Mood
The smog-stained, crumbling expanse of the city is a hazardous place. In some neighborhoods, most of
the streetlights are broken, either by bullets or by the perpetual infrastructure budget cutbacks and city
employees who don’t venture onto some streets any more than they have to. At night, the ever-present
sounds of sirens, booming rap music, and even gun shots permeate the streets. Gangs claim apartment
blocks, nightlife venues, or even streets as their turf, and execute anyone even looking like a rival gang
member who trespasses. Taxi companies refuse to enter many neighborhoods after dark. Every door and
window is kept locked, even those above the second floor, even if they are already protected by bars
and security systems. People just disappear all the time. Violent crimes and vandalism are so common
they sometimes don’t even make the news. You would think that the vampires would be relatively
safe…from the robbers, the rapists and the murderers, at least. But Detroit is on the edge of Sabbat
territory. Packs of fearless cainites enter the city to hunt down any lone kindred they find. Elders and
powerful ancillae pay lip service to the Traditions, but they often find some indirect way to attack their
rivals. With all the arsons that occur in Detroit each year, no one would think it particularly strange
that your haven burst into flames just before sunrise.
Speaking of those burned-out shells of buildings, you see them everywhere. Boarded-up factories,
abandoned houses, and lots full of junked cars can be found in every direction. There are streets lined with
empty skyscrapers in Detroit. Where once the rumble of commerce and the hustle and bustle of a
thriving workforce were heard, now there is only the cold drone of the wind through the graffiti-marked,
dilapidated walls. These seemingly endless, dusty, empty places may be some of the loneliest in the world.
Addicts sit in alleyways just far enough from the entrances of nightclubs to avoid the wrath of the
bouncers. Alcoholic parents doze in front of the TV while their undernourished children cry in their filthy
bedrooms, and their older siblings smoke cigarettes in the parking lot with their friends watching a police
car drive past without interest. Teenagers look forward to going to prison one day. Generations grow up
expecting to live on welfare checks, and believe that the world owes them a living. The idea of sending
their kids to college, or buying a new car is unthinkable. Never mind that their grandparents owned their
own house at age 25, and retired at age 50. Those days are long gone, and best forgotten. Despair is the
prevailing attitude for many lives.
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