Last summer I used the Dresden Files RPG to teach creater creation/character development to 6-8th graders for a short story writing class. This made me begin playing around with city creation I also fell in love with the Feints and Gambets setting bible, thus the format of 4 themes and threats instead of 3 total. Figured I would post it and get some feed back. (PS-Building the game for Edinburgh)
Themes
A Fort Besieged
Castle Rock has always been a place of strength, a natural fortress which commands the area around it. Historically it has been a major strategic focus for both the English and the Scots, changing hands several times over the centuries.
This constant warfare has made Edinburgh into a sprawling city of winding alleys and dead end streets dominated by the large castle on top of Castle Rock. This makes the city a veritable maze to those who have not lived their entire lives within the city. Today this is reflected by resurgence in Scottish nationalism which will culminate in an Independence referendum in 2014.
Aspect: A battered Fortress
Face: Twitch, Homeless Black Market Guru
Mythical Histories
Scotland is a land full of stories, each glen and plain has its own history told by the people who live there. Edinburgh is no different. The multitude of museums, many of them free, range from the Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland to the Museum of Childhood or the National Library, knowledge of the past can be found on every street.
With knowledge so easily accessible it is no surprise that that a legion of literary geniuses have called Edinburgh home. Characters, who’s stories have become myths in themselves, walked the streets here as real people. The world itself recognized this as UNESCO named them their first City of Literature in 2004.
Aspect: The Past Walks among us
Face: Serena Dreas, Fae Barkeep
Police State
Adam Smith was quoted as saying “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”
Edinburgh has come to embody this code, simply becoming a living example of Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Wealth can be seen in all areas of the city and with that prosperity an easy sense of peace has come. But behind the glamor of easy living rests the Authority. They are the unyielding iron backbone that supports Edinburgh’s golden exterior and those that do not fall into line are quickly removed.
While many within the Government and Police can see the problems of curbing rights in favor of wealth and peace no one seems willing to step out against the system. Here Smith’s Invisible Hand is an Iron Fist.
Aspect: Big Brother’s Watching
Face: Breagha Murray, Scottish Parliament Press Secretary
Pursuit of Knowledge
Known as the “Athens of the North,” Edinburgh prides itself on its cultural, historical, architectural, artistic and academic importance. This “purity” carries over into the nation’s high religious participation in the national church and its suppression, at least inwardly, of all other faiths.
Much like Athens, the elite of Edinburgh see this importance as proof of their own worth causing them to seek knowledge not for the improvement of the country, but for the advancement of their own private agendas.
Aspect: Hidden Machinations
Face: William Wicker, Ladder climbing Dean of Students
Threats
Wild Court Power play
The power struggles and games of the Winter and Summer Courts are well known. Their influence and presence can be felt throughout the world, but it is in Ireland and Scotland that became their mortal home away from home. And while Ireland became the base for the Seelie and Unseelie, Scotland’s rugged hills, deep woods and majestic lochs spoke to the heart of the Erlking, lord of the Wyld Fae.
Their influence can be seen and felt throughout all of Scotland and with Edinburgh serving as its capital the city has come to have a symbolic meaning to the Goblin King. In years past his representative held equal power with the Wizard and Mortal elements, but that changed with the fall of Camelot. Centuries have passed and his gaze has returned to the Athens of the North to be his mortal capital.
Aspect: Sounding the Wild Hunt
Face: Destemido Covarde, Cowardly Warden
Gang Wars
Nationalist sentiment has grown within Scotland since the original stealing of the Stone of Scone (The Stone of Destiny) from Westminster Abbey in 1950. This dissatisfaction in English rule was briefly curbed in 1996 with its return to Scotland. Although a peaceful solution is currently in the works, many youth have begun taking the process into their own hands as rival clans lay claim to the soon freed throne.
Aspect: Destiny is calling
Face: Ian Hamilton, Aged Lawyer
The Faerie Tale Murders
Edinburgh has had its share of fantastic crimes; from the Strange Case of Deacon Brodie to the World’s End Murders. Here even the crimes tend to take on their mythical counterparts. As they say, truth is often stranger than fiction, but even that saying falls short to the series of murders that have taken place around the city in the last few months.
People have started disappearing only to reappear days or weeks later in the persona of some children’s book character locked in some duel to the death with their fictional nemesis, another missing person. All current conflicts have ended with the death of one and the arrest of the other, but still no leads have arisen. While the cops search vainly for clues more and more people disappear and the battles become harder to hide.
Aspect: Grimm Fights
Face: Beauty, White Court Vampire Fairy Tale persona
Undoing it All
Black cloaks and smart suits. A new elite social sect has formed among the rich and famous. The self-help group “Undoing it All” has taken up residence within Edinburgh and has rented the floor above The Outsider restaurant in which to hold their meetings. The group’s call to give up the material life in favor of public charity, to undo the pain that unbridled wealth has caused the world in favor of the rule of hospitality once practiced all over Scotland.
The group has recently started inviting the homeless and poor to come to their meetings for a free meal. Those that frequent the meetings have begun to find new luck in their lives as they catch breaks with almost alarming frequency. But behind the philanthropic goals of the group lies the truth that sometimes no matter what your strengths there are doors which shouldn’t be opened, no matter what the intensions.
Aspect: The Door Opens
Face: Ana Bruce, Fetch Changeling Cult Leader
