|
xxxxxFrom 2021 until its abrupt end in 2024, Freaktown was well known in mutant community. People not heavily involved in mutant community who did not live in New York may have heard about it as a passing bit of weird trivia but it was not as well known to them. People within New York, whether or not they were involved with mutant community, were very likely to at least have heard of it before its end. Within mutant community, it was extremely well known within New York and mutants actively involved in mutant community were very likely to have either hung out there themselves or know someone who regularly did. It was extremely easy to find via both word-of-mouth and searching the internet, and for the years it was active, mutants frequently traveled from around the country or world to visit or take up residence there.
xxxxxThe police raid & killings that led to its destruction was widespread, national news. The protests spurred in the wake of these killings are nationwide and still ongoing. Even if your character never visited or cared about Freaktown, it is very likely they will have at the least a passing awareness of these events.
|
|
|
xxxxxIn 2020, a lot of rich New Yorkers fled the city while COVID ravaged it. Later that year, the very high-profile police killing of a well-loved mutant led to rioting and a large uptick in mutant-human tensions in the city, keeping those rich humans who could afford to stay away comfortably ensconced in their second- and third- homes. It also left a lot more mutants homeless, driven out of their homes by discrimination or threats of violence.
xxxxxA local mutant biker gang took advangate of the vacancies to move a lot of homeless mutants into several abandoned houses in the wealthy Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale. From October of 2020, through the next several years, what began as a few squatters in some empty houses expanded in a big way. Humans, fearing the rowdy Mongrels and the mostly-homeless, frequently-criminal downtrodden mutants they were housing, began fleeing Riverdale in larger numbers, and every time they moved out or a house went up for sale, the Mongrels and their accomplices took it over. The project was very much illegal -- and also, very much NOT one the police wanted to tangle with, fearing a bloodbath if they tried evicting the squatters.
xxxxxA large swath of the Riverdale neighborhood became a de facto mutant autonomous zone, popularly known as Freaktown. While it existed, Freaktown was a chaotic, weird, but thriving mutant community. Any mutants were welcome to live in Freaktown, free of charge, with few rules beyond the expectation that they respect each other and the community. The neighborhood was anarchic in the best way -- low on hierarchy, high on mutual aid, communally run and upkept by its residents as well as other mutants who enjoyed visiting and pitching in.
xxxxxThe rich humans in the surrounding neighborhood complained, vociferously, but for years there was very little violence connected with Freaktown and the city government mostly looked the other way. That changed after the then-leader of the Mongrels went missing, presumed dead, following the final Prometheus raid in July 2023. Other gangs who had either respected or feared the Mongrels' president began making more overt ventures into Freaktown. After several high-profile instances of violence, including an attack by white supremacist mutants on a Yom Kippur gathering that Magneto was attending, the police began ramping up their surveillance and efforts to crack down. Freaktown finally came to an end in the early hours of the morning on April 27, 2024, during a violent police raid that killed three and triggered a wave of pro- and anti-mutant protests, riots, and activism around the nation.
|
|
|
xxxxxFor players interested in playing Freaktonians, all that is required is for your character to have been around in NYC mutant community between fall 2020 and spring 2024! Freaktonian characters will have automatic hooks with other Freaktonian PCs, and would have been around for a short but important piece of mutant history. ping @ Freaktown on the discord if you have any questions not answered here.
Freaktown-affiliated Characters:
|
|
