Arkham County

***Map of Arkham County circa 1947.***

## Overview

Arkham County is a county in the north-eastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is the main location in which many stories of the Cthulhu mythos occur and is roughly coterminous with the real-life Essex County. Key differences include the inclusion of fictional locations such as the town of Arkham, the town of Innsmouth, and the Miskatonic River.

## Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 828 square miles (2,140 km2), of which 493 square miles (1,280 km2) is land and 336 square miles (870 km2) (41%) is water. Arkham County is adjacent to Rockingham County, New Hampshire to the north, the Atlantic Ocean (specifically the Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay) to the east, Suffolk County to the south, Middlesex County to the west and a very small portion of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire to the far north west in Methuen. All county land is incorporated into towns or cities.

## History

The county was created by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 10, 1629, when it was ordered "that the whole settlement within this jurisdiction be divided into four shires". Named after the county in England, Arkham then comprised the towns of Salem, Lynn, Arkham, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, Innsmouth, and Andover. In 1680, Haverhill, Amesbury and Salisbury, located north of the Merrimack River, were annexed to Arkham County. These communities had been part of Massachusetts' colonial-era Norfolk County. The remaining four towns within colonial Norfolk County, which included Exeter and what is now Portsmouth, were transferred to what became Rockingham County in the Province of New Hampshire. The Massachusetts-based settlements were then subdivided over the centuries to produce Arkham County's modern composition of cities and towns.

In 1692, hysteria and fear spread through Salem and the surrounding areas in what is now known as the Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of local people were accused of witchcraft and subsequently tried, imprisoned and condemned. A lesser-known campaign of persecution occurred in Arkham during the same year.

On October 31st 1764, the forerunner of Miskatonic University was founded under the name of Arkham College. The institution has since become one of the most prestigious universities for the study of medicine, archaeology, ancient history and literature.

Arkham County was a hotbed of independence activity during the American Revolutionary War, with naval privateers using Innsmouth as a major base of operations during the conflict. Additionally, the Arkham County Militia provided twelve regiments of infantry to the Continental Army between 1775 and 1783.

In 1846, a plague allegedly caused by foreign visiting seafarers wiped out half of the population of Innsmouth. Following this event, approximately 300 people remained living in the town.

Between 1861 and 1865, Arkham County was also a strong bed of Unionist support during the US Civil War. Massachusetts Governor Andrew took office in January 1861, just two weeks after the secession of South Carolina. Convinced that war was imminent, Andrew took rapid measures to prepare the state militia for active duty. On April 15, 1861, Andrew received a telegraph from Washington calling for 1,500 men from Massachusetts to serve for ninety days. The next day, several companies of the 8th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from Marblehead in Arkham County were the first to report in Boston. Of more dubious historical was the 32nd Massachusetts Regiment raised from the town of Innsmouth, whose membership was once described by the historically prominent Massachusetts-born Major General Joseph Hooker as "so odd in nature and sour in disposition" that few other military units would serve alongside them. The 32nd was tasked with guarding the coastline of Arkham County against the possibility of "Confederate saboteurs and amphibious-borne attacks", although given the ineffective force projection capabilities of the Confederate Navy along the eastern seaboard this has largely been deemed by historians as an excuse to sideline the 32nd away from other Unionist forces to protect morale.

In 1905, a typhoid outbreak devastated the county, particularly affecting the town of Arkham.

During the Great War, Arkham County provided hundreds of troops to the primarily New England-recruited 26th Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Force. These Arkham County natives were principally concentrated within the 1st and 2nd Rifle Companies of the 104th Infantry Regiment. They saw action and suffered substantial casualties during the German attack on the 26th Division at Seicheprey in April 1918. A monument to the battle is located in Arkham town centre.

At the height of Prohibition in the United States, a large force of federal agents laid siege to the town of Innsmouth throughout the winter of 1927-28 and demolished most of its seafront buildings. It was reported that the town had become a hotbed of alcohol brewing and smuggling along the eastern seaboard following the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment.

Arkham County was hit hard by the economic depression of the 1930s as the population migrated internally in large numbers to large metropolitan areas such as Boston, Worcester and Springfield. Tensions between migrant groups - particularly between Irish and Italian groups that comprised two of the largest growing migrant groups in New England during this period - erupted into several instances of gang warfare across Arkham, Salem, Newburyport and other major areas of occupation.

During World War 2, Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking tenth among the 48 states. Goods manufactured were principally in relation to shoes and textiles, with several large factories across major urban centres in Arkham County shifting to the production of uniforms. Alongside this, substantial production of armaments for the United States military was undertaken at the Barchester Armory in Arkham.

## 1947 - Post-war environment

1947 is considered the current gameplay year for SlickFiction Call of Cthulhu campaigns and one-shots. Massachusetts and Arkham County are entering a period of economic and societal transition. As the demobilisation of ten million service personnel in the post-war environment creates an influx of new unemployed into the American labour market, the military-focused industries of Arkham County race to convert their operations to embrace the growing consumer goods market as government contracts come to an end. Scientific research is advancing by leaps and bounds into new areas of chemistry, physics and biology. Alongside this, the old ways and beliefs of Arkham County still remain deeply-rooted in certain sections of the population, uneasily cohabiting and sometimes overtly clashing with the new world of materialism, science, and hubris.