Toronto

(Under Construction, please be patient; further, if you want my campaign notes and are not a member of the party of PCs in the campaign I'm running, feel free to message me over the wiki for a copy of my notes. They're far more complete than what's on here, as they include GM's-Eyes-Only information. This campaign is set during, or shortly after, the events of //Dead Beat//.)

toc "Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from the Mississaugas of the New Credit. The settlement was later established as the Town of York and proclaimed as the new capital of Upper Canada by its lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe. In 1834, York was incorporated as a city and renamed to its present name. The city was ransacked in the Battle of York during the War of 1812 and damaged in two great fires in 1849 and in 1904. Since its incorporation, Toronto has repeatedly expanded its borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities, most recently in 1998."

This is how the mortals generally see Toronto: a less classy version of New York. The truth is both more sinister and more wonderful. In point of fact, Toronto and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area is the hub of a small-scale war between the Vampire Courts, a cold war where the mortals are the prize and the weapons.

Themes
//Half-Life// //Face:// Kyle Raitz, White Court Manager The current "way of things" is leading to stagnation and decay; all systems are supernaturally influenced towards reinforcing the status quo. By way of example, other than a brief blip in the '90s, the thaumaturgical layout of the city, and especially the CN Tower's position in relation to a nearby ley line, has created an immense amount of negative energy focused onto the city's stadiums; //Half Life// is why the teams can't win a championship, and if they do, they are quickly broken up and decayed into a team that can't win practice, let alone a game. A blossoming young pyromancer without guidance has a //Half Life//...it is only a matter of time before he goes warlock.

//Us and Them// //Faces:// Betty Malvora (White Court Starlet), Reginald Harker (Black Court Vampire), Veronica Guerrero (Red Court Businesswoman) Canada isn't a melting pot, like our brothers to the south; we're a mosaic. We embrace all other cultures, instead of assimilating them into our own. This is both a blessing and a curse, as it means that smaller insular communities, one could call them "nations within a state", are formed. Naturally, this can create friction when they are forced into specific areas by living in a compressed urban area like Toronto. If a group sees you as "one of us", they will go out of their way to protect you, to make sure that you are taken care of. You are, after all, a member of their community, and you would do the same for them, right? If a group sees you as "one of them", however, you are an outsider, practically an enemy, certainly a threat. You represent every hardship that the community has gone through, and they will sell you out as soon as blinking. This apples both to mortal communities (both professional and cultural, e.g. lawyers, the Gay Village, any religious/ethnic group you could think to name) and supernatural communities (e.g. the White Council, the various Vampire Courts).

//I (Don't) Want to Believe// //Face:// Detective Kendra Peters, Doubting Detective While "Toronto the Good" was initially a hard Protestant town, over the years many other schools of belief have moved in and attained some degree of influence...but none so much as the religion of Science & Skepticism, which has taken hold to a degree here that makes other places look like colonies of religious fanatics. While this can be helpful in some circumstances ("Officer, do I look like I have a car? A sledgehammer? How could I have possibly done //that// kind of damage? //Magic?//") in others, it can hinder strongly. ("I don't trust that guy, walking around with his big weird stick. Someone walks down the street carrying something like that, he's either not right in the head or looking to start something. Best call the authorities, just to be safe.") Either way, the city remains willingly blind to the supernatural war within her.

Locations

 * Camp-X / Intrepid Park
 * Chruch & Wellesley
 * Distillery District
 * Riverdale
 * Royal Ontario Museum
 * St. Lawrence Market
 * The P A T H
 * Yorkville Library
 * (Under Construction: Please be patient. Will add links as they become available.)

City-Wide Characters
Certain characters aren't tied to a specific location; they move around so much and have so many irons in the fire that they can't be tied as a "face" to any one place where they usually can be found. They are, in a sense, "city-wide" faces. Here they are.

//**Kyle Raitz**//
 * Motivation:** Kyle Raitz, as one would guess, is not actually a Raitz; he is a Raith, second cousin, once removed, to the Raiths you know. Three things define him; first, he is utterly and completely loyal to the White King, despite not having the psychic wristlock put upon him. Second, he is a fervent enemy of anything chaotic; he defines his life by order, and lives within his routines. Third, he is deeply and profoundly corrupt, with his fingers in every pie of the city. Officially, he is the manager of the Zanzibar, one of the more well known strip-clubs. By all accounts, a more wretched hive of scum and villainy one won't find, and yet it appears to be enough of a "legitimate business" that he cannot be touched by the law. When dealing with him, you must be cautious.

White Court Manager
 * High Concept**

//**Detective Kendra Peters**//
 * Motivation:** Kendra is a good cop. She's deeply devoted to her work, and to the people of Toronto. Which is why she hates it when people waste her time with bull$#!+ stories about "vampires and magic fairies making them do it." She has no patience for the guilty, and especially none for those who are too stoned or unimaginative to come up with something rational by way of excuse. Det. Peters is a strong believer in community policing, and routinely goes around to chit-chat with prominent members of the community; she is on excellent terms with Peter Silenus, Ukiah Thunderbird, and Dr. Amal Singh (who fancies her, though she doesn't know it). She thinks the latter's friend, Mr. Katrib, is a weirdo, but essentially harmless. As for the PCs, well...let's just say that she doesn't like it when folks walk around town with big weird walking sticks, and especially when they always seem to be nearby when weird stuff goes down. Suspicion is her friend.

Doubting Detective
 * High Concept**

The White Court
The White Court presence in Toronto is longest established; however, the area's relative unimportance to the rest of the world (a reflection of the "little brother to the US" perception) has caused it to be isolated from the greater politics of the Court. As a result, while the three Great Houses of the Court (Raith, Malvora, Skavis) still hold sway, the Minor Houses all have a small presence and deserve recognition individually.

//Lust (True Love)// As a family, the Raith house is easily the most recognizable, the most powerful, and the most dangerous. If you've read the casefiles out of Chicago, you know all about them, so no more need be said here.
 * House Raith**

//Fear (True Courage)// House Malvora currently holds a decent amount of sway in political circles, applying social pressure to create a fear of what the future holds; as a result, they are feeding very well, and are in ascension in Toronto; there is a great deal of friction between Kyle Raitz, of House Raith, and Betty Malvora, as they vie for power.
 * House Malvora**

//Despair// //(True Hope)// Like it or not, Toronto has a divide between rich and poor that is clearly noticeable. Class war, it seems, is moments away, and indeed, one may foresee a time where the lower earning classes, amounting to the largest portion of the population, begin to demonstrate loudly against the rich minority. For now, though, the Skavis flit through the poorest areas, dressed in upper-class finery, feeding on the despair that runs through the working-poor who can barely afford to keep a roof over their heads.
 * House Skavis**

//Wrath// //(True Peace)// House Nianue (pronounced, "Nigh-ON-way") has a tendency to work hand-in-hand with the other Houses, as anger and frustration can flow easily from all of the other Houses' influence; they are, in a very real way, the scavengers of the supernatural Toronto. Only House Raith considers them an enemy, and the feeling is mutual. Members of House Nianue tend toward dive bar owners, security guards, and civil suit lawyers, though they can be found pretty much anywhere.
 * House Nianue**

//Greed// //(True Charity)// House Konnen embodies the spirit of Gordon Gekko and lives the lifestyle to the highest ability. They are subtle, quick, and utterly amoral to the core; as a result, they tend to get into the high-power circles of Toronto with relative ease, adopting whatever face they need to in order to adapt. Exerting power is one thing, but exerting resources is another; they can move mountains with a single suggestion into the right ear, but if it will cost anyone money, they are essentially helpless. As a result, House Konnen finds itself in the peculiar position of neutrality in most ventures, though they can be moved with the right lever. House Raith is especially fond of them, as the interplay between sex and money at such lofty levels of influence should be fairly obvious.
 * House Konnen**

//Envy// //(True Kindness)// Of all the Houses in Toronto, House Calisna may be the smallest. This is because, very recently, they decimated themselves in an orgy of feeding that left their numbers depleted; envy of the other houses turned into envy of each other, leaving them ripe for self-slaughter.
 * House Calisna**

//Pride// //(True Humility)// Pride can be a good thing; pride in one's friends, one's nation, one's achievements. But it has been said that too much pride can kill a man. Nowhere is this more true than in the company of House Fessini. Their presence drives folks to new and dizzying heights of stupidity, confident that they cannot be harmed, that they are too skilled, too powerful, too lucky. Often seen alongside House Konnen as functionaries, they also tend to work well with House Nianue. A Fessini considers himself a mercenary first and foremost, selling his or her skills to whichever contract will put House Fessini in a position to gain power in the Court.
 * House Fessini**

This page is part of Michael Panter's //DFRPG: Toronto the Good?// campaign.