Monday, September 14, 2015

The City of Liberty

Nestled on the coastline of Texas between Corpus Christi and Houston, this city was originally a French colony created as settlers from Louisiana went further south down along the coast of the Americas. France’s hold of the colony was relatively short lived however as Spain gained greater influence throughout the region and eventually claimed the colony for itself. The port city had some prominence until the Mexican war where Texas gained their independence and founded a new city, Houston. Since then, Liberty has always been in the shadow of its neighbor to the north.

It is now a city of nearly 2 million. Liberty has a sizable hispanic and african american population, and is rounded out with many other ethnic groups, particularly Chinese. While Houston claimed its stake in the petroleum business, Liberty has its roots in chemical production and plastic manufacturing. The ports are very active and rival traffic with other Gulf cities. Additionally they host several universities and a branch of ASTRO, becoming a technological research hub too.

There are no superheroes or supergroups in the city of Liberty. This honor is claimed by many other cities in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston). City police do have an enhanced SWAT unit, but there is some worry about the capabilities local law enforcement would have against a superbeing threat.

Violent crime is not rampant in Liberty, however criminal activity is not uncommon. While Liberty is not ranked exceedingly high in federal crime statistics, it is slightly higher than the national average. Organized crime has a foothold in the ports and with several floating casino boats. Being a port city near Mexico, narcotic traffic is another issue. Control of this activity is causing some to worry if the drug cartels from South and Central America will create conflict with local organized crime.

Currently the city has criminal activity from three main groups: the Lu’s (a coalition of Chinese triads), the Doyles (an Irish-american organized crime family with affiliation to mob gangs on the east coast), and the Kingston crew (a loose group of allied drug gangs from the Kingston neighborhood). Some smaller gangs are also gaining prominence in the city of Liberty.

There is one state prison with facilities to hold superhumans off the coast, Blackstone Island State Prison.