New Reno

Population:
Population density:

Terrain:

Governmental system:

Who currently reigns:

Military:

Police:

Electrical power supply:

Vehicle provision:

Livestock provision:

Average education:

What the law says about:



→ Theft
→ Murder
→ Assault
→ Drugs
→ Gambling
→ Cheating at gambling
→ Prostitution
→ Alcohol

Average prices for:

→ Iguana-on-a-stick
→ Nuka-Cola
→ A good, stomach filling lunch
→ A liter of clear, filtered water
→ A Jet Canister
→ A good room for the night
→ A bath

This city in three words:

about 250.000
high

Hilly

Dangerous predator anarchy, four mafia families share the city

The heads of the families are listed below.

The families’ thugs.

The families’ thugs.

Uranium powered nuclear power plant in Broken Hills.

New Reno can offer all kinds of fuel and good mechanics.

Horses and brahmin are well cared for, if one can pay for it.

Low to high, everything is possible.

In New Reno there is no crime – there are, after all, no laws that could be broken. None the less, some things are forbidden more for some people than for others. Details on this special arrangement are listed further below.

→ varied
→ varied
→ varied
→ legal
→ legal
→ varied, mostly a painful death
→ legal
→ legal



→ 5 $
→ 5 $ (store price)
→ 25 $
→ 10 $
→ 7 $
→ 50 $
→ 100 $

Biggest little city

New Reno – the biggest little city in the world is northern California’s premiere tourist attraction with the greatest “cultural mile” in the whole Wasteland. Furthermore it’s the greatest drug production lab in the wastes as well as one of the main buyers of the “wares” of the Slaver’s Guild.
In other words: definitely worth a trip.

History

New Reno – the fabled city of freedom and gambling, of drugs and of power fights, was built on Reno, the fabled pre War city of gambling.

Sheltered from the nuclear weapons by hills and mountains - and without being targeted by an ICBM or bombers itself – the town itself survived the Great War mostly undamaged.

Before the War, Reno was one of Nevada’s two Mob-, drug-, gambling-, prostitution- and general sinfulness capitals of the state. The police conducted, right up to the Great War, a never-ending battle against organized crime, but the Great War changed the fundamentals of this fight abruptly. While Reno itself was not the target or any nuclear weapon, the loss of any social and governmental order due to the end of the United States in nuclear fire, the police lost it’s background of legitimacy – and the mob lost all restraint.

A merciless fight over control for Reno erupted. Most of the destruction that dates back to 2077 is from the days directly after the Great War.
The police lost the battle against the gangs and the power dynamic between the various criminal families kept changing around during the nuclear winter. The history between the End of the World and the end of the nuclear winter saw many of the smaller and even some of the bigger criminal
organizations completely wiped out and lost to the times.

Beginning around 2160 until around 2180 the power dynamics stabilized and the Four Families divided New Reno between themselves, in a never really declared, never written down but always respected armistice.

The balance of power

The Four Families that own New Reno in 2247, have not divided the town geographically. Instead the town is divided into areas of interest, with some independent and nearly independent establishments that stand somewhere in between the Families.
There is trade and a lot of respect between the Families – and a not agreed upon agreement not to change the status quo, since any greater change could threaten New Reno itself and thereby kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
The rough division of the areas of interest for each of the Families is outlined here:

The Mordinos: The Mordino Family brought Jet into the Wasteland and continues to be the greatest drug producer. Like the other Great Families the Mordinos have their hands in prostitution, gambling and alcohol consumption as well. They own most of the brothels, several bars and of course their great casino, the Desperado’s.

The Bishops: John Bishop's Family is the one, that’s most interested in expansion – with pretty atypical methods, that don’t quite fit the normal business model of New Reno. While they of course have their fingers in prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking, and have their main seat in the upper floors of their greatest casino, the Shark Club, John Bishop also has great plans to enter politics. It is rumored that he entertains various
guests in the Shark Club, officials of both the NCR government, Vault-City and the great merchant outfits.

The Salvatores: The Salvatores were until 2241 the by far most feared Family, despite their casino being the smallest and despite owning only a few bars and nearly no brothel. Their power came from using wasteland scientists to produce raw chemicals for sale to Vault-City – and for trading with the Enclave as they appeared on the screen, too. From them they received laser based weaponry for their raw chemicals: a tactical advantage over the more conventionally armed other Families that made them a much bigger player on the field of power.

The Wrights: The Wrights are the smallest and seemingly least important Family of the Four. The Wrights are special in the way that they are, for the most part, really a family and  have few members that are not related, by blood or marriage, to Orville Wright. They run New Reno’s best distilleries and breweries and sell their products to the other Families. They have no part in prostitution, the slave trade, gambling or drug trafficking. They also do not directly own even a single bar.

Law and tradition

New Reno is a society, that pretty much works according to an unofficial caste system. What is allowed to a high ranked member of a Family, is not allowed to a simple junkie. What a money bringing tourist may do, is something a common prostitute may not – and the few things a simple
junkie may do, are often not allowed to a “made man” of the Families. What no one may do, is punished for everyone – but sometimes (and for some) with just a black eye.

In the end, it’s of course not only important who commits a crime, but especially who the crime is committed against.
Who steals from, beats up or even kills a typical Jet junkie is handled very differently than someone who does that to a Made Man. Whoever attacks a Family member (or his or her property) offends the power of the Family to keep the peace – and needs to be punished by the Family. When two Made Men fight in the all too common Family Wars and one dies, the killer will most likely not succumb to the same fate, since his own Family will protect him. Traditionally, the typical punishment for every capital crime in New Reno is a one way ticket to Golgotha, the town’s graveyard.

The definition of a capital crime however is somewhat fluent. Nearly everyone who tries to cheat in one of the casinos ends up there. As befits the more common forms of theft, New Reno in it’s whole is a lot more tolerant. Whoever gets caught is usually severely beaten up – and that’s about it.
With murder, it all depends on who is the perpetrator – and who the victim. Usually murder is avenged by friends. Sometimes, the murderer is mighty enough to evade all punishment. As to criminal assault, it’s pretty much the same as with murder. The only difference is murder or assault
on tourists – that is bad for business and punished by all Families.

All kinds of drugs are produced and sold in the city, gambling is of course legal, as is prostitution and alcohol.

Direct and indirect property of the Families

The Four Families control nearly all businesses in New Reno. They themselves own just a few directly, however. In other words, managers that are put in place directly by the head of the Family, with revenues flowing directly to the head of the Family and Made Men as guards are something
just a few businesses have – the rest pays protection money.
A few especially savvy business people have however managed to keep their independence. At the overview over the districts there are some examples for both kinds of establishments.

Overview over the districts

Virgin Street: The Virgin Street is New Reno’s version to the famous Las Vegas Strip. The biggest and most famous sights are there. The Virgin Street crosses the town from south to north, and the following list covers the most important places of attraction on the street from south to north.

The Cat's Paw: New Reno’s best brothel, led by the distinctive Miss Kitty and established in the building of the former Cat’s men’s magazine. Guaranteed clean prostitutes, that even cover special wishes. The Cat’s Paw is completely independent, even though it’s directly across
the street from the Desperado's.

Desperado’s: The main casino of the Mordinos. Both inside and outside it’s really not the magnificent building it was before the Great War. On the outside it lacks a clean coat of paint, neon tubes and light bulbs, inside it’s more of the same, dirty and most of the one armed bandits are in dire need of maintenance. It’s clearly visible, that the Mordinos make most of their money with drugs and not gambling. The upper floor, to which only Big and Lil’ Jesus Mordino and a few of their most loyal men have access, is a lot cleaner.

Jungle Gym: New Reno’s biggest, most famous but not the only boxing club. Led by Stuart Little, one can always find new young men and women that dare even a fight against Mike “the Masticator” Typhon for money and fame. Similar to the Cat’s Paw, the Jungle Gym remains independent.

Juggernaut Gym: Not directly on the Virgin Street, but in an intersecting street to it, is the boxing club of Bud “the Wrecking Ball” Pedersoli. By sheer happenstance this is the intersecting street directly south of the Jungle Gym and also by sheer happenstance, Pedersoli’s club is just a stone’s throw away from his former boxing club (he checked – several times). It is there that he trains some of the roughest boxers of the whole Wasteland, even teaching the very best his infamous special attack. Of course it’s also possible to watch boxing fights pretty much every evening in the Juggernaut Gym, for a reasonable fee, of course, but Pedersoli himself rarely fights.

Shark Club: On the inside as well as the outside, the Shark Club clearly shows that the Bishops place a greater emphasis on style, than the Mordinos. The luminous advertising works, the bar is clean, the gambling tables and machines are in surprisingly good condition. The main hall of the Shark Club contains a fenced in stage where musicians, comedians and dancers perform and entertain the players during their breaks from the gambling. The Second floor contains the living quarters of some of Bishop’s best Made Men and the third floor contains the living quarters and private pool of the Bishop family. The basement contains a small boxing ring, to which only a select circle is admitted. The fights are bare knuckle and without any hindering rules.

Golden Globe Studios: New Reno’s famous movie studio, that brought the Wasteland blockbuster slike “Radscorpion Man – he with the hard stinger” and (after a nearly true story) “the Chosen One – She knelt down for all of us and blew the Enclave”. Led by the Corsican Brothers, that virtuously hand over nearly all their profits to the Mordinos. Some say that the brothers, apart from the normal pornography, also shoot really sick movies, even snuff.

Salvatore's Bar: The smallest of the main casinos of New Reno, is owned by the Salvatores. On the other hand, the one floor that is accessible to the guests is even nicer to view than the Shark Club. The bar is clean, the felt on the gaming tables is in good condition, the one armed bandits have polished handles, even the Made Men and guards inside are clean shaven and wear polished metal armor. The upper floor however is only accessible to the Made Men. It is there that Louis Salvatore lives and plots his plans together with Mason.

East Side: The East Side was mostly destroyed during the harsh battles between the original gangster families and the police right after the Great War – and only little of it was rebuilt. Not only do the unwashed masses live there, there are also New Reno’s greatest distilleries, factories and
workshops, just as the home of the Wright Family. The following buildings and special places are set from south to north, but are not quite in one line – just east of the Virgin Street.

The Slums: This is no single building or a special area, just in principle the southern half of the East Side. Basically, this is the most dangerous area for tourists. No one maintains order and security here and most of the populace lives there – especially the strongly addicted, that would do anything for the next fix.

Warehouse (of Wonders): The Warehouse (of Wonders) is a factory and warehouse that was discovered by a crafty scavenger around 2210. First he was disappointed, because he was obviously not the first (or the tenth) that had opened it’s doors, but he quickly discovered that there were still treasures to be had in there: the machines with which the casino chips and other plastic parts are created – and even enough raw materials to get the production running again. In 2247 around 15 people work there, that produce the most diverse plastics parts and sell them, among others, to the casinos.

Blows and Jobs: A name for a company that could only be found in a sin infested town like New Reno. In this factory one finds some of the best glass blowers and electricians of the Wasteland, that work on the luminous advertising and light bulbs that give New Reno it’s unique shine.

Chop Shop: The Chop Shop, in the North West of the East Side, started as a small enterprise by a few guys, that were really impressed by all the worn down wrecks of the expensive sports cars scattered all over New Reno. Led by T-Ray, they persuaded John Bishop to back their enterprise and started to take apart all manner of cars and motorbikes in their workshop – first to study and understand the tech and to get still working micro fusion cells – then to restore the cars.

Horse Power Prints: Founded in 2239 in a small, abandoned garage, HP mostly prints game cards for the casinos or posters for the Golden Globe Studios or the boxing clubs.

The Wright Villa: The Home of the Wright Family, in the northern part of the East Side, is an impressive villa, full of bedrooms for the numerous children, nephews and great nephews (as well as married cousins of all grades) of Orville Wright. His office is in the first floor, his desk is positioned in such a way, that he only has to turn his head to have a view of playing children through the window.

In the basement, so it’s said, the Wright family maintains an impressive armory – maybe not quite as big or modern as that of the other Families, but still quite impressive.

The freight depot: The former freight depot on the north-eastern end of New Reno contains the biggest distillery and brewery of the Wrights. Even though their ingredients are without a doubt mutated, and even though the quality standards of 2077 have long since been forgotten, the whiskeys and beers of the Wrights are well liked by connoisseurs. Chris Wright, one of the younger sons of Orville Wright, leads that enterprise.

West Side: The West Side is the business center of New Reno. Here one can find various wares and services. As with the Virgin Street and the East Side, the following examples are arranged from south to north.

New Reno Arms: The store of Eldrige, maybe one of the Wasteland’s greatest gun nuts. At New Reno Arms one can get any kind of conventional firearm and a great assortment of conventional melee weapons, from brass knuckles to chainsaws, from tiny pocket pistols to full blown multiple grenade launchers.

Spike's Leather: A store that lies directly opposite to Eldrige’s New Reno Arms and that gets a lot of it’s customers from Eldrige. You just turned your gambling winnings into a new, shiny widow maker, but the old holster doesn’t fit the new gun: Go to Spike’s leather, where all kinds of leather wares are produced or repaired.

The Drunk Cupid Chapel: Father Tully’s house of worship. Whenever the priest in exile is sober, he preaches the few people that attend his services the joys of abstinence. All jokes about Tully’s alcohol consumption apart, he really does try as well as he can to do some good and spread some comfort.

Clean Beds and more: New Reno has numerous hotels for the numerous tourists. Clean Beds is not a very big one, but serves many tourists. Those that can afford to pay for it, get every service there. Those who only have a little money, get at least a clean bed in a dormitory.

Renesco's: The store of Renesco, the Rocket Man: drug dealer, chemist and preparer of poisons for the Salvatore Family. Not even the Junkies like him and his condescending, arrogant personality much. On the other hand, he sells drugs, so at least those people are friendly to him.

Sweet & Cubana: The best tailor’s shop in New Reno, led by the young, beautiful ladies Sweet and Cubana. With the best cloth they can find, they create the extravagant evening gowns of the moneyed tourists and home grown ladies as well as the spiffy suits of the Made Men of the Families.

Important persons

The Four Families:

Big Jesus Mordino: Big Jesus, leader of the Mordino Family, is a fat gangster with Mexican roots and a weak heart. He has no pity for the many slaves that died due to his Families experiments with Jet and other drugs and he handles people who owe him protection money the same way.

Lil' Jesus Mordino: Lil’ Jesus, the son of Big Jesus Mordino, is a young man around 20. He is obsessed with sharp knifes, very aggressive and tends to brag about his skill in “making bitches spur”.

Myron: Without a doubt the smartest head working for the Mordinos – the wunderkind that invented Jet. Myron is a lanky, white man around 20, with a face full of pimples. He does not really care about the direct or indirect damages his invention is responsible for, as long as the Mordinos keep him in money and women.

John Bishop: The leader of the Bishop Family, is a white, middle aged man with big plans for New Reno. Among others, he’d like to end the Mafia anarchy and would like to see Reno allied to both Vault-City and the NCR – a NCR in which gambling is legal and he can muck around with the mighty.

Leslie Anne Bishop: Leslie Anne, the wife of John Bishop, is a white, still beautiful and middle aged woman. She originally came from Vault-City, but left that town when she fell in love with John as a young woman. Despite having given him a daughter, Angela, it’s not a happy marriage. She flees into drugs, alcohol and quite often, sex with various partners. She also learned to hate both her husband and New Reno.

Angela Bishop: The beautiful, young daughter of John and Leslie Anne Bishop likes leather – and the guys around her like her. To the outsider, she seems to enjoy the attention that men give her for sexual favors, but really she is a lonely, sad and broken girl, destroyed by a heartless city and a father that doesn’t care about her.

Louis Salvatore: The leader of the Salvatores is an old, white man with breathing problems. In fact, he breathes from an oxygen tank. Despite his body growing weaker and frailer – his mind remains clear and harsh. He makes deals with all outsiders to further his power and has even traded raw chemicals and slaves to the Enclave. Like the other bosses, he is quite ruthless.

Jacob Mason: The right hand of Luis Salvatore is a harsh, black man in the middle of his 30s. He is not only the muscle of Louis Salvatore, he is also his second mind. Both see eye to eye when it comes to their lessers and both have just one goal: to strengthen their power. Even though Mason will without a doubt take over the business of the Salvatore Family (and it will then become the Mason Family) he is quite loyal and faithful to Louis Salvatore as long as he is still living.

Orville Wright: The leader of the least powerful mob family is a well clad, white gentleman around 60, his white hair is usually tied into a pony tail and he appears to be constantly very, very pissed off. Orville Wright sets the standards for his Family – none of his children would ever consume jet or any drug but alcohol. He controls his Family and it’s business like a perfect patriarch and because of that, he is under constant pressure.

Keith Wright: The oldest son of Orville Wright and his right hand man is a thin, pale man in the middle of his 30s with long, blonde hair. His duties include guarding the Wright Villa and sorting out the human garbage that wants to talk to his father. None the less Keith is a family man, that makes sure to remain in close proximity to his brothers, nephews, nieces, cousins and so on and to be on good relations with them.

Ethyl Wright: The wife of Orville Wright. She’s white, around 60 and with white hair and an especially strange woman. She organizes the abstinence league of New Reno together with Father Tully – and completely ignores the facts that her husband brews the booze for the whole of New Reno or that Father Tully is one of his regular customers. Orville Wright is pretty sure that she completely lost it in the last few years and that she has some
psychological problems, but considers her a harmless lunatic.

Dependents and independents:

Miss Kitty: Kitty is a beautiful, white, young, woman with a well developed business sense. She leads New Reno’s best brothel, the Cat’s Paw. Even though her establishment is directly adjacent to the Desperado's, the headquarters and casino of the Mordino’s, she has managed for years to keep the Cat’s Paw independent. She is a stickler for cleanliness with her workers, makes sure they are medically checked up once a month and generally keeps a clean business.

Renesco: Also called the Rocketman. He is an older, white man around 60, nearsighted (even though he has had a pair of fitting pre war glasses for years now) and one of the most important dealers and chemists of the city. His business (and with it, his live) belong to the Salvatores, for whom he often produces specialty items like poisons or special trade goods.

Jagged Jimmy Jay: Jagged Jimmy Jay, a young, black, dealer with a bulging, big scar from his right cheek up to nearly his forehead, is always trying to keep his business afloat. He is counted among the independent dealers and get’s his Jet directly from Myron. He also deals in information a lot. He usually stands between Salvatore’s Bar and the Shark Club on Virgin Street.

Jules: Jules, another, black, dealer, about 35 years old and among the independents as well. He stands at the south end of Virgin Street and greets the tourists and travelers by selling them their first dose of Jet – and leading them to the direction of certain businesses, for which he gets a small cut. Among others he directs them to the Cat’s Paw, New Reno Arms and a few other well running stores.

Father Tully: Father Tully, coming from the Abbey up north is the white priest of New Reno. While he chose the destination of his exile himself, he did not choose the exile. In fact, he was thrown out for his many drunken escapades. Today, while nearly always drunk, he belongs to the abstinence union of Ethyl Wright and Ed Piazza.

Bud „the Wrecking Ball“ Pedersoli: The greatest, never defeated boxer of post apocalyptic Nevada, whose nowadays getting long in the tooth. In younger years he’s said to have fought against Super Mutants in the ring – and won. He has been the greatest attraction of the Jungle Gym for many years, before he quit after a big argument with Stuart Little over a promised prize (a red Chryslus Highwayman with a yellow hood on top). He quit right after wrecking most of the Jungle Gym’s interior as well as half the boxers in there (the slow half, that didn’t run away quickly enough). Since then he opened his own boxing club.

Stuart Little: The vertically challenged Stuart that despises his nickname, really does not look like the heavy weight boxers he works with every day. But he has a nose for business. He decides who fights and takes care of the whole organization – for a modest 50% of the income. Since his falling out with Bud Pedersoli, Mike “the Masticator” Typhon is his big champion.

Mike „the Masticator“ Typhon: The best boxer of the Jungle Gym, with a right that has to be seen to be believed and way too sharp teeth. He got his nickname by biting off a great deal of the left ear of a boxer that had him in clinch. As that opponent went back a pace in horror, Mike quickly ended the fight by knock out, before the referee could notice the blood.

The Corsican Brothers: Sid and Marty are the owners and directors of the Golden Globe Studios. Their studio shoots every kind of pornography that is imaginable (there are even rumors about snuff movies for a special, very small but uncommonly well paying circle of customers). The studio is owned by the Mordinos. The Corsican Brothers pay protection money.

Eldrige: The owner of New Reno Arms, the best armament store of the town, is a white man around 50, that knows his way around all manners of conventional fire arms. He sells to all the Families and thereby keeps independent. His range of goods covers everything but energy weapons.

T-Ray: The owner of the Chop Shop, New Reno’s best and biggest car garage, is a brawny black man in his late 20s. Rumor has it, he can refurbish any car – but does not work for everyone and with every car. In fact, the Chop Shop is indirectly owned by the Bishop Family and TRay and his crew mostly restore sports cars and luxury cars.

Robin G: Wheter Robin G (often written as Robing) truly exists is a matter of much debate. He is some kind of legend in New Reno, the boy (or young man, the rumors of his true age contradict themselves), that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Many beggars and street urchins claim to have seen him or even to have received something from him. On the other hand, many beggars and street urchins take a lot of drugs. Who knows if the gentleman pickpocket truly exists?

Ed Piazza: Another member of the Abstinence Union and of the three leading members, the only competent one. He is a white, middle aged man that grew up in New Reno. While the mighty try to reshape the city to their own wishes, Piazza tries to organize the weak and the poor. Together with them he organizes militias, that while not interfering with the gangsters of the families, at least prevent murders and thefts within the common populace. He organizes teachers and takes care of the orphans. If New Reno should ever have a peaceful future, Ed Piazza will have been one of the ones responsible for that.