<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Links</div><div class="spoiler_body">In Character Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=255198.0)<br/>Original Interest Check/Recruitment Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=254183.0)<br/></div></div><br/>Here is our out of character thread, for all discussion related to this game. I will also try to maintain setting information in this post as well, along with links to characters and who is playing them.<br/><br/><strong>Characters:</strong><br/>Blythe as Sun-hwa Lee (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=254792.msg12591869#msg12591869)<br/>Gamble Gold as Abraham 'Bram' Valentine (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=917655)<br/>tyr4n02r as Tyson 'Ty-Dy' Briggs (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=915137)<br/>Jaded as Jessie (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=254792.msg12592832#msg12592832)<br/><br/><hr/><br/>(http://i.imgur.com/6KGS3fw.png)<br/><br/>September 1st, 2009<br/><br/>Port Grace is a mid-sized city, in southern Oregon state. Roughly 200,000 people live in the city and nearby area. Things haven't been going too well for the city, however. Growth stagnated in the 70s, and while it has picked up a bit recently, the city just hasn't quite ever recovered. Many areas are run-down; homelessness and unemployment are very common. Wilds dogs are common throughout the city. It's not a place that people dream of moving to. And that's just what you see in the daylight. Originally settled in the late 1840s, the city was officially founded in 1856.<br/><br/>The city has the port, of course, and an airport to the southeast. A freeway runs through the city north-south, and a rail line reaches the south of the city, although it doesn't offer any passenger service. Efforts are being made to expand the rail line to the port, since that would almost certainly drive economic growth, but this is hampered by the poor state of the line as it is.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Neighborhoods</div><div class="spoiler_body">The colored dots on the map represent the political districts in the city. The resources represent the average resources of residents. Obviously not a hard rule, somebody could live downtown and have an absurd amount of spending cash, while somebody living in The Bricks might barely be able to keep up with their bills.<br/><br/><strong>Docks:</strong> The docks and downtown are the original heart of this city. The docks have been active since before the town was originally founded. The bay is lightly sheltered, and somewhat shallow, which contributes to nice, calm water. However, the relatively low depth of the bay also means that larger modern freighters aren't able to dock here, which has hampered the city's growth over the last century. The docks don't contain any official housing, being mostly warehouses and the businesses that pop up to support those along the docks, but there are plenty of people who crash in empty or abandoned warehouses. There's a daily fish market along the south of the neighborhood, although anybody who's been to one in a nicer city is likely to be disappointed.<br/>Notable locations: The Old Halifax Storehouse<br/><br/><strong>Downtown:</strong> Downtown is home to the government of the city. City Hall, a tan stone building erected in 1868, and expanded in 1955, houses the chambers where official business is conducted, and the Port Grace Courthouse is a block away, in a much more modern building of steel and glass. Housing in this neighborhood is mostly apartments above shops in the downtown shopping area, where the buildings are usually two to four stores, and made out of red brick. Despite the presence of the police station on the eastern-most edge of the neighborhood, this is not a very pleasant area after dark.<br/>Notable locations: City Hall; Port Grace Courthouse; Port Grace Public Library; Port Grace Police Station 1; Hotel Armat, a luxury hotel; Third Line Nightclub<br/><br/><strong>South Harbor:</strong> The land quickly rises south of the bay, leaving the south end of the coast about 60 feet up off the actual water. South Harbor originally had some of the space in the harbor included, but the docks slowly pushed out the purely-residential neighborhood. This neighborhood is a bit nicer than the others bordering it to the north and east, but there's a distinct lack of younger middle-class residents. As the older residents begin to die out, it looks like this neighborhood will go downhill with them. Still, some of the areas, especially along the cliffs to the west and in the south, are still nice. There's a small shopping district in the south part of the neighborhood, with a large grocery store and a collection of specialty shops.<br/>Notable locations: South Harbor Shopping Plaza; Michael's Seafood, the only 5-star restaurant in town; Trouble, a club; The Dogsteeth, a collection of rocks off the coast<br/><br/><strong>Ocean View:</strong> This is the neighborhood the middle class from South Harbor has been moving to. It expanded quickly, being split off into its own neighborhood only ten years after development started in the 1920s. In the years since, it has run up against the boundary with the county, and the county has pushed back hard, halting expansion. The neighborhood is overall pleasant and safe, with quick police response times. The houses along the coast are especially nice, and there are few empty storefronts here. The nightlife in this area is limited, but there are a couple dance clubs in the area.<br/>Notable locations: Hairy Hounder's, the only shop in town where you can get a haircut and your dog groomed at the same time! (how this place is still open is a mystery), Rosé, a wine bar; Beacon (in construction), a dance club/restaurant<br/><br/><strong>North Central:</strong> A large portion of this neighborhood is taken up by shops. While every neighborhood has some store you can go to, North Central is the only one that almost certainly has a store for whatever you're looking for. It's also home to the city's oldest and largest park, as well as the only hospital in the city. Crime is light in the daytime, but some areas can be dangerous at night. This is also where most of the business areas are. Housing is somewhat sparse here, but is usually nice, despite the tiny yards. The neighborhood is crowded overall, with a lot of space given over to parking lots. Multistory apartment buildings are very common.<br/>Notable locations: Lady Grace, the city's hospital; Harding Park, named after the city founder; Panorama, a performance center; Central Shopping, the city's only non-strip mall<br/><br/><strong>Miscook:</strong> Originally the neighborhood that Port Grace and the neighboring town of Northhill pushed all their immigrants to, Miscook is a very diverse neighborhood. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the people being pushed there weren't given many opportunities, and the neighborhood has coasted along in the same track for decades. This is one of the older neighborhoods in the city, but it's also one of the poorer. Corner stores are the rule for shopping, and dive bars abound. Houses in the area are run down and small, and the schools in this neighborhood have been crumbling since the '70s.<br/>Notable locations: Ming's, a bar that's been around since the 40s (so has the upholstery in the booths)<br/><br/><strong>Northhill:</strong> Northhill was originally a separate town, named after the large rocky hill jutting up abruptly in the northern edge of the neighborhood. Home of the "haunted" Northhill Abbey, resting atop the aforementioned hill, along with its own downtown area, in desperate need of revitalization. A rail line runs along the border between Northhill and South Central, although it sees limited traffic and is in some need of maintenance. The area surrounding the rail line is mostly abandoned industrial facilities and warehouses. This neighborhood has a high crime rate, and it's generally unwise to leave a car that is less than 30% rust here overnight unless you know the neighbors.<br/>Notable locations: Northhill Abbey, Historic Downtown Northhill, BNSF rail depot<br/><br/><strong>South Central:</strong> The other side of Northhill, essentially. South Central housed most of the workers for the industrial work in the south of the neighborhood. Things have started clearing up in the northern part of this neighborhood, thanks to some serious dedicated effort by the city councilor for the district, but this is the only neighborhood showing anything for all her work. This is the only part of the city you'll find any real industry still chugging along, however. While the neighborhood is rough and tumble, it also has a well-earned reputation for residents not taking kindly to anybody messing around in their area. If you like dive bars with character, this area is probably for you.<br/>Notable locations: Carmichael Tool Manufactory; Icy Depths Bar and Grille; Farre's Italian Food, Candy Bar strip club<br/><br/><strong>Eastside:</strong> This is the calmest neighborhood in the city. Probably because all the hippies moved here after they were finished up and/or kicked out of the college or universities. If you want to go ice skating, Eastside is your place. If you want to go to a dog park, Eastside is also your place. If you want to buy weed from an old dude who calls himself Wind, well, you get the idea.<br/>Notable locations: Soaring Eagles Ice Rink; Wind's apartment, selling the greatest weed in Port City; Lady Grace standalone emergency room<br/><br/><strong>Rook's End:</strong> Named after the most unpopular mayor that Port Grace has had, this is the edge of the city. The neighboring county has fought hard and fought well, and the city has stopped growing in this direction. As such, this place is crowded. Houses have been replaced with low-rent apartments, and the few houses that remain have been divided up into apartments anyway. Crime is rampant here, but the police mostly ignore it so long as it doesn't spill over into the U-District. <br/>Notable locations:<br/><br/><strong>College Row:</strong> Mostly called the U-District by anybody not employed by the city. This area has somehow ended up home of the two universities and the community college. It also, of course, holds an unholy pile of cheap housing, and about three bars per person, every one of them packed every night. You won't find any nice shopping or restaurants here, but you'll find places selling food all night.<br/>Notable locations: Port Grace Community College; Dunwavy University, a humanities-focused Protestant school; Calloweaving University, a nominally Catholic university, the real focus here is on drinking an insane amount of alcohol while somehow maintaining great grades; Candy Bar, a strip club<br/><br/><strong>Grant's Rise:</strong> Mostly upscale, but affordable housing. This neighborhood rises sharply to the northeast, hence the name, and has several small parks. Overall, it's a very attractive neighborhood, and the residents are proud of it, without being snobby. Prices are starting to climb again, albeit slowly after the housing market crash. The area has a moderately-sized museum, usually housing various exhibits about art and/or culture related to the United States. The area was named after the most popular mayor the city has had, who served a single term from 1912-1916 and then retired from politics to this area.<br/>Notable locations: Mayor's Mansion, located next to the museum and serving as a permanent exhibit about the early days of the city; Morales Museum, an arts and culture museum; Teway Hotel, an upscale hotel<br/><br/><strong>North Limits:</strong> North Limits is called The Bricks by everybody but the mayor's office. This is where developers starting plopping down their build-a-house kit developments, those neighborhoods with about six different house designs, all sitting in the middle of a huge lawn. Wavy streets and cul-de-sacs are littered everywhere, and only about one in twenty houses has even been purchased. The most common person you'll see in this neighborhood is a realtor, driving through to make sure nothing has happened to one of these places. The police don't patrol here very often, since almost nobody lives here, but some of the real estate companies invested in the area have hired private security to drive through every once in a while.<br/>Notable locations: Northeast Mall, a strip mall that's currently at about 1/8th capacity, and shrinking<br/><br/><strong>Water's Edge:</strong> The only place in the city that isn't the docks where you can walk into the water, it's no surprise that this neighborhood is home to the wealthy. The streets curve wildly and have far too few signs showing where the hell you are, all in an effort to make the place less friendly to those who don't belong. There a few tiny strip malls with shops that cater to those with more money than they can spend on reasonable things, but this area is mostly houses with plenty of space in between, hedges tall enough to prevent snooping, and long, twisty driveways.<br/>Notable locations: Harman's Golf and Club, the only golf course in the city<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Places of Interest</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Port Grace Public Library</strong>: It's a large library with brand-new computers for public use. The library is lucky that it received some funding from the city, so it's multiple stories and not as run-down as some places in the city... but as a result, it's heinously often overcrowded by those who want to spend time there.<br/><strong>'The Strip:'</strong> A stretch of road in an industrial part of town.  The surrounding area is largely desolate, with few business still operating.  It is the perfect spot to race a car, and the nearby warehouses are the perfect spot to get together beforehand.<br/><strong>The Old Halifax Storehouse:</strong> An old warehouse by the harbor, belonging to Captain Halifax. A relic from the time of Port Grace’s founding, the old two-story building seems somewhat out of place. Bare of most commodities of modern life and conveniently close to a gloomy, little tavern.<br/><strong>"Beacon" Premier Nightclub and Lounge:</strong> Under Construction. This club is refurbishing a factory into a restaurant and club. Locals are glad to have the eyesore gone, and excited about the prospect of another place to party it up.<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Politics</div><div class="spoiler_body">The city government consists of the usual bevy of elected individuals. Each of the four districts has a council representative, elected by the public every four years. The mayor is elected every four years as well. Currently the mayoral election and three of the district elections are synced up, but the 1st District is up for election this year, due to the previous representative being removed from office early due to an arrest for truly egregious bribery. The city council makes and votes on proposals, with the mayor approving or not. In the event of a tie, the mayor is the tiebreaker. If the mayor does not approve of a measure that the council has passed, he can be overridden with a unanimous vote. Tax levies and the like are handled via popular vote, as usual.<br/><br/>The city trends more conservative than most on the coast. Politics are often deadlocked here, and this has seriously hampered any economic recovery in the city.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Crime</div><div class="spoiler_body">This is information that characters with a background in criminal dealings, or contacts among those who have such. Characters not affiliated with criminals may or may not know anything in here.<br/><br/>The city has three 'primary' gangs, although none of them is particularly in charge of anything. There are the Kings, a Hispanic gang located mostly in the south of the city, especially in Northhill. There's the Scarrdies, located in the eastern end of the city. They mostly focus on selling any drugs harder than weed, and are bizarrely racially open-minded for a gang. The last group is referred to simply as 'The Koreans,' and mostly hangs around the docks and downtown. They deal mostly with smuggling, with a side order of dealing.<br/><br/>While nobody is entirely sure <em>why</em>, the prevailing notion is that you do not mess with any of the hookers, call girls, or escorts in Port Grace. It has, for those who deal with them with any frequency, become almost a superstition. None of the gangs bother with prostitution on an organized basis, and pimps are oddly rare here. None of the sex workers in the city seems to really know why either, or if they do, they aren't saying.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Supernatural</div><div class="spoiler_body">This will, as supernatural events are encountered, log anything that you, as players, want me to put in here. I won't fill this out automatically from here on out.Somebody will have to request it be added.<br/><br/><strong>Northhill Abbey:</strong> Said to be haunted. Closed by the city, the Parks Department comes by every once in a while to check the locks and chains, and repair any damage. 'At night, at Northhill Abbey, you can hear ringing/ At night, at Northhill Abbey, you can hear ringing/ At night, at Northhill Abbey, you can hear ringing/ And the ringing can hear you.' -Graffiti in Northhill</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">News</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i.imgur.com/qPavjUe.png)<br/><br/>22-AUG-2016: Added Politics, Crime, and Supernatural sections.<br/>27-AUG-2016: Added News section, added Port Grace Herald 1-SEP-2009.<br/>28-AUG-2016: Added IC link.</div></div>