University Place, Washington
Note: This article is mainly about University Place as it pertains to Kindred. While not much is being left out, if you want to know about the real location click [here] for the Wikipedia article and [here] for the city's website.
Full of residential homes and patches of verdant life, University Place is a pretty quiet city all things considered. While those on the ground level would tell you otherwise, as is the hustle and bustle of any city, the outsider and the Kindred will find it rather droll, or perhaps relaxing is the word.
That's not to say that there's no draw to it. There's plenty of real estate to set up a Haven or convert it to a base of operations with a simple addition of an office. It's a great place to find and house ghouls and other essential people, and while there isn't a massive amount of business space, there is enough with more being built and improved all the time. Plus the coming-and-going of the main road leaves plenty of fresh blood walking through the area.
With Baron Gervais at the helm, there's been a big focus on taking the chance to relax while you have it, all the while he's making preparations to make it a bit flashier, in masquerade-safe ways, of course, to draw in more folks.
Of course, he will have to butt against the non-Kindred who are already there and enjoy it the way it is, such as the Awakened close to nature, and the mercurial Changelings who feed off of the calm and creative. Of course, if anyone can handle it, it's the Kindred who barely has a scheming bone in his body.
Demographics
Kindred of all kinds have settled in University Place, especially after the Final Nights. The most frequent are those who blend in the best, such as Ventrue and Toreador, but with the natural areas surrounding the city, plenty of the local Gangrel population have found it a nice place to kick up their feet as well.
Kindred aren't the only inhabitants though, with a wide circle of Verbena mages living in the city as well, mainly operating and gathering in a Kine-run metaphysical store (a sort of 'hiding in plain sight' kind of deal). Some people even whisper of fairy-like beings living within the city who you can see out of the corner of your eye in the local library if you're lucky.
Industry & Trade
University Place is mainly a residential area, with most of the populace working in the neighboring cities or the local military base.
Districts
While University Place isn't big enough to have full-blown districts akin to Tacoma's, it does have a few distinct neighborhoods amidst its city lines, the most notable of which are:
- Sunset Beach - The westmost neighborhood of the city, full of wealthy suburbs and the natural coastline that the more frequented highways don't reach.
- Pioneer - To the south of Sunset beach, this neighborhood contains Chambers Bay park along with more of the wealthy suburban areas all the way down to the border with Steilacoom.
- Colegate Park - While the eponymous park is only in the south-west corner of this neighborhood, it stretches up to the northern border with Tacoma, containing more residential areas but also enveloping the main shopping plaza of the city. This business sector is split in half along the main road of Bridgeport, with the western half going to this neighborhood, while the eastern half goes to:
- Northeast Neighborhood - Contains the other half of the main shopping areas of the city, containing chains and mom-and-pop stores alike, along with housing a small stretch of warehouses towards the north-east corner that borders Tacoma, as well as more parks and natural areas.
History
History for the city in itself is rather sparse, as until its incorporation in 1995, University Place was just Tacoma, so their histories are shared. Even after that point, the disparate cities are still geographically connected, leaving bleed from one to go into another.
But, the land that is now University Place first was purchased by the University of Puget Sound in the late 1800s, with the intention of creating a new campus there. However, they ended up selling the land back to Tacoma, and over the decades it developed into a mostly residential area, with a few key stretches of business and individual highlights, and eventually became an incorporated, separate city in 1995. The area had a brief bump of fame when the local Chambers Bay Golf Course was home to the 2015 US Open, but that was also fraught with criticism and controversy in regard to the quality of the field.
Even among the history of the Kindred, it's rather plain, as its suburban nature and connection to areas that are far more Garou-filled than the Kindred would like made it harder to fully integrate, although its suburban nature made it a lovely feeding ground for those skilled at stealth or coercion
There is one group who does prize the area, however, but it isn't the Kindred.
Among the reality-warping mages, the Awakened, there is a particular group known as the Verbena, the most like your traditional pagan or druid with a focus on nature, the energy flowing through life, rituals with athames and broomsticks, and all the like. Due to University Place still having pockets of well-kept nature such as the verdant Chambers Creek, it is a prized and very frequented location for the Verbena of the area. It was actually the Verbena, along with other Awakened allies in the area, that convinced the University to sell the land back to the city, as they did not want the chantry that would come with them to interfere with the energy of the land. Given that the current University of Puget Sound is home to the Technocracy, many Verbena feel it was the right call.
During the Sabbat Invasion of 2019, University Place wasn't hit as hard as Tacoma itself was, although many of the settled Sabbat still found Havens to crawl into, even if it meant disemboweling the current inhabitants. When the Final Nights came, and many attacks were made against the Sabbat, a lot of those schemers weren't in their havens, but those who did remained were quietly picked off by the stealthiest members of the rallied Anarchs and Camarilla, clearing out the homes of Kindred, Ghouls, "Art Pieces", and especially of valuable information.
Behind the scenes, the Verbena aided the Kindred in this regard, subtly using their powers to influence the minds of those in the area as well as the minds of their targets, keeping their assailants hidden until the most final moment.
Post-Invasion, with the new Baron of University Place, Gervais Wen, the High Priestess of the local Verbena Circle elected to speak with the laidback and fun-loving Baron, reaching an understanding of what is and isn't allowed, and where the groups won't intersect.
Now, University Place is mostly keeping its reputation, a pretty average suburban area with pockets of urban business and design, and Gervais is more than willing to keep it easy and quiet, but even he has new ideas to bring into the city.
Points of interest
The University Place Town Center is a key location within the city, as the massive postmodern building not only contains City Hall and the local police station, but also the local Library and a few different shops, such as restaurants and cafes. While not a part of the main building, it is surrounded by large apartment buildings, various other establishments and eateries, a pavilion that hosts community events while also just being a solid place to relax, and a Whole Foods grocery store for those whose tastes are bougie entitled expensive white healthy enough. This all makes it a key gathering ground for the Kine, making it an excellent feeding ground for Kindred.
Tourism
University Place is a quiet place to stop on a trip to Tacoma overall but doesn't have a lot of must-see attractions compared to its larger neighbor. Even Kindred don't have much of a particular interest in the area outside of its potential for feeding and security in the residential neighborhoods. Baron Gervais is looking to change that, but time will tell if he succeeds.
Architecture
While the structure of houses and various businesses fluctuates, especially based on the time period and neighborhood, many new buildings in the area take on a post-modernist style, seen most obviously with the University Place Town Center.
Such modern styles make it easy for Kindred to hide in the sharp corners, or integrate into modern sensibilities when constructing their secret passageways and whatnot, but the suburbs and higher-end residential areas contain different, older, more decorative styles that also make for some aesthetically pleasing Havens and bases of operation.
Geography
University Place is pretty level with itself, although due to being on the coast there are some hills and drops along the way.
Natural Resources
University Place's western coast is situated right on Puget Sound, which feeds into Chambers Bay, and from there the eponymous Chambers Creek which runs throughout the city and past its legal borders as it splits off into different streams. On top of the natural water, there's also plenty of greenery throughout the city, although none of it is really wild or separate from the residential life, save for the nature trail and park along the path of the creek.
Founding Date
1995 (Incorporated)
Type
City
Population
34,900 (Humans)/97 (Kindred)
Inhabitant Demonym
N/A
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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