South Merica
What started as an idea to build a specialized labor force became the Merican ghetto. South Merica sprawls across the grounds of a crippled airport in Sinking City: piles of rubble, cracked pavement, sickly crops between the runways, and fields of tents that serve as homes for the displaced. No castillos here. No fortifications. Just the remnants of a plan that failed.
The founders envisioned a community of hard workers who could labor during the day, barbecue in the afternoon, and rest safe at night. Gang violence and anti-Merican bias from groups like La Raza shattered that dream before it fully formed. The residents are poorly armed and poorly fed compared to other Mericans in the Pridelands. Shipments of oil and water are stolen on the trade roads with regularity that suggests the thieves know the schedules.
An oil refinery is the main source of income for nearly every resident, and it is the one thing holding South Merica together. The refinery competes with the Fuegos and Los Ban-dee-tows Mericanos for market share, but it lacks the muscle to defend its position. Any rival gang could seize the operation on any given day. The topic is taboo at the raucous Sunday cook-outs, where the community gathers to pretend, for a few hours, that things might improve.
The harsh conditions make locals ripe for recruitment. The Federales offer a sense of Merican justice. Los Ban-dee-tows Mericanos offer familiarity and camaraderie. Drug addiction is increasing and expensive, draining what little income residents earn. South Merica is a community on the brink, held together by a refinery that could be taken and cook-outs that cannot mask the fear of what comes next.
The founders envisioned a community of hard workers who could labor during the day, barbecue in the afternoon, and rest safe at night. Gang violence and anti-Merican bias from groups like La Raza shattered that dream before it fully formed. The residents are poorly armed and poorly fed compared to other Mericans in the Pridelands. Shipments of oil and water are stolen on the trade roads with regularity that suggests the thieves know the schedules.
An oil refinery is the main source of income for nearly every resident, and it is the one thing holding South Merica together. The refinery competes with the Fuegos and Los Ban-dee-tows Mericanos for market share, but it lacks the muscle to defend its position. Any rival gang could seize the operation on any given day. The topic is taboo at the raucous Sunday cook-outs, where the community gathers to pretend, for a few hours, that things might improve.
The harsh conditions make locals ripe for recruitment. The Federales offer a sense of Merican justice. Los Ban-dee-tows Mericanos offer familiarity and camaraderie. Drug addiction is increasing and expensive, draining what little income residents earn. South Merica is a community on the brink, held together by a refinery that could be taken and cook-outs that cannot mask the fear of what comes next.
Geography
South Merica occupies the grounds of a crippled airport within or adjacent to Sinking City. The terrain consists of piles of rubble and fields of cracked pavement with strips of sickly crops growing between them. Fields of tents mark the landscape as makeshift homes, and the settlement lacks the castillo fortifications that define the rest of Sinking City. The oil refinery sits at the center of the district, surrounded by the improvised structures of a community that was never designed to last this long.
History
South Merica was founded on optimism. Displaced Mericans in the Pridelands planned a community built around hard work and mutual support, using the abandoned airport grounds as a foundation. The oil refinery would provide income. The labor force would provide stability. The Sunday cook-outs would provide the kind of community spirit that kept people fighting for something worth having.
The plan broke against the reality of the Pridelands. Gang violence arrived before the foundations were set. Anti-Merican bias from local factions like La Raza ensured the community would never be accepted as equals. The refinery became less an engine of prosperity and more a target that every competing faction circled with increasing confidence. What was meant to be a fresh start became the Merican ghetto, and the people who remain do so because they have nowhere else to go.
The plan broke against the reality of the Pridelands. Gang violence arrived before the foundations were set. Anti-Merican bias from local factions like La Raza ensured the community would never be accepted as equals. The refinery became less an engine of prosperity and more a target that every competing faction circled with increasing confidence. What was meant to be a fresh start became the Merican ghetto, and the people who remain do so because they have nowhere else to go.
