The Heights
The Heights look down on everything, and the people who live there have internalized that perspective completely. The central island territory of Old York rises above the surrounding waterways, its tallest remaining skyscrapers, called Heaven's Towers, piercing the radioactive cloud cover that blots out the sun half the time. Pure Blood families and wealthy elites occupy these reclaimed towers, living in private gardens with water purifiers and pools while the districts below fight over scraps and walkways.
The streets are not all flooded here, though they are far from safe. Cracks and chasms have opened in the pavement, revealing water-filled voids beneath. The monied residents have repaired the streets with brickwork and salvaged metal bridges, creating a functional ground level that no one actually uses for living. Even where the streets remain dry, no one inhabits the ground floor. Living upward is the rule, driven by both affluence and the memory of what happened to those who stayed low when the waters rose.
Social warfare defines the Heights in the way that physical warfare defines the Brokelands. The Walled Street elite compete for placement among the top twenty credentialed merchants at the Grand Central Market, a pre-fall rail terminal where only those bearing bronze seals may trade. The families in Heaven's Towers play deadly games of intrigue, and those who fall from grace have a tendency to disappear with a finality that suggests the fall is literal as well as figurative. The Business operates entertainment and vice across the district. The Lineage League, a secretive Pure Blood association, operates from the heavily fortified Lineage Hall. Telling Visions maintains the Monastery at 30 Rock, the largest church of their faith on the east coast, which doubles as a hospital.
The Heights bring in tribute and profit from the surrounding territories, financing operations in the districts below while maintaining the comfortable fiction that the chaos down there is someone else's problem. It is a fiction that works only because the Plunge absorbs the raids and undead incursions before they reach the northern markets and strongholds. The buffer bleeds so the Heights can scheme in peace.
The streets are not all flooded here, though they are far from safe. Cracks and chasms have opened in the pavement, revealing water-filled voids beneath. The monied residents have repaired the streets with brickwork and salvaged metal bridges, creating a functional ground level that no one actually uses for living. Even where the streets remain dry, no one inhabits the ground floor. Living upward is the rule, driven by both affluence and the memory of what happened to those who stayed low when the waters rose.
Social warfare defines the Heights in the way that physical warfare defines the Brokelands. The Walled Street elite compete for placement among the top twenty credentialed merchants at the Grand Central Market, a pre-fall rail terminal where only those bearing bronze seals may trade. The families in Heaven's Towers play deadly games of intrigue, and those who fall from grace have a tendency to disappear with a finality that suggests the fall is literal as well as figurative. The Business operates entertainment and vice across the district. The Lineage League, a secretive Pure Blood association, operates from the heavily fortified Lineage Hall. Telling Visions maintains the Monastery at 30 Rock, the largest church of their faith on the east coast, which doubles as a hospital.
The Heights bring in tribute and profit from the surrounding territories, financing operations in the districts below while maintaining the comfortable fiction that the chaos down there is someone else's problem. It is a fiction that works only because the Plunge absorbs the raids and undead incursions before they reach the northern markets and strongholds. The buffer bleeds so the Heights can scheme in peace.
Geography
The Heights occupy the northern stretch of Old York's central island, rising above the surrounding waterways on terrain that was pushed upward when the earthquakes sank the land around it. The streets are not fully flooded but have buckled and cracked, opening chasms that reveal water-filled voids beneath the pavement. Wealthy residents have repaired the streets with brickwork and salvaged metal bridges, creating functional pathways that contrast sharply with the rope-and-cable transit of the Iron Gardens.
The tallest remaining skyscrapers in Old York stand here, collectively known as Heaven's Towers. Each tower is ruled by a powerful family, with the uppermost floors featuring private gardens, pools, and water purifiers. Heaven's Gate, a rooftop marble garden built around a pre-fall satellite dish, sits atop the tallest tower and serves as a Telling Visions ritual site guarded by the Brotherhood of the Heavens Gate.
Erosion steadily eats at the island's edges. Sections have already fallen into the rivers, and the process continues. Radioactive clouds blot out the sun frequently, casting the district into shadow that heightens the sense of looming towers and narrow streets. The Broadway bridge connects the Heights to the Iron Gardens to the north, while the boundary with the Plunge to the south remains loosely defined. Market Square, a half-submerged open marketplace, operates around the clock at the water's edge. The Cloisters, a secluded castle at the district's northern extreme, is guarded by Fallow Hope Natural Ones who execute trespassers without exception.
The tallest remaining skyscrapers in Old York stand here, collectively known as Heaven's Towers. Each tower is ruled by a powerful family, with the uppermost floors featuring private gardens, pools, and water purifiers. Heaven's Gate, a rooftop marble garden built around a pre-fall satellite dish, sits atop the tallest tower and serves as a Telling Visions ritual site guarded by the Brotherhood of the Heavens Gate.
Erosion steadily eats at the island's edges. Sections have already fallen into the rivers, and the process continues. Radioactive clouds blot out the sun frequently, casting the district into shadow that heightens the sense of looming towers and narrow streets. The Broadway bridge connects the Heights to the Iron Gardens to the north, while the boundary with the Plunge to the south remains loosely defined. Market Square, a half-submerged open marketplace, operates around the clock at the water's edge. The Cloisters, a secluded castle at the district's northern extreme, is guarded by Fallow Hope Natural Ones who execute trespassers without exception.
