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Glossary

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  • 🌍I. WORLD FRAMEWORK
    Alternate Universe (AU)
    • Definition: A fictional world that mirrors real Earth but diverges through altered historical and scientific events.
    • Cascadia Context: An AU of Aberdeen, WA and its surrounding areas. Many major world events still occur but under alternate pretexts or outcomes.
    Metahuman Phenomenon
    • Origin: First publicly recognized in 2012 after the Large Hadron Collider’s Higgs Boson experiment released a dark matter wave, activating dormant metagenes worldwide.
    • Nature: Metahumans manifest superhuman or paranormal traits triggered by trauma, stress, or anomalies.
    • Precedent: Mythical beings—werewolves, vampires, witch-blooded, “blessed” warriors—are retroactively identified as metagenic.
    • Labels:
      • Phenomenals — Admiring or activist term.
      • Mutants — Derogatory, bureaucratic.
      • Variants — Official USB classification.
    • Status: Treated as liabilities, not citizens. Regulated under the Metahuman Regulation Directive (MRD).
    • Classes: Elemental, Technopathy, Witchling, Shapechanger, Cognitive, Breaker, Quantum, Anthromorph, Paranormal.

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  • 🏙️ IV. DISTRICTS & URBAN STRUCTURE
    Districts
    • Definition: Sixteen major administrative zones composing Cascadia.
    • Each contains: Distinct cultures, economies, and social strata.
      (See separate district profiles for details.)

    Neighborhoods
    • Definition: Subdivisions within districts. Boundaries shift as demographics and gang territories change.
    The Pit
    • Location: Central District.
    • Description: Underground bare-knuckle arena beneath suppression mesh technology.
    • Rules: No augments, no powers—only human endurance.
    • Purpose: Catharsis, entertainment, and survival.
  • 🧠 VIII. SOCIOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE
    • Public Perception: Metahumans = instability. Corporations = protection.
      • Corporate rule masquerades as democracy.
    • Folk Belief: In Gresty and South End, “Phenomenals” are the people’s evolution—heroes born from oppression.
    • Core Tension: Myth vs. Science | Control vs. Freedom | Flesh vs. Augment.
  • 💻 III. INFORMATION NETWORKS
    SignalNet
    • Nature: Official social and civic layer of Cascadia.
    • Users: Verified citizens, corporations, USB offices, influencers.
    • Functions: Business registration, permits, verified news, bounty boards.
    • Analogy: LinkedIn + curated Facebook.
    • Control: Tied to real IDs and regulated accounts.

    Crowdwire
    • Nature: Unofficial, fast-moving microfeed.
    • Users: Activists, hackers, journalists, artists, and anonymous users.
    • Functions: Protest coordination, rumor circulation, satire, ground reporting.
    • Analogy: Twitter/X + Instagram + TikTok hybrid.
    • Control: Decentralized, largely unmoderated.
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  • VII. UNDERWORLD NETWORKS
    The streets’ lawless pulse beneath Cascadia’s neon.
    Crime, chaos, and rebellion carving power from the shadows.
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    • A. Mafias — Hierarchical, ritualized, semi-legit.
      • Notables: Bratva, Wo Hop To, Suey Sing, Yakuza, Cosa Nostra, Irish Mob
      • Key Family: Augustine Family — Irish/Sicilian heritage; roots in 1950s dock rackets, now straddle corporate and street spheres.[/size]
    • B. Cartels — Networked, business-minded, paramilitary.
      • Notables: Sinaloa, CJNG, Beltrán-Leyva
      • Cascadian Cartels:
        • Velvet Rose Syndicate — Cartel/fashion/performance cult; public face as luxury streetwear label.
        • Russo Syndicate — Information cartel posing as philanthropy; manipulates media and blackmail economies.
    • C. Street Gangs — Local, identity-based, semi-autonomous.
      • Examples: Crips, Bloods, BGDs, Sureños, MS-13, Young Seattle Boyz, Tiny Rascals
      • i]Unique Movement:[/i] G-Kings — Insurgent art collective; hijacks signals, paints rebellion across Cascadia’s walls.
    • D. Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs (MCs) — Brotherhoods on wheels; violence as economy.
      • Notables: Hells Angels, Gypsy Jokers, Banditos, Mongols
      • Operations: Meth production, gun-running, logistics through rural corridors.
    • E. Collectives & Mercenaries — Ideological crews and freelance enforcers; work for credits, cause, or chaos.
  • VII. CORPORATE ENTITIES
    The city’s hidden governors, trading stability for power.
    Profit, control, and surveillance running Cascadia’s hidden grid.
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    • A. Reyner-Shorn — Energy infrastructure / weapons tech.
      • Notes: Primary supplier to USB enforcers; powers Cascadia’s defense grid.
    • B. Stratfield Equities — Offshore finance / shell laundering.
      • Notes: Launders illicit capital; operates through layered shell corporations.
    • C. Hyxos Pulse — Data brokerage / behavioral analytics.
      • Notes: Manipulates identity and behavior; feeds predictive policing and corporate intelligence.
    • D. Stratus Core — Utilities / surveillance networks.
      • Notes: Controls city infrastructure; maintains Cascadia’s monitoring grid and civic systems.
    • E. Biomedica — Augments / blacksite experimentation.
      • Notes: Leads meta-gene research; conducts experimental augmentation programs.
    • F. Wardex — Weapons R&D / drone enforcement.
      • Notes: Arms private enforcers; develops urban pacification drones and advanced armaments.
    • G. Krypteia Media — Propaganda / narrative warfare.
      • Notes: Shapes public perception; controls cultural narratives across mass media channels.
    • H. Orbitalis Capital — Hedge fund / DoD-affiliated investments.
      • Notes: Funds urban stabilization programs; brokers deals between megacorps and USB.
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  • 🏛️ II. GOVERNMENT & ENFORCEMENT
    Urban Stabilization Bureau (USB)
    • Role: Pseudo-government body managing control contracts between the city and private enforcement firms.
    • Purpose: Narrative control, public complacency, and scapegoating.
    • Tools: Registration systems, surveillance, perception filtering.
    Civil Security Act (CSA)
    • Enacted: 2027 by Mayor Irena Calder.
    • Effect: Legalized privatized law enforcement, birthing corporate militias (“Enforcers”).
    • Outcome: Cascadia’s policing outsourced to megacorporate contractors.
    Cascadia Police Department (CPD)
    • Function: The official law-enforcement body in name only.
    • Reality: Understaffed and overshadowed by USB contracts and corporate security forces.
  • ⚔️ VII. ENFORCEMENT FACTIONS
    Enforcers
    • Definition: Corporate-licensed militias functioning as freelance justice dealers.
    • Legitimacy: Bought, not earned.
    • Primary Groups:
      • Praetorian Guard (Praetorians - Praes) — Posed as civic peacekeepers; actually a paramilitary syndicate selling “stability as a service.” Surgical, brutal, PR-managed.
      • Apollonis Solutions (Apollons - Apollos) — High-profile, media-savvy security contractors from Havalynd and Highridge. Market violence as spectacle.
      • Centurion Security (Centurions - Centurs) — Militarized occupation force; enforces order through checkpoints, riot formations, and intimidation. Formed from early CSA contractor remnants.