Chicago

"An October sort of city even in spring"

Overview of Chicago (Circa 2002)

Built on strange earthworks and ritual mounds, Chicago has long been a locus of spiritual energies. Strengthened by the sacrifices of the massacre at Fort Dearborn and later with the Union Stock Yards, blood poured strength into the city's spirit world. Its corrupt heart was scarred by the Great Fire but still it grew. Fresh darkness was spilled by the growing criminal element, the avarice of wealthy capitalists, and the handiwork of a growing number of serial killers. Then the people of the city overturned the natural order of things by reversing the flow of the Chicago river, sending flows of blood and waste back towards the Mississippi. From there we reach the bloody days of prohibition and the Mob. After that time it was a long slow decline as crime and poverty rose. Slowly the darkness consumed the southern side of the city.

On the mystic side of things, all this spiritual pollution combined with various mundane projects have created a quagmire of bad resonances that grow troublesome spirits and darker things. Memories of murder and death birth spirits that urge (or help) would be murderers to add their own signatures to the mess, bringing yet more evil. All of this is starting to create problems for a Consilium still trying to assert itself.

Geography

Chicago, the largest city in Illinois, sits on several miles of the Lake Michigan shore. At its core is the Loop, Chicago’s busy downtown. South of the Loop, the city fades into the poverty and desolation of the South Side. North of the Loop the city is densely settled with residential areas punctuated by more commercial neighborhoods, extending all the way up to the city’s northern border. Nearly all of the city’s hip or desirable locations are located within a mile or two of the lake. The farther west you travel, the blander the city becomes until it fades into the western suburbs, the bedroom communities with little history and less character, where the city’s mid-level managers, accountants and bureaucrats live. Connecting all of these areas is the city’s public rail system, the CTA, commonly called the el.

The el or "L" (for elevated train) connects the various parts of the city. Much of it is actually undeground. While during the day its pretty safe, at night is a whole other story. The majority of chicago's murders occur along the L.

The Loop is the downtown heart of Chicago, where money changes hands and buildings grab for the sky. So called for the circle the L makes around it, it is also a hub for bus and train traffic into the city. Running through the heart of the Loop is the Chicago river, tainted and moving against its natural course. Large chunks of still rotting meat lurk beneath its surface, their gasses slowly bubbling upward, a lingering reminder of the excesses of the meat packing industry. The Loop also includes Navy Peir a safe zone for tourists and others. Those who break the peace here have more to worry about than the authorities.

South Side was once the affluent core but a century of decay has turned it into a cess pool of poverty and crime. A few small neighborhoods maintain some civility through vigilance and a shared history. Gang violence is rampant and the area is a mix of Victorian age homes and factories. Englewood is the worst part of town but everywhere is pretty bad. One oasis is Hyde Park, nervously focused on the University of Chicago, and trying to forget the neighborhoods next door.

North Side is the afluent side of town. It begins with the trendy areas of downtown like North Avenue and ends with the homes of the super rich. The suburbs of the North are known for their quietness though that silence hides horrors as often as simple idyllic life.