Political question (spoiler alert)

[Charlemagne]

I have a question. I've always had the impression that Night City is like an independent city-state. However playing Phantom Liberty, several things make me get the impression that it is more like an autonomous province of the NUSA. Maybe like Puerto Rico.
I mean, V sort of smoothly acknowledges president Myers as his president. It doesn't seem like the way he would act if he was called to save the president of Egypt, for example, a foreign president. Myers asks him if he is registered to vote, a strange question if V were a stranger to the NUSA. She also recruits him as an agent of the FIA without much ado, something that would be strange for a foreigner.
Frequently in NC you find veterans, especially 6th street, the army they served in is usually the NUSA army. Night City doesn't seem to have an army.
The authority in NC is the mayor. IF NC were fully independent it ought to have a president.
So question, what is the national status of Night City?

[Balm]

night city lore is contained in the tabletop game sourcebooks, this article gives a rundown
https://www.thegamer.com/cyberpunk-2077-night-city-complete-history-explained/
this one also gives a broader perspective
https://gamerant.com/cyberpunk-2077s-night-city/

tl;dr california is still a free state as of 2077 and the NUSA/militech never did capture night city. Their influence there is limited to militech. Night city is an autonomous region of the free state of california which is an autonomous region loosely tied to NUSA. The president is still 'the president', but nobody should actually care.

It's hinted at in the dialogue during the events of phantom liberty that the outcome for night city if meyers were to die there, would be catastrophic, so getting her out is in everyone's interests regardless of their loyalty.

I also think its a bit weird for the mc to identify her as his president so strongly. NUSA has little positive influence on the west coast. Probably just a bit of artistic license for crafting the narrative to make the player care.

[Deklend]

Phantom Liberty took, pardon the pun, a lot of liberties with the lore honestly. The base game they consulted Mike Pondsmith on almost everything, when the game director was Pawel Sasko. Phantom Liberty's game director Gabe Amatangelo, didn't consult with Mike Pondsmith much at all regarding the lore of the game.

[Charlemagne]

It would seem then Night City as a free entity still nods at the president of the NUSA, but without giving them any real power. Something like king Charles is the king of Canada but he doesn't have any power in Canada. It's like the Free States (including NC) are "still spiritually part of the NUSA" but govern themselves. Arasaka is the true owner of NC, but doesn't exert its power too overtly (for example they don't ban Militech).

[Bjørn]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

Something like king Charles is the king of Canada but he doesn't have any power in Canada.

Bit off-topic, but it's a bit amusing that there is a weekly news program on CNN called King Charles From the names of the two hosts.

Anyway, I got the impression when playing the DLC that Dogtown is even more separate than the rest of Night City, basically an anarchy or dictatorship that is under the rule of whoever is in charge of the district (which we help decide when doing the story), so it kind of falls out of everything.

I browsed the links above about Night City, and didn't see Dogtown mentioned, and I'm not familiar with previous games or lore, so I have no idea, though.

[Phynrae]

NC is an independant city state, so technically yes, Prez Meyers is not V's prez (although if you start as a Nomad, you might have been raised in the NUSA, so there is that).

Buuuut... does it really work like that?

Take Scandinavia for instance. These countries were once a single nation united under a single Viking King, but have since split off to sepperate nations.
Does that mean the bond between these people was broken though? No, not really, we view eachother as siblings of sorts. Even if we have sepperate governments, and sometimes disagree, there is a shared connection between us, a cultural bond that unites us. We are still family of sorts.

Woulden't a similar relationship exist if a chunk of the US suddenly became an independant state?

On paper, they might be different nations, but there would still be that cultural bond. You would still be family of sorts.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

It would seem then Night City as a free entity still nods at the president of the NUSA, but without giving them any real power. Something like king Charles is the king of Canada but he doesn't have any power in Canada. It's like the Free States (including NC) are "still spiritually part of the NUSA" but govern themselves. Arasaka is the true owner of NC, but doesn't exert its power too overtly (for example they don't ban Militech).

i understand your question as being about 'chain of command.' like, you're trying to find what agency has jurisdiction or whatever, and whether characters have loyalty (or fealty, in your case) to these agencies.

i think this is the wrong way to look at it. I understood V as being kinda starstruck when meeting the NUSA pres. Like, "woah a real president!?" And then Pres. Myers being all charismatic (plus Songbird's promise) gets V involved in the mission.

the whole power, authority, jurisdiction question is kinda meaningless in a game like this, since Dogtown is it's own entity, NC is it's own entity, Arasaka is it's own entity, etc, etc, etc. V pretty much does what they want, so the point is moot.

* pres. Myers asking about "votes" is just stuff politicians say.

[Charlemagne]

I understand that Myers has no real power over NC but wanted to clarify if she is technically or ceremonially the president. This is the explanation in Gamerant, it seems the answer is yes, which explains V's attitudes in Phantom Liberty...
"Night City is a coastal city in the Free State of Northern California. To understand this context fully, the Free State of Northern California is an autonomous region of the United States, located in North California, and Night City is what became of Morro Bay. In the year 2077, Night City was voted "the worst place to live in America."

This may partly be due to the fact that the city receives around 21 inches of rainfall per year, and this water contains toxic chemicals that are much higher than the current government standards which are set. It is recommended that residents and visitors to Night City carry a filter mask and supplemental oxygen on them in case of the sudden presence of inversion smogs, and as well as acid rain fog.

Free States, though very independent and autonomous in their own right, are still part of the Union of the USA, but they can ignore federal laws and replace them with their own laws in most cases."

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

I understand that Myers has no real power over NC but wanted to clarify if she is technically or ceremonially the president.

No real power? Doesn't she deputize V, re-activate Reed & Alex, get Songbird and get rid of Hansen? That's real power right there.

I don't understand what you mean by 'techinically' (she is), or 'ceremonially' (she is called the President in her presence).

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

This is the explanation in Gamerant, it seems the answer is yes, which explains V's attitudes in Phantom Liberty...
"Night City is a coastal city in the Free State of Northern California. To understand this context fully, the Free State of Northern California is an autonomous region of the United States, located in North California, and Night City is what became of Morro Bay. In the year 2077, Night City was voted "the worst place to live in America."

This may partly be due to the fact that the city receives around 21 inches of rainfall per year, and this water contains toxic chemicals that are much higher than the current government standards which are set. It is recommended that residents and visitors to Night City carry a filter mask and supplemental oxygen on them in case of the sudden presence of inversion smogs, and as well as acid rain fog.

Free States, though very independent and autonomous in their own right, are still part of the Union of the USA, but they can ignore federal laws and replace them with their own laws in most cases."

i think this is more confusing than elucidating since 'free state' 'independant' and 'autonomous' are kinda vague terms.