Gotham City - Year One

"Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women
There's a shoulder where death comes to cry
There's a lobby with nine hundred windows
There's a tree where the doves go to die
There's a piece that was torn from the morning
And it hangs in the gallery of frost.
Ay
Ay ay ay.
Take this waltz. Take this waltz.
Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws.

Oh I want you I want you I want you.
On a chair with a dead magazine.
In the cave at the tip of the lily.
In some hallway where love's never been.
On our bed where the moon has been sweating
In a cry filled with footsteps and sand.
Ay
Ay ay ay.
Take this waltz. Take this waltz.
Take its broken waist in your hand." --- Leonard Cohen, "Take This Waltz"

Like BTAS (Batman: The Animated Series), Year One, and The Long Halloween the actual year is intentionally left indeterminate. Although most places and things look like they were created in the 1930s or early 1940s, every piece of technology that exists in 2001 exists in the setting.

None of the great Gotham villains have yet appeared in the public eye, except for the Joker. (Catwoman is not a villain just at the moment, exactly - just a thief.) But not all crimes come to light in Gotham City. Furthermore, all of the great crime families do indeed exist and are very powerful. This campaign will take place before the events in "The Long Halloween", at least at the start, although I am in part trying to replicate it's feel.

Like in TLH, the rest of the DC universe does indeed exist out there - there's a Metropolis with a Superman in it, and so on. But Gotham is not Metropolis and the JLA doesn't have any desire to even put one toe into the cesspit that is Gotham.

Media

Gotham City has the usual affiliate television stations and the usual collection of radio stations. There are a couple of notes, though. The tiny AM radio station WGNS, a talk and news radio station that is partnered with the Gotham Examiner has started to stand out. Although it's a little less effective than its print partner, it does have the ability to get information out to the public quickly. About twenty or thirty ISPs serve Gotham, most focusing their attention on the suburbs. In addition, a new night-time jazz radio show, "Siren Of the Night", hosted by Vesper Fairchild has recently gained a lot of attention for its easygoing format and support of the local jazz scene.

There are four major newspapers in Gotham City, three of which have the lion's share of the readership. The Gotham Gazette is a typical corporate-sponsored newspaper, heavy on ads, light on real news. Its journalists are not encouraged to do deeply investigative reporting. The Gotham Times-Tribune is slightly more overt about its dedication to the status quo, ever since the hyperconservative Tribune suddenly purchased the Times about five years ago. Nobody is quite sure where the Trib got the money to do this. The Gotham Examiner is, however, an energetic and deeply investigative newspaper with good quality stories. Unfortunately this means that its journalists are often persona non grata in many places. The last newspaper, the Gotham Daily, is a tattling, garish tabloid whose only dedication to substance is trying to get as many gruesome or titillating stories on its pages at once.

Religion

Attendance has fallen off drastically over the last ten years at Gotham's churches. The largest church building in the city is the Gotham Cathedral, still used by the Catholic Church, although reductions in funding have led much of it be to be abandoned. Among those remain religious, Protestantism is typical, with Catholicism second. Smaller and stranger faiths pop up and die from time to time, but in general, faith has withered with the spirit of the city.

Economics

Gotham City proper is a city of contrasts. The wealthy and the very wealthy have few barriers between them in the central area, but the vast majority are desperate, poverty-stricken, as blue collar jobs become harder and harder to get. The middle class has retreated to the suburbs and some of the very wealthy have put up walls around estates north of the city, frightened by the masses which are often violently envious of their good fortune.

But overall city statistics show a different picture. Money flows through Gotham City in ever-increasing amounts, economic development is on the rise and improvement seems to be consistent, when one looks at the numbers. There is simply a huge gap between the numbers and the reality.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing remains the single largest area of the non-service economy in Gotham City, although the decommissioning of the Tricorner Naval Yards in 1975 was a severe blow. U.S. Steel, Gotham Steel, Wayne Steel and the Stockton Metalworks continue relatively strongly, their proximity to other Eastern Seaboard cities helping them weather the economic changes that ruined the Pennsylvania steel mills.

Aerospace

Most of the aerospace work takes place just outside the city limits, to the north in Sommerset. LexCorp Aviation continues to be a leader, along with Ferris and Wayne Aerospace.

Shipping

Oceanic shipping provides most of the shipping traffic of Gotham City, although the Gotham Railworks continues to move a great deal of cargo through the switching lines. The usual smattering of air cargo companies also exist.

High-Technology

The leader in high technology firms in Gotham City is WayneTech, with the national high technology firms S.T.A.R.Labs and LexCorp coming a close second. Biotechnology and drug research is conducted at Drake Medical and Cornelius-Krieg as well.

Gotham City Directory

Gotham City occupies three large (and a handful of small) islands between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gotham River. It is in the state of New Jersey. Several smaller islands and areas on the mainland are also part of the city. It's occupied by about 7.8 million people. It's 0-20 degrees in the winter and about 70-80 (usually) in the summer.

South Gotham Island

Old Gotham

Old Gotham is where the city was born, a place of twisty streets and buildings built atop others, dating as far back as the Dutch settlement of the 17th century. Although it's crammed in between other, now more-important neighborhoods, Old Gotham is still quite an active neighborhood, if a little bit on the abandoned and poor side.

Cathedral Square/City Hall District/"East End"

One of the first expansions of the city took place here, just east of Old Gotham. Gotham Cathedral is the dominating feature of this area, which was one of the first buildings to take on the "Gotham Style". Also in the area is City Hall, and the Gotham City Police Department Central Precinct, a veritable fortress. Unfortunately the area is in the midst of the East End, a crime-ridden area dominated by poverty and desperation. The area nearest City Hall is called Neville in a somewhat successful attempt to disassociate it from the East End. In the jumble of buildings there are a few older office buildings, including Wayne Tower, the other major skyline landmark of the area.

Financial District

Just South of the Cathedral Square, this is the home of the Gotham Stock Exchange and the Buford Building, as well as the skyscrapers of the Von Gruenwald Tower and Port Adams Plaza. Notably, a large but somewhat aging mall inhabits a Victorian-era Crystal Palace very near the Financial District.

Chinatown

Gate Street is the main street of the main portion of Chinatown. The construction of the newest, tallest building in the area, the Kyoto Towers, is proceeding. Right along the waterfront is the large arrowhead-shaped Gotham Port Authority like some immense temple. Then there's also, near the edge of Chinatown, the Vauxhall Concert Center, home of the Gotham Opera.

Tricorner Island

Just off the southwest corner of the South Island, this triangular island is most notably home to the Tricorner Naval Yard, which was decommissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1975. The neighborhoods on the island are dominated by those still working in the other, much smaller naval yards and docks on the island. However, Tricorner Island has become synonymous with organized crime and police corruption. In some respects, Tricorner is "wide open".

Upper West Side

On the northwest end of the South Island, the Upper West Side is not a very good neighborhood. It includes Renfield Heights, a tremendous tenement complex that stretches for blocks and sprawls outwards and upwards in an unorganized smear. The Robinson Central Terminal for the subway and el system is in this area. But the most notorious area on the Upper West Side is the Battergate neighborhood, or "The War Zone". Police simply do not respond to crimes committed in the War Zone without bringing tremendous backup and they only respond to the very worst and must brutal of crimes.

Midtown

As in other large cities, Midtown (at the center of the north side of the South Island) is a patchwork. Theatre Row is in this area, rivalling New York's Broadway for its tremendous productions. The Fashion District is here as well, marked at the north end by the dockyards of Miller Harbor and at the south end by Grant Park, the "little brother" of Robinson Park on the center island. The Diamond District has long been home to gem dealers and jewelry-makers although many high-rise apartments have been erected in the area as well. Finally there is Little Odessa, where immigrants from Eastern Europe have settled for decades. Dominated today by the Russian Mafia, Little Odessa is an almost ostentatiously quiet and insular community.

Center Gotham Island

Chelsea

The home of Gotham State University, including the Kane Planetarium and the Furst Memorial College of Architecture. Most of the Gotham U nightlife is centered around Kingston Square, which has the usual college acoutrements - bookstores, coffeeshops, nightclubs, bars, dance clubs and raves. Nearby Burnley Harbor, or "Little Bohemia" is the arts community of Gotham, occupying cheap and large space since the warehouses and shipping facilities there were largely closed.

Robinson Park

The largest and greatest public park in Gotham City is indisputably Robinson Park. This huge expanse of greenery covers much of the Central Island and even somewhat on the Southern Island. Landmarks include the neo-Roman Forum of the Twelve Caesars, the Robinson Park Reservoir, which is the second of the city's backup water supplies and in the winter the city's largest public skating arena, the old Johnson Landfill site, which is being landscaped over, and the Giella Gardens, a public botanical garden and private research facility run jointly by S.T.A.R. Labs, WayneTech and Gotham University. Finger Castle, a Victorian-era folly home can also be found on the grounds. It is operated as a historical museum by the Gotham Historical Society.

Coventry

A largely residential neighborhood which until recently was very upscale. However, it has been flooded with South American immigrants in recent years, making race and class tensions extremely high in the area. The Gotham Zoo is in this area.

Upper East Side

Most still call the Upper East Side "Manchester" and "Lyntown", the names of the independent cities which were absorbed into Gotham just recently during the mayor's annexation drive a few years ago. It is also called "Little Italy", being the stronghold of Italian immigrants for over two centuries. It is also the central location for Italian Mafia activity, and has been since the days of the Bertinellis. Also home to single-family residences, chiefly for those working in the chemical industry which is also strong in the area.

Mercey Island

Privately owned by the eccentric Mercey family, the island is still largely covered in green fields. The only things of note on the island are the Trigate Bridge, which is a three-way span connecting Gotham with the mainland in Sommerset and the DiAngelo Sewage Treatment Plant. Both were built only after exceedingly bitter court fights against the Merceys, who did not want the city to collect their land under eminent domain, at any price. On the east end of the island is Mercey Manor but few have seen the building in some time.

North Gotham Island

Park Row/"Crime Alley"

Park Row used to be a tremendously nice neighborhood and was very desirable real estate back in the twenties. Today it is a slum and a cesspit. It was here that the famous Wayne murders took place about twelve years ago.

The Bowery

Together with Park Row, the Bowery forms what some older citizens call "Logerquist's Acres", the farmland which was held by Jon Logerquist, a Norwegian famer in the nineteenth century, and who resisted expansion for many years. Unfortunately most of the buildings that were built in the Bowery were essentially the same - very tall and very boxy.

Newtown/Otisburg/The Scituate

These three communities are situated along the northern edge of the North Island. Newtown and Otisburg are largely residential (although the Glendale Institute of Technology is in Newtown), and the Scituate is home to nearly all of the major sporting arenas in Gotham City. Gotham Square Gardens is home to the Gotham Blades (AHL hockey), the Gotham Guardsmen (NBA), and the Gotham Amazons (WNBA). Sommerset Stadium is the home of the Gotham Wildcats (NFL - known as the Gotham Goliaths until 1990), and the Gotham Monarchs (NL Baseball). The Gotham Knights (AL baseball) are playing in Bristol Stadium until the new Knights Dome is completed.

Burnley

Most compare Burnley to Harlem. It is here that the Uptown Gotham style of jazz was developed in the 1930s and where the civil rights activists of the 50s and 60s had their start. However to some degree segregation persists - blacks tend to live east of Grand Avenue and Hispanics tend to live on the west, joined by Spanish-speaking immigrants from around the globe.

Bryanttown

Technically this area is part of Burnley, but the name has stuck because of the massive, dominating Bryant Chemical Works in the middle of the neighborhood. The Works is dying a slow and painful death and already two out of its three main factory areas have closed.

The Hill

Capital flight has left this once-great inner city neighborhood a horrible place of poverty, housing projects, and a lingering miasma of desperation and danger. At its center is a gated historical cemetery. A similar sliver of land persists north of the Scituate, called the "East River", home to St. Swithin's Trauma Center, the oldest continually operated hospital in Gotham City.

Amusement Mile

The Newton Fairgrounds is home to many big events in Gotham City, as is the Boardwalk outside. Nearby is the Gotham City Yacht Club for the wealthy. Unfortunately, the partnered amusement park nearby, the Newton Amusement Park, has been closed for some time. This is also the area of the best hotels in Gotham City and is usually where tourists stay.

Sheldon Park

Sheldon Park is home to many Gotham nightspots (trendy and otherwise), and the trolley car yards (currently being decommissioned and stripped for parts to use on the El). The barge docks are also in this area, huge cavernous buildings to house the large ships.

Robbinsville

A very wealthy neighborhood with a colorful history because of its use by bootleggers during Prohibition.

The Shoreline Communities

Bristol

On the eastern shore of the Gotham River, north of the city. This large township contains South Darby, home of the Luxor Oil refinery complex, the auxiliary rail yards and a Wayne Chemicals plant. Construction in the area continues on the Archie Goodwin International Airport. Crest Hill is an isolated community of the estates of the very wealthy families of Gotham. Gotham Heights is a wide suburb, Brentwood is a slightly more upper-class suburb, and home to the Brentwood Academy, a very ritzy private school.

Somerset

Slightly north, west and south of Bristol, Somerset extends to both sides of the Gotham River. It includes the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum For The Criminally Insane, the Victoria Place Research Centers, and Irving Grove, a little residential community near Dayton National Forest and the colorfully named Slaughter Swamp State Park, so named because it was a favored spot for mobsters to dispose of bodies during the 1940s and 1950s.

Directory Of Places

The Red Lotus Restaurant

 The finest Oriental establishment in the city, one floor of the restaurant is devoted to Chinese cuisine, another to Thai, another to Vietnamese, aother to Japanese fare. The gourmet chefs of the Red Lotus are renowned across the East Coast.

Pamela's Cafe

Winner of the "Best Breakfast in Gotham City" award from the Gotham Daily's yearly competition, Pamela's is downtown, open 24-7 and has cheap coffee, making it extremely popular among those who work downtown. Arriving before 9 is recommended for the breakfast crowd.

Maroni's Ristorante Italiano

 Owned and still operated by the Maronis (yes, those Maronis), the Ristorante Italiano is considered to be one of Gotham's finest Italian restaurants, and has grown in prestige and size since it opened just over 90 years ago.

Arkham Asylum

 The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane was founded by Amadeus Arkham in 1924. Although he would later be imprisoned in the very same asylum he built and named after his wife, the Arkham family continued to work in the mental health profession. The current director of the Asylum, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, is a leading expert in the field of criminal psychology. Arkham Asylum itself is a large Victorian-style mansion surrounded by a tall concrete wall. Security is naturally, top-notch. Near the Asylum is a sprawling area of cemeteries called Charon, some as old as the city itself, some long-abandoned.

Riverside Lounge

 This well-known diner used to be a prime hangout for smugglers in the Prohibition era and even after World War II. However it is now largely a place for dockworkers and those on the southside neighborhood to have their meals. In that respect it is a bit of color in a drab and seemingly history-less area.

The Blue Heron

 This upscale restaurant is one of the five-star gourmet dining experiences for the extremely wealthy of Gotham City. Still decorated in 1920s flair and finery, the Blue Heron is a constant in Gotham City nightlife. It's where you take someone to impress them with your money.
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