Places

At one point, Celestial Park was a piece of hotly-contested territory among the werewolves and mages of Dallas, being some sort of repository of mystic ener­ gy that the two factions of supernatural creatures cov­ eted. The problem for the Kindred wasn’t that the Lu­ pines and will-workers were eager to shed each other’s blood over the locale. It was that the park was located in a wealthy, secluded neighborhood where the for­ mer Prince of Dallas maintained a haven. When the supernatural sparks flew, Prince Charlemagne couldn’t help but get involved, because at the very least, he’d have to cover the whole thing up as a Masquerade breach that wasn’t even caused by the Kindred.

Visually, Celestial Park is nothing out of the or­ dinary, simply a cleared and well-tended sward of stone-circled fairway in the center of half-million dol­ lar homes. Marble steps descend into the park, upon which are carved quotations from prose and poetry that revere the heavens. At the center of the green, however, stands a stone plinth that houses a large sundial in which a person functions as the gnomon. It does have a unique characteristic, however. Any­ one who stands at its center can hear any conversa­ tion happening anywhere in the city just by thinking about it. Once the secret of the plinth made it to the Kindred community, Charlemagne wasted no time in declaring it a Princely asset, hoping to consolidate his power by allowing other vampires to use it in ex­ change for prestation or fealty. To his surprise, the werewolves and mages already had other designs on the plinth, and adding vampires to the power struggle for its benefits escalated the city to near civil war.

The failed power play broke Charlemagne’s power by exposing his naked ambition, as well as earning him the attention of the other supernaturals. He abdicated the Prince’s seat and in exchange to the powerful Pri­

mogen for being able to keep his private domains and local interests, he wards the mysterious relic in Celes­ tial Park. It’s a thankless and ongoing job, as no few Kindred risk the ire of the Lupines, the witches, and the ex-Prince for the sake of a scrap of spoken secrets. And Charlemagne has been known to “hire” Kindred trespassers to protect the park in exchange for absolv­ ing their breaches of the Tradition of Domain.