The world of Rhy’Din is a hostile one, as much because of its people as the environment itself. This quaint city-sized town enjoys beautiful weather (except for the occasional holiday snowfall—well, just that one time), friendly people (during the day, at least), and a very, very active nightlife. Conveniently located, accessible by ship, bus, or air, and a mere two-hour drive from A.G., Rhy’Din boasts some of the lowest property prices in the state and a constantly fluctuating population. Drop by and visit, won’t you? You might end up staying for the rest of your life...and maybe a bit longer than that. Rhy’Din is chock full of interesting sites: two colleges, a zoo, a state-of-the-art medical facility, and no fewer than forty-three (some say forty-four) churches of assorted denominations—not bad for a “Midieval town.”
    And that’s just the stuff on the surface, the kind of info you’ll see in tourism brochures. Beneath lies a focal point of demonic activity whose mystical energies affect everything and everyone in the area. Living near this island can be a real experience—Rhy’Din is a place where a boy in a coma can make people’s nightmares come true, any number of robots can pass as human, or a nerd can bring his brother back to life. Demons, vampires, and stranger critters flock to the town like frat boys to a kegger. It makes life exciting—shorter, most likely, but exciting. This link to the demon dimensions acts as a magnet for evil and weirdness. And that’s when it’s dormant and mostly inactive.
    That cheery thought aside it is as good an explanation as any for the huge concentration of vampires and demons in Rhy’Din, the outbreaks of magic and psychic activity, the ability of certain folks to routinely build humanoid robots and super-weapons, and the surprising lack of ugly people in Rhy’Din (they probably killed themselves when nobody pays attention to them). The greatest hazards, however, are those people who set themselves outside of society. Unbound by the codes of hospitality hostile regions usually engender, the outlaws and slaver barons prey without mercy on those who pass beneath their shadow. Scrambling for survival and power over their surroundings, anyone who is within reach is a valid target.
    Rhy’Din is the “default” setting of the Arts & Entertainment chatrooms. (although several other options are explored). There are plenty of good reasons to pick Rhy’Din as the backdrop for your game: lots of cool locations, colorful locals, a strategically-located Hellmouth, and a population of vamps and demons too numerous to shake a stick at (although why you would want to do that we can’t say). Rhy’Din seems to have one far-reaching federal government. Its presence is sparse, however, and autonomous city-states and feudal areas (read: “Guilds”) effectively exist with impunity. No standing armed forces or militias earn any mention, making local law enforcement, marshals, and bounty hunters the only organized defensive presence throughout most of the land.

    This sixty-eight-room hotel was built sometime in the 1990s, in the old part of Rhy’Din. In 1999, Edgar Bellmont created it a physical comfort against people’s despair, fear, and hatred (and in 1999, there was plenty of that going around). Walker Akero later helped Edgar incorporate the land into UGoI-ESF territory when Edward and his forum disappeared, and it remained under Edgar's ownership for several years until 2003.
    More recently, he and his crew took over the now-abandoned hotel, after Edgar left as well back to his home lands. The Sheffield is now the gang’s headquarters—it has endured Demon summonings, attacks by other rival guilds, dimensional rifts, misogynous Leon, and lots of other mishaps. A number of areas are in dire need of repair. The refurbished hotel could make an interesting sanctuary for special people—artists seeking inspiration, non-evil supernatural creatures looking for a safe place to live, or troubled teens fleeing their pasts or more tangible pursuers.

    The megacorp with a soul (well, souls—the souls of all employees get signed over to the company) owns a gleaming skyscraper in the heart of the city. Security is tight, combining the best mundane and supernatural defenses that money can buy. Hundreds of employees, most of them Human, work at the building, doing the cubicle thing in a Dilbert meets Dante’s Inferno sort of way. If you punch the right code on the elevator, you are taken to the top floors, where a teenager (that’s not a teenager) and possibly other supernatural entities dwell.
    P.S.I. Tech has offices around the world, but the Seattle branch is one of the most important. It is the tallest building in Seattle, and possibly the world. Located at the head of City Hall Park, it was the corporate headquarters of the multi-billion-dollar corporation P.S.I. Tech, and the home of its owner, Joesph Ash’neel Dar Kane, his family, Kat and Melurite Kane, and his aide-de-camp, Walker Akero. At present, the P.S.I. Tech building is again the Kane clan's home, as well.
    The organization represents corporations, wealthy and famous people, mobsters, hired assassins, and serial killers, among others. Almost invariably, P.S.I. Tech’s clients are the scum of the earth—the corporations pollute the environment or swindle investors, the rich and famous aren’t Human or have some really twisted hobbies on the side, the serial killers are, well, serial killers. The firm delights in making sure the guilty go free and the innocent suffer. Seattle in the future is a much darker place than in the present, and P.S.I. Tech is responsible for much of it.
    The company has gone through some serious restructuring during the last decade of Rhy'Din. Unknown to the public, the P.S.I. Tech headquarters has been the site of many crises, including several Akero-Kane clan battles, and an attack by Garcross. Before that battle, a defensive force field was installed by Rahan. That force field system is still installed, but was destroyed by Garcross. It is unknown if it was ever reconstructed. Despite its troubles, the corporation endures—as long as there is evil in the world, P.S.I. Tech will be around, in one way or another.

    Located at the heart of downtown A.G., this is a very large multi-story building, with its own unique character. No other police station in the Rhy’Din world has so many foreign-born officers, to the extent that Rhy’Din natives, such as Joesph Ash’neel Dar Kane, are the minority. Both the regular Ususal Gang of Idiots and the elite Night Parade share this station. About half of the building consists of a fairly ordinary big-city police station, filled with overworked cops, ringing phones, and the usual chaos of distressed citizens, witnesses, suspects, and lawyers.
    The rest is the domain of the Night Parade tank battalion. Much of their space is devoted to a huge garage for armored vehicles. Before entering the garage, tanks pass through a sterilization chamber, where an array of robotic arms kill the bacteria with a spray of scalding steam. The garage holds more than a dozen tanks, although often there are only a few vehicles since the rest are out on operations. Despite the hulking armored vehicles, heavy-duty mechanical tools, and boxes of live ammunition, the Night Parade garage exudes an aura of macho sloppiness, much like an oversized boy’s locker room. A hand-lettered “No being happy allowed” sign hangs from a post, several loose wash-buckets are scattered about the floor, and drying laundry is draped from overhead bars (which are often used for chin-ups).
    The garage is the center of the unit’s existence: it is where they practice their notorious interrogation parties or spend their evenings keeping their beloved tanks spiffy, with extra coats of anti-bacterial seal, regular oil changes, and shiny new paint jobs (for the dedicated among them, such as Walker and Rahan).  Just above the garage are the squad rooms and offices of Vent and Walker. Off-duty officers can relax here and get away from the smell of cordite and machine oil, try to finish any paperwork before the next grenade explodes or someone starts shelling police HQ. If the Night Parade need to scramble, a horn sounds and dozens of circular hatches open in the floors. Extending ropes allow the officers to slide fire-pole style into the vehicle bay below.

    The Multiverse Authority are an elite private security agency that possesses weaponry and equipment comparable to P.S.I. Tech or the Night Parade. These mercenaries are as cool as ice and hard as steel; they are unwilling to compromise on their mission, and are extremely proud of their reputation. Unlike the Night Parade or Akero Investigations, a typical MVA Agent does not seem to enjoy in fighting for its own sake. Their goal is singular in desire: fulfill their client’s commission. If that means they must destroy everyone and everything in the way, or blatantly disregard the law, so be it.
    The Multiverse Authority have a high opinion of themselves, and view the Night Parade as undisciplined, trigger-happy fools, and Akero Investigations as amateur scum. Even individually, they are powerful adversaries: one armored MVA Agent was able to hold his own against hefty odds all at once. They may be overconfident, but they learn from their mistakes, and do not hesitate to bring overwhelming fire-power to a confrontation.
    Many of the MVA Agents were arrested (presumably for obstructing and assaulting police officers) in the middle of 2010. However, the agency is likely powerful enough to have survived this setback. The Multiverse Authority’s Chief of Operations is an imposing but arrogant individual, dangerously overconfident in his abilities and in the prowess of his organization. He also displays unparalleled ability to antagonize Walker.

    Far from the interstate, on a stretch of lonely asphalt, sits this tiny service station. Twin pumps serve up gas and diesel fuel to the citizens and visitors who choose the scenic route. The tow truck parked out back needs some body work, but it runs like a dream, and that comes in handy this far out into Rhy'Din. Eve sits in a small office attached to the well-equipped service bay. It’s mostly used for fixing flats and changing oil, but it can handle bigger jobs, from thrown tie rods to dropped transmissions. The restrooms in back are in reasonably good shape, but it’s probably better to let your hands air-dry than to take a chance on the cloth roller towel.
    By day, there’s not a lot of traffic in these parts, and Eve is happy for the company. She greets customers with a squeegee and a smile, and loves to make small talk while the tank fills. Between customers, she and Walker Akero cheat at dominoes, and argue about baseball. By night, nighttime is strictly self-service. Eve’ll turn the pumps on for you, after you wake her up with three or four knocks on the window. If you need a tow, you can ask her to, but she’s never too happy to get that call.

    The only truly neutral inn in Rhy’Din (and, one would fervently hope, the universe), Kristallnacht (German for “Crystal Night”) is run by Daniel Tobias, a Necroscope Vampire (a.k.a. Wamphyri) with the power to see into places and times where the normal senses cannot reach. Kristallnacht’s clientele includes both Demons and Humans; everyone is welcome, as long as they refrained from attacking or eating other customers. The rules are enforced by a powerful spell that prevents violence, but the spells don’t prevent people from rolling explosives into the place. Will the inn stay upright? Stay tuned.
    Kristallnacht is a great place to make contacts with all the wrong people. Demons, Vampires, and lawyers are everywhere, either hanging out or seeking Daniel’s attention. The inn iss neutral ground, ideal for enemies to meet and try to work things out in a civilized manner (i.e., by lying and cheating). The entertainment quality is, well, highly variable. Walking in on “Truth or Dare” and other adult oriented games is an experience—though not necessarily a good experience. Furthermore, Demons get very touchy if you criticize their philosophies, and while violence is not allowed at the inn, people have to leave eventually.

    Faith Hospital has one of the best trauma units in Rhy'Din—their ER specialists have the sort of experience one normally finds in war zones or the most crime-ridden areas of the country. Bad news for the community. Good news for any injured do-gooders—as long as they’re more or less in one piece when they’re brought in, there’s a very good chance they’ll make it. The biggest problem the hospital has is all those morgue break-ins and corpse disappearances. Well, in most cases they are actually breakouts, but try telling the hospital staff, or the cops, that.

    This nonprofit charity, run by Vent, helps young people who have nowhere else to go. The shelter provides housing and food for runaways. Guests are expected to abide by a few rules--no criminal activity, help out, and so on. Room and board for dozens of children does not come cheap though, and the shelter is always struggling to find enough funding. As far as we know, the orphanage is still open for business, helping the helpless in its own way.
   Vent and several regulars are aware of some of the supernatural forces at work in the world. The shelter is a good source of plots and subplots--supernatural predators going after the residents, teenagers with supernatural powers, or for a change of pace, Vent's teen sanctuary could be used as the focal point of a group. The cast could consist of runaway teenagers with unusual backgrounds, and Vent could act as a parent figure.