The Bloomington Fortified Zone (BFZ) is a fortified industrial zone producing heavy water operated by the Chicago Outfit Rifts Blackmarket Family under the cover of the Bloomington Water Company. Built on the ruins of the Nuclear Physics department of Indiana University, this area is one of the only places manufacturing nuclear power components outside of the Coalition and Northern Gun.
1. Population
60% Human (4,200) – Mostly industrial workers, engineers, and local militia.
30% Grackle Tooth (2,100) – Hardworking Laborers work for GAW
10% Larmac Transient Mercenaries (700) – Lazy Perimeter guards.
2. Government & Politics
Corporate Board of Directors
Political Alignment: Unprincipled (cooperative with human outsiders who have credits).
Stance on Magic: Strictly Prohibited / Highly Restricted. Because they sit right next to Vane’s territory, magic is viewed with extreme suspicion. Anyone casting spells or manifesting psionics inside the walls is subject to immediate detention.
3. Warfare & Defenses (The Fortified Zone)
Because Bloomington borders a hostile Coalition frontier to the west and magic-saturated fadetowns to the south, its defenses are top-tier for an independent settlement.
Wall/Perimeter Security: Reinforced MDC concrete blast walls ($150$ MDC per 10-foot section) topped with razor wire and automated laser turrets.
Defensive Military Forces (Roll for Force Size - 15% of Pop): 1,050 active combat personnel.
The Iron Guard Militia: 800 Level $1-4$ Soldiers equipped with heavy environmental armor and standard laser/plasma rifles.
Heavy Armor Division: A small fleet of environmental armored vehicles and a handful of black-market, retrofitted giant robots (mostly older Triax or northern gun models used for heavy lifting and defense).
Air Defense: 4 high-powered radar dishes and flak cannons capable of tracking low-flying Magic Zone beasts or Coalition scouts.
4. Economy & Key Industry
Primary Resource: Heavy Water (Deuterium / Purified $H_2O$) Production.
Bloomington features a massive, pre-Rifts subterranean filtration and processing facility. This heavy wad20d20ter is crucial for nuclear reactor maintenance, specialized laboratory experiments, and cooling high-end tech, making it a goldmine for trade.
Black Market Presence: Moderate/Hidden. While the corporate council tries to keep things legal to avoid attracting a Coalition crusade, the Black Market operates out of the lower industrial levels to broker deals with independent mercenaries.
Financial Liquidity: High. The town generates roughly $2d4 \times 1$ million credits in trade value every month.
Rule the BFZ:
Chicago Network - Operates the BFZ through front Bloomington Water Company.
Buys/Sells Heavy Water, CS Gear, Datacodes, Prerifts History, Books
Allowed in BFZ:
- Bandito Arms has stores in the lower levels selling Wellington, GAW knockoffs, New West Gear, Low Quality Chop Shops. Buys raw materials and low tech salvage.
- Shemerians tribes come to recharge their reactors, look like cyborgs
They have a lodge outside the walls with a large CYBER-TOTEM-POLE and TP
Buys High Tech Salvage, Sells intel on region
- Psi-stalker tribes trade caravans -
Sells Used mainbook loot -50% book prices, some parts, buys food.
- Le Marche Noir Operate the Water Refineries and pipelines
BANNED in BFZ kill on site 250000cr bounty for VANE
- El Oculta operatives - for using magic and longstanding gang war
- The Immaterial Hand operatives - for using magic, officially banned.
Secretly they have been hired by the Chicago Outfit to smuggle in and keep the nexus stable.
All members are living in the lavish wizards's towers in the north of the BFZ.
- Pecos Bandits - Coalition Treaty (low smuggling)
- Federation of Magic - Coalition Treaty (no smuggling)
- Naruni Trade Outposts - Coalition Treaty bans entry for alien influence (low smuggling)
- Simvan Tribes Trade caravans - Coalition Treaty (high smuggling)
Occasionally engages in artillery battle with the town who's air defenses have so far held.
Town laser turrets and defenses are controlled by black-market Northern Gun AI ARCHII-11 4 attacks level 3.
4 Factions
The High-Wall District - Chicago Outfit
White-collar crime, forgery, high-stakes gambling, and corrupting political infrastructure.
Operations: They have successfully infiltrated the corporate boardrooms and luxury estates of the High-Wall District. They handle the discreet laundering of corporate credits, forge high-clearance transit passes, and run exclusive, hidden speakeasies for the city's elite. They keep their operations quiet and bloodless to protect their cozy setup.
The Heavy Water Refineries - Le Marche Noir
Operations: They don't run the pumps, but they completely control the illegal pipeline out of the refinery sector. If your group needs to sneak heavy water out of Bloomington without paying the massive corporate export tariffs, you have to pay the Smugglers their cut to get it out via their hidden subterranean tunnels or rigged cargo haulers.
The Lower Docks / Golden Age Weaponsmiths Turf
The Fit: The Network is the oldest, most traditional organized crime syndicate in the Black Market, specializing in protection rackets, illegal cybernetics, smuggling, and street-level muscle.
Operations: With the Lower Docks heavily populated by D-Bee and human industrial laborers, the Network acts as the brutal, de facto government here. They run the underground chop-shops for illegal cybernetic repairs and extort local businesses for "protection" fees, keeping the peace with an iron fist in the wake of the gangwar.
5 Lifestyles in the BFZ
Street Lifestyle - cost 0 - social -20% - ambush -10% regen -25% - assets none
Sleeping on the street is not legal and you will be asked to leave town until you can pay.
Banned Pecos Raiders congregate outside town .
Vagabonds live under the Docks
City Rats live in a Drainage Pipe in the GAW Trailer Park
Squatter Lifestyle - cost 1k - social -10% - resist ambush -10% - regen -10% - assets none
The merchant tribes offer protection for a small fee or barter you can sleep by their fire.
Sleeping in a vehicle on the street is legal but you have to pay for parking.
There are no abandoned buildings in the BFZ everything is owned by the blackmarket.
Low Lifestyle - cost 5k - social +5% - resist ambush -5% - regen +5% - assets 1
GAW Trailer Park Parking (must have vehicle)
High-Wall District Sub Basement 1-3 1br, Wall-side Coffin Apartments (expected to defend wall)
Middle Lifestyle - cost 40k - social +10% - resist ambush +5% - regen +10% - assets 2
Refinery Worker Row-house in "The French Quarter"
High-Wall District levels 1-5, interior Apartments
High Lifestyle - cost 120k - social +15% - resist ambush +10% - regen +15% - assets 3
High-Wall District levels 6-15, interior Apartments
Luxury Lifestyle - cost 1mil - social +30% - ambush +20% - regen +20% - assets unlimited
High-Wall District levels 16-20
For Blackmarketeers only
