The present
Here’s what you need to know:
Today, our protagonists and antagonists find themselves in a medium-sized city called Grand Bend, in the United States. They all have totally different lives, and none of them remember much of anything from the past, if at all. They’re just regular elementary to college students, worrying about school, parents, friends, etc. I don’t have a hell of a lot of information on the city since it is fictional, and in our Happy World of Fictional-ness, most locations are not exactly concrete. I mean, I’d like for things to make sense, but you don’t have to worry about every little corner store. The important stuff is here, and anything else is up to you. Hell, if it’s a location that becomes more important, I may even add it here.
Obviously, each individual character is going to react differently to the information they receive about their pasts, and not all of them will remember as much as others. The Soldiers and Knights are reawakening slowly, some due to guardians; others simply find their representative card in an unlikely (or likely) place. You have the choice of your character being awakened, or still waiting to be awakened when she or he enters the story. You also have the choice of how much she or he remembers of her or his previous life, and how she or he relates to it (ie: does Death see herself as separate from the Princess of the past, or does she feel that she is the same person?).
Something I’d like to see is a few characters (like, say, Temperance or Judgment or something) who have aligned themselves with a side, but not to fight against the other side, but to try and reason with their own “team.” It would be great if two to four of the Arcana Soldiers got into some kind of secret alliance to try and stop the war. I’d like to keep the number at four maximum, because more than that would sort of nullify the whole story. This would obviously be something you’d have to work out with other existing characters.
So. The Knight of Pentacles is on the move again, looking for the unprotected relics around the city. He has six of the Pentacle relics (there is a list of relics, make sure you look at it) so far, and is still determined to get them all. He’s also trying to figure out the location of all of the Arcana Soldiers, so he can further divide them. No, two teams isn’t good enough for him. He wants the girls to totally separate, and hopefully either forget about the relics or get them for him, like the Pages do. Basically, part of the story involves the KoP trying to get the other girls to split up, not necessarily in the same way he divided Death and Fool.
The City and Locations
Grand Bend has a population of about 600,000 people, including the major surrounding suburbs (Wickham Township, North Seville, South Seville, and Deacon Hills). There are some divisions within the city as well, basically separated due to economic differences: In the East is the “uptown” area, where there are nice homes, condominiums and apartments, as well as pretty shops and boutiques. There are a few malls (Pike Mall and Montgomery Mall are the big ones), lots of plazas, etc. On the other side of Churchill Road (the longest road in the city that nearly in the centre, dividing east and west) is the downtown area, where the apartments are a little less nice, there are bars and other recreational buildings, etc. It’s really a generic city. You can make up a few places as we go along! The south end of the city is where you’ll find the nicest houses and such, while the northwest is the oldest and most run down. Deacon Hills is just outside the south end of the city, Wickham Township is to the east, and North and South Seville are to the west.
Schools
Cornelius Stone Elementary School: From kindergarten to eighth grade. A standard grade school between the uptown and downtown area, though the building is large, and it has a rather large playground (but not a lot of grass). There is an even mix of upper and lower class kids.
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School: A private school that has from kindergarten to twelfth grade, located in Deacon Hills. Mostly upper class kids attend this school. The uniform consists of a white button up shirt or blouse (short and long-sleeved), grey wool or cotton pants (male and female styles), a dark blue kilt (three different coloured stripes: white, red and yellow), and dark blue shorts for warmer weather. There are no restrictions on hair styles, shoes, or other accessories at this school.
Grand Bend Park High School: Located in the centre of the uptown area. A very large and new building (by about four years; the old building is a few streets away). The school encourages academics, has a good football team, and mediocre cheerleading squad. There are many extracurricular activities, the school does charity work, etc. The computer department is amazing. As the name suggests, there is a large park nearby with joggers and puppies and trees!
Grand Bend Central High School: In the northern part of the downtown area. The school isn’t in terrible condition, but it could stand to see some repairs. It’s also fairly large, but not in such a great area. The school has a massive fence all around it with the grounds all paved and in need of repair. There isn’t much around for a teenager to amuse her/himself with, save for a few little shops. It is mostly a vocational high school, with good resources for shop class, automotive work, arts (drama, art, etc.), and outdated computers.
Community College: Has a variety of vocational programs such as chef training, mechanical engineering, early childhood education, and so on. It’s a good place to start for those who did poorly in high school; there is a high school for adults, and it’s also pretty easy to get into most of the programs with low to average marks.