Chicago By Newb
Chicago. Ask someone to picture the city, and they will have trouble coming up with a concise description. When people think of New York, they think of skyscrapers, subways, and muggers. With Los Angeles, they think of sun, smog, and traffic. And Las Vegas brings thoughts of alcohol, gambling, and neon lights. But Chicago...
Chicago features a strange mix of all of these. It boasts skyscrapers, including the Sears tower, giving its skyline a distinctive look not found elsewhere. It has the "L", one of the most complete public transit systems anywhere in the United States. The history of the city includes some of the most notorious and infamous crime figures ever known in this country, and bootlegging and gambling are only some of the crimes these criminals were known for. And it sits on fairly flat terrain, located next to a lake that is large enough to qualify as an inland sea, allowing it to serve as the Midwest's center of industry, business, and culture.
But this is not the Chicago that you know. This is the Chicago that mortals see and love; this is the city that is pulled down over the layers that are hidden to those without sight. This is the image that is projected to all who are not Kindred, allowing them to live their dull, boring, monotonous lives in complete ignorance.
The Chicago you know is a city controlled and manipulated by Vampires, where the history and politics are affected by the intervention and manipulation of the Damned. They control the city, and rule it with an iron fist. No mortal institution of any power has escaped their influence; few Kine know of it, and fewer still would dare to challenge it. Prince Lodin and the Elders are the immortal lords of this great city, and they brook no challenge.
The Vampires have shaped this city, forming it in their own image. It is therefore a city of culture, for the Elders would have it no other way. The Toreadors value the art museums, the Venture their sophisticated clubs and restaurants, the Malkavian their intellectual libraries and coffee houses. Those Elders who keep a little of their humanity surround themselves with reminders of the ages they have seen. Indeed, they have created an entire city in that image.
Thus, aside from the culture and wealth they have brought the city, they have brought darkness and evil as well. For ever theater and art gallery, there are three nightclubs that cater to drug addicts and skinheads. Every elegant restaurant is matched by a seedy bar where the dregs of humanity waste their little money in a pointless effort to erase their memories of the horrors around them.
But this dichotomy suits the Elders of Chicago well. They can live in refinement and taste in the city of culture they have helped nurture, and can feed upon the dregs of the city that their greed has helped create.
This, my friends, is Chicago...
