Harrisburg

Overview
An historic district dating from very early in Colonial Bay's progression into a modern city, Harrisburg had at some point lost its way and tumbled headlong into decline, neglect and decay. In large parts of the northern regions of this area law and order have almost completely broken down, police presence is minimal and civic authority next to nil. The streets are effectively ruled by rival gangs who viciously compete for suzerainty at the cost of the weak and unwary. Though even they are unwilling to expend the minimal effort required to control those portions of the neighborhood so derelict they have been abandoned to the homeless.

The situation is better, to a degree, in the south of the Harrisburg district. The Harrisburg Watch largely holds control of the streets. The police are not welcome and have not been forgiven for their failure to act when Harrisburg was overrun by the Horde. The vampire Nicky Winters has significant influence over events in this neighborhood. She is also the effective head of the Harrisburg Watch. Nicky Winter's 'rules' are zero tolerance for drug activity and rigorous suppression of any gang activities that impact on the non-gang population of the district. In recent months, since the election of Judith Edgemont as the district's council representative Nicky has mostly withdrawn from Harrisburg's political scene to avoid compromising Councillor Edgemont's efforts.

The general feeling in southern Harrisburg is a degree of pride in their independence, and resentment of the way the rest of the city, and the city council, treats the district. There's a community spirit that's hampered not so much by lack of material resources as lack of skills and knowledge. The Watch are respected and generally the Watch try to act in a manner to deserve that respect. Gang violence occurs but not on the streets, and the Watch will come down hard on any gang activities that stray outside the gang culture itself. Drugs are an absolute no-no. There is no tolerance for drug labs or dealers. There are a few people who dislike Nicky, claiming, probably with justification that the city would care more about Harrisburg if Nicky wasn't involved. But for most of the inhabitants of the district Nicky is a local 'hero' who stands up for them against everyone else.

The Harrisburg Watch
The Harrisburg Watch was formed by Nicky Winters on her return to Colonial Bay City, initially from gang leaders put under her mental control. When Nicky surrendered to the civic authorities and went to Stronghold this mental control obviously lapsed, but although some of the Watch members reverted to their old ways a surprising number of the Watch members had developed a willingness to serve their community and so stayed in it. The Watch numbers were stable for several years after Nicky went to Stronghold and then leaped upwards after the Horde Invasion when being a member of the Watch gathered respect from the general population of the district.

The Horde Invasion
Then came the Horde Invasion. With Starguard in internal disarray thanks to the incompetence of the acting Director, Roger Creighton, and the city council dithering about confronting the threat, there was a lack of suitable response early on when the invasion might have been easily contained. By the time a major effort was mounted to deal with the invasion the aliens had infected thousands. Harrisburg, left to fend for itself by the city council, sealed itself off the the rest of the city and managed to largely exclude the invaders. However, when the city finally woke up and started to fight back against the invading aliens Harrisburg was left out of the counter-strike operation. Driven from the rest of the city, the aliens descended in their thousands on the district and despite many individual acts of defiance and bravery the district fell. It should be noted that Starguard redeemed itself to a degree by mounting, under the leadership of Random Factor while Roger Creighton hesitated, a rescue mission that evacuated children and mothers from the besieged Harrisburg elementary school. One effect of their heroic resistance during the Horde Invasion was to finish the transformation of the Watch in the eyes of the population of the district from gang members with armbands to respected guardians of the 'burg.

Harrisburg Clinic
The Harrisburg Clinic provides medical care to the 'Burg. It's run by Mary O'Sullivan, who speaks for Nicky Winters when Nicky is absent. Doctor McFerguson is the resident clinic physician. Dancing Coyote and Nicky Winters provide healing for those who need it.

Current Events
The Harrisburg Hellions are on the rise, armed with ACRO weapons and pushing a new version of XS, a temporary metahuman power granting drug.

Shoro, Forsaken, Harlequin, and Enforcer spend time fighting street level crime in Harrisburg and other neighborhoods, usually behind the Watch's backs, or dealing with threats too big for the Watch. Paragon, Spirit, and a few other heroes are allowed to enter Harrisburg with Nicky Winter's permission. Paragon especially is considered the patron Heroine of the 'Burg and is respected and liked by almost all Harrisburg's inhabitants.

Paragon dedicates her time to construction efforts to improve the situation in Harrisburg. She happily accepts any volunteers who wish to help and passes on her construction, engineering, and gardening skills to anyone wanting to learn and help improve their infrastructure to build up the neighborhood for self-sustainable, off-grid living. She's planted a number of urban fruit and vegetable farms on empty land plots and taught the neighbors how to maintain and care for the gardens, and takes time to visit her urban farms to check on them and maintain them, and if needed, deal with gangs who want to try and take all the food for themselves.