The University Endowment Lands are, technically, literally and spiritually a foreign land from Darkest Vancouver.
From mapio.net
The Endowment Lands are larger, geographically and by population, than many towns in Canada. The actual university and surrounding residences (student and private) are pushed up against the west along the ocean, with a massive forest between them and Vancouver.
The Endowment Lands are not Vancouver. The Vancouver City Police do not service the Endowment Lands, which instead have their own RCMP detachment. People who live here do not vote for Vancouver’s mayor, and are governed by a combination of the regional district, the university and the province.
Then there’s UBC, a massive university with a student and staff population that puts it in the largest 100 cities in Canada. The students never stay for more than a few years, of course, and many commute in from outside the Endowment Lands every day, so at night the campus gets a lot more lonely (not necessarily quieter, though).
from UBC.ca
The Endowment Lands are huge, isolated, and home to people from across the world. The university is its own, not so little, community that is very different from the rest of Darkest Vancouver. And distressingly easy to get lost in.
What Can You Do Here?
UBC is home to the world’s largest cyclotron. There is some SERIOUS technomage business going on in here!
Do you know how many lycanthropes roam the Endowment Lands? No, no you do not. Not even THEY know. How many, or what kind for that matter. Maybe don’t wander in the woods alone.
And those woods are big. Sure, you can walk your way out once buses stop running for the night. But if you’re being chased? There’s no way you’re making it to Vancouver on foot. Makes it a good hunting ground for someone familiar with the area…
Let’s not forget Wreck Beach, Vancouver’s nude (well, clothing-optional, but if you’re not opting “no” why walk all the way down that long trail?) beach. It gets pretty cold outside of summer, and the water’s cold even then. But it’s a good place to meet someone you want to make sure isn’t carrying anything hidden. Of course, that doesn’t stop an Immortal from bringing her sword, but it does stop her from bringing any armour.
The campus has fairly large and insular communities of pretty much every supernatural type (except car wizards, who wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out there but do love to race the long entrance roads). Werewolves roam the forest, and technomages the campus. There are a surprising number of Immortals tucked away in forgotten professorships, and a disturbing number of demons with tenure. Angels haunt the campus, especially along Frat Row, and the Fey-Touched have their own community home in the Museum of Anthropology. Vampires stalk the residences at night looking for naive youths away from home for the first time and vulnerable, and in turn are stalked by hunters who have formed a vigilante group ‘policing’ the campus. Sorcerers are found throughout faculty lists for certain departments (including the School of Business for some reason unknown to anyone else), and ghosts – well, there are ghosts of suicidal (or murdered) students, victims of lab experiments, long-dead First Nations warriors and their families, lost hikers, residents who simply passed away peacefully in their beds and then woke up surprised, you name it.
No matter who you are, you can find your community here.
That also means that your enemies can find their community here too.
And you’re all stuck out here.
somanyrats 