Butchers, murderers, thieves. The black hospitals are everything evil about the Cosmic Era. Immortality for the wealthy! But for the common man, nothing but tough luck and flu shots. It's a damned joke!
The Black Hospitals have many detractors. When there are periods of social unrest and civil disobedience, the primate medical industry is often a target. Despite the existence of cloned organs, there are still people waiting on organ donation lists. The only difference is that the lists are a bit shorter than they were in the Petroleum era. Many people are offended that if a person has a medical plan that will cover the cost of a cloned organ, or are willing to pay cash for a cloned replacement they can get one in a matter of weeks, generally the time needed to take a sample and grow a new organ.
Many people also blame the lines and waits in the public health system on the sheer existence of the private corp health system. In some cases this is true, as some black centers are just as large as white centers and have equipment that sits idle while in the white center next door or across town the same machine has a six week backlog of patients waiting to use it.
Go to CommentMetropolarity
Like arcopolarity, there is metropolarity. The sense of civic pride has created large distinct populations that are attached to cities, neighborhoods, and areas. These share a common civic and cultural heritage and in many instances have become internally organized (a legacy of the dark age) and have provided their own services, such as hiring private police operations, or having a citizen supported Civic Guard service. The most notable examples are the former street gangs in cities like Los Angeles and New York creating their own communities. There are broad swaths of the City of Angels that are controlled by former street gangs that now elect officials, train police officers and provide other civic duties and services.
These organizations are grown from the ground up, are insular in nature, and are wary of outsiders. Sandwiched between the fringe and the arcology, sometimes these groups can be more hostile, feeling more threatened than their neighbors.
The police and law enforcement agents in the city of Compton are noted for their vivid blue uniforms and the consistent use of gothic lettering in their vehicles and building names. The officers are well respected in the community, are predominantly black, and where most police officers carry a riot stick or baton, the Compton Private Security carry a walking cane.
Go to CommentThere are three basic versions of the Riot Shield: civilian, commercial, and military.
The Civilian Riot Shield is the sort that is legally obtainable through military surplus stores and catalogs. It is a standard ballistic shield but lacks the thermo-ablative properties of the higher grade shields and it looks more impressive than it actually is. In certain areas, the shields are registered like firearms would be, since someone willing to buy one of these items is more than likely to have firearms as well.
Commercial riot shields have the full array of ballistic and ablative protections, as well as having a special high impact resistant resin coating to protect the advertising and logos presented on the shield. You might not survive that grenade blast, but your Lone Star shield will. It is available in matte, satin, and full gloss finish.
Military Riot shields are fitting with larger grips so they can be easily used by both basic infantry and by heavy infantry in hardsuits. They have the full protection value but lack the durable but expensive resin coat.
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NPCs (Major) (Mercantile)