Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the state of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region. The city proper population of 178,042 anchors the 37th largest metropolitan population in the country, with an estimated MSA population of 1,600,856, exceeding that of Rhode Island by about 60% due to its reaching into southern Massachusetts. This MSA in turn is part of the larger Greater Boston commuting area, which contains 7.6 million people. Situated at the mouth of the Providence River, at the head of Narragansett Bay, the city's small footprint is crisscrossed by seemingly erratic streets and contains a rapidly changing demographic.
Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence" which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers to settle. After being one of the first cities in the country to industrialize, Providence became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today, the City of Providence is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, which has shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains significant manufacturing activity.
Once nicknamed the "Beehive of Industry", Providence began rebranding itself as the "Creative Capital" in 2009 to emphasize its educational resources and arts community. Its previous moniker was "The Renaissance City", although its 2009 poverty rate was still over 22%.
Chantry of Thirteen Faiths
The Chantry of Divine Favor was founded in 1938 by Robert Eakley, a member of the Celestial Chorus who discovered the node the chantry would be built around after the New England Hurricane flooded downtown Providence; the water drained off into an unusual cavern underneath a few of the buildings that were destroyed by the disaster. He knew what the node was, being a Prime-user, and he recruited some help to clear away the debris over the cavern, covered the entrance so that it wouldn't flood, and bought the area above it to build a church, so that he could always be close to the power of the node while sharing its unusual properties with other mages and people alike. The church became the local chantry and safehaven for mages for decades to come, until Robert died and the leadership of the chantry fell apart.
This chaos was only strengthened by the division between various parties over the involvement of mages in the second World War and the Vietnam conflict, a division that grew wider and angrier with the decades. It finally culminated into a battle royale, or more appropriately a riot, between the two factions, which ended with the destruction of the church that had become the chantry's physical embodiment. Most lost their way, then, and believed that the community and strength that came with the chantry had died with the building, and they left. Others were too involved in their own struggles, or the struggles of their fellow man to remember the node that was now unprotected.
Time was not kind to Providence, nor to the node, and it fell to disuse and eventually fell into a sort of hibernation. That is, of course, until recently, when a small group of mages rediscovered the node while exploring the area thoroughly for a project. The group discussed what they could do, what they should do, with the node, and Fate decided that it was time for it to be used as a foundation for a community again. Our intrepid heroes found themselves deciding what needed to be done to return the node to its fated purpose, and they reawakened the node and constructed a building that could shelter it and serve as a central community home/place for others of their kind. And thus, the Chantry of Thirteen Faiths was born.
Unfortunately, awakening a slumbering node tends to change things, and there are some supernaturals who are sensitive to such things. They don't agree that the city needed to be changed at all, and they want to put an end to this change. On the other hand, rather than banding together, the Celestial Chorus has also decided that they would like what was theirs back again - it had been forgotten, but was no longer, and it would be such a shame to have such a powerful node be tainted by the poor leadership and poor decisions of a group of heathens.
For in-character history of the game thusfar, please visit The Story.