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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Baron Hazard on May 12, 2010, 05:59:48 PM
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Supernatural: Seattle
Map: Occult Seattle (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100502693575670335068.00048646a31a6e534369e&t=h&z=12)
Factions in Play in the city:
- The Winter Court (via the Fremont Troll, beneath the Aurora Bridge)
- The White Court (2 factions currently war over uncontested control of Seattle: Raith and Skavis)
- The White Council
- Monoc Securities via. Viking Risk Management
- The Church of The Blessed Sacrament
Locations of Interests:
- The Aurora Bridge: At the Northern end of the Aurora Bridge, sculpted beneath it is a gigantic troll holding a Volkswagon Bug. The troll marks a small outpost of Trolls (1-4), the location itself opens into a very troll-oriented area of the Winter Court’s domain in the Never Never.
Aspect: “WHO’S THAT TRIPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?”
Face: GORTOGG, THE TROLL CAPTAIN
- The Space Needle: a 605 foot tower built in 1961 by the Pentagram Corporation, the Space Needle marks the very center of the biggest Ley Line Nexus in Seattle and exactly why it was built is somewhat of a mystery. It is currently under close watch by the White Council, the Warden Regional Commander of the Seattle area is in place as the General Manager.
Aspect: ARCANE ENIGMA
Face: JEFFERY WRIGHT, WARDEN REGIONAL COMMANDER.
- Pike Place Market: A public market where you can find just about anything for sale. Among other shops, sits Edge of the Circle an occult shop run by a clued-in mortal.
Aspect: I GOT WHAT YOU NEED!
Face: JULIANNE CANTERBURY, CLUED-IN MORTAL SHOPKEEPER.
- Viking Risk Management: This Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Monoc Securities, it specializes in insuring magical beings, the Seatle office is run by Eric Haraldsson, also known as Eric Bloodaxe an Einherjar from the 10th century.
Aspect: FORCE MAJEURE – ACTS OF GOD – ARE COVERED UNDER OUR POLICY.
Face: ERIC HARALDSSON,EINHERJAR INSURANCE AGENT.
- Church of the Blessed Sacrament: A church staffed by clued-in mortals and True Believers, they render aid against supernatural evil within the confines of their church and neighborhood, but mostly are there to provide backup and sanctuary to travelling Knights of the Cross.
Aspect: EVIL BEGONE, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!
Face: FATHER DANIEL SYVERSTAD, TRUE BELEIVER.
- The Center For Sex Positive Culture: White Court, White court, White Court. This White Court run organization caters to the sex-positive subculture (Swingers, BDSM, Polyamory, etc) providing space for their activities as well as center-sponsored activities.
Aspect: INTENSITY AND PASSION DRIPS FROM THESE WALLS
Face: EDWARD RAITH, WHITE COURT VAMPIRE.
Other Information of Note:
- The White Court War – House Raith’s Primary Operation in Seattle is the Center for Sex Positive Culture (Also known as The Wet Spot), however they do own several strip clubs and have a hand in the local pornography industry to supplement the already substantial nourishment they receive from the Center. House Raith consists of the head of this branch of the family Edward Raith and no more than 15 Raith Family Vampires. Skavis has recently set up shop in the city, a kind of dark side of the moon to the mostly civil and refined Raith M.O., the Skavis are functioning on almost a completely criminal element wallowing in drugs and prostitution. A cold war has begun between the two clans, but both want to be the only presence in Seattle – things are brewing and about to get much worse.
- The Seattle Underground – I know I want something down here but at the moment I’m not sure what. Ghouls or Red/Black Court Vampires are the obvious choices maybe some sort of motley clan of half-demon scions, still deciding.
- The Winter Court: Exactly what the Winter Court’s conflict is involving this city, I’m still unsure of, though perhaps they are just waiting and watching for now.
Questions: So this is the beginning of my Dresdenverse Seattle, anyone have any suggestions? Comments? Any ideas for other locations from those more familiar with Seattle?
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Church of the Blessed Sacrament: A church staffed by clued-in mortals and True Believers, they render aid against supernatural evil within the confines of their church and neighborhood, but mostly are there to provide backup and sanctuary to travelling Knights of the Cross.
It might have been your intention to create your own chruch, but Seattle does have its own cathedral (I think Seattle is an archdiocese if I recall correctly) that you might want to use as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Cathedral_%28Seattle%29
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Lots of possibilities with the local volcano. Place of power or ley-line convergence related to fire? Home of fire spirits and/or demons? Summer Fae stronghold? Target of a cult trying to set off an eruption, or even just an earthquake?
Come up with a tie-in to the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. :)
How about the Seattle Underground? Burying the previous street-level gives you a network of basements and tunnels and all sorts of good stuff for ghoulies and ghosties and mystic monsters to inhabit.
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This mostly just the comic nerd in me speaking, but I couldn't imagine Seattle without an homage to DC's radically-liberal Emerald Archer, the Green Arrow. Tinkered with and given a supernatural theme, I could see him fitting in with the Dresdenverse.
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This mostly just the comic nerd in me speaking, but I couldn't imagine Seattle without an homage to DC's radically-liberal Emerald Archer, the Green Arrow. Tinkered with and given a supernatural theme, I could see him fitting in with the Dresdenverse.
And the bonus is Seattle is nicknamed the Emerald City :P
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It might have been your intention to create your own chruch, but Seattle does have its own cathedral (I think Seattle is an archdiocese if I recall correctly) that you might want to use as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Cathedral_%28Seattle%29
Thank You, Esoteric. The Church of the Blessed Sacrament is a real Seattle church (i even nicked the name of the real pastor there... >_> lol) but that cathedral is cool, its amazing that somehow my several day long foray through wiki/seatle sites didnt bring up the cathedral. May have to include it.
Lots of possibilities with the local volcano. Place of power or ley-line convergence related to fire? Home of fire spirits and/or demons? Summer Fae stronghold? Target of a cult trying to set off an eruption, or even just an earthquake?
I planned on making the Earthquakes mean... Something, so maybe I could use this. The WoW-geek in me now pictures the eventuality of a giant fire elemental ala ragnaros being summoned >_> lol. Summer fae is a great idea, as is the Ley Line Convergence of Fire or Earth...or both...
Come up with a tie-in to the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. :)
Definately some good back story I may be able to draw connections to at some point.
How about the Seattle Underground? Burying the previous street-level gives you a network of basements and tunnels and all sorts of good stuff for ghoulies and ghosties and mystic monsters to inhabit.
Indeed, I really want to do something here. I'm just not sure what i want to use, I'm thinking Red/Black Court vamps or Ghouls, perhaps a motley 'army' of half-demon scions... whatever it is maybe its flushing the more scattered homeless beasties up into the streets (as will be the situation for the PC that is playing a Were-rat chieften.)
This mostly just the comic nerd in me speaking, but I couldn't imagine Seattle without an homage to DC's radically-liberal Emerald Archer, the Green Arrow. Tinkered with and given a supernatural theme, I could see him fitting in with the Dresdenverse.
I have several things to say: One, I may consider this - maybe a clued-in cop or something just a passing reference "Detective Queen SPD!" - but moreso... Buscadera of Cortexsystemrpg? lol.
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I have several things to say: One, I may consider this - maybe a clued-in cop or something just a passing reference "Detective Queen SPD!" - but moreso... Buscadera of Cortexsystemrpg? lol.
Indeed I am. You found me.
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Had I actually looked at your post, I'd not have even had to ask, as I recognize your sig from CSRPG, i just noticed the name when i was quoting you :P welll nice to see ya, at least here i wont accidentally call you buscaderO. ;)
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Indeed, I really want to do something here. I'm just not sure what i want to use, I'm thinking Red/Black Court vamps or Ghouls, perhaps a motley 'army' of half-demon scions... whatever it is maybe its flushing the more scattered homeless beasties up into the streets (as will be the situation for the PC that is playing a Were-rat chieften.)
Or another cool thing is to say that there is not one, but several portals to different parts of Nevernever down in the "forgotten" parts of the underground (in real life it isn't too big, but that isn't to say that there aren't undiscovered parts in your version of Seattle), so its basically a huge melting pot of various baddies down there.
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Nor will I ever be called on to translate anything to/from German or make incredibly intricate and beautifully presented game-fixes on the fly.
Also, Sasquatches. Harry even makes reference (possibly jokingly) to having met Bigfoot in one of the short stories, so it's safe to assume that at least one exists. I'm more likely to assume a whole tribe of them wandering the Northwest US, keeping out of humanity's way. It would also give you an opportunity to create something different than what we see in the series. For how vast the Nevernever is supposed to be, we never see much more than mortals with some sort of magic, faeries, vampires, and the occasional demon or divine being. There's got to be a ton more types of creatures out there. For example, I'm adding merfolk to an upcoming game I'll be running set in Miami.
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Or another cool thing is to say that there is not one, but several portals to different parts of Nevernever down in the "forgotten" parts of the underground (in real life it isn't too big, but that isn't to say that there aren't undiscovered parts in your version of Seattle), so its basically a huge melting pot of various baddies down there.
This is kind of what I was thinking Pre-invasion of whatever cohesive force has moved in force into the Seattle Underground, you have the underground kind of a rogues gallery assortment of random beastie, a melting pot as you put it... and then something moves in and flushes all those out to take over. some up into Seattle proper and others back home into the never never nursing old wounds. But maybe I just want to keep it a cut throat underworld like city... you have your minor kingdoms and the only thing that means anything is force and favor... so many ideas, only one underground :P
BUscadera
I like the idea of the Sasquatch community, I may even involve something where the PCs have to step in to save them (a peaceful, pacifistic society) from some outside threat... maybe even something as mundane as deforestation. The mermaid idea is pretty sweet too (I may be forced to stealz it). I've been considering a tribe of were-crocodiles in the lake up there (forgetting which one... but one of them has an urban legend of crocodiles in them) or maybe even CrocWeres! :P
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More thoughts and possible plot hooks...
There are/were a number of Native American tribes in the area - Seattle is, in fact, named after Chief Seattle (an Anglicanization of Si'ahl), according to Wikipedia. There was even the Battle of Seattle in 1856, where a number of tribes attacked as part of the Puget Sound War. Not like there weren't dozens of "wars" between the US and various native tribes in the US, but there's room here for angry spirits, warrior ghosts, and various cults, remnants or interest groups trying to "restore the old ways".
Seattle is near the border with Canada, and borders are great places from the point of view of mystical barriers or changeovers, and psychic impressions. Maybe even a form of a threshold.
Puget Sound. :)
Chester Carlson (1906-1968) of Seattle invented electrophotography. You could go from there into an attempt by a descendant or inspiree to image the mystical and otherwise-difficult-to-photograph.
Peter Sillence Fleming (1928-1956) was a missionary from Seattle, killed while trying to evangelize to a tribe in Ecuador. Room here for an angry spirit based off of a true believer, trying to protect his (decades-dead) wife. A little bit of a stretch (he died in Ecuador, after all), but I love the potential of an angry spirit protected by his life's faith from normal weaknesses in death.
Frederick Schiller Faust (1892-1944) is an American author from Seattle. I know very little about him personally (according to Wikipedia, he wrote Westerns?) but a last name like "Faust" is just *begging* for him to be a closet wizard who faked his own death (or lived through it in a different form) who has some horrific dealings with hell. :-P
The Birdman of Alcatraz (Robert Frankling Stroud) was first imprisoned at McNeil Island on Puget Sound before going to Leavenworth or Alcatraz. He was an interesting (if disturbing) figure, and maybe he left behind a strong psychic impression? Hell, prisons in general are great for this type of thing.
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The Birdman of Alcatraz (Robert Frankling Stroud) was first imprisoned at McNeil Island on Puget Sound before going to Leavenworth or Alcatraz. He was an interesting (if disturbing) figure, and maybe he left behind a strong psychic impression? Hell, prisons in general are great for this type of thing.
This reminds me, look up the Evergreen Mental Hospital (or something along the lines of that, I forget its exact name but I'll look it up when I get the chance). It's an old mental hospital and its supposed to be a REALLY creepy place.
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O'leary's books might be something to add in. If you don't already know about it, it may hard to find information on it, since it has closed. But it was up for the first half of the series, and might make a good hang out for your "alphas".
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I think you mean Old Western State Sanitarium. It is pretty creepy at night.
O'leary's is closed? Man, I've been gone a while.
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Old Western State Sanitarium.
YES, gosh I have no idea why I couldn't think of its name :-\
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Yeah, like 4-5 years. Same thing happened with them as did Nibbles n' Bytes. They took down a bunch of names and email addresses to let everyone know when they relocated, then nothing. The old store is just a nuts and bolts outlet.
Unless it has become the heroes secret bunker, surrounded by large quantities if sharp iron bits....
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Ahh... Nibbles n' Bytes... O’Leary’s... takes me back. Where will all the nerds go now? Forced into hiding by an overbearing majority that frowns upon their geeky ways.
Maybe that's who is lurking in the Seattle Underground, a secret conclave of nerds and geeks plotting their revenge on the surface dwellers, forging guns that will fire polyhedrons and making cloaks out of Crown Royal bags.
On a more 'thread' related note, a group like the Alphas (when they first started out) might be a good addition. A bunch of kid's that watched too many episodes of Buffy or Angel and decided to help take back the night. Maybe a minor talent in their group to explain why they are clued in. Maybe they are a paint ball team or part of the SCA where they practice their small unit tactics and teamwork.
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Would the 'Running Water' catch for the Black Court provide a problem for them in Seattle. I'd imagine so...
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Map: Occult Seattle (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100502693575670335068.00048646a31a6e534369e&t=h&z=12)
That map is cool. Need to look into how that works...
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oh yah, its super cool. I just discovered it, and I must say its one of the most useful tools for contemporary gaming, truly epic if you're willing to put the time into it. If you have gmail account you can use "my maps" to add whatever push-pins in you want.
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For those unfamiliar with the Fremont Troll:
- The Aurora Bridge: At the Northern end of the Aurora Bridge, sculpted beneath it is a gigantic troll holding a Volkswagon Bug. The troll marks a small outpost of Trolls (1-4), the location itself opens into a very troll-oriented area of the Winter Court’s domain in the Never Never.
Aspect: “WHO’S THAT TRIPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?”
Face: GORTOGG, THE TROLL CAPTAIN
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs604.snc3/31789_1286676806393_1214344252_30636584_7128059_n.jpg)
So are you actually forming a group near Seattle and are you looking for players?
While thinking of places in Seattle I naturally thought of the Seattle Underground but for me making it a place for the baddies to hang out is too cliche. If I was contributing to your campaign it would be a safe haven for the supernatural of Seattle, given status of Accorded Neutral Ground. Who knows what shops might be opened for those in the know beyond the tourist route.
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I'm curious as to how many locals we have running around these boards.
Anyway another good church to look at is St. Mark's Cathedral affectionately known as the cinder block on the hill. It was originally going to be much bigger but we re-purposed as a staging area during world war two and the city grew up around it before it got to be finished. A church with that military spirit to it might make for some interesting story telling.
If your not from here you may also not be aware of Seattle's very active Goth/World of Darkness/SCA/Costumed Freak subcultures, they provide for a lot of opportunity for semi-clued in/thinks their clued in NPCs and Mortals.
Also I'd be remiss to set a magic game in Seattle without mentioning Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on the wharf, its sort of a kitschy gift shop/museum with weird side-show style displays of mummies and freak animals and the like.
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It sounds like just a 'sounds interesting city' pick, but if anyone is putting a group together near the actual city, I'm interested in finding a group myself...
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I'm thinking of running a Seattle game myself (I'm an old Shadowrun dork from years back, so the city is close to my heart), this is great information, thanks!
I know I'm going to be incorporating a version of the underground, expanded by some variety of subterranean baddie (possibly Ghouls, unless I can think of something cooler) and may work up to a Jade Court incursion, but only once I come up with a workable idea for the Jade Court.
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It sounds like just a 'sounds interesting city' pick, but if anyone is putting a group together near the actual city, I'm interested in finding a group myself...
I would be very interested in locating a DFRPG game in Seattle myself. I love the game but it seems like most folks here in the Emerald City are White Wolf fans which is cool and all but I wanna play some Dresden. I might even be persuaded to run it although I am a total newby to Fate.
Back to the OT - I am thinking that instead of such a large Winter Court presence you might want to change it to Summer. Seattle is about as far north as you can get in the USA but the winters here are very mild rarely even getting down below freezing. That along with all the Evergreens indicates to me that Summer has made Seattle a stronghold . Perhaps Winter is making an incursion into the Underground in an attempt to change that. In fact the big snow storm of two winters ago was obviously caused by a Winter frontal assault that failed leading to a more subtle initiative using the Underground. ;D
Another thing occurs to me. There are an inordinate amount of Serial Killers (Gary Ridgeway, Ted Bundy etc.) in Seattle despite its low overall murder rate. That might indicate some demonic presence or perhaps a curse of some kind.
You might want to look at some Asian myths since there is a large Asian presence in Seattle. Finally, the other Northwest "Bigfoot" if you will is the Wendigo. Usually associated with Canada many of the Washington state tribes had the same myths. There might even be some kind of rivalry between two tribes (Sasquatch and Wendigo) or something.
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Thanks for the input Hum,
since i last posted i've made some changes. those are reflected in the maps but not updated in the information:
The Surrounding mountains are actually winter Strongholds, (a couple in all 2-3) that have been under massive incursion from Summer (though perhaps they are originally SUMMER holdings in the first place, long since taken by winter) The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens was the apex of one such 'final battle' where Summer finally took back the stronghold and has since been recovering it for their own...
meanwhile the fight has moved to the next Winter Stronghold, a volcano in the Olympic National Park... if things carry on we may see another massive eruption in the near future - if summer gets its way. The Big Winter two years ago (i hadn't heard about it) will indeed reflect some sort of Winter counter attack, maybe trying to divert Summer's forces in the center of the city.
I will have to look up the serial killers angle.
As for Wendigo I don't like to look at them in the same light as Yeti or Sasquatch, though I may include some Wendigo as well at some point.
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Seriously, the serial killer thing is a good point, I think that Gacy had connections here as well. Another thing, I think, of note about Seattle is it seems to get everything disproportionate to it's size. Despite being a relatively small city you'll rarely see a book signing or concert tour that misses us. We have, literally, some of the best chefs in the world (Specifically Tom Douglas and Mike McCrary although there are several other major ones). Several major musicians had their start here, Bruce Lee lived and worked here. Most likely all of this would have some connection to the Nevernever, like this is a hotly contested area, or the seat of a fairy metropolis or something of the like.
Also, if you don't live around here, you should understand that pretty much nobody sees Seattle as ending at the city limits. So far as locals are concerned Redmond, Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland etc are considered to be Seattle when speaking in general terms.
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The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens was the apex of one such 'final battle' where Summer finally took back the stronghold and has since been recovering it for their own...
Nice. A very cool tie in that could make for a great adventure as the PCs try to halt a battle between the Courts that could destroy Seattle and the surrounding areas.
Also, if you don't live around here, you should understand that pretty much nobody sees Seattle as ending at the city limits. So far as locals are concerned Redmond, Bellevue, Bothell, Kirkland etc are considered to be Seattle when speaking in general terms.
This is fact. Although an exception might be made in regards to Bellevue. ;)
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Nifty things around Seattle for Dresden Games:
Labyrinths. There's actually a ton of public ones. All sorts of fun stuff could happen in a place where people intentionally walk the same pattern over and over again. Especially when it is on holy ground.
Perfect source material for Seattle-area NPC's- the Pemco Insurance Northwest Profiles (http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/#profiles) ads.
The Edmonds Scuba Park (http://www.ci.edmonds.wa.us/Discovery_programs_website/Underwater_Park.html). It's a built up underwater park for scuba divers. No, really.
(both of our games going right now are set in Seattle. City building has been a blast)
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I just saw this. Things that could be cool are a lot of native american weirdness and imported asian stuff, lots of norse things as well. seattle is a big port city with a lot of stuff going on.
additionally, the city itself rests in a geological bell, which is why tiny earthquakes end up breaking so many things in the city proper. could have a LOT of fun with geomancy gone wrong.
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Was reading about O'Leary's shutting down and never re-opening but... what if it DID re-open... but only to those who're clued in and are able step sideways somehow or see it? Just a thought.
But am interested in seeing where this goes and like what I see so far, I'm up the way in Vancouver and visit Seattle often on business and pleasure, so its fun to read this thread :)
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Let's see...
There is a doll museum in Bellevue - always good for your creepy doll stories: http://www.dollart.com/
The Aurora Bridge (the one with the Troll) is also known for a high amount of suicides. I used to work right there under it - our parking lot was a favorite target for jumpers. That area (Fremont) also has a Rocketship on a building, a statue of Lenin from Russia and refers to itself as 'the Center of the universe'. The Summer Solstice fair is there every year (obvious Summer gathering).
The Labyrinths, yeah, they are frickin' everywhere around here...
There's a high number of crows in the north end (one of my players actually printed out a map of sightings).
Everyone talks about the Wet Spot, but there is also a known gang in the area called the Street Mobb (two b's) that is pretty involved in prostitution. Mobb stands for Money Over Broke B**ches.
Out in Redmond area is a retreat called the Longhouse. Private retreat with standing stones and camping area, plus a building with an indoor pool.
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Over all, the themes that came up in both Seattle games I am running is that the ever-changing and erratic weather is a sign of a back and forth of the Fae courts.
However, both groups also seemed to come up with the idea that there is a malaise in the area, that there is a high degree of apathy. In one game, there's something in the Underground that is ancient that spews out a miasma of apathy and depression. In the other, it's a sort of stalemate between the Fae courts since all of the Fae actions cancel each other out. That's lead the local courts to being sort of tense but ineffectual.
Another common theme is that Seattle, being such a high tech area, isn't very hospitable to wizards. Neither have a strong White Council presence.