Nowhere Gulch

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Siege
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Nowhere Gulch

Post by Siege »

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Nowhere Gulch

Two great rivers divide the Four Corners into its respective regions: the Blue River, which runs from the Painted Hills to the east and into Barringer Canyon, and the Rio Helecho which crawls south from Lake Custer through the Flats and into the vast expanse of the Tucemcari. Located at the quadripoint where the boundaries of these two vast rivers cross meet is Nowhere Gulch, the largest Union settlement in the region, and home to a colorful collection of settlers, citizens, crooks and ne'er-do-wells, businessmen and prospectors, adventurers, tribesmen traders and hard-bitten outbackmen. Far removed from the Union proper, the men and women of Nowhere Gulch are forced to fend for themselves against the multitude of threats that lurk in the Four Corners.

The city itself is built on the edges of Great Shakes Lake, the wide but shallow basin in which the streams of the two rivers cross. Rising solidly from a granite escarpment inside lagoon are the gray curtain walls of the 69th Regiment Armory, the base of operations of Colonel Jedidiah Threadaway and his soldiers. The fort is the largest single structure in town, a permanent home to the roughly 100 soldiers of Threadaway's headquarters company, with room in its billets to comfortably house 300 more. Besides these barracks the Armory also includes large vaults containing stores of gunpowder, weapons and food to withstand a prolonged siege, a library and chart room containing what is believed to be the most accurate set of maps of the Four Corners this side of Madison, living quarters for the families of the 69th's ranking officers, a wine cellar, a small Ministry chapel and an enclosed harbor pen protected by a steel portcullis that can be lowered into the water. Gas-cranked elevators connect the underground munition dumps with turrets atop the four squat towers on the fort's corners, from where the fortress' Sumter Guns cover the entire city and the surrounding hills, as well as most of Great Shakes Lake. These mighty cannons by themselves pretty much guarantee that nobody in town can reasonably expect to challenge the colonel and survive for very long, even without calling on the 3 further battallions of soldiers on horseback scattered through the reaches of the Four Corners. The foreboding fort is a visible representation of Union authority, and practically untakeable: it is connected to the city via a tapered rocky ridge into which a narrow causeway has been hewn. At the other edge of this causeway is what passes for the city's harbour, and from there the city stumbles haphazardly up the north-eastern banks.

Union Avenue runs from the fort up toward the top of Haywood Hill, upon which the oldest part of Nowhere Gulch is built. This is still the center of town, because it is where Union Road crosses Main Street, dividing the Hill (and therefore Nowhere Gulch itself) into four segments that, after a fashion, reflect the Four Corners themselves. The higher up the hill you are, the closer to the center of town you are.

At the top of this hill, on the corner where Union Avenue and Main Street meet, stands Haywood Tavern, founded by Harry Haywood, one of the first adventurers recorded to travel the Four Corners, and now owned by Harry Haywood III, who it is rumored isn't called that because he is the third in line but because his mother couldn't count farther than three. The Tavern is the most popular drinking hole in town, a stone two-story building that has been haphazardly expanded several times through the years. Haywood Tavern now has another three wooden floors mounted atop of it, and has expanded into several neighboring buildings, with walls broken through and stairs added to accomodate more room as needed, creating a chaotic maze of tables catered by four bars, two dancing stages, a small gambling floor and a small burlesque theatre. There's a kitchen in there somewhere as well, run by a Caliora cook who makes some decent grub for a decent price.

All things considered the Tavern is a permanent rowdy racket of music, dancing, shouting, eating and drinking; patrons in varying stages of inebriation enter and leave at all hours of day. Harry Haywood runs his place by only a handful of firm rules: no-one lays a hand on his personnel and gets away with it, if you break the interior that means you pay for it, and take your gunfights outside. A dozen-odd enforcers are paid handsomely to, well, enforce these rules. The top three floors of the Tavern are divided into rooms of various sizes; they can be hired and what you do inside is your own damn business - but keep in mind the rules apply to the rooms as well, so don't think you can trash 'em. You get up to the rooms through a set of stairs that imitate the grand sweeping style of the Madison mansions and fail pretty miserably at it. At the top of the stairs is another bar which doubles as a reception for the lodgings end of the business. In a corner beneath the main stairs can be found a permanent poker game that, legend has it, has been rolling along since the Tavern first opened its doors, with players coming and going all the time. Even when during their greatest raid the Shaheen breached the city walls and their troops rampaged across Main Street this table did not shut down, its players only pausing briefly to fend off the alien intruders that dared interrupt their game of cards before continuing to play. Many legendary figures from the Corners have participated in the game, and many more players have dueled over accusations of cheating.

Magnolia Street

Main Street at some unspecific point becomes Lower Main Street, which is where the seedier part of town starts. Houses are smaller here, and almost universally built of cheap wood. Some have fallen into disrepair, their owners vanished and gone.

Eventually Main Street ends in T-crossing with Ragtime Alley. The alley runs along the very bottom of Haywood Hill, and is lined by docks and stockrooms, rowhouses and shotgun shacks that ramble down toward the water's edge.


Rail Station
Voodoo Lounge
Grace Mansion
Vieux Carré Theatre
Union Avenue

Denizens

Dylan Metairie A gentleman and businessowner who arrived in Nowhere Gulch some ten years ago from no-one knows where. He bought long-abandoned Grace Mansion, a spacious colonial manse on the outskirts of town, and proceeded to buy several properties all over town, becoming one of its most important people in the process. He appears an amicable and generous man, but rumors abound that Mr. Metairie came by his vast fortune in a less than legal manner. From time to time Marshals drift into town, always seemingly eager to check up on Mr. Metairie, but so far nobody has managed to pin anything specific on the elusive bon-vivant.

Jimmy Sixkiller
Frank & Nancy Dorsey
Harry Haywood III

Col. Caleb "C.C." Carson Gentleman-soldier, adventurer and retired officer of the Union Cavalry. Veteran of the endless brush wars against bandits, Indians, the alien Shaheen and the occasional supernatural horror fought by the Cavalry. After a series of adventures Colonel Carson has ended up with a nigh-limitless amount of gold and a hoard of peculiar artefacts -- some of which are harmless, and some of which are not.

Emeline Belle Carson
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
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Magister Militum
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Magister Militum »

Shame on you, Siege, for trying to sneak the rebirth of Westworlds under our radar. :D

In any case, the rebirth of Westworlds and whatever new plans you have for it have me jumping with joy.
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Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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Siege
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Siege »

:lol:

I can't believe you found this place so quickly. I thought that this far down the list I'd easily be able to slip Westworlds under the radar for weeks before anyone would notice her. Nonetheless I thank you for your encouragement and I think I have a clear idea what I want to accomplish at present stage, so keep checking in because I'll be expanding the 'verse with this one city as its centrepoint.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
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Dakarne
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Dakarne »

I never really saw much of this 'verse the first time around; as I understand, it's sort of a wild west steampunkish thing, isn't it?
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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Siege
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Siege »

Dakarne wrote:I never really saw much of this 'verse the first time around; as I understand, it's sort of a wild west steampunkish thing, isn't it?
Yes, that's pretty much it. I could give you a summary but I think the 'verse is still best summed up by this image:

Image

There's a whole metaphysical angle to it but I feel that image best conveys the Westworlds spirit.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
Mobius 1
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Mobius 1 »

Ha! Now, I dare you to take another go at Apocrypha. That'd be boss.
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Shroom Man 777
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Re: Nowhere Gulch

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

That's Arty's thang, mang.

Yes! Westworlds! Wild wild Westworlds! Marshals! Lawmen! Fringe world yokels! Franklin Benjamin! Orleans! Jefferson! Badges!

(Though I hope you don't forget our little own Wild Manchuria! ;))
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"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
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