Green Asphalt Protectorates
At the Heart of Things
The shapeshifting children of the Earth know that they have many enemies within and without the city. But outside of the city, they have few allies. Within…well, there are many allies indeed. Of course, that puts them closer to their enemies. But the strong relish opportunities to strike at the heart of corruption. And the lycanthropes that dare to dwell in New York City are placed no better to do just that.
Fierce and fearless, Garou and Ratkin and more fight and scheme to outdo their many opponents. Greedy mages and voracious vampires are but some of the enemies with which they must contend. Guarding their Kin and enlisting the aid of urban spirits, they ready themselves to face even the most powerful of foes. And some of them are aware that their worst enemies are yet to come, rising up from beneath, as if sleeping under the sewers and subway tunnels, deep under the islands of New York City.
Rules
The Garou, Ratkin, and Ananasi who make up the bulk of urban lycanthropes in New York City observe their Litanies with typical modesty. The Garou are more apt to stick to the letter of the law, although they’re also more laidback than their rural counterparts, except for sticky points like maintaining the Veil. The Ratkin feel the same way, but too many Freaks running in their ranks put that obedience to the test. The Ananasi uphold the Queen’s laws as vigorously as their independence allows, based on their cabals’ typical perspectives.
Other Shapeshifters
Besides the Garou at the Sept of the Green, Ratkin number in the scores in New York City. There are at least a dozen Ananasi in the Colony. Other urban lycanthropes may include a few Bastet and Corax.
Sept of the Green
Nicknamed the “Melting Pot Caern” because of its open door policy and location near what was once the immigration capitol of the country, this Sept is highly diverse and dedicated to the maintenance of what inkling of Wyld energies can be had in the middle of New York City. The original spirit of the caern, summoned by Silver Fangs to celebrate an Imperial Moot in 1855, began to dwindle as the power of the Weaver threatened. The Bone Gnawers who took over governorship of the caern helped restore it to some measure of power 75 years later. They also made the Sept a more democratic and liberal alternative to the strict and war-like Sept of the Lost Fort.
In recent years, the Garou have clashed with the undead more frequently than they would like. They suffered losses at the hands of powerful elders, though claimed the greater share of scalps in these clashes. Still, they could not afford to fight the Kindred so recklessly. The Garou have decided to keep a warier eye on the cadavers’ activities, the better to counter them indirectly, or at least confront them on turf of the Garou’s choosing. The Garou grow more and more suspicious that there are many more powerful elders of the undead starting to awaken or arrive to the city, and grow more and more on edge with the disturbing visions that the presence of such monsters bring.
Location
The Sept of the Green is located in none other than Central Park. This is the largest park in New York City and dominates the central (duh) heart of Manhattan.
Bawn
The bawn includes the entire park, which is squared off in a large rectangular that runs two miles north and is half a mile across. This keeps the Garou close to the action, eyes on the local humans. The lingering Wyld preserved here gives both the werewolves and citizens of the Big Apple a chance to enjoy the diversity and beauty of nature. An unusual mixture of landmarks span with wooded patches, broad and lush lawns, and broad ponds one can even boat on. The bawn includes the Central Park Zoo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Delacorte Theatre, and a host of colleges and galleries just beyond the park on 5th Avenue. Horse-drawn carriages can take visitors throughout the park if they do not feel like walking.
Caern
The Sept of the Green actually contains two caern centers. Originally, the Silver Fangs were this caern’s stewards, and they summoned Mera to be the caern’s matron. She was a potent spirit of visions, but as her power faded so did that element of the caern. When the Bone Gnawers brought the Great White Mouse to the caern just after the Great Depression, both centers were rejuvenated, but combined to form a Level 3 Caern of Fellowship instead. The Bethesda Fountain, found just south of the Lake near the park’s middle, is the main center, where Mera still lingers. North of the Lake past Belvedere Castle lies Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn. Meditating here can connect one to the Great White Mouse.
Other Landmarks
The Pathstone is buried under a peninsula in the Lake, and from the tip it can open Moon Bridges. The Graves of Hallowed Heroes are buried in the beautiful gardens of Strawberry Fields, where lies a memorial to John Lennon. Sheep’s Meadow is a favorite picnicking spot, and also a place of spiritual serenity, making it harder to Rage. An urban legend says it is safer to hide in Sheep’s Meadow if one is caught in the Ramble in the dead of night by one of the park’s predators.
The zoo was once a bit of a travesty in the keepers’ treatment of the animals, but it has since been cleaned up. The Ramble is an area with many walkways, ideal for casual strolls…at least during the day. The only blight in this otherwise pristine city park is the Wollman Memorial Rink. Not only is it an ugly site on the park’s otherwise natural beauty, but it is a frozen Blight wherein lurks the Wyrm’s minions just trying to escape. Belvedere Castle may be the only site in the park that the Garou do not control: they’ve long since offered it up to the Fianna’s faerie friends, and an important noble now dwells there. However, the small castle still offers lodgings to Garou and their allies, at least those who do not want to sleep on the Great Lawn as many homeless Bone Gnawers do.
Tribal Structure
Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers are the most prominent Tribes in the Sept of the Green. But they run the Sept democratically and open its doors to all Warriors of Gaia. Thus, there are also a fair number of Fianna, Stargazers, Uktena, Children of Gaia, and at least one from all of the other Tribes…even the Red Talons.
Guardians
There are a handful of Guardians, who usually pose as homeless people in the park. The Sept also controls the police precinct based in the park, and several Kinfolk are enlisted on the force there. Kinfolk also help run a variety of other park services and fill in personnel ranks to keep the park firmly in the hands of the Garou. Spirit allies include Pigeon-spirits who act as spies and scouts. And on command, garbage cans seem to come alive as the Sept leaders are able to animate Trash Golems to help defend the bawn and caern from attack.
Colony of the Center of the Orb
The importance of New York City and the impact it can have on the entire world has not escaped the notice of the Damhán. Queen Ananasa insured each of the cabals were represented in the city, then gathered all the werespiders into a single Colony: the Colony of the Center of the Orb. The Colony would not be a single entity; each Ananasi cabal had its own goals and purposes in service to the Queen, and they would not work well together. But by Ananasa’s Law, they could at least meet civilly and hear the Queen’s wisdom as one people.
So a central locale was acquired, a central Sylie of sorts, which became considered as sacred ground for all Damhán to honor and be at peace with one another. The Ananasi claimed the World Relations Consultations Center, found in Manhattan’s Midtown District, on the corner of East 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue…not far from the UN Headquarters, in fact. This interview center was a professional think tank for diplomats and negotiators from around the world. The lobby, offices, and even certain suites and normal rooms on the first two floors of this six-story building were normal.
But the elevators only went up to the second floor. After that, the floors were removed, the building hollowed out, the rubble stored in the inaccessible basement of the building. Instead of floors and walls, a massive and complex spider web filled the building. Steel and glass were connected by organic fibers as pliable as silk, tough as steel, and as sticky as molasses. In fact, some of those webs in key spots where intruders were most likely to enter (such as through the elevator shafts) were designed to infect the brazen trespasser with a tranquillizing poison designed only to affect non-werespiders. Additionally, hordes of normal spiders – all Kin, all venomous – inhabited the building past the 2nd floor. They reacted quickly to intruders on their webs, as would the Damhán themselves if they encountered intruders. Of course, outside of the World Relations Consultations Center, the Ananasi might fight one another. For now, within these walls, they could peacefully discuss their plans for the city and the wonders and mysteries of their alien lives.
Warren of the Rotten Core
The siege mentality of the Warren of the Rotten Core is nothing to deride. It feeds the madness and Rage of these Ratkin and makes them want to lash out all the more against the city around them. Feeling pent-up by the constant in-flux of Weaver development and sinuous Wyrm corruption, the wererats are eager to bring it all down around the monkeys’ heads. The Ratkin in New York City court no allies, finding even the Bone Gnawers of Central Park to be too soft for children of Rat.
Instead, they ready themselves for war against the terrible enemies they know lurk under their tunnel homes. They stockpile weapons and plan assaults on strongholds and safehouses of the enemies of the Wyld, especially the grotesque vampires they neighbor. But normal humans and anyone else in their way aren’t spared their fury either. The Rat King is a Warrior, not a Twitcher…but he doesn’t seem to disapprove of the Twitchers’ madness!
Location
In the Bushwick District of Brooklyn, found northwest of the borough bordering Queens, the Ratkin grow strong. Right off of Cooper Street are the tract-housing “project” neighborhoods in which many of their human Kinfolk reside, and some Ratkin crash. Many of those Kin eagerly form protective gangs to watch “the ‘hood”. The real Warren is below ground, however. Expansive sewer tunnels, maintenance shafts, and subway systems link together to give the Ratkin and their rodentine Kin free reign of the city. Gray, dirty, and filled with muck and grime, the Ratkin’s home is anything but clean or hygienic.
Nest
The center of the Warren is actually in an abandoned subway station long forgotten by the city. It even predated escalators; there are only long stretches of stairs leading down to a short stretch of tunnel sealed on both ends (save the bore holes that the rats gnawed through). Burnt-out subway cars are stacked together, not even resting on the tracks. Ratkin graffiti decorates the walls of the station and trains, coloring glyphs and marks of the power of the Wyld. Some of the empty cars are crash spaces for wererats, the grandest set aside for the King, of course. Others are storage bins, filled with stockpiles of food and munitions for the “inevitable stand-off” with the humans of the city. The Rat King (a vicious Warrior) and his personal Deceit carries the vicious aspect of Rat simply called Blood Rat as its Totem, and this influences the ferocious savagery that often descends on the Warren in nature’s efforts to keep its numbers even. (OOC: This Warren is considered a **** Colony.)
Tribal Structure
By far the most common group of Ratkin inhabiting this warren are of the Rat Race. No wonder the King is so paranoid, and his troops are likewise! A few Atlantic-based Ronin stop by, but barely wander beyond the docks out of fear of these madmen..err, madrats. Indeed, many Freak Aspects are prevalent among the Ratkin hordes of New York City.
Guardians
Armed or just dangerous metis Ratkin are placed at important intervals in the underground tunnels that connect the Nest to the rest of the city’s underground. Many of the tunnels were booby-trapped and some routes lead to false lairs rife with explosives or other traps. On the other side of the Gauntlet, the Warren of the Rotten Core can only count on Rat-spirits. But there’s plenty of ‘em. Street gangs led by Ratkin Kinfolk occupy the ghetto streets above, representin’ Brooklyn with all the attitude they can muster.
Special Events
Special events are annual (or more frequent) holidays or special ritual days that the main group or groups observe as a whole community. Attendance and participation is often expected of all members, and sometimes required.
Music on the Green
The Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers work together to put this event on. In early September (starting on Labor Day and then running for three days straight), Sheep’s Meadow of Central Park becomes host to a series of local and internationally renowned musicians alike. All sorts of music are played, though rock’n’roll dominates. Plenty of vendors set up shop to take advantage of the music-loving public, though (at the insistence of Gnawers and Children of Gaia) more than one vendor gives some food away free to the homeless, who are most certainly welcome.
Blackout Sunday
Whereas the Sept of the Green tries to take care of its human neighbors, the local Ratkin out of the Warren of the Rotten Core nurse few such sentiments. Indeed, on the hottest day of summer and also on the coldest day of winter (whenever weather services and/or Ratkin diviners determine when those days are), the Rats sweep out over the whole city and cause as many disruptions to electrical and gas services as possible. This results in blackouts, sometimes notoriously widespread and substantial ones! Despite its name, either day rarely falls on a Sunday. (Many Ratkin neither know nor care what day of the week humans say it is.)
“You wanna see the real magic around here? It’ll cost you, and more than an extra value meal.”
-- Shakey Mac, Master of the Rite of the Sept of the Green
