Roach City
HISTORY

ORIGINS OF ROACH CITY

Puritan Society

The history of Roach City goes back as far as the colonial beginnings of America. Around 1630, Puritans flocked to America and established themselves in an area that came to be the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In an effort to flee an England that had become religiously oppressive, they found independence in a new land where the practice of Puritanism could flourish without the watchful eye of the crown. Holding themselves up as an example of faith for other colonies to follow, Massachusetts Bay formed a very strict code of law and started to show a distinct level of intolerance towards non-Puritans. This “city on a hill” had become a shining testament to the Puritan faith. As the colony grew, its small cities encroached upon Native American territory, and rising tensions between the colonists and the American Indians finally erupted in 1675.  Over the course of a single year, one of America’s bloodiest wars ensued between Indian Chief Metacom (who adopted the name King Philip) and the colonial Puritans. Upon the death of King Philip in 1676, an encampment was built by the Puritan colonists at the base of Mt. Everett in Massachusetts to imprison the captured Indian enemies.

The Persecuted Become the Persecutors

In 1680, 4 years after King Philip’s War ended, the enemy encampment became known as the Mt. Everett Reform Institution. Along with pursuing a religious transformation of the prisoners, fellow colonists who didn’t fit into the Puritanical society were rounded up and imprisoned. Most of these American prisoners were pagans, though some were faithful to a different religion than Puritanism. Among those in the camp was a man named Reginald Graves, an insightful but defiant man. He was the loudest opponent to the illegal imprisonment they were all suffering, and urged his fellow prisoners to hold strong to their beliefs, respect others, and not fall victim to the Puritanical indoctrination. In 1692, the government of Salem, Massachusetts, with the backing of its Puritan citizenry, convicted and executed 20 people for the crime of witchcraft. In September of that year, when the news of these executions reached Mt. Everett, a pronounced fear for their own lives set into the minds of the prisoners. As that fear grew to anger for the years they had endured and the lives that were taken, around 350 prisoners rose up in protest and rioted against the Mt. Everett Reform Institution. In a swift and decisive onslaught, every guard and reformer at the camp was slain and a few dozen prisoners lost their lives in the battle. Led by Reginald Graves, nearly 300 men and women shed their chains, traveled into the wilderness, and sought a new beginning.

It was this new beginning that would eventually grow into what is now Roach City.

100 DAYS JOURNEY

According to the journal of Reginald Graves’ (on display at The Museum of History and Heritage of the Hollows of the Purify in downtown Nohaven), the 100 day journey that these men and women made proved to be harder than the many years they spent at Mt. Everett. Traversing extreme landscapes, weather conditions, and unfriendly Indian tribes, the group’s population was cut in half. The last stretch of the trek, through the Deadland Desert, proved to be more than Graves’ aging body could handle, as he took ill. The remaining members of the group, along with Graves, exited Deadland through a pass in a small mountain range at the edge of the desert.  As they came through the mountains, the group entered into a valley and set up camp, giving Graves an opportunity to rest. The exhaustion and dehydration he had suffered was too extreme and after ten days, Reginald Graves died.

Graves' End

Mourning the loss of their great leader, Reginald Graves, the men and women who had traveled 100 days in search of a home far from the repressive Puritans, ended their trek.  The valley they found themselves inhabiting was not flourishing with life, but was rather bleak, though a far cry from the desert on the opposite side of the mountain range. There was just enough vegetation and wildlife to survive on.  After a few weeks, some of the scouts that had been sent out to survey the area returned to camp with news of a river about 10 miles west of the encampment. The group packed up,  moved to the river’s edge, and formed the first settlement of Roach City. Honoring the fallen leader that brought them to this place, the new town was called Graves’ End.

EARLY GROWTH (1700's)

The citizens of Graves’ End found the river along their border to be an advantageous supporter of life and seemed to cleanse them of their tortured past.  On its one year anniversary, Graves’ End held a dedication ceremony to honor the town’s namesake and celebrate the success of their efforts as a community. At this celebration, it was announced that the river had been given a name; The Purify.  For a few years, the town grew, adding buildings and piers, homes and gardens, reveling in their love and tolerance of each other as taught to them by Graves. 

Nohaven

In 1701, it became apparent to the citizens of Graves’ End that not everyone was at harmony with this new life.  A rash of thefts coursed through the town, and discord had begun to set in. History says that a man named Nathaniel Tooks, his family, and a small group of supposed miscreants were rounded up and escorted to the river’s edge. They were given rafts and told to cross the river and not return. Tooks, who left Ireland to come to America before being pushed out of the colonies on his journey to Graves’ End, was now asked to leave his home for the third time.  Tooks and the other exiles floated over half a mile to land due west of Graves’ End. The area they found proved to be lush, and its soil fertile, allowing for more farming and trapping than its counterpart across the river.  Nathaniel Tooks would name this land Nohaven.

For most of the century, as the two settlements flourished, Nohaven’s economic and population growth surpassed that of Graves’ End.  The Purify River, whose mouth fed into the ocean just a few miles away from these two communities, brought an enormous amount of trade from foreign lands. It provided the foundation for some of Roach City’s oldest and largest corporations such as Drewer Bros. Ironmakers, founded in 1780.

Dogsbody

Just one year before the famed Drewer Bros. Ironmakers went into business, the manufacturing industry was given a powerful means with which to produce at an exaggerated rate.  A ship with the name Qirqin inscribed on its hull sailed into the Purify by way of the ocean and docked at the largest pier in Graves’ End.  The sailors aboard this ship claimed to be from lands around a Black Sea, and they were here to unload a cargo of slaves that had been picked up from Africa en route to the New World.  The business owners in both Graves’ End and Nohaven quickly bought up the crew’s cargo and put them to work in their factories.

For several weeks, these sailors oversaw the sale of the slaves all the while taking in the atmosphere of this strange pair of cities. Unlike many of Qirqin’s other ports of call, these men were welcomed here, despite their foreign heritage and uncouth demeanor. Most of these sailors originally spent time aboard other ships serving as dogsbodies, the lowest of the lowly shipmates. They had found much freedom and respect for each other as equals on the Qirqin.  This port was the first to view them as they saw themselves, men of value. In turn, these sailors decided to make a home for themselves here. A few miles south of the Nohaven border, the men staked a claim on some property along the Purify and founded a community they coined Dogsbody after their meager beginnings. This was the first community in America made up of immigrants from the Balkans including Ottoman Turks, Transylvanian and Walachian Goths, and Crimean Tatars. Most of these men were pagans, some prescribed to such religions as Islam, and others practiced magic from their Romani ancestry and gypsy heritage. Dogsbody was indeed a very colorful addition to the twin cities of the Purify.

THE HOLLOWS OF THE PURIFY (1800's)

By the turn of the century, Dogsbody had become a vital part of the community, and the three small cities were referred to as The Hollows of the Purify by its residents.  It had become a bustling seaport of shipping trade and industrial and manufacturing commerce.  The census of 1800 showed about 15,000 residents within the borders of The Hollows of the Purify.  The population growth continued to explode throughout the early 19th century with an influx of French and Spanish immigrants, some of which started a community south of the Hollows called Los Muertos. 

Racial and Religous Tensions

Diversity was now the key ingredient to this amalgam of cultures, in which harmony and tension now ebbed and flowed.  This diverse convergence of emotions hit a peak during the 1820’s when a string of unfathomable deaths occurred throughout the southern section of Nohaven along the Dogsbody border.  Bodies of men, women, and children of all racial and social backgrounds were turning up dead, drained of their blood.  Fingers were pointed in every direction from the gypsy population in Dogsbody, to the voodoo practicing slaves, to the hunters and trappers who were “flushing wild animals into the city”.  The crimes were never solved, though they finally appeared to have halted after about a year.  Ethnic tensions did not halt however.

Roach City and the Outside World

Many outsiders found the citizens of this society to be full of undesirable people.  Outside traders conducting business within the seaport often referred to The Hollows as a city of roaches and, more acutely, Roach City.  This disparagement didn’t quell the growth of this booming triplex or its spirit.

In 1843, the Hollows of the Purify, came together in unison and created a mayoral government forming one large city.  Each of the three hollows was annexed by the city as territorial electoral districts.  In an apparent mocking of foreign judgments, the city adopted its new name… Roach City.

Over the next decade, Roach City experienced vast population and economic gains. Towns started to pop up on the outskirts of the city and the booming metroplex was gaining attention on a national level.  Since its inception, Roach City had never pledged an allegiance to any bordering state or proposed state, and didn’t particularly consider itself “American”.  However, in 1853, as America’s borders became more unequivocal, it became apparent that Roach City was on American soil.  Through an agreement with the Congress, Roach City and its surrounding towns were declared a Commonwealth of the USA.  Officially known as the Commonwealth of Roach City, it was not offered seats within Congress or the Electoral College. As a result, the citizens of Roach City are effectively excluded from having a voice in national politics.

Civil War and Slaves

At the onset of the American Civil War in 1861, Roach City continued life as usual, choosing not to declare loyalty to one side or the other.  Throughout the war, its factories again experienced an economic boom supplying munitions and supplies throughout the country to whoever paid the price.  As the war came to an end and the abolition of slavery was pronounced in 1865, Roach City chose not to acknowledge the new law.  Slavery persisted for two years until the American National Guard marched into its borders and forced the freeing of slaves.  The dawning of this new era in Roach City stifled the economy for the first time in Roach City history, and racial intolerance prevailed. 

Racial Intolerance / Highborne

Like most of the country, segregation was commonplace throughout the city in businesses and schools, but one man in particular sought a more pronounced division. One of Roach City’s wealthiest and most prominent businessmen, Jasper Crown, worked closely with Mayor Samuel Blackwater in defining the border of the area of land north of Nohaven, annexing this area as the newest Hollow of Roach City. In 1867, the Hollow of Highborne was created as a sanctuary from the black community. Highborne quickly became home to Roach City’s wealthy business owners, politicians, and people of social influence and had a no tolerance border that was heavily patrolled.  Jasper Crowne was named lead councilman of Highborne and quickly went to work on legislation that put the black community in jeopardy.  At the behest of Councilman Crowne and Mayor Blackwater, the Roach City Police Department began to arrest black men and women for the most insignificant of crimes.  Jaywalking, loitering, and talking to white citizens in the “wrong” tone were among the many crimes that landed the majority of the community in jail.

Punition Prison

In 1869, Roach City offered a neighboring town, Punition, a significant and lucrative annuity to build a prison to house all of its new inmates. In one year’s time, Punition Prison was constructed and most every black citizen of Roach City had been convicted of various crimes for which they were serving unusually large sentences.  In 1871, in accordance with BILL 237 authored by Jasper Crowne, Roach City announced to its factories and businesses, that the Punition inmates were now available to work in their facilities as part of a rehabilitation work program.  The rehabilitation program would require participating businesses to provide food and housing for the convicts while requiring no less than 12 hours labor per day. According to BILL 237, participating businesses would not be required to pay for the use of this labor, however they would be required to teach the value of an honest days labor and provide valuable training in an effort to avoid future criminal behaviors. Many of the larger companies employing the Program chose to build housing and hire security services in order to house the convicts on site. Most smaller business simply reimbursed Punition Penitentiary for housing and daily bus commutes of the prisoners.

For the latter part of the 19th century, Roach City experienced perhaps its biggest growth economically. Railroads now connected the city to the rest of the country, and Roach City industries were able to expand at unprecedented rates in comparison with other major cities due to the rising labor costs throughout the country.

GROWTH / TURMOIL (1900's)

Growing Poverty

During the latter 19th century, the socio-economic division of classes was becoming greatly divided. As the Punition Work Rehabilition Program had provided businesses with an abundance of cost free labor, many of Roach City's citizens found themselves unemployed. The turn of the century brought with it great strides for businesses as the wealthy businessmen got wealthier, while a very high poverty level swept through the streets of Nohaven and Dogsbody.

Slave Rebellion

In 1915, a rash of inmate escapes began to occur, and rumors of hideouts in the woods west of Nohaven were abounding.  Despite efforts of the factories to keep the workers on lock down, bands of former prisoners started performing breakouts at the docks and continually freed more and more of their fellow comrades. For five years, the slave rebellion worked diligently, and the community of blacks west of Nohaven grew. This area was the base of operations for the rebellion and became known as The Point.  The new found freedom of these people brought a jubilant spirit to The Point, and shacks popped up throughout the wooded area with the sounds of jazz and blues horns playing through the night.

Prohibition and Gambling

As prohibition squelched the liquor industry throughout the country, bootlegging in Roach City became a natural source of prosperity for many citizens.  The slave rebellion jumped on this bandwagon and found their first real burst of funding.  Wealth allowed them to acquire weapons, pay off prison guards, and feed the growing population in The Point.  There was also a growing number of non-black Roach City citizens who were becoming sympathetic to the rebellion.
During this period, Roach City was deluged with police corruption.  Poker rooms and gambling houses had become commonplace within Nohaven even though they were outlawed. Due to the illegal nature, a hefty price had to be paid to the beat cops servicing the neighborhoods.  Due to these costs, poker and gambling houses were known to collect blackjack antes and up to 15% rakes at poker tables.  When word got out that The Point was flourishing with gambling joints that were not subjected to these payoffs, many gamblers found themselves putting aside racial biases and frequenting The Point.

Uprising of 1921

As opposition to black equality was on the verge of waning, the remaining prisoners at Punition Prison, with the help of their outside compatriots, rioted and broke out of the facilities. The Punition Riot of 1921 marked the beginning of a full fledged street war that lasted 3 years. The streets of Nohaven took the brunt of the violence. The rebellion pounded their vengeance against the Roach City police and citizens alike.  Demanding protection from unwarranted arrests, illegitimate prosecution, and illegal enslavement, these emboldened “soldiers” razed buildings in downtown Nohaven, capsized vessels at the shipyard in Dogsbody, and tormented the residents of Highborne by burning their homes. Whether it was due to fear or sympathy, many non-black citizens took up arms with the rebellion, and tried to navigate the political system to change government policies. 

In 1923, Corden Daniels was elected as governor of Roach City Commonwealth, and as a proponent of equal rights, forced Mayor Blackwater’s hand into signing the Declaration of Peace and Tolerance.  Mayor Blackwater declared that all remaining black citizens being held in jails around the city were to be released. Despite its efforts to avoid involvement in the American Civil War, Roach City experienced its very own.  Estimates tally the total lives lost at 2500 with at least another 10,000 injured, and many millions of dollars in damages to the city.  As tensions began to subside, Gov. Daniels instituted a massive reconstruction initiative, both to mend the city’s buildings and its people.

Scarlet Pointe

In addition to citywide repairs, an upgrade to city infrastructure was planned including a highway system. First on the list was Hwy 220, starting at the heart of Nohaven and running east through Graves’ End all the way through the Deadland Desert to a neighboring state.  Five years into the reconstruction effort, Roach City awarded a contract to Devon Scarlet to build Roach City's first airport. Devon Scarlet, a famed WW1 pilot who had recently returned home, would begin building the airport in the area know as The Point.  By 1930, with most of the cleanup efforts complete, the Scarlet Pointe Airport was declared finished and operational.

Scarlet Pointe Airport immediately brought an increase in tourism to Roach City, most especially the nightlife that The Point had become known for.  As this area of Roach City started to flourish, inevitably, an organized crime element moved into town.  1931 ushered in yet another burst of violence as a turf war broke out between the RCPD, the mob, and a few local black liquor magnates who called The Point home. As the balance of power oscillated between the groups, prohibition was repealed and opened up new doors for all.  With the alcohol ban lifted, Roach City lifted its ban on bars and gambling, and casinos started popping up all around The Point.  This new tourist attraction brought in more new residents and visitors than anything in the history of Roach City.  The area around Scarlet Pointe Airport grew at such an exceptional rate, that Roach City, in 1937, annexed nearly 90 square miles around the airport. Roach City would proclaim this the fifth and final Hollow of Roach City – Scarlet Pointe.

Recent History

Over the decade following the establishment of Scarlet Pointe, upgrades to Roach City infrastructure continued and by 1948 all 5 hollows were fully connected to each other with an expansive highway system that led out of the Commonwealth in all directions.  The towns surrounding Roach City within the Commonwealth became cities in their own rights. The electric grid and water utilities of Roach City were interconnected with all of the outlying city’s utilities and the Commonwealth as a whole began to take major strides towards becoming one of America’s most economically and culturally influential societies. Tourism and business travel demands pushed Roach City to expand the Scarlet Pointe Airport into the massive Roach City International Airport in 1968.

Graves' End - Dying Hollow

Though the first half of the 20th century brought a lot of chaos and malcontent, extreme growth and prosperity were the more discernible traits of these times. This was actually only true for the hollows west of The Purify. The Great Depression of the 1930’s affected the businesses in Graves’ End the hardest.  While struggling with diminishing international trade, the factories and ship yards also had to fend off a growing number of thefts, vandalizations, and acts of piracy.  In 1969, the centuries old Drewer Bros. Ironmakers chose to systematically start closing down all of their facilities in Graves’ End focusing only on their Dogsbody factories. Drewer Bros. were not able to outpace the vandals destruction and were forced into bankruptcy in 1972. With a growing number of squatters taking up residence in the abandoned buildings, the criminal element branched out and quickly undermined and deteriorated all of the businesses of Graves’ End.  By 1976, not a single business remained within the borders of the hollow. Only squatters and vagrants remained on the west side of the river and these quasi-residents of Graves’ End became known as Enders both as a demonym and in reference to their attribution in ending the vitalization in the hollow.  During the course of ’76, the crime rate in the hollow soared; all the buildings along the river were looted, truckers travelling on Hwy 220 through Graves’ End were often hijacked, and ships in The Purify were often subjects of piracy.  Though the calls of distress were still made to the RCPD from residents in Graves’ End, it was more often a ruse and became a risky scenario for police to travel across the river.  On Feb. 4, 1978 two policemen responded to a call in the center of the hollow and were found the next morning hanging from a crane above The Purify, brutally ravaged and lifeless.  This marked the end of police activity in Graves’ End. Though officially still a hollow, Graves’ End is no longer protected by the government of Roach City, and all travel through the hollow is greatly discouraged.

Missing Children?

While Roach City has always maintained a large crime rate in most all areas from white collar to violent crime, one area of crime has proven to be particularly troublesome. Kidnapping and the abundance of missing children cases has been the highest in the country for as long as the statistics on the subject have been recorded. On that same note, the rate of these crimes solved is generally the worst in the nation. This trend seems to have no boundaries in regards to race, status, or wealth.  Unknown as to whether these are cases of runaways, gang induction, kidnapping, murder, or a combination of circumstances, 85% of missing person reports involving children go unsolved.  There have been unsubstantiated sightings of missing kids, mostly in and around downtown Nohaven, though leads nearly always point to a dead end.

The Etarie Incident

The 1980’s brought an exuberant revitalization to industrial commerce and shipping trade.  Many chemical factories that formed in the late 1950’s along Dogsbody’s riverfront experienced further growth as well. Once Graves’ End had vanquished its industrial contribution, Dogsbody, naturally, claimed a leadership role in the industrial sector.  The hollow’s momentum came to a screeching halt on July 23, 1988 when Etarie Industries’ largest chemical plant suffered a massive explosion.  According to official findings, the blast was caused by “…a presence of sparks from a locked-up motor on a vat churn …  initiated a flash fire when the sparks came in contact with a pool of glycerol … spilled over the vat due to a broken seal…” .  As the explosion accelerated, it subsequently ignited 2 barrels of 2-4-5-T (a pesticide used in Agent Orange), and a cistern of carbon tetrachloride used in the facility’s chemical cooling system.  The effect of these two chemicals was disastrous.

Beyond the 89 employees that died directly from the explosion, another 212 people died within 72 hours of inhaling the mixture of gases.  It is estimated that approximately 1200 residents in the 2 mile radius around the plant were exposed to the caustic fumes.  Surviving workers that were exposed to the highest dose suffered immediate and extreme chloracne; their bodies covered with pustules.  Long term statistics have shown that a large percentage of both plant employees and nearby residents have had varying degrees of liver disfunction. In the most severe cases, the failing liver has caused porphyria, a disease causing photosensitivity, psychosis, hallucinations, and an iron deficiency. This iron deficiency can be so strong that the sufferer starts to have blood lust generally realized after eating rare meats and boosting iron levels.

After the incident, a 2 mile section of Dogsbody around the plant was declared a disaster area and has been condemned indefinitely.  Though permanent barricades and fencing were installed by Roach City to keep citizens out of the supposed uninhabitable area, it is widely suspected that a number of people have taken up illegal residence within the hot zone.

Police Corruption

Roach City's history is wrought with accusations of political and police corruption, however these claims have never been as scrutinized as they were in 1994. Harold Smith, a reporter from the Roach City Chronicle uncovered what became a highly publicized scandal; officers of the RCPD accepted bribes to overlook criminal activity in Scarlet Pointe, specifically, instances of high-end prostitution rings and mob related activity of all kinds. The story turned into a citywide scandal when it was revealed that the protection money had flowed all the way to the Roach City District Attorney’s office and many D.A.’s were offering unnecessarily lenient plea bargains or dropping solid cases altogether.

In an effort to fix the problem, the RCPD made sweeping changes through its ranks. Politicians followed their lead, and started running campaigns based on the “Cleaning Up Crime” slogan that the RCPD adopted in 1999. The results of the campaign appear to have been very limited. Accusations of politcal and police corruption have not waned through the passing years.