Montreal
 | |
| Population | 1,736,519
|
|---|---|
| Density | 4,755 per sq. km, or possibly 4025. 5312 if you include estimated SINless |
| Income (per capita) | 20,500¥ |
| Estimated SINless | 32% |
| Below Poverty Line | 49% |
| Corporate Affiliation | 16% |
| AAA | Corporate Sector (Downtown)*, Westmount |
| AA | Outremont |
| A | Most of Downtown* |
| B | Ville Saint-Laurent Industrial Park |
| C | Plateau Mont-Royal, Saint-Leonard, Montreal North, Ville Saint-Laurent |
| D | West End, Old Montreal |
| E | West Island, East Montreal |
| Z | Remote areas of the West Island, some parts of East Montreal |
| * | Unclear which includes the Montreal Underground |
Montreal is an island city near the Southern border of Quebec. Though not the capital of Quebec (that would be Quebec City), it is a highly important city, being the location of Cross Applied Technologies Headquarters and the Consortium for the Development of Quebec, the flagship of the new foreign corporate interests and between that and... political things involving Quebec City, it's one of the most interesting places to run in in the entire of Quebec. Class tensions as well as (recently reduced) anglophobic isolationist tendencies and the aforementione Quebec City politics combine to form an interesting set of world-views.
History
Quebec Secedes from Canada (2010s)
Pretty much what it says on the tin: In 2010, Quebec seceded from Canada to form the Republic of Quebec. A year later, French is the only legal business language, and the official language, of Quebec. At some point in 2017, Labrador joins Quebec too. Lot of isolationism going on here. As a result, much of the anglophone population left the nation, resulting in Problems™.
Quebec City and Montreal (2010-2064)
Quebec City focused a lot of the goodness of the nation on itself, to the detriment of Montreal, as the citizens of Quebec City saw Montreal as tainted by the outside world. As resources poured into Quebec City, they drew in jobs and people, as well as corporate HQs, from the surrounding country, including Montreal, leaving Montreal to be used as a dumping ground for dirty industry and menial work.
Crash 2.0 (2064)
A Big Deal™ for most places, Quebec in particular and Montreal specifically get hit extra-super hard as Crash 2.0 kills their home-grown AAA, Cross Applied Technology and its CEO dies too, a mere 2 years after opening the borders to trade again. As CATco got bought up by Damien Knight and other corporate interests made themselves known, they started reforming the society of Quebec away from the distinct society ideals and isolationism as that tends to get in the way of business. However, Montreal rebounded much quicker due to having all those factories and stuff from Quebec City taking all the shiny jobs, and as such became the focal point of the Consortium for the Development of Quebec.
English Returns (2072-2074?)
At some point in these years, English started in trial runs as a permitted business language.
Geography
Montreal is divided into several districts, as follow.
West Island
An area of homogenous suburbia that used to have a lot of anglophones living in it. Used to. A lot of the large, wooded parks and unused fields are now home to numerous critters, para and otherwise, including feral HMHVV, some of which are even ghouls. 'Cept Highway 40, that's got factories, warehouses, and distribution centres galore, still going strong, and all walled in defense against said critters. The airport is here too, for some reason.
Ville St. Laurent
Primarily high-density residential, there is an industrial park containing several research labs from various corps A to AAA.
Downtown and Montreal Center
Subsections: Ville-Marie: Where the original settlers set up shop back in the 17th Century and the heart of Montreal. Where Things Happen. The Business and Financial Center is where Montreal's few skyscrapers live, mostly corp-owned, half abandonned. Chinatown: Mostly untouched. Lot of pagoda roofs. Predominantly Vietnamese, but still a significant Chinese population. The Triads flourish here too. Downtown: Shopping district, the thoroughfare kept safe by the Gendarmerie. A lot of shadowy little alleys and streets around it though, and also an entirely unmentioned underground city. Almost all the universities: University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), McGill, Concordia with only the University of Montreal slightly off-center; Student Life Is Here. McGill has a very... permissive thaumaturgical deparment.
Plateau Mont-Royal
A mix of pretentious hipsters and super-poor people, but also a bunch of great eateries, boutiques, and talismongers.
Westmont
Old Rich People.
Outremont
New Slightly Less Rich People.
West End
Anglophones who couldn't afford to move out when the happenings above happened. Slums, warehouses, bottom-tier manufacturing, at best. A surprising number of minor Insect hives appear, to the point where many local gangs send people in with nothing but blades and torches to clear them out as rites of passage for their new recruits.
Old Montreal
Historical site; cobblestone streets, old style housing. Some very rich people, some extremely poor people.
Montreal North and St Leonard
A perfect mix of all the other districts. St Leonard has the Italian community, complete with a strong Mafia presence. The rest of the region has other local ethnic mafias. There's a large Carib population too.
Montreal East
Lots of working-class Francophones and ethnic enclaves, such as Greektown (Parc-Ex). Apart from West Island, Montreal East suffered the most from the collapse. Gangs rule the streets, but there are also some interesting historical sites, like the Olympic Stadium.
Crime
Go-Gangs
Oddly, these guys are firmly the top tier of organized crime in Montreal.
The Hellsouls
The biggest, most powerful club in Montreal. Freely accepts members of any metatype and ethnicity regardless of Anglophone/Francophone identity.
The Ancients
Hated universally by all the other go-gangs. Typical Ancients chapter: Elves only, small but disciplined and with mil-spec gear.
The Devil Riders
Corp-backed (all the corps, according to Plan 9) up-n-comers, used to be minor, now very much not.
Syndicates
There are several crime syndicates of note operating in Montreal.
Mafia
The Rizzutto family merged with the West End Gang (a syndicate of Irish origins) back in the 2010s after taking a licking from the bikers and the border restrictions. They stay out the way of the bikers these days.
Red Dragon Triad
Far from the only Asian gang operating in Montreal, the local cell of the Red Dragon Triad is however the largest. They've expanded into the Matrix, and outclass all other Montreal syndicates in this area; half the hackers in Montreal are tied to them
Street Gangs
Street gangs in San Francisco typically work together with one of the syndicates. Some have alliances, and others are at war.
Vagabond Crew
Based in the West End, artistic, meatspace-graffiti artists, use a lot of paint grenades. They do some AR art too, but it's mostly meatspace. Trusted middlemen of the ganger world, organizing peaceful sit-downs and the like.
The Failed
A metahuman gang, they don't care if you're Ork, Troll, Elf, or Dwarf, as long as you're not Human and are also completely psychotic. Based in Montreal East, they're the most feared gang in a hellhole of feared gangs.
The Black Mass
Neo-Anarchists but without all that "restraint" stuff.
Neo-Anarchists
Hugely popular in Montreal, mostly due to the political and economic climate of the past few decades.
Les Freres Chasseurs
Pro-Quebec, Pro-French hardliners. Highly disciplined paramilitary vigilantes.
The Fallen
The Seraphim, Lucien Cross's infamous spy network. They've declared war on Ares and the Consortium. The best and brightest of Cross's spy network, very hard to pin down, and skilled puppetteers. It's said that there's only 2 actors in Qeubec, the CDQ and the Fallen.
Corporate Agenda
CDQ
The Consortium for the Development of Quebec effectively represents corporate interest as a whole in Quebec. Members as of 2074: Ares, Chalmer & Cole, Horizon, Mitsuhama, NeoNET, Renraku, Saeder-Krupp, Shiawase, Universal Omnitech.
La Gendarmerie
The police. 51% government owned, 49% Lone Star owned.
Native Americans
Yeah, this is... complex. A lot of tribes, not-quite sovereign, but close, but also getting paid to do nothing for Reasons™, but also simmering discontent; a lot is going on.
Fauna
Quebec has a lot of open wilderness and ancient forests, and a lot of natural resources too. Also paracritters. That too. And when the mundane critters include grizzlies, the paras get scary. There are ongoing bounties posted by the Republic of Quebec.
GridGuide Note
The roads in the better parts of the city look like something out of a warzone: No one uses GridGuide because if it even works in the area it doesn't account for potholes, as a result while everyone can actually drive, not many can drive well, and the entire traffic situation is a horrific mess.
Republic of Quebec Ministry of Wildlife Paranormal Critter Bounty List
| Class | Examples | Bounty |
|---|---|---|
| Class E | Devil Rat, SURGEd Vorpal Beaver, etc | 25¥ per pelt |
| Class D | Barghest, Cockatrice, Demon Rat, Ghoul, etc | 250¥ per pelt |
| Class C | Basilisk, Eyekiller, Griffin, Harpy, etc | 1,000¥ per pelt |
| Class B | Banshee, Wendigo, Vampire, etc | 5,000¥ per pelt or suitable physical proof |
| Class A | Horned Bear, Night Manta, Piasma, Shambler, etc | 10,000¥ per pelt |
| Class S | Free Spirits | 25,000¥ per pelt or other proof of destruction |
| Class X | Wyverns, Kraken, etc | 50,000¥ per pelt |
Important! There are no longer bounties on sasquatch and dragons
GM Tips
Run Inspiration
- (Local West End Gang) has discovered a more-than-minor bug nest that's beyond their capabilities and needs help clearing it out, or the gang's disappeared mysteriously, or none of the initiates made it out, or the ones who did seem off.
- The Vagabond Crew wants to tag a storefront in the Montreal Underground.
- So Many Bounty Hunts You Guys, Like So Many.
Level Design
- Literally All The Roads are terrible and hazardous for ground vehicles. Montreal is also an island in a river, so boating's a thing.
- There is an underground commercial complex in Downtown, regardless of what the books will tell you; it's been around since before historical divergence between Shadowrun and reality.
- For social encounters, note that local attitudes towards wealth are that if you have it you screwed over someone to get it and as such they see you as a traitor. The rich see the poor as weak-willed peasants and ignoramuses to be spared no consideration.
- Food culture is surprisingly integral
Further Reading: Montreal 2074