Nizhni Novgorod in X-Champions

    Nizhni Novgorod is less than an hour by plane from Moscow.  It's the third largest city in Russia, with a million and a half people.  Formed at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka, dating back at least to the 13th century, Nizhni Novgorod's history closely reflects much of Russia's.  From its founding through the 14th century it served as a cultural center even while being destroyed seven times by the invading Tartars.  As it became incorporated into the growing Moscow principality it lost its military significance but developed as a major trade and shipping site given its river location.  During the Time of the Troubles Nizhni Novgorod's people spearheaded the movement against the Polish empire.  Later the city became a center of sail-building for Peter the Great.  From the 17th through 19th centuries Nizhni Novgorod was developed once again into a leading cultural center, with the establishment of major cathedrals and its landmark theater, along with major urban renewal promoting the city as an international attraction and trade center.  Consequently in the last half of the 19th century Nizhni Novgorod became heavily industrialized. 

    The communist years saw even further development of Nizhni Novgorod as an industrial power.  It was renamed Gorky in 1932, after the writer, until 1990  During the Stalin and Cold War years Gorky became a center of military industry and was essentially closed to anyone other than the locals and appropriate officials.  It is generally believed that through the Cold War the city housed a top secret metahuman development program, but that program was largely a failure.  It is suspected that many of the current wretched mutants who seem to disproportionately live in Nizhni Novgorod were results of that misguided attempt.  The city is probably still most famous for being the site of Andrei Sakharov's imprisonment.  During glasnost it was reopened to the world, and since has been visited by heads of state as well as regular tourists.  Notably, Nizhni Novgorod has been a hotbed of reform activities (although marred by recent election scandals), with the most progressive leaders in Russia.  As such it was the first of the Russian cities to develop both a public rapport with supers (as opposed to the prior secretive dealings) as well as accountability for their actions.  With ever-increasing tourism and Western investment, the city leadership is anxious to see its resident supers enforce an air of stability and peace.  Recently President Domovitch has made the city one of a dozen "examples cities" he hopes to see showcase Russian revitalization.

    The city is divided into two sections, with the old town sitting east of the Oka.  The old town has been greatly revitalized, becoming both a tourist center and an area of prestige to live and do business in.  In particular the primary commercial activities are conducted there, including notably the Nizhegorodsky Yarmarka, a "fair" which serves as the commercial trading center of the city as well as a major tourist site.  The more modern, industrialized west side of the city, on the other side of the Oka, is more polluted and architecturally sterile [and hard enough to find information on it isn't likely to see much attention in this game].  It houses some of the major infrastructure of the city, including the port, the train station, and the local rail.

    Nizhny Novgorod is also a major university center, with 14 centers of higher education, several institutes belonging to the Russian Academy of Sciences, about 10 scientific-research institutes, and many project-oriented laboratories.  In particular the Nizhni Novgorod State University's "Radio Physics" Department is renowned for its advanced work in all realms of physics and biophysics (see http://www.rf.unn.ru/eng/general/index.html).  

    Old world culture is also rich in the area, with wood-carving and painting, gold embroidery, metal and clay arts, bone lacing, and doll/toy-making.  Much of the best lay outside Nizhni Novgorod; in the city one has to discriminate between genuine folk crafts and those mass-produced but made to look like them.  Nizhni Novgorod and the region has a deep Orthodox Church history, with several major churches in the city, as well as a deep reverence for the faith in the nearby smaller towns and among a small but vocal minority in the city.  

    Perhaps the most notable major enterprise in the city is GAZ, Russia's single major automobile manufacturer, established in communist Gorky.  The NN Aircraft Building Plant is a major Russian airplane manufacturer based in the city.  Many major Western companies have distributorships based in Nizhni Novgorod (General Electric via Egna, Reebok via Partner NN, Wrigley via Gums-Alliance), and a few have regional offices there (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, DHL, UPS, RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris).  A tax free zone has recently been created in Nizhni Novgorod to encourage private enterprise, both abroad and local.  However, post-2000 capitalist development has been slowed as Domovitch has turned his attention to "unscrupulous capitalist ventures".

    For reasons aforementioned as well as others less known, mutations among the citizens of Nizhni Novgorod are not so uncommon as in most other places (in fact in much of Russia mutation is unheard of).  "Non-heroic"/non-state mutants are generally reviled by the public but super-heroes commissioned by Domovitch are quite popular.

    Nizhni Novgorod has until recently never witnessed acts of super villainy.  Given its military, closed history only secretive acts of international espionage involved supers in the past.  But as the city has opened up, so has the opportunity for super villains to seek riches, either from the famed artworks of the museums, theaters, and the Kremlin, or from the struggling private enterprises.  As Russia degenerated into chaos , in 1992 the first major super villain of Nizhni Novgorod's history, the Masked Peril, plagued the city.  The Masked Peril was essentially a mob enforcer who turned rogue, beginning a campaign of extortionist terror against local businesses.  Nizhni Novgorod's local mutants were incapable of facing him; in 1994 Domovitch AKA Dr. Hope paid a personal "visit" to put an end to the local scourge.  Since that time a couple other major super villains have come and gone, notably the Divine Menace (a psychotic self-professed avenger of God) and the Organizer (a communist ideologue who uses his genius to plan a return to communism by terror and force).  But between a few lesser supers (mainly the super heroine Lisa (Russian for fox but usually mistranslated as simply the name in the West), the horse-riding hero modeled and named after folk hero Ilya Murometz and the aging Red Scare) of Nizhni Novgorod along with a few major supers (such as X and until his untimely demise the Slav) these menaces to society have been generally contained.  

    But now Domovitch wants better assurances regarding Nizhni Novgorod's stability, particularly as he is overseeing  a rebuilding of military facilities there.   Fearing threats such as the nearby witch Baba Yaga, his government is taking great lengths to identify and recruit existing heretofore unknown supers for Nizhni Novgorod.  

Highly Recommended Reading (sources of this summary):

A wonderful more detailed view of the city from a tourist perspective can be found at http://www.russianbusinessguide.com/travel_agent/n_novgorod.asp

1999 news that gives some good flavor of life in Nizhni Novgorod - also, generally searching the Russian Journal for articles on Nizhni (or Nizhny) Novgorod will give a lot of local flavor - http://www.therussiajournal.com/index.htm?obj=1282&type=3&sid=7734384301236938544967353&cat=6

Pictorial tour of the city at http://www.unn.runnet.ru/nn/views.htm

Other sources for this article and general information include:

http://www.involved.com/michaels/nnov.htm

http://www.rf.unn.ru/

http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/life/communities/nizhny.novgorod.html(opt,mozilla,unix,english,,new)

http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/nizhegorod/

http://www.admcity.nnov.ru/english/ourcity/map.html

http://www.innov.ru/nnov/english/str3.htm

http://users.lavalink.com.au/irina/nn/nn.html

http://www.yarmarka.ru/eng/2002/exib-e.htm

http://www.unn.runnet.ru/nn/

http://www.tpp.nnov.ru/win/english/about.htm

http://www.unn.ru/main_eng.htm

http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/0005ListUScies.htm

*Key to city map above:

1. Kremlin
2. Regional Administration
2a. Departament of Sport & Tourism Nizhny Novgorod Regional Administration
3. City Administration
4. The State Sank
5. The Main Fair House (Nizhegorodsky Yarmarka)
6. Philharmonik Society
7. Drama
8. Puppet-show
9. The theatre of young spectators
10 Opera house
11. The Michael-Archangel Cathedral
12. The Spassky Church
13. The Cristmas (Strogarev) Church
14. The Assumption Church
15. The annuciation Monastery
16. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
17. The Spassky (Old Fair) Cathedral
18. Historical & Architectural Museum
19. Arts Museum
20. Exhibition Hall
21. "Oktyabrskaya" hotel
22. "Volzsky otkos" ("Slope of the Volga") hotel
24. "Nizhegorodskya" hotel
25. "Tsentralnaya" ("Central") hotel
26. "Albatros" hotel
27. Railway station