Atlantic City

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Atlantic City is RAIDERPIRATE COYOTE HATING WOLFDEVILS

Atlantic City

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Statistics & Foundation

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  • Location: Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA
  • Status: REQUEST. More Information
  • Demonym: Unknown
  • Languages Spoken: English
  • Influences: New Jersey, casinos, mafia
  • Archetype (Group): Familial, feuding, mafia
  • Archetypes (Individuals): Pirates, raiders, wolf supremacists; oppressed genders, strong men/weak women
  • Foundation: ~1992
  • Species: Wolf (75%), Wolfdog (25%)
  • Population: ~140 (95%+ Luperci)
  • Leader: Gunnison Blackburn

On this page... (hide)

  1.   1.  Essentials
    1.   1.1  Geography
    2.   1.2  Climate
    3.   1.3  Flora & Fauna
  2.   2.  Culture
    1.   2.1  Species
    2.   2.2  Luperci & Shifting
    3.   2.3  Languages
    4.   2.4  Technology
    5.   2.5  Practices & Traditions
    6.   2.6  Outsider Relations & Travel
  3.   3.  Structure
    1.   3.1  Leaders
  4.   4.  Religion
  5.   5.  Significant Families
    1.   5.1  Current
  6.   6.  History
    1.   6.1  Influence on 'Souls
    2.   6.2  Early
  7.   7.  Notes & References
    1.   7.1  Quick Reference Index
    2.   7.2  Etc.

1.  Essentials

1.1  Geography

Atlantic City is actually located on 8.1-mile (13.0 km) long Absecon Island. Ventnor City, Margate City and Longport occupy the same island to the southwest. The Absecon Channel separates the city from the mainland, though Atlantic City and the whole of Absecon Island remain easily accessible to the canines who live there. Not only do two solid, concrete bridges cross from the mainland the island, the wolves who live in the city have simple boating technologies.

The southerly bridge is a wide-laned expressway bridge; at the far end of this expressway, Camden and Philadelphia on the far western side of New Jersey sit. This bridge, rising high above the marshes for a long distance, is always accessible. The more southerly bridge, called White Horse, is a smaller bridge. A long, snaking highway road through the salt marshes connects this bridge with the mainland -- while the bridge remains, much of this road has been washed completely out. Only the bridge remains to connect the shifting salt-marsh islands with the mainland -- or not, when the sand bars and barrier islands have shifted considerably.

The beaches are pristine and boast pale white sands, with mountainous and long dunes dredged up by wind and wave. These dunes are as changing as the sand bars and barrier islands around them.

Brigantine Island

The Brigantine bridge.

Once a beach community -- bustling in summer and peacefully quiet in winter -- Brigantine Island's human remnants have fallen to disrepair. Much of the island's homes have been swept completely away, leaving only stone foundations. Nonetheless, a few sturdy stone or brick houses do remain -- though even they have been completely flooded out. A tall bridge connects the island with Absecon Island, forking off of the White Horse bridge. The North End of Brigantine is far more pristine: this area was once a vast shore wilderness preserve for birds of all kinds. Many miles of open marshland and shallow tidal bays dot this part of the island.

Morrow

The Morrow is a boat that ran aground in the late 1990s along the shoreline of Brigantine Island, close to the North End. The huge cruise ship, once pristine white, was afire as she smashed into the shallows. This fire burned for nearly a month before extinguishing itself; the canines of Atlantic City still speak of drinking and dancing around the ruined relic of humanity. Once the fires burned out, the hull of the ship remained -- though warped and melted by the heat of the fires. All flammable material within the Morrow was completely destroyed -- only twisted metal, sinking slowly into the sand, remains.

The Morrow is the inspiration for the Atlantic City wolves' ship-building efforts.

Flooding

The boardwalk, where it remains, is damaged beyond use.

Flooding has decimated much of the city. As it is situated on a barrier island, it is not above sea level. The lands of Atlantic City are unstable at best -- from year to year, season to season, and even storm to storm the island's topography can change dramatically as tides are changed, channels and sand bars open up, and solid land falls away to the ocean.

The only remaining buildings are those tall enough to have deep-sunken foundations: the casinos, hotels, and other tall structures, that is. Even they are not accessible by land: their bases are very often sunken below the waves, whether at high tide or for a season.

1.2  Climate

The climate in southern New Jersey is humid. Summers are long, hot, and humid, with numerous thunderstorms and rain. Southern New Jersey's temperatures are somewhat higher than surrounding areas, though the area receives less annual precipitation. The shore boasts temperatures moderated by breeze and less humidity.

1.3  Flora & Fauna

  • Fauna: White Tailed Deer, Raccoons, Opossums?, numerous Shorebirds, numerous Songbirds, Rabbits?, Squirrels, Chipmunks, Groundhogs, Foxes, Beaver, Skunk, and Woodchuck.
  • Flora: The flora communities are dominated by marine and shore growth. Algae washes up on the shores, barnacles grow along the floor levels of buildings where they were once -- or are currently -- sunken into the ocean. Saltwort, sea grasses, and other marsh plant life dominates.
  • Insects: The thick salt marshes produce a unique pest: the Greenhead fly. These flies come as far south as Atlantic City when the wind is right. These blood-sucking, biting horse-flies, determined to drink their fill, will fly into closed doors and crawl through almost anything to access a warm body. The wolves value citronella -- despite its noxious scent to canines -- and other repellents to keep these flies at bay. If the wind blows from the north, the canines of Atlantic City basically hide in the upper parts of their casinos, high where the sharper winds keep the insects at bay.

2.  Culture

2.1  Species

Wolf
Wolves are the dominant species
  • The Eastern Timber Wolf (Canis lupus lycaon) dominates, though dogs are also commonplace.
  • Coy-wolf hybrids can be found only very rarely. These coyote hybrids are invariably very low in coyote percentage.
  • Coyotes are not welcome among the Leeds Point canines.

2.2  Luperci & Shifting

All canines are Luperci, and the four-legged form is rather uncommon. The Atlantic City canines find their hands and two-legged forms most useful, and so remain in their Optime forms a large portion of the time.

2.3  Languages

2.4  Technology

Atlantic City beach

Sailing and Piracy

The canines of Atlantic City are sailors and pirates. Each family owns a large number of boats, used to raid other deep-sea vessels passing near the shoreline (primarily those headed to Freetown from Chesapeake Bay). The canines use Monk Parakeets in their piracy. These parakeets are taught a few words of high speech, and sent out over the water to lure ships to the shore in certain circumstances.

Piracy tends to take place in foggy weather with low visibility. The ships are lured through the channel between Brigantine and Atlantic City, and the wolves most generally attack just beyond the bridge. All aboard these ships are slaughtered -- though in very rare instances they may keep a captured canine as an Omega servant -- and receptive women are often taken as mates (though truly receptive women are rare -- many of these would-be wives ran away quickly once granted freedom).

A halo, as seen on the shoreline of Atlantic City.

They most typically attack ships laden with goods. These goods are then essentially used or hoarded: while the wolves obviously devour any food, livestock, and other perishables, there are a number of other things stockpiled in their hotels and casinos, all of it taken from passing ships.

Nonetheless -- trade does occur. When the wolves capture a boat, they don't often keep it -- only one ship, their large scout ship, The Devil's Compass, was kept. This ship is exclusively used to ferry their own home after trading off another vessel. Otherwise, deep-sea vessels are of very little use to the Atlantic City canines. They most often sail these ocean-going vessels north to Freetown, and trade them wholesale: all they did not care to take or hoard on the ship, and the ship itself.

The canines are careful to send different traders as the captains each time, of course, and tend to capture between one and two ships per year, though two and three year periods have passed wherein they have failed to capture ships. They have, however, captured the same ship three times: the poor Seasparrow was taken coming north to south and then again, and then again the previous year.

Learning to Sail and Boating Accidents

Thanks to their propensity to sail only in calm weather and good water, as well as their tendency to never leave the shoreline, boating deaths are relatively rare. Boating accidents are almost comically commonplace: even in the midst of a raid, two uncoordinated boats from differing families may smash into each other in a narrow channel and both sink. Poor construction also leads to a large number of boating accidents. Due to the closeness of the islands and sand bars, sailors from these ships rarely -- if ever -- drown or die, but losing, damaging, or even sinking one's boat happens very often.

Sailing in deeper waters, sailing larger ships, and sailing further away than the bays of Atlantic City has proven perilous: a captured ship was grounded in the Brigantine Channel by an inexperienced Atlantic City crew, and another ship and its crew disappeared entirely (though they may have just sailed off into the sunset, too -- who knows).

Their largest ship, The Devil's Compass, has the most dangerous job: it crosses the Block Island Sound at the end of the Long Island Sound to fetch wolves on a return trip from Freetown, and it crosses the Delaware Bay to fetch wolves home on a return trip from the Chesapeake Bay area.

Boats

Boats leftover from humanity, much like the low-slung houses within reach of the tide, have been swept away or damaged beyond repair.

The boats are the most important asset of the Atlantic City canines by far. These boats are a mish-mosh, consisting of smartly-constructed small vessels captured from other canines and handbuilt small sailing and oar-powered vessels. They generally do not venture out into the opean waters of the ocean. These boats are more practically used in the bays, channels, and other waterways along Atlantic City, most typically to swarm and surround a much larger vessel.

Animals

  • Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus): The Monk Parakeet, one of the few parakeets able to survive New Jersey's winter temperatures thanks to their nesting behaviors, is kept and cultivated by the Atlantic City families.
  • Cats: Feral cats dominated the boardwalks of Atlantic City prior to the apocalypse. With the demise of humanity, these animals moved into the casinos and hotels to hunt the mice, rats, and nesting shorebirds. When the wolves moved in, the cats remained. Some became acclimated to the presence of canines, and kittens were stolen and kept as pets in other cases. Each casino has a healthy population of 20-25 feral cats, with an additional equivalent amount of domesticated animals.
  • Other: More than a few exotic creatures can be found amongst these canines. The Blackburn family, for instance, has a cheetah pet. Breeding pairs of these exotics are rare, as they are usually taken from passing ships.
  • Wild: Goats were introduced on Brigantine Island to provide a food source for the wolves. Deer were tried, but they did not thrive on the marsh grasses.

Style

The boardwalk, where it remains, is damaged beyond use.

The canines of Atlantic City, when within their hotel and casino homes, are baller as fuck and go all-out. Extravagant and elaborate clothing, jewelry, piercings, feathers, headdresses, hats, whatever -- anything decadent and wild. They are far more practical and muted when they leave their casinos and interact with other families or go raiding.

2.5  Practices & Traditions

Families

The canines of Atlantic City have organized themselves into families -- which are essentially equivalent to packs, although there is generally one dominant family amongst the canines (hence their names). Outsiders become mates of those within their chosen family anyway -- or are sometimes adopted into a family, if they are particularly young.

Families are very concerned with their own and those within their group. Though the canines live in sprawling hotels and casinos, sometimes with many thousands of rooms, they are closely-knit and often know everything about one another. Gossip and the information trade are important within and beyond a given family.

Feuding

These families sometimes feud: these affairs are generally very regulated. Wholesale killing, crippling members of different families, and other forms of slaughter and madness are absolutely not permitted. The Commission or the Governor alone can call off a feud with a few words at any time if it becomes too violent or detrimental to the wolves' operations.

The North End of Brigantine -- pristine, salt marsh wilderness.

What is okay in a feud is the demanding of repayment, interfering with another family's boat or boats, and generally being a pain in the ass. Often, more surreptitious crimes -- e.g., murdering someone -- do happen, and often go unpunished (especially in the case where the Governor is of the family that did the murdering).

Gender and Sexuality

Gender

Women are most typically ranked as Members, though a scant few may ascent as high as Associate or even Soldier. Women who choose such a path are generally subject to ridicule and harsh treatment by her fellow canines; she is seen as skirting her role. Nonetheless, women who are able to hack the ridicule (and perhaps even knock a few men down along the way) are permitted to serve.

Despite their relegation to a low role, women enjoy a fair amount of power within the Atlantic City area. This is generally derived from the male members of her family, however. A woman with many strong brothers and a strong father is well-protected, whereas a woman with sisters and an old father enjoys considerably less protection.

Daughters are sometimes "traded off" secretively -- either to a passing trader, or by a brother who takes her away and tries to find her a good mate (or abandons her in the middle of nowhere -- it really depends on the brother). Desperate mothers with few close male relatives and no prospects for their many daughters have even been known to bribe Leeds Point coyotes who promise to take the girls away. Taking these daughters far away is preferable to marrying her off into another family and giving away secrets to said family.

Sexuality

Though many houses have fallen to surf and sand, and what few streets and buildings remain have flooded countless times, the tall casinos still provide homes for the wolves.

Casual sex is generally okay -- but honorable intentions are a must. Someone who strings along their partners with promises of mateship, or otherwise treats a casual partner poorly can expect to face retribution. This is somewhat of a double standard: men are much more likely to be pursued by brothers, fathers, or uncles for such offenses, and a woman is generally not punished (though she may incur a reputation for slatternly behavior).

Cousin marriage is commonplace -- consolidating power and secrets within a family is important. Uncles and aunts are also permitted to wed nieces and nephews. More distant forms of incest are also permitted (and extremely commonplace -- as outsiders are uncommon, even mateship outside of one's family does not guarantee a lack of it). Closer forms of incest are outright forbidden; those who participate in such things -- even by force -- are often killed.

Behavior

Canines of the Atlantic City, despite their austerity toward outsiders and each other where interfamilial and interpersonal relationships are concerned, are not "stuffy" canines. They don't sit around in the lovely banquet halls of their ruined casinos pretending to be human: on the contrary, they revel in their Luperci lifestyle and consider themselves, as a group, "Kings of the Coast." Pirate is often added as an adjective before this descriptor.

Vices

  • Use of illicit substances is commonplace and encouraged. Being unable to hold one's own with a substance is a mark of shame.
  • Gambling games -- as per their casino homes -- are extremely commonplace. Obviously, the Luperci cannot and do not play slots -- but a vast array of gambling card games are known to these Luperci. They use the gaming chips and even old human money as "tokens" and "markers" to stand in for actual goods and services with one another.

2.6  Outsider Relations & Travel

Leeds Point

  • Travel: 40 miles, about half a day.

The wolves do not travel to Leeds Point except to harry and raid -- and that is rare enough, generally only when the areas are engaged in a scuffle. However, Leeds Point canines do come to Atlantic City and Brigantine Island to harvest the sands found along the beaches for their glassworking operations. The Atlantic City wolves consider this trespassing, and will not hesitate to attack a caravan of Leeds Point canines.

Freetown

  • Travel: 500 miles, about 10 days overland, 3 days by ship

The wolves travel to this area to trade captured ships and cargo. The Atlantic City wolves take most of their stolen ships here, as better goods flow south to north. The journey back home is longer and generally harsher, with no ship to shorten the journey -- but it is the one the canines take most frequently. Where possible, they hitch a ship heading southward and may even bring the ship to their comrades in Atlantic City on their way.

Chesapeake Bay

  • Travel: 400 miles, about 8 days, 3 days by ship

The wolves travel to this area to trade captured ships and cargo. Though travel is faster to Chesapeake Bay, they are far less likely to take ships south. For one, the goods coming south to north tend to be better. The overland journey home is easier, though: the Atlantic City wolves send a scout ship -- the largest they own, captured by piracy of course -- to Delaware Bay on the western side of New Jersey to take the crew home.

Outsiders

Pretty much everyone and everything is regarded with extreme suspicion. Outsider wolves are sometimes allowed to join up with the Atlantic City wolves, but this is a relatively rare occurrence. The Leeds Point coyotes, further to the east, intercept many traders coming west, and the city wolves are out of the way for all but ocean-going wolves -- whom they usually attack and kill.

Leeds Point

The canines of Atlantic City dislike the coyotes, primarily for their propensity to cross into territory "claimed" by the Atlantic City canines (they "claim" it but cannot adequately defend all that they claim). Speciesism plays into this some extent, especially following the leadership of the Leeds#wolves family.

The wolves of Atlantic City maintain 2-3 informants amongst the Leeds Point canines. They strongly prefer part-wolves, but will deal with coyotes (except the Leeds, of course). Atlantic City wolves never purposefully infiltrate the coyotes: they simply bribe certain canines to deliver information to them.

These relationships are precarious at best; most informants provide bad information at worst, and poor information at best. Nonetheless, the wolves do not truly consider the coyotes a threat: maintaining informant relationships is important, but getting correct information isn't as important. It is, more or less, so an Alpha of a given family may present some new information before any other Alpha does so at a Commission meeting. Whether that information turns out to be true later is of little consequence.

3.  Structure

The Atlantic City wolves have adopted a strict system of hierarchy and justice amongst themselves.

  • Overarching Leadership
    • Governor: The Governor is sometimes chosen by a willing commission; in other instances, the old Governor is sometimes forced out, and the new forces his way in. The Governor is not all-powerful: the Alpha generally exerts much more control over his individual family, and the Commission limits the power of the Governor immensely. It is nonetheless enviable for a Family to control the governorship: they are then able to elect a second canine, typically a Beta, to the Commission.
    • Commission: The overarching leadership of all the Atlantic City wolf families consists of a commission -- generally consisting of the alphas of each family (though not always). This commission is in turn led by the Governor. The Commission generally meets once a week in a neutral area -- the tiny Resorts casino -- to engage in discussions.
  • Family Leadership
    • Alpha: The absolute law within a family, the Alpha demands the respect of those beneath him. The Alpha is the only high ranking position where a woman may be found, though she holds no power of her own: all is derived from her mate, and a female Alpha discarded by her mate is generally related to Member status again.
    • Beta: The Beta rank is generally occupied by a pair of male canines. These are most frequently close relatives -- brothers, uncles, cousins, and even fathers -- of current Alphas.
    • Council: The Council consists of four canines. They serve to advise
  • Membership Ranks
    • Advisor: The highest-ranked member, the Advisor's single duty is to bring the reports of Captains to Council. The Advisor is never a sailor; this lofty position is the envy of almost every lower rank but the Captain -- though an Advisor rarely, if ever, leaves his family's casino.
    • Agent: The Agent controls, raises, and trains the family's parakeets; they are also responsible for seeking out informants and recieiving reports from them.
    • Captain: Captains anyone who owns a boat large enough to sail two (sailors of single-seat boats are not considered Captains). The most prestigious captains command six or seven Soldiers in their crew.
    • Soldier: Soldiers are the regular sailors on a Captain's boat. Most boats are not large enough to require a first mate.
    • Associate: Associates are soldiers and agents in training.
    • Member: Members are generally the women: men do not linger long amongst the Member ranks. Those who do are mocked, bullied, and even sometimes (in rare circumstances) killed.
    • Youth and Elderly: Puppies and old farts.
    • Omegas: The Omegas are any captives the wolves have taken from the ships.

3.1  Leaders

  • Governor — Gunnison Blackburn: The Governor is a mysterious canine. Even those within his family rarely see him; his interactions are primarily through his Beta, Marlton Blackburn (who is also a councilmember). All within Atlantic City fear his wrath, however; though he is rarely seen, his influence can be felt in all things.
  • Council: Gunnison Blackburn, Marlton Blackburn, Kallikak Leeds, Morgan Kingsley, Kitatene Lockwood, Nomahegan Harlow

4.  Religion

Travel overland from one barrier island to the next is never certain. Sands shift and the water is constantly slicing new pathways through these fickle islands.

The canines of Atlantic City do not have a religion. Belief in god, spirituality, and other elements of religious behavior are virtually unknown among the canines. Religion is most often derided as nonsense; the wolves, at worst, look at belief in a god as necessarily worshipping that god and "bowing" to that god -- a belief incompatible with their belief in themselves as kings. The wolves are derisive toward superstition as well: a favorite pasttime young Atlantic City wolves is sneaking to the Leeds Point area under cover of night and disguise of scent to leave "evidence" of the Jersey Devil and other "Point nonsense."

5.  Significant Families

5.1  Current

Blackburn

  • Harrah's Casino: 2,600 rooms; located on the channel separating Brigantine from Atlantic City, near to the Brigantine Bridge. This complex of several sprawling towers and a multi-storied parking garage has a marina and waterfront theme. Numerous artifacts of sailing, ships, and related material can be found here, leftover from humanity. The complex's situation on the Brigantine canal has resulted in some of the lowest floors flooding out; the buildings are almost always accessible by boat, no matter the position of the sands.
  • Members: ~30; Gunnison Blackburn (Alpha), Marlton Blackburn (Beta), May Blackburn (Alpha Female)
  • Relations: Allied with Leeds, Blackburn, and Harlow. Recently feuded with Kingsley.
  • History: The Blackburn family has long been the largest of those in Atlantic City, with a penchant for attracting the favor and strong alliance of other families through mateship -- none of the families do not have kin within the Blackburn family.
  • Culture: Specialists in shipbuilding and construction, the Blackburn canines' abilities far exceed the other families. These secrets are guarded exceptionally well amongst the canines; women are rarely married outside of the family. Over several generations of consolidation and taking governorship, the Blackburn family maintains most of the power and influence among the Atlantic City wolves.
  • Species: Thoroughly wolfdog; purebred members of this family are few and far between, and usually dog.

Leeds

Though many of the areas with low-lying buildings, one or two stories tall, have suffered irreparable damage, the wolves are well-situated in their tall buildings... for now!

  • Showboat Casino: 1300 rooms; located on the boardwalk close to the Brigantine end.
  • Members: ~30; Kallikak Leeds
  • Relations: Allied with Blackburn and Lockwood. Recently feuded with Kingsley.
  • History: Though they held governorship for many years following the foundation of the Atlantic City families and their alliances, they did not found the first alliances nor were they the first canines in the area. Though they feuded with the Blackburns following the ousting of their last Governor, this feud was short-lived and gave way to a strong alliance.
  • Culture: The other families are all well-aware of the Leeds canines connection to canines within Leeds Point; the wolves of this family are therefore regarded with some minor suspicion. Their New Orleans and Mardi Gras themed casino has imparted to them a culture valuing brilliant colors, masks and masquerades, and other vague, very distorted elements of the French Quarter.
  • Species: The Leeds family are the most wolfish of all the families in Atlantic City. They hate coyotes and are actually most of the reason why the other wolves have so much hate. During their governorship, they emphasized the hell out of coyote hatred and actually convinced most of the wolves within Atlantic City of their position (and not in a way that was just kowtowing to the Governor and family in power -- this belief persists with the Blackburn governorship).

Kingsley

  • Tropicana Casino: 2,000 rooms; located far south down the boardwalk. This Old Havana styled casino boasts elaborate smoking lounges; innumerable plastic flowers, once indistinguishable from the real thing (time has tarnished many somewhat); and a sprawling garden orchard that overgrew its boundaries and spilled into the upper floors of the casino. The steel framework of the Tropicana is among the oldest still in use (1919); though the casino was rebuilt aside from this steel structure in 1980. Some evidence of the building's age can be seen, however: its lower floors are buckling faster than the newer, better-quality steel of the other tall casinos. This damage is not yet visibly evident.
  • Members: ~30; Morgan Kingsley
  • Relations: Allied with Lockwood and Harlow. Recently feuded with Blackburn and Leeds.
  • History: Forever embittered, the Kingsley family feels it ought to hold governorship, and it dislikes the Leeds family above all, and is also not terribly fond of the Blackburns. The Kingsley family first proposed the alliances between different groups; a different canine devised their method of using parakeets to capture ships (a secret the Kingsleys, sadly, needed to share in order to share the plan with other canines). Many feel they have been slighted and overshadowed by the Leeds -- and now the Blackburns.
  • Culture: The canines of the Kingsley family hoard rum, cigars, cigarettes, tobacco, and smoking implements like nobody's business. The women of the family often wear flowers picked of the exotic gardens in their hair, and are widely considered the most beautiful of all Atlantic City canines.
  • Species: The Kingsleys are the most doggish of the Leeds family, boasting heavy dog influence and the most pure-blooded dog members. Of all families, they will most often invite dogs captured from ships to be wives. They were started as a dog family, and it was only through the influence of other familes they picked up wolfish blood. Nonetheless, most members are hybrids -- even heavily wolf ones -- these days.

Harlow

  • Bally's Casino: 1700 rooms; located near the expressway bridge. This modern metropolitan casino is themed in the fashion of a modern city building, though obviously outfitted as a hotel and casino. This complex of buildings houses a large number of rooms, and part of this casino is quite old, built in 1930 -- it suffers from similar degradation issues as the Tropicana, with as-yet-invisible evidences of the older steel degrading under the pressures of salt and sand.
  • Members: ~20; Nomahegan Harlow
  • Relations: Allied with Blackburn and Kingsley.
  • History: The Harlow family has always been the smallest and most inconspicuous of the Atlantic City wolves. Many remember, however, prior to their alliance their penchant for treachery and sly, surreptitious moves. Though the Harlows cultivate alliances and rarely, if ever, even stray toward threatening a feud, they are mistrusted and often derited among other Atlantic City wolves.
  • Culture: The sleek modernity of the Bally's Casino has yielded sophisticated canines: the Harlows will dress neatly even outside of their casinos, though they still favor practicality and don't prance around in silk things when their aim is to kill someone. The Harlows are the most experienced in deep sea sailing, as The Devil's Revenge is their possession.
  • Species: The Harlows are primarily wolves, though they have doggish blood in their history: a full dog married an early Harlow. This essentially ensured the small family contains some amount of dog heritage, though some purebreds are still found here and there.

Lockwood

Sup giant statue.

  • Caesars Casino: 1150 rooms; located south of Bally's along the boardwalk. Roman Empire themed, with statues, columns, marble, and and broad, wide-open atriums. A three-story mall, themed as a giant ocean liner, extends on a slowly-decaying pier extending out into the ocean. Unlike more southerly piers, the Atlantic City pier at Caesars is steel on its base and sunken deep into the ground. It has not collapsed or sunken into the ocean, though the enclosed indoor bridge connecting the pier to Caesars casino has become extremely rickety. A four-story mall sits inside the pier -- vast, empty, and echoing with the noise of the oceans.
  • Members: ~25; Kitatene Lockwood
  • Relations: Allied with Kingsley and Leeds.
  • History: The Lockwood family first established the ranking system used by all other families, though they have never been particularly influential beyond that. They also suffered from a weak alpha (at least in the Commission) for many years.
  • Culture: The Lockwoods are strongly influenced by Roman Empire
  • Species: The Lockwoods are evenly mixed, wolf and dog -- though they tend toward wolf.

6.  History

6.1  Influence on 'Souls

6.2  Early

  • 1990: Canines begin living among the Atlantic City ruins. Feral and living in splintered packs, they fight earnestly with each other.
  • 1991: During a lean time, Leeds Point coyotes venture as far out as Brigantine and Atlantic City in search of prey. This sparks the first conflicts between the coyotes and the wolves. A member of the Kingsley family proposes an alliance between the different splintered groups; none of the other groups really want to hear it, though, and they go on fighting with one another, allying with one another, turning on one another, and basically being very petty.
  • 1997: The Morrow, afire and drifting, runs aground on Brigantine Island. The families suspend their feud and essentially go out to the beach and party until the fire burns out. Though the event is treated as a party, it sparks an idea in the heads of the Blackburn family -- well-suited in its marina-themed casino and close to the marina itself. They begin experimenting with boat-building, though none of these early efforts are remotely successful.
  • 1999: The alliance is accepted at long last. A Kingsley rules as Governor all of two months before he drops dead. A Leeds canine takes his place. Murmurs of murder are heard but never addressed, and the Kingsley family steams.
  • 2000: By this time the secret efforts of the Blackburns are no longer secret, and their success -- although minimal -- in building a floating boat has occurred. Other families scramble to keep up, and a great deal of ridiculous early boat iterations occur. Oar technology is discovered relatively quickly thanks to the abundance of shattered rowboats and the presence of pictures in human ruins.
  • 2002: The first foreign boat sails past the wolves' coast. Many wolves sight it, and this inspires a Kingsley canine to come up with the idea of using boats to attack the canines. Sailing technology is also attempted, though it fails miserably.
  • 2003: The first attempt at capturing a foreign boat -- whose presence has steadily increased along the Atlantic City coast -- fails miserably (they basically attempted to chase a sailing ship in rowboats on the open ocean -- it did not end well and several wolves drowned; no fewer than five boats were capsized). There is an uproar and many canines are afraid that the foreigners, with their obviously superior technology, will come en masse and eradicate the city wolves (nobody considers they might have looked like madmen in their teeny rowboats and that the sailors on the big ship might have been laughing at them...). The attempt is so bad and the fear so widespread, nobody dares try it again for a full two years.
  • 2005: The first sailing boat is created by the wolves -- though it still relies heavily on oars. The fear has subsided at this point, but the attempt was still so pitiful, the Commission does not order another attempt at an ocean-going vessel. The wolves are rejuvenated in their efforts and their plans when a ship comes to them unwitting and perhaps unwillingly: it wrecks in the Brigantine channel after a storm, having suffered severe damage during the high seas. Perhaps maddened, the wolves slaughter nearly all of the crew and loot the contents of the ship: it contains riches and goods beyond their imagination.

Storms are especially harsh on the barrier islands of New Jersey. Their purpose is to protect mainland areas from storms -- which they do, exceptionally well, by flooding and taking the brunt of a storm surge so that bays and inland areas are not so greatly damaged.

  • 2006: A Kingsley comes up with the idea of using the parakeets -- many of which are at this point simply being raised as exotic things to show off to others (the more words your parakeet knows, the cooler you are!) -- to lure ships into the waves. The parakeets are not capable of flying out too far over the ocean, but a great deal of ships pass quite close to the wolves, within sight of shore. The very first attempt is wildly successful, if sloppily executed. Though three boats are lost (all three crashed into the hull of the seafaring vessel and broke apart), only one canine dies and one is maimed in the killing (which was more assumed than ordered but still).
  • 2011: After three years of having failed to capture a ship, the Blackburn family forcibly takes control of the Governorship. At this point, three Leeds canines had led as Governors: the first, who inherited/stole (depending who you ask) the seat from the Kingsley; his cousin, who ruled for many years thereafter; and finally, the young son of the cousin. Fearing the establishment of a dynasty and seeing opportunity in the youth of the leader, the Commission took the Leeds boy's leadership away, and gave the seat to the Blackburn alpha.
  • 2013: The Devil's Compass is captured as the Queen's Sword and renamed.

7.  Notes & References

7.1  Quick Reference Index

Essentials

Atlantic City
The city where the wolves live, formerly the shoreside hub of gambling in New Jersey. The city is situated on a barrier island, and as a result has only tall, sturdy buildings remaining. Wikipedia:Atlantic_City,_New_Jersey
Brigantine
The barrier island just north of the island where Atlantic City sits. Decimated by tide and wave, most human construction on the island has been obliterated. Wikipedia:Brigantine,_New_Jersey
Morrow
The Morrow is a huge liner ship, leftover from the time of humanity and set to drifting as a ghost ship for many years, grounded on Brigantine Island in the late 1990s. Wikipedia:SS_Morro_Castle_
Barrier Island
A barrier island is an island along the shore that protects the mainland from taking the brunt of the tides. Barrier islands are often changing, consisting partially of sand bars and separated from the mainland by channels and bays. Wikipedia:Barrier_island
Monk Parakeet
A small species of parakeet bird, capable of high speech, that lives amongst the Atlantic City canines. Their nesting habits -- that is, to build huge, multi-roomed nests and live in large groups -- made them able to survive the New Jersey winters. In fact, they were introduced into the wild long before the apocalypse. These birds aid in the attack on seafaring vessels. Wikipedia:Monk_Parakeet
Greenhead Fly
A beastly species of horsefly that attacks anything warm-blooded, and is vicious and unrelenting in its attacks. Wikipedia:Tabanus_nigrovittatus

Casinos

Caesars
A Roman Empire themed casino, home of the Lockwood family. Wikipedia:Caesars_Atlantic_City
The Pier at Caesars
A huge, four-story mall connected to Caesars by a skybridge. Wikipedia:The_Pier_Shops_at_Caesars
Tropicana
An Old Havana styled casino, home of the Kingsley family. Wikipedia:Tropicana_Casino_%26_Resort_Atlantic_City
Harrah's
A marina and waterfront themed casino, home of the Blackburn family. Wikipedia:Harrah%27s_Atlantic_City
Showboat
A Mardi Gras, French Quarter, and New Orleans themed casino, home of the Leeds family. Wikipedia:Showboat_Atlantic_City
Bally's
A modern metropolis Wikipedia:Bally%27s_Atlantic_City
Sands
Wikipedia:Sands_Atlantic_City

7.2  Etc.

Status: REQUEST.

  • Creator: Sie — see Wiki page for contact information.
    • I have approved characters from the area before -- however, please ask first. You will need to adhere to the information within this document and show me you have a strong understanding of the areas and culture in order to be approved.
    • There's no need to ask about characters passing through the area in the past, but again, please adhere to the information within this document.
    • You can also check out Sie's Adoptions to see if I have any available characters from the area.

Inconsistencies

Please remember these wolves are not intended to be or represent New Jersey people or Atlantic City or anything real. BESIDES SON I'M FROM NEW JERSEY I DO WHAT I WANT. ok thanks.

A Dumb Sentimental Note

Sie's daddy did electrical work during the construction of Bally's Wild Wild West casino. If you ever go in there and see the awesome lightning/storm dome thing in the lobby, he did the installation of many lights up there! IT IS A SUPER COOL CASINO AND I WISH IT COULD BE USED... but was built long after 1988. D: FOREVER SAD.

Categories: Sie | Wolf