Witch Hunt General

[Quaddy]

Roanoke, Virginia is in the middle of the Blue Ridge mountains...a little bit west of the Shenandoah Valley.

[Mynt]

I tend toward urban fantasy, so most of my things take place on a version of real earth. n_n I don't expect everything to be accurate since the story isn't about the city though.

[Quaddy]

In an unnamed city of a city type place.

This isn't Dresden. I don't live in Chicago, dammit.

[Mynt]

Usually I default fake New York. Maybe Seattle or Portland would be better for this one.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Oh good...I really don't like geographical research -_-
I'll do it though.

[Quaddy]

Well, if you want lots of trees...New York City is out.

Fake Atlanta might work. It's got lots of trees, is suitably city enough, and has Coca Cola!

[Mynt]

Well, nothing happens in Georgia. Let's go with Atlanta for now. Lots of seedy, shadowy places too in a city like that.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Coca Cola! I'm so there!

*doesn't drink dark soda*

[Quaddy]

Yeah--there's a lot of history, as well. Civil War, especially.

[Mynt]

Pfft. Whatever. Forest.

[Quaddy]

Well, fine. Be that way.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Who won that war anyway?

Sorry, I know the Union won, but you wouldn't believe how many times I heard that junior year in history class. I wanted to start throwing people out of the window.

[Quaddy]

...

Well, yes...the North won. But what really won was the notion of a wage labor-based economy. A new notion of independence as wealth-and-leisure based as opposed to truly being independent of anyone else. Further, a notion of the industrial America as opposed to the agricultural America. The North represented all of these things; the South represented the other, the losing side: agriculture, self-sufficient independence, a more striated social hierarchy, etc.

Problem is, we're entering a similar paradigm shift, and I am afraid of what is going to happen. Historically, it's ended in war. I think now, however, it'll lead to the collapse of the Federal government. And the loss of America's status as hegemon (and sane nation). See, when that Northern modality won, it was an invitation to more government. In fact, more government becomes necessary when a nation becomes an industrial/wage-based society because infrastructure becomes more complicated, and an economy becomes more complicated. Plus, someone needs to oversee the transfer of goods and money, etc.

This is why I am afraid: the people who live in the country still view the world, to a certain extent, in a "Southern" manner. Small government, complete independence in every way, individualism, etc. It just doesn't work, however, in a nation of our size, with our economy, our population, etc.

(This is quite literally to the exact detail what I studied in school.)

[Mynt]

Hegemon sounds like a digimon.

[Quaddy]

It is not a digimon. It is the word for the most powerful entity...We have been the hegemon since the fall of the Soviet Union, which was actually a bad thing for America...

[Mynt]

I know it's not, but it still sounds like one~

[Quaddy]

I know. America is a hegemony, then.

[Matt]

Can I be in on this? This was like my second favourite campfire after RE and then it disappeared and I was sad. And by second favourite I really mean character I think. I lived my guy. And yea he was gay. A gay witch.

[Matt]

And by lived I meant liked stupid autocorrectig iPhone.

[Matt]

And ummmm did I overstep with my man-witch? Sorry If I did... Also Atlanta is cool cos despite having never been there I've already read lots of books set there and about the area. It has a massive drug culture (Esp meth) and apparently still has strong racist elements despite beig a city. This is supposedly to do with the huge scale of poverty. There are tonnes of ghetto like areas and stuff. Oddly enough nothing I read said much about foliage but I know Georgia is green right? And it's not far from Einstein-Salem which is where my guy comes from.

[Matt]

Fucking autocorrect! Winston-Salem. Einstein goddamn phone.

[Mynt]

Haha, you're already invited, Matt. And you didn't overstep with your witch, I just didn't expect anyone to be one. So I made just a little rule for them. Magic mostly comes from them, but if they are exceptionally god, they know how to draw from a different energy source. But too much magic makes them weak blah blah. You got it.

I don't think there is much forest in Atlanta, but I think there is some in Georgia. I've been to Augusta myself and it was pretty green. And lots of racism.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Eh, I'll figure out what to do later (mid-panic). I just know I'd like my character to be somewhat easygoing in demeanor.

[Matt]

If any of you want to read up on some Atlanta... I can recommend a lot of books? Novels - crime novels mainly actually.

[Quaddy]

Matt really wants us to read crime and spy novels...

But Atlanta is actually quite green. The city center is more urban, obviously, but the entirety of Northern Georgia is forest. In fact, the suburbs actually end there (they don't here...it's pretty much three counties of never-ending city except to the west, where we have said "NO DESTROYING THE EVERGLADES ANY MORE" and prohibited building) and they're separated by large pockets of trees. I was just there in October and I remember climbing Stone Mountain (well...riding up, climbing down...) and being awed by how green it was.

And yes, lots of racism, but not so much in the city itself. It's mostly relegated to the more suburban areas...although the rich, white centers of town might have some latent racism...