Richmond Industrial
Pre-Collapse Identity
Richmond was built on industry — the Chevron refinery dominated the waterfront and the economy, employing thousands while contaminating the air and water that everyone else breathed and drank. During World War II, the Kaiser Shipyards built Liberty ships here faster than anywhere in the country. Point Richmond was a quaint waterfront village that pretended the refinery behind it didn't exist. San Pablo and El Cerrito were working-class suburbs that served the refineries.
Current Character
Richmond was industrial before the Cascade and industrial after — the refinery complex was simply absorbed into Ironclad's energy operations, the smokestacks kept belching, and the workers kept showing up because there was nowhere else to go. The sector represents the northern edge of Ironclad's territorial reach, which means it is where their grip is weakest and the contests are fiercest. Guardian patrols push into the residential areas surrounding the refineries, claiming to provide community security that Ironclad's industrial guards don't cover. The fence line between the refinery complex and the residential blocks is where confrontations happen — workers inside are Ironclad's, workers going home are Guardian's, and the distinction costs lives.
Terrain & Atmosphere
Flat industrial bayside terrain. Refinery infrastructure — cracking towers, storage tanks, flare stacks, pipe runs — dominates the skyline with a geometry that makes the sector look like a circuit board viewed from the side. The port facilities supplement Ironclad's Oakland waterfront operations, handling overflow cargo and specialized refining. The air is never clean. The ground is never uncontaminated. Residential blocks crowd against the refinery perimeter like barnacles on a hull.
Corporate Presence
Ironclad controls the industrial infrastructure — refineries, port facilities, and the energy production that powers much of the northern Sprawl. Guardian contests the residential periphery, deploying patrols and protection services that create the friction Ironclad's security budget was never designed to handle. The contested zone is the refinery fence line, and the contest is settled with violence predictable enough to schedule around.
Key Locations
The Refinery Complex (former Chevron facility — Ironclad energy operations), Richmond Port (secondary port supplementing Oakland waterfront), the Fence Line (refinery perimeter — contested boundary between Ironclad industrial security and Guardian community patrols).
Sensory Detail
The smell is petrochemical — sweet, heavy, coating the inside of your throat. Flare stacks burn off excess gas with a roar audible from a kilometer away, their flames painting the underside of the cloud layer orange at night. The sound is constant: the industrial drone of the refinery, the clank of port machinery, and the periodic sharp crack of Guardian and Ironclad security exchanging something other than pleasantries at the fence line.
Daily Life
You work the refinery shift, you breathe the refinery air, and you time your walk home to avoid the checkpoint where the two security forces pretend the other doesn't exist.