The Smoke

On the east coast of Union sits The Smoke. Once known as the town of New Borgengast, it was set up by Church Knight-Sergeant Gordon Du Mornay in or around 1812 for refugees fleeing the oppression of the Salem Church.

The town has grown vastly, quietly becoming the most industrialised city in the world. Its streets are full of canals which carry the heavy loads of material consumed by this ever growing city to and from the docks. Workshops burning coal, and melting iron dug from hills around the West coast of Union line the streets. This has left streets choked with thick smog, made worse with being tightly packed and noisy with machines from the Workshops all over the city to produce textiles at a rate that would outstrip a whole nation. People are used like any other consumable resource and while not slaves, live poor lives working seven days a week and rarely seeing what little daylight filters through the ever present oppressive smog.

The streets are filled on most days with the dense smog that can take lives at its thickest, but nobody seems to care. They only care about getting out the next order on time.

In AU 14 the Vampires made themselves known in this place and have made their home here although they had been there much longer. Using vast wealth accumulated over the ages they have bought up all the land, making the Smoke effectively owned and belonging to The Vampire Nation.

However in recent times a civil war of sorts has begun in The Vampire Nation. This resulted in a Vampire known as Mr Du Mornay, one of the 13 leading Vampires attempting to take control of the Smoke. He failed but was strong enough to gain control of over half the city, he has since ordered his factories to make the smog in the Smoke so thick Vampires can walk in the day.

The rest of the Council of 13 Vampires are resisting in the form of a Cold War that is playing out throughout the Smoke. Since its rise to prominence a lone business ‘Sprockets Toys’ has arisen as an independent concern and is expanding rapidly. Its owner, Ivan Kollanov, has been buying up portions of The Smoke from the vampires. Creating a dividing line cutting New Borgengast in two, where vampires may not pass. While his impact is felt, the somewhat eccentric owner has not been seen in many years.