26. ANDREW JAMES BUILDING (DIGITAL RENEGADES)

The Andrew James Building is home to the Digital Renegades in Night City, or at least as close to a realspace home as they will lay claim too.

While the Andrew James building is technically inside the Cauldron, it is a much newer building, constructed just a few years before the walls went up as part of a failed gentrification project.  As such the building was already equipped with a modern security system, something the Digital Renegades have upgraded since.  Several Renegades were living here when the walls went up, in fact, it is heavily rumored that the Renegades took over the building in the weeks leading up to Carnival, as if they had knowledge ahead of time as to what was going to happen.  As soon as they moved in they began fortifying the place..  While the regular tenants fled the Zone, the Renegades rewired the place completely, reinforced the exterior walls, and began setting elaborate and devastating traps. 

They also installed a rudimentary radio broadcasting station, and invited many of the runners and techies in the Zone (a few were excluded because they were deemed unsavory) to hole up in the building during Carnival in exchange for help in their renovations and upgrades.  Not a single outsider was able to breach their defenses during Carnival, and even when the power was cut, the Renegades were able to restore it within minutes.

These days the building is the most secure, and tech equipped building in the Zone.  In addition to housing several Renegades, it is also the home to 91.1FM “The Signal”.  The Signal is a pirate radio station run by a Digital Renegade named Replay.  She is also the one in charge of the building itself.  The Signal is the most popular radio station in the Zone, it provides an unbiased coverage of Zone, including up to date warnings for areas where trouble is brewing.  No one navigates the Zone without checking the Signal.  They also play a wildly eclectic mix of music, and promote local events, as well as providing weather and news for the greater city and world.

The building also serves as a haven for Nertunners and Techs on the lam, as well as a training ground for new hackers and electronics specialists.  People who show enough aptitude and skill are invited to come live in the building, where experienced members will help teach them the intricacies of the field. Many people refer to the Andrew James building as the MIT of the ghetto.   Using scavenged and scratch built electronics, the Digital Renegade have turned the building into the digital age hostel.

The Zone Rats who occupy the building just north are very closely allied with the Digital Renegades.  The Rats, consisting of mostly young kids, get security and support monitored by the Renegades.  In exchange the Rats, who have a high aptitude for tech work and an affinity for using the sewers, back alleys, and rooftops, provide the hands on support in hard to reach places the Renegades need to keep the utilities flowing into the Zone, set up surveillance, and keep the broadcast towers operational.  The Renegades are also closely supportive of the Elders and their school, some Renegades even offering their services as teachers, others providing salvaged computers.

Because of the services the Renegades and the Rats provide the rest of the Zone, the other gangs leave them alone for the most part.  In fact, the Renegades have insurance policies with Slaughterhouse, Maelstrom, The Walking Dead, Hard 8, and Shrapnel for protection.  If one gang makes a serious move against any of the gangs under the Renegades protection will incur the wrath of the gangs they hold policy with, as well as having their electricity and water shut off.

The building itself is one of the more comfortable places to live in the Zone.  The first 2 floors are uninhabited, and offer an array of clever booby traps to dissuade anyone who manages to make it into the building.  The front doors are reinforced steel, that electronically open and close… and concealed lights have been built into the floors and wall trim to illuminate the way for first timers in the building, a system which is run from the security office at the center of the building.   Every inch of the exterior, and all interior non-private areas are continuously monitored by video, motion detectors, and heat sensors.  In these common areas, tiles have been laid, and in the lines of the tiles are bare wires… in the event of a breach, the sprinkler system is turned on, then a current is run through the wires.  In some areas, the sprinkler system has a reservoir filled with highly corrosive acid.  Computers storing sensitive data are rigged with thermite charges.

(See Gangs of Night city for more information on the Digital Renegades.)

Written By Deric Bernier, images from Mafia Wars, Mothbot,

For questions, complaints, criticisms and suggestions, e-mail the author:wisdom000@gmail.com