Friday 30 January 2015

Norwich Landmarks

Kindred Landmarks

These are areas of the city that are used by particular groups of Kindred but are large or obvious enough that they are well-known within the city. There are plenty of other smaller landmarks associated with clans, covenants and particularly influential Kindred, but these are the ones all characters will know about, even if all they have seen are the ‘keep out’ signs. In addition, there are structures and places that are within particular Districts, such as the Two Towers - see our posts on the Regencies of the city for more information.

The Arcology

The Arcology is a secure gated community of Kine owned by Prince Lockwood, located to the north of the city. It is a highly desirable place to live, filled with modern houses and flats, good healthcare and school facilities and a high level of safety.

Access is not only for those rich enough to buy their way in: there is a set of Housing Association schemes and outreach charities that anyone can apply to for a chance at living in the Arcology. However, as might be expected, it is highly competitive, and the qualities that increase the chance of success are far from clear. They generally focus on pro-activity and potential, with the implication being that everyone there has earned their place.

Despite the lengthy application process and the small chances of success, it is worth it for many people, especially if they are experiencing financial troubles (for which assistance is available).

The Necropolis


The Necropolis is the traditional home of the Nosferatu of the city. However, where most Necropoli are creepy tunnels and sunken buildings, the Nosferatu of Norwich have taken a rather different approach. When large parts of the city were rebuilt following World War II, the Nosferatu remade the Necropolis to their specifications, creating a custom-made space for themselves to express their twisted creativity in safety.

These days, the Necropolis resembles less the dark remnants of an old city and more the luxury follies of eccentric millionaires. The Necropolis is as rich and fabulous as the Haunts who thrive in Norwich. It is an eclectic collection of structures built at the whimsy of the personalities involved. It is said that you can find everything from luxury apartments filled with mod cons to decor more suited to a nineteenth-century gentlemen’s club than an underground lair. There are even rumours of ‘Lord Farthingdon’s Underground Imax’.

The Necropolis is off-limits to all but Clan Nosferatu and their guests, and it is somewhat rare that they invite anyone into anything but the rooms considered to be public facing, so many never see the architectural creativity of Clan Nosferatu at full force.

The Storm Tunnels

The Storm Tunnels are the collective name for any of the tunnels, service corridors, forgotten passages, abandoned train tunnels, sewers and other liminal underground places that the Daeva have taken as the heart of their clan presence in the city.

When the Daeva fell from grace, many lands that were rented by the Daeva were taken back by their Regents and several of the really influential Elders went into torpor. Barons turned Daeva out of their Districts and they were left with nowhere to go. The storm tunnels were their refuge, a place not in any Regency, but the clan refused to simply exist down there. They fought hard for it, shaped and defended it, and made it their own. The Daeva don’t like people trash-talking the Storm Tunnels, because it’s a sign that they remained unbroken.

Entrance to the Storm Tunnels is only admitted to members of the clan and their guests. The Daeva claim no domain over these tunnels, but they have unofficial rules and the ability to enforce them. While the Storm Tunnels are not part of any Regency, they are still the Prince’s lands and the Daeva must be seen to acknowledge the Prince’s laws. They will remove any interlopers with a minimum of fuss and violence, even if they aren’t very polite about it.

The Racks

There are three Racks in the city, attached to different Districts but not counted as rentable territories. They are neutral territory though still fall under the Prince’s law and are monitored more closely than most other Feeding Grounds in the city, so any trouble-makers are likely to be noticed quickly.

The Bus Station Rack in Lakenham is available to any Kindred, but it is typically only used by those who have nowhere else to feed. It has abundant but still limited blood supplies and anyone found to be relying on it when they do not need to is likely to be discouraged by the Kindred authorities. No-one feeds there if they can avoid it.

The Bank Plain Rack in Tombland is the mid point between hanging around the Bus Station and living it up in Old Norwich - the clubs and bars in this area provide vessels that most Kindred would find acceptable. However, as with the other Racks, it implies that you cannot feed yourself, and regulars may find themselves ridiculed in the Harpies' reports. Add to that the competition for Vitae, and it is definitely a sub-optimal option.

The Old Norwich Rack is only available to High Court Kindred and those found without being granted the right to feed face harsh punishment. It is primarily used by high-ranking visitors or by those who temporarily cannot use their own Feeding Grounds, for whatever reason. Use of this Rack by residents of the city is likely to cause some snide comments and is considered a shameful sign that the Kindred can’t feed themselves or protect their territory.

Kine Landmarks

Many of the Kine landmarks are considered neutral territory, even if they technically fall within a Regency.

The Train Station
Located in the Regency of Tombland, this is the primary public domestic transport route in and out of Norwich. It has good links to London. It is not a place where Feeding Grounds can be obtained, and neither is it a Rack: strictly, Kindred are not meant to feed here and it will likely be noticed if it happens regularly.

The Docks
Located in the Acle Straight Regency, these used to be part of Great Yarmouth before it was subsumed into Norwich. It is the best place for import and export, though anyone engaging in illegal activities round here will need to contend not only with the law but also with the other smugglers and dealers.

Norwich International Airport
The airport is strictly under Prince Lockwood’s control and any Kindred in the area should expect to be heavily monitored.

The Police Station
The Police Station is in the Regency of Lakenham, placed there to keep a presence in one of the more troublesome areas of the city. The police forces are stretched thin due to lack of funding, though, and their grip on the area is only growing more tenuous.

The Wastes

These are strictly no-go areas, forbidden by the Prince's decree. However, they are some of the few areas that have not yet been claimed as Districts, so many enterprising Kindred have tried to stake their claim. None have yet been successful.

The Village of Wymondham
Bordering the Regency of New Eaton
From a Kine perspective, Wymondham is just lovely: the richest of the rich live there, have fun on the golf course, shop at the Waitrose. However, the village has been formally cordoned off by the Prince for thirty years.

There is no official story, but of course there are rumours: uncontrolled Kine cult, insane Elders, unfathomable darkness, something in the water. All that matters is that both Kindred and even their Kine agents do not venture there. 

Elysian Heights
Bordering the Acle Straight Regency
Designed in the early 1970s as a utopian social housing project, Elysian Heights almost immediately failed to live up to its aspirational name.  Tenants were moved in while construction was still ongoing, numerous accidents plagued the project, and organised crime quickly muscled its way in.  The residents were trapped in shoddy housing, unable to afford to move out, and the streets plagued by violent crime and robberies.

Which, all told, should have made for ideal feeding grounds for the city’s Kindred.  Up until the early 1990s, it did, with several of the Low Court making a good unlife in the area and several of the High Court eying up the area’s development prospects long term.

Then something changed.  After one night in 1993, none of the resident Kindred were heard from again and echoes of torpor and Final Death echoed through the links of blood sympathy.  No-one’s sure what happened that night, but since then the High Court have studiously ignored the place.  Every so often, an enterprising Low Courtier makes a bid to claim the Heights as their own, or to go exploring for a thrill the way mortal teenagers might dare each other to visit a haunted house.  Without fail, none of them have returned to tell what they found.  Ghouls visiting during the day reported the neighbourhood to be much as you’d expect, but there was always a feeling of being watched...

Keller’s Hold
Bordering the Regency of Ultra Aquam
Every suburban area has the creepy old house that no-one goes into. In this case, it is an area of streets filled with rundown, empty houses that are falling into disrepair. No-one quite knows why they haven’t been snapped up by some developer, and there are occasionally announcements that a new housing estate, or supermarket or leisure centre will be built there, and then nothing comes of it. Some say the area is cursed, but there are rumours of feral animals, weird phenomena and ghosts from some large-scale tragedy.

The Outskirts
Bordering the Regency of Lakenham
To the south of Lakenham, a little way out of the Regency proper, is an area of walled-off land which has been claimed by the Ordo Dracul of Norwich with the permission of the Prince. Prospective visitors have been strongly advised - on pain of violent punishment - to rethink their wish to travel there, for their own safety. Rumours abound about what exactly is here - a resource the Ordo do not want others to exploit? Something dangerous they have discovered? - but careful observers will have noted that those who do try to break in do not return.

The Broadland Nature Reserve
Bordering the Acle Straight Regency
When the widespread industrialisation of the Broads began to gather speed, this area was given legal protection out of fears that the diverse ecosystem of the area would be irreparably damaged by the march of progress. The Acle Straight Nature Reserve was created and slowly expanded as campaigners (and presumably a good amount of Kindred influence) managed to secure the area from developers. It is strictly out of bounds, by order of the Prince.

RAF Coltishall
Bordering the Blackfriars Regency
An active military airfield to the north of Norwich, RAF Coltishall has been declared off-limits by Prince Lockwood. Little can be gleaned from the edge of the area and flight overhead is likely to be challenged by air traffic control.
Nobody knows quite why the Prince has taken such an interest in a military installation, though of course, rumours fly. The more ridiculous ones suggest that she is stockpiling weapons in case somebody tries to displace her. Others point to the strange lights and sounds that locals attribute to UFOs or experimental military aircraft.

The Paper Towns 
Bordering Old Norwich
Around twenty years ago a small coterie of enterprising Kindred were eyeing up the land North of the airport for development. Housing, amenities, industrial parks, schools and more were planned in several grand phases of construction. Their plans met with the approval of the Prince’s office and prominent Kine investors were attracted to the project. Work started soon afterwards. The few pre-existing abandoned structures were earmarked for demolition, the ground breaking ceremony went off without a hitch and there was real buzz about the opportunities this project offered the city. 

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

That is until one of the coterie, a Mr Geoffrey Phillips, was found quite dead at the site of one of the part built residential areas. Soon after that the remains of Ms Amanda Burns were also discovered, this time in one of the pre-fabricated warehouses that the construction crews had built. 

If the loss of half the initial investors wasn’t enough to sour what had seemed like a particularly sweet investment, the delays due to vandalised and stolen equipment, the high rate of injury and death among the work crews and issues with the suitability and stability of the ground that the initial surveys had apparently missed.

It wasn’t much later when rumours of a curse started to spread among the work crews. Shortly after that many of initial investors started withdrawing their support while the work crews just quit en masse.The remaining members of the coterie called a halt to the project while investigations were carried out, investigations they vowed to personally oversee.
They, and several associates, disappeared.

Some speculate that after the colossal failure of their project they quit the city in disgrace, others lean more towards the idea that the project actually was cursed. Either way its results can still be seen today. Part built structures, abandoned and rusting machinery and rotting warehouses litter the land and most Kindred simply avoid the area. From time to time younger Kindred express an interest in investigating to find out what actually happened but they tend to be gently discouraged by their elders, unless their elders don’t particularly like them that is. Whether it’s a curse or something else is entirely unknown, what is certainly known is that Kindred who venture in there don’t come back. 

All that’s left of this once grand vision are the Paper Towns.    

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