Bridgeport

SAFE-HOUSES


Marlene Torres is one of the original characters from the collaboration, and she's the one responsible for the proliferation of the playing-card system.

To date, she has only been written into others' entries, and played by her author on Tegaki-E. For our purposes, she is an NPC, and it is safe to presume that some of your characters have met her at some point.

All material concerning Marlene (c)2008-2014 Jey Barnes unless otherwise noted




To the daylight denizens of Bridgeport, Rikky Neptune is an old busker with a washed up musical career. To the underground supernatural community, however, he is Capricorn: the legendary founder of a world-wide secret society that provides aid to supernatural in need.

Although he travelled the world for decades establishing safe houses, Rikky has settled into semi-retirement in Bridgeport. He keeps an eye on affairs, and enjoys hearing how tales of his past exploits have been inflated.

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BRIDGEPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT

The Bridgeport Police Department is a walking contradiction in that it is at once corrupt and clean. Their two largest concerns are to maintain the balance of supernaturals and humans in the midst of all their conflict, and to prevent the truth of supernatural creatures from being well known outside of the city borders.

Many of the PD are supernatural themselves, and as such can sympathize with the innate desires to hunt or kill, and as such many crimes remain 'unsolved.' However, the PD has limits to its patience, and any who become too bold to cover up easily may find themselves unceremoniously "removed." The corruption of the PD can therefore hurt a supernatural as much as it can help, and cleanups of the sort are conducted without trials or juries.

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While the majority of the secret world of Bridgeport exists to facilitate the help and rehabilitation of supernaturals, there are three groups who appear somewhat less than friendly towards the underground population.


THE FACELESS DAWN

No one is entirely sure who started the Faceless Dawn cult, but it is speculated that it was created about twenty-five years ago by a group seeking revenge for some vampire attacks. The growth of the cult was aided by growing suspicions and paranoia in the population that the supernatural is real, and humanity is waging a secret war. The name originally referred to the anonymity of members, but became less relevant as cultists began to leave their ordinary lives and start communes worldwide. Now, Faceless Dawn members hide away in their own isolated communities worldwide, planning to extend their activities.

The basic beliefs of the cult are as follows - 1) The supernatural is real and dangerous. 2) The only thing that has prevented humanity entering a spiritually advanced age is the blight of the supernatural. 3) The supernatural must be eliminated.

Notable members include Gilgamesh, an eyeless kid and alleged demigod who formerly served as the face of the cult before a desperate escape, and Noor al-Ajam, a dangerous zealot acutely aware she has no place in the world for which she fights, who will burn down a city to subdue one werewolf without batting an eye.

Both currently remain at large.

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MAGICAL GIRLS

Unaffiliated with the Faceless Dawn, yet with many goals that dovetail is the phenomena of 'magical girls,' seemingly led by a mysterious entity known as the Benefactor Alastor.

Rarely, this being speaks of the cult, but when he does it's with a marked disdain, and a baldfaced desire to advance his agenda over theirs.

His recruitment methods involve neither kidnapping nor forcible induction; rather Al speaks sweetly, bearing impossible gifts and irresistible temptation. A crisis appears, and he offers a way out, a wish, a way to escape the situation - at the price of assisting him in his hunt. He presents visions of the benefits of accepting his offer. Remarks offhandedly on the horrible things that befall those who don't.

The fact that he tends to appear at times of inescapable crises, and typically to the disenfranchised and downtrodden is entirely coincidence, he assures you. And rare is the girl that hasn't accepted his offer.

While his methods vary wildly from person to person, the results are the same: Al converts each person into an elite predator of the supernatural, eternally tasked with hunting down dangerous monsters and collecting their very essences.

If there are more such genies, neither Al nor his proteges have spoken of them, and the true spread and frequency of this phenomenon is unknown.

The Bridgeport cabal currently consists of Kaur Chaudhri, Dagny Fleischer, and Margot Washington.

More about this setting's magical girls can be found here.

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???

The appearance, origin and purposes of The Dusty Man, a shrewd and gentle little engineer named Luke, is unknown to even himself.

Since his sudden and unexplained arrival in the town, Luke has become aware of something very, very wrong: when faced with any event, beast or being of supernatural origin, a presence - residing on the fringes of his senses and utilizing mysterious means - recognises it, catalogues it, alerts him, then falls silent until he spies the next anomaly.

He's stubbornly named this intrusion 'Britannica.'

It is a rare moment when Britannica is stumped.