The Continental Hotel
1 Wall Street Court, located at the intersection of Wall Street, Pearl Street, and Beaver Street. Built in 1904 the building has undergone several renovations over the years, the most recent of which being three years ago. Outwardly not particularly impressive it blends in well with the New York City skyline drawing only passing attention from tourists or passerbys. Inside it is a picture of lavish comfort. No expense was spared, no corners were cut in the renovations. Polite, efficient and knowledgeable staff provide any service you might require ... as long as you can pay of course.
General Rules1) No business on hotel property. Most cardinally, no hassling/killing of other guests.
Upon further reflection there really is only one rule...
*if you have to ask what the rules are you don't belong here
~The ManagementThe Continental prides itself on being civilized. Though the world they live in can often be brutal and ugly the hotel has distanced itself from those darker aspects, at least upon the surface. When calling for a body clean up, you don't mention how many corpses, instead you make a dinner reservation. One does not simply call down and ask for a M40 to be delivered to their room. They ask to speak to the concierge about a 2009 vintage with a full body suited to attending a party tomorrow with five of your friends who are traveling in from quite some distance (lets her know you need a sniper rifle, preferably an M40-A5 with all the options which came out in 2009, by tomorrow).
People staying on permanently in the hotel is a rather rare thing. Part of being neutral territory is not allowing any one group to use their property as a base of operations.
As of right now there are:
Management and their personal security. (Swords' Killian will likely fall in this group)
Cesar, as head of security it is important for him to be on hand, his desire to make a break from his background also makes him a bit of a special case. Also owns property in upstate New York.
Tori, having been effectively been adopted by a member of Management at a young age she's been at the hotel off and on since she was 11, she's willing to work insane hours and devote herself to the operation which has earned her a room shared with Sadie.
Sadie, being on 24/7 call it is important to have her on the property and makes her easier to watch.
Chase, keeping the good doctor ready to attend to emergencies and under surveillance seems like a good idea too.
Sophie, another kind of adoptee her room is available whenever she's in town.
Vivian, likely has her own apartment as well as a room at the hotel because she is required so often to attend to odd requests at all hours of the day.
(that's the current list, if you'd like to make a case for your character to be moved onto it I'm all ears.. err, eyes?)
The ManagementThough the people running the place have slowly changed over the years one thing has remained constant. They are scary enough to keep the boogeymen of the criminal underworld in check. In order to maintain their neutral status is it important for the hotel to not have a single owner, there are always at least two, sometimes as many as five members of Management at any given time. Moving into the Conteniental is both a matter of timing as well
Winston - Old school Italian mafia there was a point that Winston and his family almost seemed to run the streets of New York. (The rather impressive gentleman you see from the movie)
Tamara - Born in Russia her rather eventful life led her all over the world, collecting favors and international contacts like they were candy. (Rampant's Management NPC, sheet in progress)
Cerigo's a Slacker - A DA or politician of some kind he's very good at making legal problems and the like go away with connections both dirty and legitimate. (He says he's working on this and up for connections plotting
)
Coin SystemResembling gold krugerrands their gold content alone puts their value at somewhere around $1.5k USD, but no one has thought of melting one down or selling one for scrap. A symbol of status, of skill, they are traded among the criminal elite, purchasing favors and things that mere money alone cannot. The Continental only accepts these rare coins as payment for a room (depending on the length of the stay and the demanding nature of the guest this amount can vary).
The coins themselves and the tradition of using them among the criminal elite is actually much older than the hotel itself and the Continental has merely adopted and refined the practice.
Img is kind of a place holder until I find a better one. In the interest of fairness we're probably going to restrict players from starting with more than twenty of these coins in their possession (and you need a damn good reason why you've started with so many). There will be ways to earn more through out game play, both from GM events and from other players. This isn't going to be a heavily tracked system, it is just to keep everyone kind of on the same playing field.
Common UsesClean up and disposal of bodies. Called requesting a dinner reservation there is a crew of professions who, for the price of one coin per body, will make sure that all evidence is taken care of and your building is left in pristine condition. When arranged through the hotel it is also understood that SHOULD there ever be an investigation all of that mess will be taken care of for you as well.
Entrance to the club in the basement of the hotel. The single coin covers your night's entertainment, any food or drink or ... hotel supplied companionship you might request. The fee also covers your own +1 if you so wish, favorite cousin, girl you're trying to impress, business acquaintance what have you, so long as they understand what's going on and you accept responsibility for their behavior. (For those without ready access to coins this benefactor can be an NPC, I'm not trying to exclude any one, just emphasis the kind of elite nature of what you're dealing with here). You need not be staying at the hotel to come and staff have their own entrance.
Contract work. While some might offer money, coins are by far the more preferable currency. Easily portable, untraceable and worth more in the long run. Not just killing, buying information and other favors all fall under this umbrella. The actual fee is worked out between both parties.
