Fassit, or Fuksit, for those who hate it so!), is consistently voted number one in the nation. Through the Orange Max line, one can get from Underwood to Downtown Fall City in 25 minutes!

Asian Markets
There is a notable Asian flare in the PNW, with all official signs written in Japanese, Korean, Traditional Form Chinese and Simplified Form Chinese. The most important of signs also include Vietnamese and Thai. Everyone knows about several hard-to-pronounce food-types, and "real" restaurants abound, where one has to work very hard to communicate with the servers. Wanna eat duck feet? No worries. You can find it in the PNW.

Music
Music? Everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Seattle's been known as a hotspot for years, and starting in the '00s, Portland became known as a rising city for unique and indie rock. Nowadays, Fall City is a burgeoning music front, partially the beginning zone of the Mutated-Jazz front. Street musicians are common and quite talented, from improvisational cellists to beatboxers to interpretive dancers accompanied by full-on swing bands!

The Seedy Side
Strip Clubs and gambling are very, very legal in the PNW, and there's a balls-tonne of dive bars that randomly have keno or poker installed. You know the quality of a joint is going to be PBR-tastic when you see the Deuces Wild machine. Further, there's a big to-do about Chinese restaurant/Karaoke hybrids. Those Chinese restaurants where the food is greasy, americanized and huge always seem to have the best karaoke? Strip clubs have hilarious names and are generally kitschy and themed.