The Independent Insurgency - [Dresden Files] Gateway City: Newark in Dresdenverse

• Corruption at every level
• A new day is dawning
• The Riots hang like an ancient curse
• Former industrial hub
• Extreme poverty
• Hub of transportation and commerce
• Black wizards' haven
• There are gateways, then there are Gateways
• Mainstream religions are infiltrated
• Rich mystical ethnic traditions
• Abandoned by The White

Who cares about the city?

After decades of neglect, The White Council sees the error of its ways and wants back in to the city. In their absence, black wizards have formed a cabal--Feiticeiro Negro --too strong for the Council to eradicate easily. On the other hand, the lack of meddling by the Council has allowed the Fellowship of St. Giles to gain a foothold; the neglected finding home in a city of neglected people.

Overall, dark forces are drawn to the city for the way it breeds and sustains human misery. All three vampiric courts hold sway, and major demonic activity seems to be drawn to the "gateways" that give the city its name. Faeries, meanwhile, are not very common. This may be due to the heavy influence of industrial production in the city's development.

Who keeps the peace?

Newark is kept from exploding by mutually assured destruction. While there are many extremely powerful corrupting influences in the city, they must carefully keep the Accords with one another lest the good times come to a sudden and complete halt. It is said that the '67 riots resulted from one side or another momentarily gaining a monopoly on power. The city almost tore itself apart then.
 
How do mortals cope?

As the established mainstream religions are so thoroughly coopted, mortals have turned to the rich folk traditions which have been allowed to flourish among the many insulated ethnic communities in the city. There also appears to be some hand at work trying to protect the citizenry: do the streets flood after rains because there is no money to deal with the problem, or to give mortals some running water to hide behind? Were the riots a hell-spawned paroxysm of hatred, or were they a cleansing fire which wiped away even worse corruption? 

What interests a supernatural tourist?

Gateway City is aptly named: Newark is riddled with gateways to the Nevernever. However, few of these gates are permanent. Rather, many appear spontaneously and flicker out just as swiftly. The few permanent gateways are jealously guarded and often secret. 

As below, so above: The network of railways, airlines, and shipping containers that pass through Newark have a great deal of utility to denizens of the supernatural world, both as powerful concordances for magic having to do with passage and transference, and for more mundane concerns which even the unearthly require.

Many also come to Newark in search of the kind of black arts, mere curiosity about which would ordinarily bring hard questions. The presence of this darkness also draws those who feel the need to act against it; many use Newark as a training ground for those who wish to hunt evil and some seek the most powerful foes out of Quixotic nihilism.