Post by Webmonkey on Aug 13, 2014 15:36:13 GMT -8
The spring of 1889 in Seattle had been beautiful. There had been little rain, and temperatures were consistently in the 70s. Unfortunately, the unusually good weather proved to be disastrous, as the dry conditions conspired with a handful of other elements - some of them still unexplained - to allow for the worst fire in city history.
The mortals say that on June 6, 1889, John Back, an assistant in Victor Clairmont's woodworking shop at Front Street (now First Avenue) and Madison Avenue, was heating glue over a gasoline fire. The glue boiled over, caught fire, and spread to the floors, which were covered by wood chips and turpentine. The story goes that he tried to put the fire out with water, but that only served to thin the turpentine and spread the fire further. His memory was hazy on the subject, to be honest. It was like he remembered it, he said, but like it was happening to someone else.
Everyone got out of the building safely, and the fire department eventually got to the fire. By that time, there was so much smoke that it was hard to find the source of the fire, and by the time it was found, the fire was out of control. The fire quickly spread to the Dietz & Mayer Liquor Store, which exploded, knocking the window glass clean out of the Crystal Palace Saloon, and the Opera House Saloon. Fueled by alcohol, the entire block from Madison to Marion was on fire.
Seattle's water supply proved to be a major problem in fighting the fire. At that time, water was provided by the privately owned Spring Hill Water Company. Hydrants were only located on every other street, the 'pipes' were small, and many were made of hollowed out logs (several of which would burn in the fire). As more hoses were added to fight the fire, water pressure fell to the point that the hoses didn't work. Firemen tried to keep the fire from spreading further by pumping water from Elliott Bay onto the Commercial Mill, but the tide was out, and the hoses were not long enough to reach the side of the building closest to the fire. To add insult to injury, crowds, spurred by some unknown furvor, harassed the fire fighters as the water pressure fell. At the same time the water supply was dwindling, the wind rose, helping spread the fire. Soon the mill was on fire, as well as the Colman Building and Opera House.
Mayor Robert Moran took command from acting Fire Chief James Murphy (somehow, Chief Josiah Collins was only days earlier called to appear at a fire-fighting convention in San Francisco), who was reportedly "distraught". Moran ordered the Colman block to be blown up, in an attempt to end the fire, but the fire jumped past the block, and spread to the wharves as well as up the hill toward Second Avenue. It was as if the fire had a life of it's own.
Most residents soon realized that downtown Seattle was doomed. The fire had crossed Second Avenue, and was heading up to Third. Smoke could be seen in Tacoma, and the roar of the fire heard for miles. Help had been called in from Tacoma, Portland, and even Victoria, B.C., but would take hours to arrive. Business- and home-owners cleared out as much as they could. Those who were able hired wagons to haul belongings onto ships before the ships moved out of the harbor away from the wharves, which were on fire. The Seattle Post was able to get most of their files and books aboard the schooner Teaser.
As the fire reached Third Avenue, Trinity Church burned quickly, and the fire moved across the street toward the three-story Courthouse. Before long, the fire had reached Fourth and University, but a handful of buildings were saved, including the Courthouse. The Fire Department had tried to water down the Courthouse to prevent it from burning, but water pressure was so low, the hoses could only spray the first floor. Quick-thinking Lawrence Booth climbed to the roof of the Courthouse and poured buckets of water down the sides of the building, saving the structure as well as all the public records and the jail within. Booth's lead inspired bucket brigades to save the Boston Block and Jacob Levy's house. Henry Yesler's house was also saved, by someone who thought to cover it with wet blankets.
Meanwhile, the fire was spreading even farther. Before it reached Yesler, Moran ordered that the shacks there be either torn down or exploded, in the attempt to create another fire block. Despite such efforts, the fire crossed the gap, and Skid Road went up in flames next. Mayor Moran declared an 8:00 pm curfew that night and ordered all saloons closed until further notice.
The fire burned until 3:00 am. When it was done, the damage was enormous. 120 acres (25 city blocks) had been destroyed, as was every wharf and Mill from Union to Jackson Streets. Although the loss of human life was evidently low (though no actual statistics were ever kept on that) it was estimated that 1 million rats were killed. Thousands of people were displaced, and 5,000 men lost their jobs. The city estimated its losses at over $8 million, and that number did not even include person losses or those of water and electrical services. The total losses may have been as high as $20 million.
Also lost in the Great Fire, almost every Kindred that had made the frontier town their home. Most of the Seattle Court had been wiped out. Why? How? For what purpose? Was it truly a mortal mistake? Was there something else at work? What happened to the Kindred on the edge of the world?
Welcome to the fictional city of Seattle in the Classic World of Darkness.
Our story begins with the death of the old Seattle court of the Camarilla and the devastation that follows. Presumably there were Kindred in Seattle prior to the fire, and then all of the sudden there weren't any, and perhaps a bit of a mystery as to what happened. There's a mortal story: Someone's glue pot caught fire and it spread. And there's a supernatural story: Something very bad happened on the edge of the world, and very few Kindred made it out with their unlives.
The event takes place a little after the fire, within about six months for a couple of reasons:
1. Why would any Kindred want to go to a place with very little protection from daylight?
2. And not much economy/way to make a living.
3. If something really bad did happen, newcomers are going to be held with extra suspicion.
Remember Kindred are totally dependent on blood, and *mostly* dependent on mortal infrastructure to exist. They're certainly dependent on not being on fire.
A number of Kindred might try the Wild West at this time:
1. Cam Investigators looking to make a name for themselves in solving the great mystery of the death of the Seattle court.
2. Burly punch-fight types who think they can make a name for themselves by punch-fighting whatever it is out there.
3. Mourners, Childer of those that were lost to the fire come to pay their respects and perhaps administrate the 'Will' of the deceased.
4. Opportunistic champions of expansion and bringing civilization (control) to the masses in the great Wild West.
5. Romantics looking for a perfect canvas on which to paint their new vision.
6. Occultists who believe the death of the Kindred court is a sign of some import.
7. Criminals and outsiders looking to get as far away from authority as possible for a number of reasons.
We have small stories for each of your backstories and characters, and for the types of tales listed above over the course of the vignettes. They mystery of what happened may not have to be solved in the first vignette either, but important NPCs (Other Kindred, key families in Seattle History, etc.) and important places will be established with a few NPCs to individual characters who go looking. And of course there are hundreds of hours of exploration available if you choose just to dig into each other's characters and backstories.
Historical characters: During the vignettes, it's possible to play a character from Seattle's history as your PC. Names like Mother Damnable, Doc Maynard, Henry Yesler, Carson Boren, Arthur Denny and more were instrumental in the formation of the 'real' Seattle. Our version of it is not constrained to actual history. It will change and grow with in-character choices.
To help create the flavor of an authentic alternate Seattle, staff will grant a free background point to any player who choses to adapt their character to become a character from Seattle's history. Players are required to submit the character concept and demonstrate a decent grasp on the character's original place in Seattle history, and have an idea of how they might like the Kindred version of them to diverge, or stay in line with the real history of Seattle. In addition to the background point, certain information about the game filtered through the remaining mortal families of the founders and their ilk will be available to purchase as the vignettes march through history into the modern nights. That's right, the unique opportunity to cultivate a mortal brood throughout a city's history could be yours.
Here's a great link for some information on that: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Seattle_before_1900
And a great one one on Seattle's 'top 10' historical figures: www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Ten-who-shaped-Seattle-Henry-Yesler-struck-gold-1066727.php
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The actual vignette will take place at a gathering for Kindred by the new Prince to address reconstruction of the city, deal with issues related to the deaths of the Sires and Childer of many visiting Kindred dignitaries and perhaps begin to solve the mystery of what happened to the first Court of the Emerald Domain. NPC's in these vignettes are not unstoppable powerhouses, they're era and power appropriate to the setting, and will be appropriately paranoid for a town that just burned almost completely to ashes.
More details on this will be available soon, however when considering costuming for the era, the date will be 1880's-90's.
Staff would like volunteers to assist in making each of these vignettes a mini-event. There shall be rewards for those who go above and beyond to assist.
All participants will get attendance XP as well as some special perks from your staff for helping us build the world your characters will enter when we get to the Modern Nights.
Please note: These vignettes are a unique opportunity to show centuries of character growth over five or six nights - not an opportunity that most LARP preludes provide. Plan to come into game at low Humanity? Consider showing the slow decline over time in each vignette until your character ends up in the Modern Nights. Did your character start out cold and dispassionate and then only gain empathy by stepping back from life to observe it? (or the more likely reverse). Perhaps your Gangrel became more bestial over time, but gradually. Most of the time in games you don't get to show this kind of character development over such a short time!
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This coming 'game' is not the vignette, but the last pure character creation session before it. We'll be using this time to help fit people's characters into the timelines available and get an idea of who will be playing what. The next game will be though.
This coming game is a good time to speak with staff about:
a. inserting your character into the vignettes. and
b. What NPC's you'd be interested in playing if your character won't be present in this earliest vignette.
Come with an open mind - Your Seattle awaits!
