In Nomine San Francisco
This writeup is based on (and somewhat modified from) David Edelstein's In Nomine San Francisco.
Overview
San Francisco has, for the last few decades, been firmly in the camp of the angels. During the late 1960's, concerted effort by servitors of Marc, Zadkiel, and Novalis helped stabilize tethers to Heaven, and weaken and destroy tethers to Hell, in the city. The centerpiece of San Francisco is Novalis' tether. As this is a city firmly in the hands of non-militant Archangels, the more militant Archangels find it to be a bit of a waste. The angels there are just too tolerant of demons in town, holding out hope for demons who really should just be smacked down (in the view of the more militant angels). On the other hand, they're happy that it's not in demonic hands. While it might have more potential if more useful archangels had more influence, at least it's not an open problem. (Well, except for the number of Outcasts that live in town, but even Dominic has to admit grudingly that the local angels keep an eye on the Outcasts skirting the edge. This doesn't stop him from regularly sending Triads to satisfy himself.)
Across the Bay there is more of a battleground. See In Nomine Berkeley for more information.
Heavenly Tethers
- Golden Gate Park
- A large and strong tether to Flowers. Far and away the strongest
tether in San Francisco, this is also one of the strongest angelic
tethers in the United States. The locus of the tether includes much of
the park, making it a very large tether geographically. The Senschal
is Hallaren, an Ofanite Master of Peace. He wanders the park
appearing as an aging hippy, friendly to all but keeping a keen eye on
the park. The tether staff is fairly large, including both celestials
and soldiers, and there are always a number of servitors of Flowers
visiting. To the consternation of the more militant archangels,
demons are in fact welcome in the park— so long as they don't
cause trouble, and can put up with angels of flowers hovering around
them, being nice, and generally trying to convince them that the peace
of heaven is The Answer. (Many demons can only put up with so much of
this before they would rather go get their asses kicked by Malakim of
War.) Google
Map.
- Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic
- Situated mere blocks away from the edge of Golden Gate Park, this
is a strong tether to Protection. The locus of the tether is the
clinic building itself. The seneschal is Hazana, a Kyriotate Friend
of the Guard. It usually possesses volunteers who have come to work
in the clinic as orderlies and staff memebers, not wanting to distract
the medical professionals from their work. Google
Map.
- Lighthouse Bookstore
- A quite bookstore and coffee shop. This is a weak tether to
Dreams, and has been since the late 1980's. The seneschal is Chelsea,
a Mercurian Vassal of Dreams.Google
Map.
- Look Tin Eli's Offices
- A small office that was used by Look Tin Eli in the early 20th
Century is an average tether to Trade. Look Tin Eli was the one who
spearheaded the rebuilding of Chinatown into the tourist destination
it is today after the 1906 earthquake, overcoming forces that wanted
to move the Chinese population out of the heart of San Francisco. The
Seneschal is Lao Chin, a Malakite Friend of the Shareholders. The
tether is located near the
intersection of Clay St. and Grant St. in Chinatown.
- Blue Lightning Digital Research
- This tether is actually not in San Francisco, but in Silicon
Valley near San Jose to the south. It's a small high-tech consulting
and engineering firm. In the last two decades, this firm has engaged
in partnerships with a number of Silicon Valley companies, out of
which came a number of the (primarily hardware) real
developments during the dot-com bubble; the firm continues to thrive
today. The Blue Lightening facility itself is modest. It's largest
electronics laboratory is a tether to Jean. About half of the staff
is in on the secret— including Gil Balter (Gulestrupniel), the
Seneschal of Blue Lightning Digital Research. This tether is one of
the key places where Jean releases heavenly technological knowledge
when he feels that it is time for that information to be released.
Despite its distance, the prominence of the high-tech industry in San
Francisco means that this tether is an important one.
Infernal Tethers
Hell has very little influence in San Francisco. Many have given up on it, but Andrealphus is particlarly bitter. This was his city, once upon a time. He had hopes during the AIDS scare of the 1980's that things might tilt back his way, but if anything that backfired, for it caused a great scaling back of many of the public excesses in bath-houses and the like that helped the spread of AIDS. As it is, San Francisco's adult industry is so mainstreamed, with strip clubs across the street from classy restaurants, that people just don't feel shameful enough about it to form strong and reliable connections to the infernal version of Lust.
There are some infernal tethers across the Bay; see In Nomine Berkeley.
Characters & Groups
- Theoraxius
- A Seraph of Trade with a Role as a major executive in Bank of
America, Theoraxius is Marc's most important servitor in San
Francisco. Many humans would find it ironic that he works closely
with an itenerant hippie in Golden Gate Park, but then again,
Celestial politics do not always echo earthly politics....
- Northern California Chapter of the Purifiers
- In and around San Francisco, there is a section of the worldwide
Laurentine organization of Soldiers known as the Purifiers.
- Samuel Crane is the chapter commander. He's a PI in his late 50's who lives in San Francisco. He was formerly a detective with the SFPD, but retired when he assumed the command of the section so as to be able to more freely devote time to it. He maintains a lot of contacts and friendships in the SFPD, and works with them. He has been granted the disctinction Vassal of the Sword by Laurence, who has learned to trust him. While there is no angelic oversight of this section, Crane is eager to meet with and work with any servitors of the Sword who come through the area.
- Jennifer Alonzo is a detective in the SFPD in her 30's. She was Crane's partner before he retired.
- Barbara Brookhaven is a detective in the Oakland Police Department.
- Eric Claymore is a monk at the San Francisco Zen center. Although many of his fellows at the Zen Center don't know this, he's both an accomplished martial artist and an accomplished cat burgler.
- Dorothy Finnegan works in the State of California court records department in San Francsco.
- Ellen Jacobi is an undergraduate student studying political science at the University of California at Berkeley.
- Reggie Johnson runs a used car dealership in Oakland, CA.
- Ryan O'Connell in corporeally unemployed in San Francisco, is a former member of the IRA from 20 years ago when he was in his late teens, and the section's most reliable muscle.
- Clarence Peters is a monk at the Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, across the bay.
- Albert Pillars runs a boat rental outfit in Alameda CA, and also has extensive contacts with the underworld. He is able to supply the section with weapons as necessary.
- Zachary Rollin is a freelance audio engineer who works with various bands and clubs around the area. He gets razzed by many of the rest of the section for being a "hippie", but by the same token, gets along with the Servitors of Flowers better than most of the rest of them.
- The Roadrockers
- A biker gang based in Oakland that rides throughout Northern
California on their Harleys. They are accompanied by Pete, a Cherub
of Stone, who acts as their leaders. Several of the members of the
gang know about the War (and know the importance of keeping it
quiet).
- Judgement Triad
- Dominic always has a triad operating in San Francisco, becasue of
the disturbing tendency for servitors of Flowers to tolerate
Outcasts. They keep an eye on all of the angels (to the annoyance of
many in the city), and also on known Outcasts. If any of the known
Outcasts show up with dissonance, they are likely to become very
annoying if they aren't actively working it off in the Tether. After
all, given that there's a huge Tether locally that is so open to
Outcasts, the Triad figures there's no excuse for Outcasts to be
carrying any dissonance. Of course, the servitors of Flowers,
Protection, and Trade often try to keep the identities of Outcasts
secret from the Triad.
- Naran, Seraph of Judgement, in the vessel of a 40ish human male.
- Verandia, Cherub of Judgement, in the vessel of a powerfully built 30ish human female.
- Isorropiel, Elohite of Judgement, appearing as a slim, androgyneous young human male.