Maker's Block

The line wrapped around the side of the building as people waited to get inside. Fuck that line. I walked around to the security entrance. Four armored Baruch Security troops stood outside waving people off. I approached and showed them my badge. After a thumb and retina verification, I was in. It was noisy as hell inside. The constant hum of haggling and machinery, the smell of sweat and hot plastic, the air gritty and stale. I walked past a clothing shop, printing clothes on demand in flimsy imitation of vogue, a gunsmith busting out polymer one-shots that the gangers would buy in bulk, and even some shady fucker trying to recruit netrunners to use his homemade cybermodems. That sounds like a goddamned death sentence. I got to Felipe’s door and Rosina was on guard. We exchanged nods and I walked in. A wall of TVs tuned to different channels, A bar with all manner of cheap liquor and mixers. Felipe was watching his wall of information. He nodded to me, then nodded to the bar. I made us two Manhattans and sat down across from him. “My guy, you’re looking for chains?” he asked me incredulously. “Yeah,” I replied. “Thick, the kind you can lift a container with.” “My guy, I’m not sure plastic is gonna cut it,” he said leaning back in his recliner. I exhaled. “You need me to use some higher grade shit or we talking metal?” “Depends on what you’re lifting. I know better than to ask.” “Fuck, where do I get metal?” “My guy, I got you. Margie!” he waved over one of his chromed-up companions. “Take my guy here to the Gremlin.” I sipped my drink and arched an eye. “You’re sending me to a gremlin?” “I got you, my guy,” he leaned forward, “He got you. Don’t doubt me again or you won’t be getting preferential treatment.”

The Baruch House Addition was formerly a tenement for seniors that was part of the Baruch Houses family of apartments. Built in 1977, it has certainly seen better days. Since no housing is subsidized anymore, Baruch House Addition has, in the years since the Collapse, become a manufacturing center for not only the Lower East Side, but for much of the Neo-York shadow economy. Now known as Maker’s Block, the apartments have been replaced by small, independent manufacturing concerns. Using autofac technology and blueprints, usually stolen or backwards engineered, the Maker’s Block provides services to the people who might not otherwise afford the newest gear from the big corporations.

There are 23 floors in the Maker’s Block, jammed with different vendors. The quality of what you can get here varies, although it is usually cheap and disposable. You can come up with a million different vendors, including the aforementioned Engineer Felipe, who specializes in 3-D printing many mundane objects for people. He has a considerably deep database of patterns and his netrunner, Margarita Mayhem, can usually find more with ease. No one messes with Felipe, as his bodyguard, Rosina Razor, is known as a fairly hard case on the streets.

The Somali is surprisingly a very pasty and greasy caucasian man, but has a reputation as a data manipulator of middling talent who specializes in chop modification. His work is good enough that some people, particularly those without a regular connection, still come to see him despite his lecherous demeanor and well-worn sex doll that he keeps out in the open in his room. He has been known to do better work for cheaper if you can hook him up with unusual (and usually skeevy as fuck) programs for his doll.

On the top floor is Tblisi George, who is covered in cheap plastic cyberware and has the cold personality of someone on the verge of cyberpsychosis. He is one of the few tech manufacturers in the Maker’s Block and he is especially skilled at audio-visual and optical systems. While not quite at the level of being able to make cyberoptics, he can repair them with halfway decent skill. He will also work with video or audio data recovery and enhancement for a substantial fee.

The only medical professional offering services in the building, Dr. McAvoy is usually a last resort. He doesn’t always do a very good job and has no concept of doctor-patient confidentiality. If you need a medical procedure done cheaply, he’s your man. If you want discretion, run away.

If you are using the Wildside rules for contacts, Nomad Market characters have the following statistics:

Doctor McAvoy (Medtech) Incapable, Reputation 3, often available, unreliable, 8 points

Engineer Felipe (Tech) Capable, Reputation 7, always available, reliable, 45 points

Margarita Mayhem (Netrunner) Capable, Reputation 4, sometimes available, very reliable, 23 points

Rosina Razor (Solo) Very Capable, Reputation 6, sometimes available, very reliable, 56 points

The Somali (Tech) Capable, Reputation 5, always available, reliable, 30 points

Tblisi George (Tech) Very capable, Reputation 7, always available, very reliable, 75 points

Next week, we’ll check out the Grand Street Arcade, an entertainment center that is known for providing a personal touch to your experience!

The Nomad Market

Chain link fences surround a ramshackle collection of box trailers, tents, and people. The sound of weapons being test fired punctuate the crowd noise. The visual overload is augmented by a full assault on your nose, with the most delicious smells making way for who the fuck knows what that was. Here you can get whatever you need—food, medicine, guns, clothing—and at a reasonable price or fair barter. It is The Nomad Market and the Arsenaults run a tight ship.

The Nomads Families are the only people who can really move product across the country. This chokehold on trade led to the death of the big box department store. Trade became in what was produced locally or moved in small batches. As the Families began to reclaim more of the shipping lanes, they realized that they could also turn their transportation monopoly into trading companies. The Arsenault Family took this one step further, eliminating the lower sales prices of wholesale by selling directly to consumers. They had enough guns to clear off an old playground and to keep it secure. They had enough trucks with enough diversity of goods to establish a market for out-of-town goods. Weapons, electronics, cybernetics, and more can be found here.

If you are using the clothing rules from Chromebook 4, clothing found at the Nomad Market will tend to be in the style of Generic Chic or Edgerunner, with a dash of Urban Flash. The quality of clothing ranges is mostly average, with the occasional good quality offsetting the occasional below-average quality clothes. Reacti-mesh clothes are regularly seen, but the polylog/polychromic options are rare. A lot of what comes in tends to be armored, since Neo-York is not a safe place to be unarmored in.

Where the Nomad Market makes its money is on objects that are not or cannot be produced locally. So, while autofacs provide many basic materials, the more well-crafted and machined items need to be imported from outside of the city. For most residents of Neo-York, the Nomad Market is the only source of medical supplies, electronics, computers, and cybernetics. There is also a strong business in small arms. Assault rifles, pistols, submachine guns, and the sort are readily available. Explosives and military grade weaponry will need to be found elsewhere. In addition to what the Arsenaults are selling, there is are often many other deals being made at the Nomad Market. While outside goods are never directly exchanged here, it is a public and safe location to broker such arrangements. 

Derek Arsenault (“Deebo”) is the local face of the Nomad Market. He mills through the crowds checking in on folks, helping them find where they can buy specific things, and making sure they are having a pleasant experience. His main purpose of this is not customer service, but intelligence gathering. He records much of what he sees and hears through his cyberware, sending the data to Magdelen Arsenault (“Madonna”), their netrunner, who has written a complex algorithm that will separate the different conversations and sweeps it for keywords. As many of the staff have similar cyberware, Madonna is very busy analyzing the data. They use it to determine what goods to bring in, who the main players are in the area, and who are potential threats. Donelle Arsenault (“Nails”) is the head of security for the Market. Her people watch the market from the tops of the trailers, as well as posting sentries at the entrances. Nails strictly enforces the Nomad Market’s neutrality. Woe be to the poor bastard who shoots something outside of a test fire.

In addition to the Arsenaults, there are a couple regulars at the market. Jimmy Fuckface is an incredibly shady hustler who occasionally has good leads that aren’t setups. Farley Funk is a talented street musician who lacks ambition and the ability to keep it in his pants. Gloria Gold appears to be far too high-class for the Nomad Market, but is frequently available for hire. She is considered one of the best bodyguards in the Lower East Side.

If you are using the Wildside rules for contacts, Nomad Market characters have the following statistics:

Deebo (Fixer) Very capable, Reputation 7, sometimes available, very reliable, 56 points

Farley Funk (Rockerboy) Capable, Reputation 5, sometimes available, reliable, 15 points

Gloria Gold (Solo) Capable, Reputation 4, sometimes available, very reliable, 23 points

Jimmy Fuckface (Fixer), Snitch, Reputation 2, always available, unreliable, 3 points

Madonna (Netrunner) Very capable, Reputation 8, seldom available, super reliable, 50 points

Nails (Solo) Very capable, Reputation 5, seldom available, very reliable, 19 points

Next week, we will explore the Maker’s Block, an old apartment building that has transformed itself into the manufacturing heart of the Lower East Side.