My chummer
Tibarone wrote this one. Unfortunately, Tibarone has been MIA for quite
a while. Rumor has it that he's back in Africa doing primate studies, so
we may get a sourcebook from there at some point in the future. In any
case, he spent time down in Punta Santiago a couple of years back studying
primates, and he decided to put this together for us. If you have
any comments, pass them along to me and I'll send them to him, once I find
out just where the hell he is ...
Solace
Quick Facts
Population: @15,500,000
Income Per Capita: 40,000Y
Population Below Poverty Level: 38%
Megacorporate Affiliation: 22%
Education:
Regional Telecom Grid Access: NA/CL-PR
Okay
Chummers, that's the Party line on Puerto Rico. Chip truth is that they
pad it a little more every five years or so trying to show more progress.
If the numbers keep improving, Havana will keep sending more financial
assistance for literacy programs and what not. Don't know where that money
goes, but the Island ain't literate.
Coco
Frio
You
know fraggin' well where in goes. Right into the San Juan "Re-development"
Fund.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
The
education numbers son inutiles, tambien. San Juan y Havana only recognize
the government schools. They teach en inglais, no en la espanol. Illiteracy
en inglais may be 65%, pero en espanol es como 2.0%. And you now it is
the same with the education figures.
Jose
Hemanes
Climate
Situated south of the Tropic of Cancer, Puerto Rico enjoys temperatures between 20C and 30C all year round. The island experiences two rainy seasons, one from May through July and the other from November through January. Annual rainfall easily averages well over 2000mm a year, with the east coast receiving more rain than the west. The island also benefits from the same trade winds that brought Columbus to this island almost 600 years ago. These Brisas, as the locals call them, keep the climate cool if the weather slightly variable.
Who
is this frag, and when was the last time he was down island?! The weather
here fraggin' sucks. Its hotter than Hualpa's breath. And I really don't
see how anyone can call two days twice a year a rainy season. The rest
of the year the drekking desalination plants are working triple time just
to keep the population in drinking water.
Desperately
seeking a visa
Its
not that bad here. It just takes some time for tourists like Mr. Desperate
to adjust. Although I do have to admit the weather is a bit unpredictable.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
Si,
la temperatura es muy loco. Creo que es El Yungue. The jungle there is
not natural. The clouds they never leave. They eat the hurricane and spit
storms into the calm sea. But this is not the place to talk of El Yunque.
Read on, amigo mio.
Jose
Hemanes
Getting There
By Air
There are two international airports in Puerto Rico: One in San Juan on the North-East coast and one in Ponce on the SouthWest. All major airlines have routes that connect to one of these sites.
What
they no mention is the airfields at former gringo bases. A few of the bases
estan usando del League Carribe. Pero a few are not.
Jose
Hemanes
By Sea
There are four major ports on the island at Arecibo, Leon, Ponce, and San Juan. All four have passenger and cargo facilities with Leon and San Juan being major cruise hubs.
Its
a fraggin' island chummers. If your boat is small enough the whole coast
is your port. If you really want to be slick you can shore up on one of
the outer islands like Cuelebra or Vieques and take the ferry in from there.
Salty
Dog
There
is a third way onto the island. The St L.-Humacco bridge was never completed,
but all that's missing is a some surface paving. Its possible to use the
bridge to get onto the island from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. I
don't know why they never completed it.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
Cayo
Santiago es porque el no es finito.
Jose
Hemanes
You
mean Monkey Island? That old NIHM project? How could a bunch of monkeys
hurt that frag of a bridge.
Carnival
Refugee
Fallout,
mi amigo
Jose
Hemanes
A
nuclear blast!!?
Carnival
Refugee
No,
not that type of fallout, pero ...
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Careful
what you say. You never know who's listening. Even in the Shadowland.
Coco
Frio
Government
Puerto Rico is a member nation of the Caribbean League. She enjoys full voting rights in the council at Havana, Cuba, the seat of the Caribbean league. San Juan is the site of the government of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Senate meets the first two weeks every month at the capitol building where the assembly is presided over by the Governor. The rest of the month the senators are expected to return to their districts, called barrios by the locals, to meet with there constituents.
While
this sounds like a strange way to run a nation, it works in PR. Politics
are taken very seriously here. It isn't unusual for a discussion about
last week's election to turn into a gun fight with four dead and several
wounded. By sending the Senators home for a half month every month, they
have to do right by the people or they won't live long enough to be re-elected.
As a result there are virtually no influential lobbyists and there is no
problem with incumbency.
Coco
Frio
I
thought you shot the voters *before* the election.
Jerry
Mander
Actually,
violent crime rates drop in the week preceding an election. No one wants
to be accused of unfairly swaying an election. Be careful who's campaign
holo-button you wear after the election though.
Coco
Frio
The
government doesn't really sit is San Juan, but Bayamon right next to San
Juan. The corporations have all but taken over San Juan.
Maria
Tequila y Mot
Law enforcement has been contracted out to the Knight Errant Corporation. Their Caribbean branch holds the police contract for all of the Caribbean League.
Which
means that they can use their extra-territorality to get around extradition
problems. Someone tagged for dealing BTLs in Cuba could flee to Jamaica,
where they're legal. The Jamaican government wouldn't do a thing about
it if they found out. They don't have an extradition treaty with any of
the other Caribbean nations. But if the K.E. flamingos get him, they slap
him in a chopper and fly him back to Cuba. The Jamaicans (even if they
wanted to) couldn't even search it.
Coco
Frio (20:05:14/03-02-54)
Why
flamingos?
Carnival
Refugee
Because
some brilliant K.E. official decided the police would be better accepted
if he decked them out in pink and white uniforms.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
Creo
que el K.E. had problemas recruiting new people for la policia for a while
after that.
Jose
Hemanes
Corporations
The high standards of the puertoriqueno, as the locals call themselves, worker has drawn many corporations from around the world to our shining island. These corporations have discovered what a lucrative place of business Puerto Rico can be.
Mierda!
Mierda de la puta que hizo eso gringo! High standards! Low wages is more
correct! Esos marincones vengan aqui y no hacen nada por nosotros. Ellos
traigan su chulpa y compran todo del San Juan. Y el gobierno tome el dinero
y traiga su familia a Bayamon. Todos necessitan ir, pero solamente el gobierno
tiene la chulpa de los gringos para mover! Voy a matarte, gobierno! Con
los manos mios, voy a matarte!
Sin-Jin
Smith
Huh?
Carnival
Refugee
You
mean "Que?"
Jose
Hemanes
What?
Carnival
Refugee
Si.
Jose
Hemanes
What
Mr. Smith said was that this corporate section is not exactly chip truth.
He in fact says that San Juan was bought out from the government, with
the governor himself receiving most of the money. Puerto Rican politics
being what they are, I doubt this could be true, otherwise the people would
have hung his honor from the nearest coconut tree by now.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
True.
Too true. But still 21.5 of the 22% corporate affiliation exists within
the limits of San Juan. And the Senate did move four years ago into "new
state of the art facilities" in Bayamon.
Coco
Frio
Rumor
has it that the Corps are playing nice in Puerto Rico out of mutual support.
If so, they chose the right spot. Spanish conquistadors held old San Juan
against the Dutch indefinitely. Even with just muskets the place was easily
defensible. Shouldn't be too fragging hard for the big boys of the 21st
to replicate that feat. And it only makes sense with El Yunque towering
over them.
Convienne
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Don't
worry chummers. All the rest of this file is tourist drek. But if you're
coming to PR for the white sand, you wouldn't be reading this file. So
now its time to open it up and see what the locals have to say on some
of the more scenic topics. First chummers, they don't call it La Isla De
La Encanta for nothing. Literally in Spanish it means The Island Of Enchantment.
And in PR it means literally that. There is more magic here than almost
anywhere else on the planet. So if your going to operate here, be quick
on your feet and keep your mojo handy.
Coco
Frio
Frio's
right. I heard that that's what lured Hualpa here from his lair in the
Yucatan. The mana here must be as sweet as the guava.
Da
Nang
Frag
off, Nang. There ain't no dragon. You just saw a thunderbird and drekked
your pants.
Constance
No.
Da Nang may be a little scitzoid, it is no Hualpa, but there is a feathered
serpent on El Yunque.
Coqui
Watcher
You're
all schizoid. Just because most of the people who hold sway outside of
San Juan are shamanic groups, it does not mean that the place is full to
the gills with magic.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
Yeah,
or else you would have heard about it by now.
Carnival
Refugee
Madre
de Dios, salvame de los estupidos. No eschuchas? All the corporations are
in San Juan, y si it no involve the corp, it no news.
Jose
Hemanes
It's
not like you need to worry about it anyway. The only real action for runners
is in San Juan. Maybe Ponc6 every month or so. Otherwise forget it.
Marc
the Merc
What's
this El Yunque I keep hearing about? What's so special about it?
Carnival
Refugee
El
Yunque is on the east end of the island. It is specifically the highest
peak in a series of peaks there, but it's name is used to refer to the
entire set and the rain forest that covers them. This forest is unique
as it is one of the oldest rainforests in the northern hemisphere. It was
still intact at its present size at the beginning of the twenty-first,
before the Awakening. Because of this many believe it to be very magical,
more so than any other forest not magically assisted in its growth. It
has never been proven to be so however.
Coco
Frio
Don't
believe it.
Maria
Tequila y Mota
Es
tu vida.
Jose
Hemanes