Northern California

The Free State of Northern California also known as NORCAL is an autonomous region in the USA. It is located in North California. One of the largest cities in the region is Night City.

History
Free States are still part of the Union (of the USA), but are very much independent. They can declare federal laws invalid and make up their own.

The first state to declare itself a free state was Texas in 1999 (renamed itself The Republic of Texas), after the government tried to control its weapons. Texas was followed by Alaska (2000), California (2002), Nevada (2003), and Utah (2014). North California became the newest state of the union, officially recognized by the United States government in 2016 after years of seceding. The counties of Northern California voted to secede from the state when they grew tired of the increasing power of the Los Angeles Metroplex, and it's forceful control on the rest of the state.

Northern California is comprised of Monterey, Fresno, and Mono counties and points due north. With the split of the state, Northern California had become an affluent state. Anyone and everyone who could afford to leave the Metroplex in the South, came to the North. The cost-of-living increase brought about by these affluent people in turn drove thousands of Northern Californians out of their homes, and were forced to live on the streets or move to the worse sections of LA Not many people were willing to go South, which is why Northern California became one of the worst in the country with homeless.

The Bay Area has become a very busy port for Northern California, as it is more economical for them to do their own international trade than to work through the US government. The State had also hoped to be able to act as intermediary for the US's Pacific shipping, but the Port of Seattle took that job on quite effectively, much to the relief of the greater United States.

In 2069, the Unification War began between the New United States and an alliance of the Free States. President Rosalind Meyers had presented a unification program to extend federal rule over the rogue Free States under the pretense of strengthening the nation. Northern California allied with the Free States while the South allied with the NUSA. The NUSA backed by nationalized Militech forces declared war on the Free States. Night City had avoided the fight, but tensions were high about the NUSA and Militech forces invasion. In early 2070, Night City was saved from the impending invasion due to the efforts of councilman Lucius Rhyne. Rhyne had used his decade worth of contacts on the city council and begged the long-shunned Arasaka for protection. Within days, an Arasaka supercarrier showed up in Coronado Bay to then see the NUSA Army retreat hours later. The NUSA and the Free States signed a treaty known as the Treaty of Unification, ending the Unification War. Night City has emerged as an independent city-state after the war. Night City paid for this liberty with an increase in megacorporation influence, the corpos pumped money into the revitalization of the city so they could have a foothold in the West Coast of the NUSA. Arasaka was now in full control of the city-state.

Location
The border between the Free State of Northern California and the Free State of Southern California is just south of Night City.

Night City occupies the space corresponding with former Morro Bay, but has since seen landfill alterations. Night City's original name was going to be Coronado City, but the name was changed after the death of its founder, Richard Night.

Night City has no connection to Coronado, California which was incorporated in 1890.

Integrates
Integrates are parts of the city that correspond to general geographic regions of the old California Free State. Large cities are arranged in central hubs of a million or more people, with outlying city cores and span cities linking in. For example, SanFran Integrate has massive hubs around Old San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, with megastructures and span cities crossing the Bay and arching over the Coastal range to the Pacific.

NorCal Integrate
This region covers the area north of San Francisco all the way north to Portland, Oregon. Since this area is covered by mountainous forests, it is not as dense as the Integrates to the south.

SanFran Integrate
This is the region that encompasses the former city of San Francisco, as well as the surrounding cites of Oakland, Berkeley, San Mateo, and San Jose.

MidCoast Integrate
This covers the region from Santa Cruz to Monterey, with out runners over the San Gabriel Mountains to link to the Central Valley. Many small towns have been replaced with city cores linked to larger townships by tunnels, bridges and flyways.

Central Valley Integrate
This area is a web of outlying city cores and agricultural fields, with several large urban zones acting as the hub for the region.

Night City Integrate
This is the original core of Night City, extending north to the Mid Coast Integrate and merging south into the Los Angeles hub. Night City is one of the new cultural centers of the United States next to New York, LA, Orlando, and so on.