San Francisco Financial District
Centered on Market Street in the north-central area, it is home to many international corporations, particularly financial institutions like the Bank of America, insurance companies and brokerage houses. The Financial District’s various enterprises employ hundreds of thousands of people, some of them loyal to Kindred masters their employers know nothing about. The number of ghouls operating in the Financial District has increased since the Kuei-jin ousted the Kindred. The Ventrue always used ghouls and mortal proxies to handle their affairs during the day, but that need grows now that the Ventrue cannot easily visit the District personally and must handle everything via cell phone and e-mail. Even Kin-jin assigned to the Pacific Heights M-T Sector aren’t allowed in the Financial District without a high ranking escort from the Mandarinate.
The Kuei-jin are becoming aware of just how deeply the Ventrue sank their fangs into this financial center’s heart. They know ghouls hide among the mortals here, but have had a difficult time thus far finding them and surreptitiously weeding them out. Instead, the Kuei-jin focus on extending their power and building Scarlet Screens to serve their needs in North America. Their capacity to offer lucrative business ties with Hong Kong and other parts of Asia is an attractive asset. Behind the scenes, the ghouls and Scarlet Screens clash in a ballet of corporate buy-outs, stock manipulations, dividend frauds and investment schemes, struggling for the tremendous prize this small district represents.
The Financial District is also home to several San Francisco landmarks, the most notable of which is the Trans-America Building, a pyramid-shaped tower some 853 feet tall. The top 212 feet taper into a spire holding mechanical equipment. Although famed for its architecture, the Trans-America Building is both an eyesore and a true thorn in the Mandarinate’s side. Its design and layout flout nearly all conventions of feng shui , polluting the city’s Chi and sending out “poison arrows” in all directions, particularly in the Financial District. Kuei-jin geomancers believe the building’ s presence is one reason the Mandarinate faces such adversity in the District, but there is little to be done about it (despite some radical suggestions about arranging for the building’s destruction).
