Cleveland: A Guided Tour

[Mick the Rogue]

Economy: Cleveland used to be a big industrial town. Steel, manufactured goods, railroads, even ships in the old days. Now Not so much. The biggest employer in Cleveland is the Cleveland Clinic, the biggest hospital and research department around the Great Lakes, there are also several high tech companies that have begun to spring up here. However many of these companies come at the expense of fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs. The city is slowly losing people, around 10-15% of all the houses are vacant according to a recent poll

Climate: Cold and snowy in the winter, hot and muggy in the summer. All of Ohio tends to be a bit bipolar when it comes to weather. The old saying is 'if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes' and it is especially true in Cleveland with the Lake giving often times hurricane force winds.

Supernatural Presence: Like all Cities there's a supernatural presence in Cleveland. With a fair amount of immigrants over the years as well a native presence, the Old World and New World spirits have had some issues. The reigning power houses though are the Fairie Courts, Wizards and the White Court Vampries... Though the were's tend to reign supreme outside of the city proper

Themes:

 

Corruption and Rust

Cleveland is part of the Rust Belt and it shows. Alot of the buildings are over 40 years old and not particularly well maintained, the crime rate creeps ever higher inverse to the number of jobs that leave the city. The city tends to look the other way towards a lot of organizations if they pony up enough cash. While Cleveland is not in debt one has to wonder if that's only because of the amount of kickbacks and bribes that heads their way. The fact that the Cuyahoga river has caught on fire more than a few times stands as evidence of how little the city has done for itself when not pushed.
 

Bad Luck is Contagious

Cleveland has never had much of an easy time in the 20th century and the 21st isn't shaping much better. Between sports teams, businesses and even gambling the city as a whole has had a long string of bad luck that seems almost contagious. Some in the supernatural community find this interesting and think it's something to do with some kind of outsider influence. Others think people make their own luck and Cleveland's had a series of bad decisions

The Curse of Nostalgia

Clevelanders tend to view the past with rose tinted glasses. Very few people have hope for the future and many often look to Clevelands past to try to drdge up some past glory. Unfortunately Cleveland's past is not the sparkling diamond many view it as, and more than a few things from the past are more than willing to come to come back to bite the North Coast's collective ass. With this blindness, many Clevelanders try their best to ignore what's often in front of them, choosing instead to believe they're still in the glory days
 

Something Wicked this way Comes

There is a feeling of encroachment on all sides like something big is coming something just beneath the surface. The Courts are beginning to consolidate power and shore up their defenses, and even a few mortals have begun to prepare. There have been sights of creatures of shadow walking in the night and no side has laid claim to who or what they are.

Threat's

The Slasher Strikes Again!

Cleveland has been plagued by a serial killer that the press has dubbed 'The Slasher'. The police have yet to come up with any concrete leads and while there's thought that this is a supernatural killer, no one's willing to lay claim to him
 

Gang wars are Heating up

Open Warfare on the streets is becoming more common place. The two major gangs, the Black Stones and the 18th street Reds are fighting for control of the Hough. The primary reason that the war is heating up is the sale of a new drug called
Blue Dust, a product similar to meth and bath salts, that has hit the streets. Apart from a high, the Dust also makes users highly aggressive and easily manipulated

Any Body Home?

A more recent issue to the city is the fact that many graves are being found dug up, with the entire coffin taken away. No one has yet to see anyone accomplish the feat, and no one has heard the amount of machinery necessary for it to be done so quickly. The bodies seem to be taken at random currently, and no identifiable pattern has occurred


Students Disappearing

Case Western, once a bastion of safety has been plagued by student disappearances. No demands, no bodies and no evidence is ever found the students simply....vanish. The student body is beginning to grow nervous, with people traveling alone and after dark only at their own peril