Fahrenheit City

[Revision]

The city is a diamond. She glimmers with the fire of life, of love, and hope. That fire dances with despair, the shadows hidden in the shimmer of that magnificent gem. The underground, the speakeasies and the backroom sacrifice dens, the blood trade and the turf wars. These are as much a part of the city as any fancy club or sequined dress.

Enter a world and time where the wheel of style and vice has turned again. Where the world has settled into a sense of elegance and even the most heinous of acts are committed with a degree of panache. Gone are obtrusive dime a dozen advertisements in screaming colors and clothes designed to show what should be hinted at. With the return of the old tribes, being fashionable is truly fashionable again. The most poignant styles of a dozen eras, dominated by those of the late 1930s, dance around one another in an oil slick of color and charm, everything from cars to clothes, even vices, are reminiscent of the old days of black and white film and jazz, with hints of other times splashed over them like color on a sepia tone photo.

But clothes are not the only things reminiscent. The U.S. has entered a new age of prohibition and regulation. Religious and magical sacrifices and rites can only be performed by the properly licensed, vampires must receive their blood from USDA certified banks, and Essence, that which fuels magic, is a highly sought and illegal commodity sold behind false walls and in back alleys. Manashine, a cheap and more plentiful but highly addictive alternative to Essence, is the trade du jour in the underground. And the Four Families vie for control of this lucrative business.

In the middle of this all, a small Private Investigator firm over a coffee shop struggles to stay alive.

Fahrenheit City
A city seemingly suspended in a snapshot, Fahrenheit City is a city of classic cars, classic clothes, and reborn elegance. It is also a city of slums, warring magical races, and food, music, and vice.

The Frantic Fae Coffee House
This coffee shop sits beneath a struggling P.I. firm. It is here that the locals gather to get away from life for a bit in a neighborhood where various races struggle to live alongside one another and escape the Turf Wars.

The Four Families

The O'Morgan Family​

The most exclusive of the five families, the O'Morgan family are strictly Fae. Dominated by the fae of celtic myth, they look down on those of other regions, though they will give them lower positions in the organization. They currently dominate the Manashine trade.

The Lupini Family​

Were creatures from the world over, the Lupini family is run by Regina Lupini, a beautiful woman with a fierce flare for the dramatic... and for pain. Any therian is welcome. Provided they are an asset. Their strongest holdings are in the manufacturing sector.

The Boyanov Family​

The blood drinkers of various sorts, not all traditional vampires, though the "blood" family is all of this type. They unsurprisingly hold control of the underground blood trade and are fiercest rivals with the O'Morgans in attempting to take over the Manashine trade.

The Yang Family ​

The Yang family follows eastern tradition and magic. They draw strength from their ancestors. It is rumored that many human magic users and creatures of more ancient legends find their place within this family. They control the docks.

Premise
This is a strange melding of future, modern fantasy, and noir. It will center around a coffee shop, a private investigator, fantasy creatures, and the Mob, but you will be encouraged to include a sense of style in your posts. If you want something included in the plot, let me know. Feel free to help build the city. Your character can be anyone who would be in the neighborhood and have reason to get involved with the other characters. Plot will be heavily style and character influenced.

Character Sheets
Name:
Species: (Vampire, werecat, panther warrior, kitsune, whatever)
Biography:
Description:
Affiliations or Family Ties: (Do you have any ties to any major powers?)
Something Important in the Neighborhood: (We're making this city together, especially the neighborhood your character calls home. What's special here? Describe one thing.)

​

 

[Astaroth]

*Stakes flag of Co-GMing*

All aboard the Fahrenheit Express.

 

[JustJen]

*expresses interest, will toss around character ideas*

 

[Revision]

Name: Leona Sheridan

Species: Fae (Sidhe), glamoured to look human

Biography: Leona is old enough to remember the first time the gates closed and separated the worlds. Those fae and supernaturals left behind perpetuated the myths associated with the races and kept enough magical blood in the then young human race to ensure that what little magic seeped in through the gates was usable. But Leona was not one of those left behind. She existed for centuries in worlds of splendour and summer, working with the Seelie Court as an artisan.

Then the gates opened again and, like many curious sorts, she found herself journeying to Earth. The unexpected closing of the gates for a reason that is still shrouded in mystery left her stranded with the others of her kind, forging a new power in a world that was fighting very hard to keep itself pure and unaffected and not realizing just how much magical influence already existed within it.

Like many fae types in the City, Leona found herself working for the O'Morgan family. Her skill as a crafter allowed her to harness the Essence that still seeped into the world, imbuing artifacts with it to bestow among the highest ranking in the family. She was invaluable, but her own artifacts were never for her use, always for others, and she was loathe to resort to manashine to power her creative magics. Essence was reserved for only the leading faction, currently the Unseelie, and she was not one of them, thus all essence she used went directly into the artifacts as her own small well of natural essence dried up.

During this time, troubled, she found herself in love with and marrying a Seelie Lord named Cahban. Their love was deep and sudden and of great worry to the Unseelie faction of the O'Morgan family. But because Cahban had a habit for making friends who could provide needed support to the Family (manashiners, enforcers, crafters, musicians), they were relatively unharassed, though their power was diminished with each passing political decision made by the Family.

But with a new rise in confidence in the unseelie faction, the couple found themselves facing real danger of being eliminated. Using essence meant for a new artifact, Leona disguised the couple as human and created a new life for them. Cahban and Leona told only their most trusted friends and lived a quiet life working as online artisans, but even so, Cahban has mysteriously vanished and is presumed dead. Leona has found herself in desperate need of a champion.

Description: Long, blond curls frame a heart shaped face. Red lips and blue eyes make her appear similar in looks to a Hollywood starlet. She is tall, made taller by the high heeled shoes she wears, and her skin is peaches and cream. She dresses conservatively and often pins her hair back out of her face. Her clothes vary but one thing always remains, a brooch in the shape of a cattail plant.

Affiliations or Family Ties: Formerly O'Morgan

Something Important in the Neighborhood: West Fahrenheit Park. This neighborhood park is a little rundown, the playground equipment something from the last decade and the trees and bushes not quite as cared for as they should be. Still, it is decorated for most major holidays and the location of the annual Fahrenheit Jazz Festival, which is rapidly approaching. Sane people don't go into the park after dark unless they have something to prove or something to sell... or are truly desperate.

 

[Angelus]

*pays for a ticket to reserve his spot* ^_^

 

[Myrnodyn]

Name: Harold Knowles

Species: Human (Necromancer)

Biography: Harold Knowles was born in one of the better parts of London, the offspring of Maria Haines and John Knowles. The latter of which was just the latest scion in a long line of mages, hiding and cultivating their magic in secret places and caverns around england. Aside from his studies in magic, John knowles was an author, who wrote about a young wizard who studied at Barking polytechnic university. Harold was initiated into the mystic arts from a young age. Quickly finding himself drawn to the solemn arts of necromancy because of his natural talents and diplomacy when it came to speaking with the dead. Hours he would spend, talking to various deceased people, each and everyone with a story to tell. He found however, a common regret was that they never had a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones before dying. This urged Harold on to do something with his knowledge of necromancy, and when the magic folk were reawakened in the world, he too shed his deception and travelled around, offering his services so people could speak with their loved ones once more, in the most literal sense. It was not until he reached Fahrenheit City that he found a place to settle down. His trade, not sanctioned by the government, yet still a valuable service for those that came looking, did not lend itself to one place, until he found the bookstore, an ideal location, where he, in all secrecy built himself a sceance room and a makeshift morgue, where he kept the tools of his trade. A tiny hidden compartment contains a safe where a crystal skull is kept safely, as it is the source of his power.

Description: Harold is a middle aged caucasion male of british decent. His form is tall and slender, but just short of lanky. His hair, a halflong golden blond, is neatly parted in the middle and combed to either side of his face, bangs hanging next to, but not in front of his eyes. His green tinted eyes have an intelligent and often discerning look to them, as if he sees right through you. His lips are full and his nose slightly larger than average, the only blemish on an otherwise handsome face. Aside from that he has a birthmark the shape of a pony's head on his neck. He prefers to wear a cotton shirt, covered by a gray tweed vest, while tweed pants cover his legs.

Affiliations or Family Ties: Harold has professional ties with both the Yang and Boyanov families. Neither of them trust him completely but both find they require his services from time to time, especially when something needs doing in a discreet manner.

Something Important in the Neighborhood: the bookstore, an ideal location, where he, in all secrecy built himself a sceance room and a makeshift morgue, where he kept the tools of his trade. A tiny hidden compartment contains a safe where a crystal skull is kept safely, as it is the source of his power.

 

[Kooriryu]

... Sniff! Magic pewpews?

 

[XC]

Character Sheets
Name:
Species: (Vampire, werecat, panther warrior, kitsune, whatever)
Biography:
Description:
Affiliations or Family Ties: (Do you have any ties to any major powers?)
Something Important in the Neighborhood: (We're making this city together, especially the neighborhood your character calls home. What's special here? Describe one thing.)

 

[Revision]

Koori, if you want to have magically imbued guns... *grins*

XC, I'd rather not have any dragons at all for player characters.

 

[Kooriryu]

I meant being in the Yang family, the wizards a.k.a. the magical pewpews but 8B OKAY I'LL TAKE MAGIC GUNS.

 

[Revision]

Ooh, yes! Yang family! Go for it!

 

[honeybush]

I've got an idea of a runner/messenger for the O'Morgan family. By exclusive, does that bar humans from working for them?

Also, gods this setting ;_; it's vivid and beautiful.

 

[Astaroth]

They're strictly Fae, although it's possible that there might be part-Fae working for them. Race- and racism- IS going to be a factor in this game.

 

[honeybush]

Excellent. Good to know! Thank you, Ozzie.

 

[Vay]

Name: Domitri Vlomir
Species: Wererat
Biography:

The Vlomir family immigrated from Czechoslovakia as yet another conflict ravaged the region, with them came a young son, Janek. They never got far in life but lived peacefully, Domitri and Janek's father working in a steel mill for next to nothing but just scraping buy and it wasn't long before Domitri was born.

It was just before the end of highschool, when Domitri was working home after a long weekend shift of washing dishes that it happened. The monster came from nowhere an although Domitri beat it off with a broken brick the wounds on his arm doomed him to change the following full moon, and he remained like that, unable to change back into his human form.

Not being able to afford a real doctor his family took him to one who operated out in the slums without a license, he had heard of the condition, and the news that without being able to change back Domitri would be doomed to become a feral animal... unless he could sustain his mind with magic.

It was costly but Domitri worker out that a dose of manashine every two weeks was enough to sustain himself, but because of prejudice his dream of becoming a police officer was over. In this chapter of Domitri's life his older brother became his pillar of strength, encouraging Domitri to apply anyway, and consoling him when he was inevitably rejected.

It was after that rejection when the brothers founded their PI firm, Janek getting the customers and Domitri using the tallent and acumen he planned to use in the police force to find the clues and chase leads.

That was until a rainy August three years ago. Janek had gone out to contact a client and never returned. He never told Domitri what the case would be, just that it was big and would put them in all the papers. After a few days with no clues the police case was closed and when he asked to see the report Domitri was told to keep his whiskers where they belonged.

Without Janek's knack for netting clients the firm has been struggling ever since, and Domitri has been battling to make ends meet.

Description:

Domitri suffers from a rare, but not unheard of condition that makes it extremely difficult to assume human form so he spends all of his time as a were rat. Standing at a slight hunch he reached five feet two in height, with the pointed head and large ears of a rat, with white fur in his nose and lower body, and light brown on the rest of his face an upper body.

Virtually all his features are those of a rat, beady black eyes, large teeth, long bald tail, though he usually wears a coat and fedora to differentiate from those others with the same condition whose minds have reverted to a feral state.

He keeps himself meticulously clean, with the grooming of his long, silky whiskers being a nervous habit often indulged in and staying clean is another way Domitri can remind himself that he is still human, and still in command of his faculties.

Affiliations or Family Ties: None, it's best to keep your head down and not to take sides.

Something Important in the Neighborhood: The office of Vlomir PI sits atop a coffee shop, the pleasant smells seeming up though the rough wooden floorboards greeting the few clients who still come to their pleasing Aroma.

Spoiler

Position so that the windows catch the afternoon sun before it sinks below the building opposite even Domitri feels that the single cramped room feels like a detective office in the pictures, that is aside from the rat sitting in the chair behind the desk.

On the notice boards are a mic of notes from cases and newspaper articles, most of them from over three years ago, with the rat standing next to a taller, eastern European man. The Vlomir brothers, captioned under the pictures solving crimes for money...

Despite the cramped nature of the office, there is a cache of blankets and pillows hidden in the lower two drawers of the filing cabinet since Domitri sleeps in the office itself, this detail however the clients never catch wind of.

 

[JustJen]

Name: Chloe Reilly

Species: Daoine Sidh

Biography: Chloe Reilly first appeared in Fahrenheit City just when the twentieth century was beginning to show its teeth when it came to art and technology. Little more than a street urchin, she carved a name for herself as something of a shark when it came to the toss of a die, the throw of a bone, and the turn of a card. Luck such as this tends to draw a crowd in the hopes that such good fortune rubs off on the hapless acquaintance by mere association alone. But it is knowing when to lose, or at least give the appearance thereof, that creates the potential for networking opportunities.

No, it didn't take long at all for the O'Morgan's and Miss Reilly to discover one another and then, of course, to capitalize.

What Happens Inn, the brainchild of Chloe Reilly and Fahrenheit City icon, was funded by the old world money and celebrity name of the O'Morgan family. The alliance was forged and ground was broken none too soon and why? To corner a market on society's vices is a dangerous, dangerous calling and one can always use friends. So...

"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets."

Description: Chloe's personality at her core is not for everyone. She is shrewd, opportunistic, ultimately self-serving, and an unapologetic hedonist. However, that may not be the face she presents in any given moment. The lady is many things to many people and not a one of them is the same. Wisdom dictates that it is best to keep her at a distance, but what's a little foolishness every now and then?




Affiliations or Family Ties: O'Morgan

Something Important in the Neighborhood: What Happens Inn--(description pending) Rough concept? A multilevel casino and hotel that operates as a money laundering trade and cover for the Manashine trade. Every floor's theme is represented by a decade in the twentieth century from the 1920s to the 2000.

 

[Kooriryu]

Name: Cai Cuifen

Species: Human; nüwu, a shaman

Biography: Cuifen began her studies as soon as she could hold herself up on her own two legs. Her formal training didn't begin until she entered middle school. Warding and exorcism became specialties of hers, she gleaned a small satisfaction in persuading and negotiating with restless or particularly unruly spirits, sprites and demons-- beings that were popularly painted as wholly unable to be tamed or cowed by 'mere humans'. Her formal training ended at the age of 20 and was thus left to find a mentor and continue training with them. Cuifen then packed up and decided to go back to the motherland and seek out her mentor there.

What she found was a small monastery run by even smaller nuns. They made their own brushes, their own ink, and their own paper. Handing the head nun the scroll and seal she was to present to her would-be mentors she was accepted into the monastery. While there she was also initiated into the convent, her hair was cut off and stored for her last rites before returning to her home after completing her studies. Cuifen learned the intricacies of warding and exorcism, methods that required her to even use the qi of her bloodline past and present... though only theoretically. In the spring and summer she was moved to the southern wing of the monastery that led off into the deep woods to train actively in the warding of spirits and demons while in the fall and winter she would be buried in texts at the west wing of the monastery to deepen her knowledge. In the last four years, the nuns sent her away to live with an old hag in the deep woods. There, Cuifen would endure physical and spiritual hell to prepare her for when her studies with the nuns fail and force would become necessary.

She was sent back to the nuns in a cart after the training, her legs broken and a waver in her qi.

After healing, the nuns presented her with a brush set made from the hair cut off at her arrival and three bottles of colored ink brewed from her blood while she mended. She returned home to her family and settled back into the urban landscape. With the new laws making it difficult to become a licensed ritualist, Cuifen instead turned to the underbelly of Fahrenheit City for work. Her stint as a nun set her up for a large shock once she stepped foot in the underground. She struggled finding work while also trying to not overly compromise her teachings. Eventually, she found a dance club that catered to the supernatural and decided to use her knowledge to gain work as a club promoter, filling clubs and bars with the spirits and demonfolk who would otherwise be terrorizing mom and pop shops and the houses of small children. As time passed, Cuifen's moral integrity loosened, her nickname "The Nun" now in mocking. She became quite sly and cosmopolitan due to her work as a dance hall promoter and she shows no sign of regret... to anyone not in her family anyway.

Description:

Affiliations or Family Ties: Yang Family

Something Important in the Neighborhood: Cuifen works as the main promoter for the Shiva Dance Hall, 13 blocks from the Frantic Fae coffee shop. The dance hall serves as neutral ground between mystical creatures great and small. Its image is largely based on invoking how carefree the world was before humans learned how to cast magic. The popularity of the club lies heavily in Cuifen's warding seals which don't so much as ward away rowdy spirits but advertises the club in its arcane script.

She's often seen heading towards the shop from the dance hall in the morning to help her along her way to her day job, working as a store front girl for her aunt's baked goods store. It's at her aunt's bakery that she also plays an informant for the Yang family, giving them tip-offs to whatever gossip heard in the dance hall that could be used in their control of the docks and to the expansion into the Manashine and Essence business.

She also enjoys going to the Frantic Fae for high tea with her aunt, mother and grandmother on the days she has off.

--------------------
Cuifen's Offensive Powers; I can't be assed to weave it into my bio properly: 'Skywriting' is one of the offensive skills Cuifen practiced in her years with the old hag of the woods. The technique requires she writes one of the seals specifically for use in skywriting in order to perform feats of elemental control, qi manipulation, or lesser demonic manipulation.

Pre-written seals are usually slips of paper Cuifen prepares in advance every night when she goes to work at the Shiva dance hall. Placing a seal on a rowdy patron, usually under their notice, and activating the seal usually performs as a stun, a qi disruptor or an elemental strike most often a body-engulfing frost-- it's bad PR for the dance hall if vanquishing happens on the dance floor.

Every so often however, disgruntled patrons who were escorted out will harass poor little Cuifen after hours. It's with this that she employs skywriting in its most offensive form. The brushes presented to her by the nuns are in fact too cumbersome as well as the bottles of ink to carry on her person. Instead, Cuifen circumvented the overwrought procedure of proper skywriting by carrying an ink pad with her and dabbing her fingers onto it to skywrite with her fingers and using the other hand to activate them.
This results in less effective elemental and qi manipulation but Cuifen keeps one brush and bottle on her should she have to resort to demonic manipulation. In demonic manipulation, Cuifen skywrites a seal that acts as a binding spell to any nearby, weak-willed demons who are transported to her location and remains under her command until it either breaks free or she is done with its services. (She's arranged it that if they stay under her command she gives them a drink voucher at Shiva Dance Hall per hour in her thrall.)

The one method Cuifen hopes to never use is Blood Ink Sky Poetry; a pendant Cuifen wears under her clothes is actually a concealable stiletto. If she is pushed to it, her last resort is to stab into one of her major arteries and draw blood for Blood Ink Sky Poetry in which she taps into the raw power of her own qi to cast more powerful elemental, demonic and qi manipulation spells. The problem is that since it uses raw, undiluted qi the probability of the spell becoming unraveled and wild is great enough to threaten destruction to the neighborhood or the city itself... if bleeding out doesn't get to her first.

The downside to skywriting is that Cuifen leaves herself open to attack between the writing of the seal and its activation. Though her fingers and ink pad method cut the time down considerably, she still relies heavily on her pre-written seals to act as her first defense and uses them as time-buying tactics.

-----------------------------------------
Image Credit

Original URL: http://img2.etsystatic.com/000/0/6868075/il_fullxfull.334602374.jpg
Original Site: http://www.etsy.com/listing/98843354/china-town-addict-vintage-shanghai-girl
Search Terms: 1930s Shanghai vintage advertisements, 1930s Shanghai vintage, 1930s Shanghai ads
Notes: Thank the lord for an illustration hobby.

 

[Hecatoncheires]

Goddammit, this shit is too good to stay out of.

Here's the framework for my dude. The image is more for conveying the idea of what Jimmy looks like, rather than being a definitive snapshot of his appearance. Bizarrely enough, it's rather hard to find images of hulking Irish satyrs.

Name: James 'Wee Jimmy Langers' O'Hallaran
Species: Satyr
Biography: James O'Hallaran, or 'Wee Jimmy Langers' to the residents of Fahrenheit City, has been stirring trouble and making a name for himself ever since he jumped off the boat from the Old Country.

Though at first he worked as a labourer, helping to construct the vast city growing up around the slums he lived in, Jimmy's aptitude for violence and unnatural toughness meant that he found a place in the criminal underworld pretty quickly. This, along with his love of living it up and drinking like a madman, meant that he was right at home amongst the city's punk scene.

At first he was just a small-time crook; the muscle in robberies, a hired goon always up for a good fight. His boisterous, brutal nature and fae heritage caught the eye of the O'Morgan Family. The leaders of the city's manashine industry were always looking for true sons ready to act as enforcers for their business enterprises, and Jimmy fitted the bill. After a particular job he got hired for went tits-up and the entire crew were busted, O'Morgan Senior pulled a few strings in the police department to see that key evidence linking Jimmy to the crime was lost, securing his release due to lack of a case.

Grateful for the timely assistance (a demonstration of loyalty) and impressed by the influence the O'Morgan leader held (a demonstration of strength), Jimmy pledged an oath of loyalty to the family, and soon was acting as the head of the enforcers in the city. Whilst he greatly respects and admires the leader of the family, he has less time for some of the other higher-ups; he sees them as cowardly and weak, only holding their positions due to connections or familial links.

Outside of organised crime, Jimmy has also become a familiar face amongst the punk scene. His antics are the stuff of legend, and this has added to the growing underground popularity of the band he performs with, named 'Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On'.
Description: "Gargantuan, horned Irish psycho" is a description that often floats around about Jimmy (behind his back, naturally, ever since the last poor bastard who said it to his face wound up eating out of a tube for the rest of his years), and it fits him pretty snugly. Standing at six foot seven he's a lanky bastard, and the muscle mass only adds to it; he's a fae with the physique one can only really acquire from a lifetime of hard labour and kicking the fuck out of any arsehole stupid enough to start something on the weekends.

As a Satyr, Jimmy isn't considered a full-blooded fae, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise by looking at him. A set of goat horns curl out from his head and he's an unnaturally hairy bastard, even by the standards of his homeland. His shoulders and upper arms are emblazoned with a remarkably intricate set of tribal tattoos, his back with a vast Celtic cross design ("handy if you wanna fuck wit' they parasitic bastards when you're fighting them", as he puts it), and he's adorned with several piercings which include a nose ring.

A lifetime of violence and bloodshed has left more than a few marks on Jimmy. His entire body is a motley of scars, ranging from the brutal vestiges of the time someone tried to gut him with a knife and the remnants of an attempt to hack open his throat to the claw marks down the centre of his face; a memento from a fight with a particularly vicious werewolf that also cost him one of his eyes. These battle scars only add to the looming, threatening image Jimmy likes to put across to the world.

Clothing-wise, Jimmy's punk sentimentalities shine through. T-shirts with the sleeves torn off, emblazoned with badges and logos of bands. Plaid trousers, generally styled in Irish tartans and covered in belts and buckles, or else practical black military khakis. Big, heavy-set Army surplus boots, all the better for kicking some gobby prick off the stage or stamping on some unfortunate asshole's face. Jimmy dresses to scare and dresses for a fight.
Affiliations or Family Ties:

• Lead "Singer" of 'Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On' – As the frontman of the particularly irate Irish Punk band, Jimmy spends his time on stage drinking and screaming like an enraged Minotaur into the microphone. Between acts he likes to insult the audience repeatedly. Somehow they keep getting booked for shows.
• Chief Enforcer for the O'Morgan Family – Jimmy is one of the O'Morgan's main sources of muscle and thuggery, organising the other enforcers to protect the family's investments and business ventures. His role can entail everything from escorting manashine shipments to ensure no-one steals it, intimidating local businesses into paying 'protection fees', bodyguard work for important family members and dealing with those who would try to muscle in on the family business.

Something Important in the Neighborhood: The Last Stand Bar – The nightlife of this place is as wild, varied and debauched as one might expect of Fahrenheit City; casinos, gambling dens, bars, brothels, strip-clubs and night clubs in as many shades as you could possibly imagine. The music is as varied, if not more-so, from jazz musicians performing on the pavement to national pop-stars performing in the big venues.

'The Last Stand' is a legendary venue for music in its own right, but music of a specific sort. The angry, loud sort. Hidden amidst the slums of the Irish quarter, this is a rough part of town filled with some of the roughest sorts imaginable. Punks, skinheads, metalheads and all manner of things in between, this music venue and drinking den is two floors of sound and chaos. A lot of the city's punk and metal bands get their first big breaks at this venue; the promoters of The Last Stand pride themselves on discovering new up-and-coming acts.

'Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On' frequently feature on the line-ups of events at The Last Stand. Jimmy's surprised by this as well, given his tendency to go off on rants that involve him insulting the entire audience for five minutes straight.

 

[Cicada]

Hey! I'd like to join, but I was wondering something: what sort of were-creatures are members of The Lupini Family? Would the characters be limited to fuzzy creatures like wolves, foxes, and big cats? Or would The Lupini Family also include things like insects, reptiles, marine-life, and so on?

 

[Effort]

Name: Alexander Valenci
Species: Human

Biography:
Alexander grew up just above the poverty line, he didn't have a whole lot to entertain himself with except for the things he would take apart and put together himself. This mechanism for coping with the life of being not wealthy developed into a remarkable skill. He became proficient in a process for creating substances and items of varying usefulness and entertainment. It was a hobby he loved. A friend of his in passing, as a joke, said if only he could make Essence he'd have all kinds of money. It was a joke but it was a project idea that Alex turned over and over in his head. Against his better judgement he gave it a try but the closest he got was some Manashine. His friend found out and took some of the Manashine without him knowing and came back a couple of days later with a bundle of cash. Alex didn't want to get involved with Manashining but it was hard to argue with food on the table, and money for his mom's hospital bills. For the past two years his mother had been receiving treatments they could barely afford, what with his father being a deadbeat and Alex working at a bookstore. It came to the point where they were going to take his mom's house. So he continued producing Manashine along side his other projects. Some accidental exposure to Manashine left him with persistent headaches, weird dreams, and hearing voices among other things that got worse in crowded areas. He found a little Manashine gave him clarity of mind and he could focuse more when using it, but always used it sparingly and only when working on important projects so he could concentrate; lest he become too dependent. Alex had been producing Manashine for months now but recently Sam, his friend/distributor, has gone missing.

Description:

Affiliations or Family Ties: Uh none that I can think of, other than Sam.

Something Important in the Neighborhood: The Pensive Dragon bookstore several blocks down from the coffee shop is where he works and is conveniently a couple blocks from his shabby apartment. Within one block there is a pizza place, a hardware store, and a gas station.