Dates are in-game.

History (Pre-Chronicle, up to 2005)

Once a pleasant resort and retirement community, Miami has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1940’s, becoming a major port city and a hub for world trade. The late 1980’s and early 1990’s brought a heavy foreign investment element into the city, and US branches of Japanese and South American corporations now compete heavily with local financial and industrial firms. The 1980’s also brought about a Rebeautification Project, to restore the downtown area to its former gothic splendor, but when the City of Miami went bankrupt in the mid-1990’s, funding was lost, tragically. The City was then absorbed into the County and the whole area is now referred to as ‘Metro-Dade’.

Miami is a city of many people and many cultures, some of which clash on a regular basis. Gang activity is prevalent in all but the most exclusive of neighborhoods and the police and lawmakers have been able to do little about widespread violence and drug crimes. The Metro-Dade Police Force, although underbudgeted, does the best it can and has the reputation of being a bit harsh, at times, in doing its duty to Protect and Serve.

Hurricane Andrew swept through South Florida in 1992, devastating whole sections of Miami and nearby Homestead to the south. It took years for the area to recover, but in that time Miamians enjoyed relative peace from the weather and had almost forgotten the storm, until August 21, 2005, almost thirteen years to the day later, when Hurricane Ariel descended upon the city. Unlike Andrew, however, the damage from Ariel was minimal throughout most of the city, but torrential rain, flooding and winds of up to 130 miles per hour wreaked havoc in the nearby Everglades to the west and leaving many of Big Cypress Reservation’s residents homeless. In the city itself only a few buildings were seriously damaged, one of them the World Trade Center in downtown, but the Miami Metrozoo was not so lucky. The exhibits were badly damaged and quite a few animals injured or killed. The Zoo was finally reopened to the public in 2007.

Through good times and bad, the following professional sports teams have been able to pull the city together and unite the people, at least for a little while.

• Baseball – Florida Marlins
• Basketball – Miami Heat
• Football – Miami Dolphins
• Hockey – Florida Panthers

History (2006 – 2015)

More details on some of the events below, as well as events not listed, can be found in the IC News Stories.

In October 2006, Golden Cruise Lines gave away free tickets for the maiden voyage of their newest cruise liner, the Black Pearl. Unfortunately for those that took advantage of this offer, the ship was hijacked by criminals, possibly terrorists, who planted explosives around the ship and took the passengers hostage. The passengers retook the ship, but not without great loss of live and devastation to the ship as the terrorists set off the explosives in an attempt to cover their retreat. The surviving passengers were airlifted to safety by the US Navy, whose aircraft were on routine training flights in the area. The ship was decommissioned and the exact motives of the terrorists were never discovered.

In November 2006, the city’s first casino, High Stakes, held its grand opening. Casino gambling had not been legal for long, and the casino did booming business. It closed in 2009 after extensive damage and as of December 2015, it has not yet reopened.

On June 10, 2007, yet another hurricane battered the South Florida coastline. Hurricane Lilith, fortunately, was only a category 1 hurricane, causing no loss of life and few injuries, although there was a great deal of property damage. Local celebrities raised over $500,000 to aid the Red Cross and the city’s homeless shelters.

In July 2007, Allington Tower, at the corner of 6th and Biscayne in Downtown Miami, was leveled by explosives. It appeared to have been professionally demolished and miraculously there were no deaths or injuries. PTFA (Party for a Technology Free America) claimed responsibility for the blast, but this claim was never verified. Also in July, a large section of Miami Beach was closed due to the collapse of a previously-undetected subterranean series of caverns in the strata beneath the beachfront. A sea wall was built around the caverns, which quickly flooded and formed a lagoon. The beach was reopened the following October.

In December 2007, a large marine area east of the South Florida coast was put under interdiction due to a massive accumulation of toxic waste, pollutants, and other contaminants that had amassed there due to natural currents. The toxic zone seemed to center around the island of Bermuda. The waters were declared highly dangerous for both land and marine animals as well as humans and all residents of islands in the interdicted area were instructed to leave. All commercial and pleasure traffic was rerouted, causing congestion in the local intercoastal waterway. Numerous vessels violated the interdiction and needed to be towed out of the area, and one Coast Guard vessel, the Point Manchester, disappeared while on such a mission. It was believed by a number of groups that modern-day pirates had taken advantage of the interdiction and were attacking both vessels that had gotten stranded as well as rescue vessels.

In August 2008, South Florida residents were treated to a spectacular light show as the Earth passed through an asteroid field, causing hundreds of atmospheric impacts per hour by tiny bits of rock and metal.

In March 2009, a sinkhole opened near the intersection of 5th Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, claiming The Rising Star’s Gallery, as well as a great deal of the street. City workers stated that it was unusual, but not unheard of, to have a sink hole that far south, but it was fortunate that it did not extend to the nearby high rise condominiums.

On August 25, 2009, a small tactical nuclear device was set off on Miami Beach, rendering the tourist paradise into a wasteland of rubble. Thousands of people were killed in the blast, although the exact death toll will never be known. The radical luddite political group Party for a Technology Free America claimed responsibility for the devastation; however, no arrests were made, as the claim was never substantiated. The city was declared a National Disaster Area, and the National Guard and FEMA were called in to evacuate much of Miami Beach. At that time, a Special Police force was created and privately funded by then Chief of Police Stacy Edward Johansen (retired April 1, 2011) in order to assist the Metro police and National Guard in keeping the peace during the chaos of rebuilding.

It was years before the radiation dropped to safe levels and area could be fully restored. Some businesses, such as Rebel Works Gallery and Concrete Underground, moved to other areas of the city, while others simply closed their doors permanently. The public beach reopened in 2011. The MetroDade County Commissioners voted in a public works project to make good use of the rubble. A full-scale medieval castle was built in the center of the newly developed Renaissance Park (opened in November 2014), home to a semi-permanent Renaissance Festival that attracts tourists from all over the country.

In June 2014, the House of Java, a popular coffee shop and cafe in Little Havana, was closed permanently after a massacre occurred, killing a shop full of customers and employees.

In July 2014, a fire at the University of Miami gutted the school’s computer center and killed a number of students in a nearby computer lab. Police investigated it as arson, but no perpetrators have been caught.

In October 2014, the Labyrinth, a massive hotel and entertainment complex, the likes of which are usually seen only in Las Vegas, opened its doors for business in Miami Beach. It replaces many shops and restaurants on Ocean Drive that were destroyed in the attack in 2009.

Also in October, as part of a Lord of the Rings promotional event, nine gold rings were hidden around the city. Those who found them got to keep them.

In June 2015, Survivors Memorial Park, located on SW 8th Street near Highway 826 in Little Havana, was opened, donated to the county by Investment Futures, Ltd., as a gift and memorial to the survivors of the terrorist attack of 2009. The park was built on the former home of Cathedral Nephilim, which was demolished the previous April.