Suburban Life and Wilderness (East)

UNCLAIMED TERRITORY
Ward Law

Unclaimed territory without a District Leader operates under Ward Law. The Ward is operated by Connall "Conner" Iessan, who is the Director of the security force that all District Leaders turn to when requiring extra help in their district.

Once the leader of the spy network for the Oligarchy, it was a natural transgression for Conner to take charge of all identities that were loyal to him, and continue using them as he saw fit in order to police the city's supernatural for the better good. The Ward upholds many of the laws that were put into place by the Oligarchy before it fell in 2012.

Penbrook Church and Estate
A Haven and Sacrament

Anybody can visit Penbrook Church during the day for the doors are not locked. During the day there are a couple of clerics that tend to the church and assist troubled souls with advice. They keep the building clean and well-maintained. There is usually the odd visitor who comes into the church, usually to sit quietly for a while, before leaving.

Penbrook Church, though small (for it only seats sixty worshippers comfortably), is rich in architectural detail. The basement was where the chaplain once lived, with comfortable rooms underground and quick access to the church above via stairs. The pews and podium have been refurbished as well as the brickwork fixed. The stained glass windows managed to escape vandalism due to being bricked over on the outside. Their ethereal glow comes from electrical lamps that cause them to be permanently lit.

The church is fenced in from the estate by eight foot iron railings. A locked gate can lead someone who possesses a key, up a winding path towards a bunch of cottages (which can be seen from the church), and then beyond that to a large mansion and grounds that makes up the rest of Penbrook Estate.  Built by Wallace Penbrook in the 19th century and last lived in during the 1950s, the mansion at Penbrook has seen much renovating and reconstruction in the past few years as new wealthy owners see fit to live there. It is now occupied by a new family - the Sacramentum clan and their mortal companions and followers.

The mansion itself is a sprawling 20 bedroom manor, with ten rooms in the North and South wings. There are also many other rooms such as the foyer (which could double as a main hall), a ballroom, a library, a music room (filled with many instruments), an artist's room (predominantly with paints, though there is a potter's wheel in one corner), several offices, several bathrooms, a conservatory, a gymnasium and an indoor heated swimming pool. The courtyard at the back of the building is open and surrounded by ivy growing upon lattice walls.

Every room's window has plantation shutters, on the inside.

In the conservatory there is a trap door that leads to a network of tunnels underground. Small lanterns light the way down a tunnelled path to the church at the bottom corner of the estate.

Saint Augustine Cathedral
Silence and Faith

St Augustine is built in large grey stone blocks, every so often there is a grey block a little darker than the rest. The cathedral is designed as a long rectangle with a high triangular roof and a steeple at the front, where the door is set into. Large wooden crosses have been placed on all four sides of the steeple, but at the front and above the door is a small platform where a statue of the patron saint Augustine stands, with his hands held out cupped before him, as though offering a gift. A pathway of lain greystone  meets the pavement with large, flowering shrubbery on either side, lending the most wonderful aromatic smells to any who walk the path to the church, as well as seeing a colourful blanket of flowers.

Upon entering the large oak double doors, the devotee will find an open space built in the same grand manner as the rest of the church. The  floors are made of a rich hardwood stained dark.

The stone walls inside have been covered halfway up with smooth wood and  painted the color of rich butter to give a warm and welcome feeling. Set in  the far wall behind the podium is a large multi-piece  stained-glass window depicting angels going about tasks as if offering a window directly into heaven. The rest of the wall space is dominated by heavy  tapestries of wide green fields, white capped mountains, or lazy  seasides.

Behind the podium is a trapdoor and narrow staircase that leads downstairs to the Arch Chamber where the priest can retreat to after sermans, or to prepare them. A large fireplace sits back into a wall  surrounded by large thick chairs for sitting or reading, small floor lamps set  aside each chair to offer extra light for readings. Aside the large gold-white  marble fireplace are several floor to ceiling bookshelves, all mixed with  different books and tomes, the older leather bound books set in their own case  farthest from the fire. Old and new are carefully mixed to create a feeling  of being timeless while in the room. Candle holders sit between the more modern  wall mounted lights, just as the newer and older pictures and paintings sit  mixed on the walls between themselves.

The air itself is a mix of beeswax  from candles, vanilla from some type of modern freshener, and the wax and leather polish from books and wooden furniture.

Cypress Shoppingtown
City's Biggest Mall

Cypress trees border this shopping mall and carpark, where shoppers can idle through the lovely courtyards and over hundreds of specialty shops and a variety of well known large chain stores. Anything you're looking for can be found in this magnificent shopper's temple.

The Carnival and Caravan Park
Travelling Carnival Finds A Permanent Home

Opening the gates for the morning crowd at 11am, and operating until midnight, the carnival can be a cheap or costly entertainment venue, depending on how lucky or drunk the customer is.

The treats purchasable here are extra sweet and extra greasy, the balloons are colourful and humorously large, the game stalls aren't rigged but the chances of winning are terribly slim. Sometimes stall owners will help a little kid 'cheat' their way into a prize of an oversized stuffed animal bigger than they are.

Rides are cheap, though they look a little worse for wear. There hasn't been an accident yet, but the more cautious visitor won't be swayed to hop upon the squeaking ferris wheel or the rattling thirty-year-old octopus arms. Out of all the rides, the Ghost Train has always attracted the most customers, with the Big Top an easy second.

Most of the performers live in their own pitched tents beside the caravan park, but some pay the meagre rent and live in the caravans themselves - which have all the amenities.

The caravans are permanent, owned by the park itself. Hooked up to electricity-bearing poles that are wired into underground cables for no unsightly overhead eyesores, the caravan park is maintained rather nicely.

There are big fees for incorrectly disposing garbage or not keeping a caravan plot maintained. If fees can't be paid, then the renter of the caravan plot (or the caravaner with the rented plot space) is ushered out unceremoniously. Needless to say, everyone who lives at the caravan park adopts a strict regimen of cleanliness - at least on the outside.

If you don\'t mind the noise of the carnival next door, with it's merry music and shrieks of laughter (and piercing screams of terror), rent here is affordable to absolutely anyone living even only on the meagre benefits supplied by the government - though the caravan will be small. The larger caravans have much better noise reduction, but one would need to be earning at least a minimum wage to afford staying at one of the bigger vans.

Meadowcrest Woods
Tangled Woods and Zen Meadow Crest woods lies just north of the farthest boundaries of the city's expansive suburbs, which are more like slums and less like friendly family neighborhoods. Past the suburbs, you’ll find an open, expansive region of privately owned grounds, a land of mansions and old, abandoned palatial residences. Once you’ve passed beyond all civilization, then you’ll know you’ve found Meadowcrest.

The woods mainly consist of medium-growth hardwood trees; Ashes, Maples,  Birch and Walnut trees crowd for space above the layer of tangled and wild undergrowth; the only paths that lie here were carved by deer and human hikers. There are frequent clearings - the likes of which were caused by the old practice of logging, back when the city was in desperate need for wood, but this has long since abandoned, and more unusual occupants have since taken up residence here.

Coming out of a overgrown and hard to follow bush trail, one would be rewarded by the sparkling liquid glitter of the water tumbling over a  outcropping of rocks that slowly are being changed by their users.

Underneath the waterfall hides a small landing, just enough space for two or three people to sit down comfortably, if they didn't mind the noise, or the wet, or the slipperiness of the moss covered stones.

In the always turbulent pool below the falls, no fish live here, instead, crawdads infest the shallower waters, where the current stays calmer.