Places

The setting of The Glass Scientists is London, England. Most all subsequent settings fall within it.

## Bethnal Green

> *"Here there be thieves and whores and vagabonds. And of course... here there be **monsters.**"*
> -Edward Hyde (Ch1 p2-3)
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   Chapter 1 opens up in Bethnal Green, an 'infamous slum' within the East End of London. The East End is known for its high rates of poverty and crime, its irritable and often hostile residents, and in the universe of The Glass Scientists, frequent attacks by supernatural creatures.

   As the establishing setting, it is not expanded upon too much. After all, it's the home of absolutely none of the main characters, and is used only as setup for Jasper's unfortunate circumstances.

It's noted to have been chosen over Whitechapel (another area within the East End of London) specifically to avoid association with the Jack the Ripper murders, an incredibly popular inspiration and defining choice for other Victorian and steampunk themed stories.

## The Society for Arcane Sciences

> *"So it's like... a **club** for **mad scientists?**"
> "I prefer **rogue scientists.** Takes the edge off it."*
> -Jasper and Jekyll (Ch2 p6)
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The Society for Arcane Sciences is an institution founded by Dr. Henry Jekyll and Cofounded by Dr. Robert Lanyon. It's described by Jekyll as "free from the tyranny of the mob *and* the judging eye of the academy", a place where rogue science can dwell safely in London.

It's the setting to a large majority of the comic, home to the lodgers and, quite frequently, Jekyll himself. Its funding and continued survival, hinged upon a Grand Exhibition that will be hosted there, is the main driving point for the comic's plot. It houses scientists of all backgrounds and professions, several having been rescued off the streets in a similar manner to Jasper, out from under the mob, poverty, or other extraneous circumstances, the Society representing an overall safe haven for rogue scientists of all calibers.

It's noted that much of the Society's interior was built by the lodgers themselves, directly contributing to much of the Society's individualistic flair. Consequently, it has numerous secret passageways in and out, likely at the price of being somewhat structurally unsound. All of which pathways are noted to be known by Edward Hyde.

> *"The society has a **world-class** collection of over **twenty-five hundred** items from **eighty seven** countries around the globe!"*
> -Jekyll (Ch2 p13)
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As Lucy notes the fire in Chapter 4 as the "Broadwick Street Fire" (Ch7, p2), it can be assumed that the Society for Arcane Sciences is near or on Broadwick Street, located in Soho.

### The Main Entrance

The front entrance or foyer of the society is a large hall lined with scientific artifacts of all sorts, inspired by the Paris Natural History Museum. It's lined in display cases, tomes, tesla coils, and what are very likely to be real, rather than model, skeletons and sarcophagi. Notably, displays include the spirit of the sword Excalibur and a bonsai tree of life. It's already quite impressive even without the numerous aviation machines and dormant leviathan skeleton suspended above it all. The latter is noted to be kept afloat using anti-gravity fluids, as otherwise it would surely be too heavy to hang from the ceiling.

The hall is lit using dozens of lightbulbs of different designs, numerous windows, and a large skylight, not to mention the aforementioned tesla coils. The curtains to the windows, the cover to the skylight, and all electric lighting seem to be powered by the same mechanism of complex clockwork design, triggered most likely by sound via some intricate Gaslamp-fantasy-Victorian version of a clapper, though it was noted to originally be thought to be operated by apprentices, in charge of opening the Society every morning.

### Residential Suites

The Society for Arcane Sciences provides lodging for rogue scientists, and while we've yet to see inside every individual's respective rooming, nor meet every Lodger in the Society by name, there are a few labs that we have seen in depth glimpses into so far.

#### Bird and Archer

As the sign on their shared door suggests, the lodgers Mr. Bird and Mr. Archer room together. Crypto-horticulturalist and botanical clockwork engineer respectively, their room is something of an indoor greenhouse lined with different exotic plants and fungi, magical, carnivorous, poisonous, and clockwork in nature. The life cycles and inner workings of said clockwork plants is currently unknown.

#### Maijabi

Dr. Maijabi's room, as resident ectoplasmic pathologist, is lined in several ghostly artifacts, including bubbled and bottled spirits, some in clusters and others suspended individually. Additionally, there are suspended bottles of ghost's blood, mirrors in which spirits and the generally invisible can be seen, and numerous assorted floating objects. Collections of unidentified function though likely antique origin also litter the room, including numerous marble busts, a monkey toy, and several chests and boxes. All the candles in the room are lit with cyan blue flame, giving the room a dark and cold looking atmosphere.

It may be reasonable to assume Dr. Maijabi's room may have entrances/exits to other suites in the society, seeing as both Ms. Lavender and Mrs. Cantilupe are able to enter from doors aside from the hallway. Either that, or they were hiding within the grandfather clock and the ceiling respectively since before Jekyll entered, waiting for a good time to make a dramatic entrance, but numerous slightly mysterious and comically theatrical entrances and exits are simply more likely for a society for rogue scientists.

#### Ms. Ito & Dr. Helsby

The last of the lodgers' rooms to be shown until Jasper's, Ms. Ito and Helsby's room is furnished for the most part by Helsby, featuring a large array of bathynautical equipment and paraphernalia for décor, including anchors, diving bells, and the repair kraken in its tank, working on the reparations for an underwater ship. The room is noted to be larger than average compared to the other suites, displayed furthermore in how it comfortably fits many of the previously introduced lodgers at once, giving them ample room to crowd Jasper to interrogate him on his plans for the exhibition (Ch2, p24). The room was also noted to be shared with a lodger by the name of Mr. Chestro when it was first shown, but as of the current iteration of the comic, it's unclear who Chestro is, nor if they are still a canon character.

#### Jasper Kaylock

Not seen "furnished" until Chapter 7, Jasper's room is something of a zoo for supernatural creatures, cryptozoologist as he is. Likely alluded to in Chapter 1 as Jasper's "experiments", a large number of Jasper's animals are seen at their feeding time, including (but certainly not limited to) soot mice, will-o'-wisps, a church grim, and small dragons of different sorts. Several are mentioned by name.

It's noted that Jasper really shouldn't have so many animals in such a small space, but they likely have free reign across the Society (granted that they are allowed within others' spaces), and simply return to Jasper's room for feeding time. It's likely a comparable situation to Griffin's cat Perseus or the repair kraken, in that creatures and pets are allowed to roam to an extent.

Jasper's room is featured briefly within Chapter 2 and later serves as the setting for late Chapter 7, early Chapter 8, and mid Chapter 12.

### Jekyll's Office

Dr. Jekyll's office is located up the stairs at the opposite end of the building to the Main Entrance, seen on the outside by its large red double doors. It's lined in several glass cases and boxes containing formulae and ingredients of alchemical nature in different flasks, as well as a full length mirror, making for a near full wall of reflective surfaces surrounding Jekyll's work desk.

The wall is lined in windows which are typically curtained at night. It also has a red couch of lavish design, which Jekyll has been noted to sleep on more often than his own bed, which he does of course have, as well as his own place of residence, albeit highly neglected at present.

It's used as the setting of numerous scenes, the most notable from the end of chapter 2 to the beginning of chapter 3, the end of chapter 5, and the end of chapter 8, as it provides a private place for him and Hyde to converse without risking his image by talking to 'himself'.

It may or may not therefore be soundproof, as would be convenient for a place where excruciating psychophysical transformations happen, and no one has thus far caught Jekyll/Hyde in the middle of such transformations after two years.

### The Kitchen

Most frequent dwelling place for cook and day manager Rachel Pidgely, the kitchen of the Society, like most Victorian kitchens, is noted to be located on the bottom floor just below street level (despite appearing much higher up). It's lined to the brim in different pots, jars, and hanging foods such as allium garlands and sausage links. The counters are painted with oranges, and there are jars to match with oranges painted on the front: likely a set that came with the paint job.

It's unclear exactly how much food is stored here, but it's likely a sizeable amount fit to feed dozens of people, as the lodgers are indeed a large group with a reasonably large appetite. There is also at very least enough meat to feed Jasper a small mountain of chicken, allegedly free for life (Ch6, p29).

Its main window is shown to have a windowbox outside it with a rectangular hedge growing in it. Additionally, ivy crawls along the side of the building, reaching the edge of the window frame. In chapter 3, the outside of the kitchen looks notably dirtier and less tended to than its appearance in chapter 6.

The kitchen is the setting for the end of chapter 3, the end of chapter 6, a brief scene within chapter 8, and the beginning of chapter 11, all scenes mainly involving Rachel.

### The Roof

As it's used as a major setting only once, from the very end of Chapter 3 to the beginning of Chapter 4, it's not a very expanded upon setting. We know it's at very least accessible via a large metal hatch style door, and is walled off to make for a relatively safe area for talking or sightseeing. The society is tall enough that you can look out on a sizeable portion of London with minimal obstructions. This walled off area of the roof is near the observatory telescope that you can see from the front of Society, so it's likely that anyone on the roof can be seen from the street below.

### The Attic

> *"Well I will not stay in this horrible sun drenched room a **minute** longer. Haven't you anything more **appropriate** for a mad scientist such as myself? An abandoned **castle** at a mountaintop, perhaps? Or a lonely looking shack overlooking a **windswept sea?**"*
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> *"That's... not really the **look** we're going for here. There's an attic I haven't gotten around to remodeling yet (…)"*
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> -Frankenstein and Jekyll (Ch6 p13)
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    The attic is the setting for nearly all scenes concerning Dr. Frankenstein post mid Chapter 6, chosen as her temporary hospice for its distinct lack of garish sunlight and its mad science aesthetic. Jekyll mentions it's unsafe, but nonetheless, aesthetics outweigh sense, and with her trying to actively escape regardless, a place she somewhat tolerates is better than a place she doesn't.

The attic is accessible through a stairwell, though it's unclear whether or not it's the same set of stairs as the main staircase. It's decorated in string lights, green canisters of unknown purpose, and several chests and candles, the latter of which were likely already there, storage space as it was probably used as before. Frankenstein's bed, an elevating hospital cot, is placed perpendicular to the entrance against the back wall.

It's noted that most décor in the attic was arranged by the lodgers: either unused "science junk" cluttering their labs or simply curios to fit Frankenstein's aesthetic. She likely doesn't know what half of them are, let alone how to use them, but she doesn't really mind so long as the attic seems at first glance proper housing for a mad scientist.

## The Diodati Theater

> *"Ah yes, our friends at the illustrious **Diodati Theater Company.** What a delight."*
> - Jekyll (Ch3, p4)
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The Diodati Theater company neighbors the Society of Arcane Sciences, and can be seen from Jekyll's office window at the back of the Society. It's the main scene for Chapter 3, and is only mentioned once more indirectly in Chapter 4.

It's reasonable to assume they may have a sort of reputation for terrible shows. People seem to get a laugh from them more than emotional substance, overdramatic melodramas as they seem to put on.

## The Police Station

The Police Station is a large and rather dreary building, as well as the setting for the majority of chapter 5. It's marked on the outside with an arc reading "Parva Sub Ingenti", a latin phrase meaning that the weak are protected by the strong, an angel statue atop the arc, and a sign reading "Police" in blue serif font below it.

The precinct shown in The Glass Scientists seems mainly managed by Sergeant Enoch Brokenshire, although there has been mention of a currently unnamed commissioner. Sergent Brokenshire therefore is the one to tour Jekyll through the station.

The station as it's shown consists of the ground floor, an area laid out primly in a style similar to a study with bookshelves, paintings, and desks and chairs aside the main walkway.

    Then there's the basement where they have holding/jail cells. It's rather dank and presumably unequipped to hold too many people at once, shown in how in between the Creature and the many lodgers captured in the Broadwick Street Fire, the cells seem quite full. The Creature sat in one cell, taking it all up by himself, and the lodgers were practically stacked atop each other in the other.

Finally, we see Sergeant Brokenshire's office, in which Jekyll is interrogated on what he knows of Hyde. It's an organized, tidy, and professional office space, adorned with an English flag, tall filing cabinets and bookshelves, a small potted topiary, a large framed mural of some sort, and a small collection of presumably personal photos.

## Jekyll's Residence

    Noted to be similar to the house described in the original *Strange Case* novella, it's first shown only in flashbacks in Chapters 6 and 7, showcasing the Laboratory and the Kitchen, but in Chapter 11, it's finally shown in present day.

Before working at the Society for Arcane Sciences as day manager, Rachel is noted to work for Jekyll at his house as a cook and maid. This was how she comes to meet Hyde, as the balcony nearest to the street is located over the kitchen on the basement level, or more specifically, the blackberry bushes outside the kitchen window. Hyde tried to jump from the balcony, over the metal fence, and into the street, but missed by quite a bit and fell into the brambles.

Present day, in Chapter 11, Jekyll gives Jasper an incredibly brief tour through his home on account of needing to hide the lodgers' science equipment off the grounds of the society. It's shown to be a rather large estate with almost every piece of furniture inside having been covered in a white sheet in preparation of repossession. Jekyll has sold almost everything he owns to be able to keep the Society afloat unbeknownst to all the lodgers, though now barring Jasper.

> *"If I'm lucky, I'll get to hang onto the house when all this is over. But admittedly, I've been a wee bit short on luck lately."*
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> - Jekyll (Ch11 p16)
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The laboratory, their final destination on their little impromptu tour, looks like a large shed on the outside, but the inside used to be an operating theater, previously owned by a renowned Scottish surgeon. This is noted to be taken directly from a possible inspiration of the Strange Case, the 18th century surgeon John Hunter, whose house lined up strikingly with the novella's description of Jekyll's house: a typical gentleman's residence in the front, a lecture hall and scientific collection of curios in the back.

It notably features a high ceiling with a half-covered electric chandelier, towering observation seats circling a round center stage covered in debris, and in the center, pushed to the back of the stage, Jekyll's lab set up seen in Chapter 6 can be seen, also half-covered in a white sheet. From near the ceiling, sun streams in from a single point in a window, the scene's only light source. The observation seats themselves seem to be dirtied and in various states of disrepair, likely damaged by age and possible misuse over the years. In various places around the lab sit tables and equipment completely hidden by sheets, either in wake of sale, or for simple lack of use. It's easily assumed that most everything in the lab, down to the lab itself, hasn't seen much of any use in the two years since the Society's opening.

## Lucy's Home Base

    Home of Queen Lucy, leader of the 40 Elephants and beloved sister-in-law of Rachel Pidgely, her headquarters has served as the main setting for chapter 7 and chapter 10. The surrounding area seems a slum similar to Bethnal Green, but its exact location within London is unknown.
Members of the 40 Elephants seem to be able to come and go as they please (with the exception of during "Knives and Whiskey Time", Ch6 p31), likely living either very nearby or within the same building.

    The main room is decorated with piles upon piles of presumably stolen goods, such as chests of riches, stacks of gold coins, and assorted blades. The back wall is adorned with a large full body portrait of Lucy with her spouses, Elsie and Patrin. Several other paintings adorn the room. In chapter 8, it (or one of the near rooms) is also shown to bear a map of London on the wall, used to chart recent sightings of Hyde.

Patrin's room, likely shared with Lucy and Elsie, is briefly shown in Chapter 10. Notably, it features a large and luxurious roof-height canopy bed with red curtains, and a mounted triad of swords above the headboard.

Besides the main floor, in the original version of Chapter 10 page 17, it's mentioned to have a basement in which there's a few holding cells, equipped with barred windows and reinforced steel doors. Across the span of two panels is a hypothetical cell, showing a glimpse into what said holding cells may look like. The door to the cell has a specialized flap to push food under so that prisoners neither starve nor escape. This basement in its entirety, however, is no longer mentioned in canon as of the edit made on 3/17/2021.

## Lanyon Hall

    Lanyon Hall is the main setting of the latter portion of Chapter 8. It's the house of Lanyon's father, and is likely Lanyon's former residence. Here they hold a fundraiser ball to ascertain needed new patrons for the Society of Arcane Sciences.
Lanyon's family has always enjoyed a fair share of societal influence, Lanyon having been raised into high society and his residence reflecting that quite plainly. The outside of the estate has several windows marking a first and second floor, a large balcony, an ornate roof trim, and a minimum of 3 chimneys on each side.

    The ballroom is lit in cheery pale yellow light from an extravagant chandelier and is decorated in ornate mirrors and wall paneling. There's a self service bar (likely fixed in place rather than assembled for the party alone), equipped with a large array of alcohol of different varieties, wine glasses hung over the bottles. What little that is shown of the rest of the interior is decorated similarly lavishly.

Outside, presumably towards the back or side yards, there is a garden, in which there is a prized tulip bed that belongs to Lanyon's mother. It's lined in hedges, flower bushes, and what's likely a fountain.

Little to nothing is known of the Lanyon family's staff, though it's easily assumed that with their degree of wealth and the size of their estate, they likely have a large staff if only to keep the grounds tended to and the interior kept clean.

## The Blackfog Bazaar

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> *"The infamous **vanishing bacchanal,** the traveling mecca for mad scientists the world over, coming home to **London** after all these years! It's a **once in a lifetime** opportunity!"*
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> "It's also **highly** illegal. Hence the 'vanishing' bit."
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> - Hyde and Jekyll (Ch2 p35)
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The Blackfog Bazaar is a travelling scientific convention (noted to be likened multiple times to a mall), currently set up underground within a large cavernous space in London's Sewers. It's famed among scientists for selling all sorts of rare ingredients, supplies, and general contraband. It is Hyde (and therefore Jekyll)'s longest standing dream to attend, and therefore takes its place as a centerpiece for one of the most central conflicts between the pair. Jekyll cannot risk going, but Hyde wants more than anything to go anyway, and will do just short of *anything* to convince Jekyll to let him.

Thus, it becomes the main setting of Chapter 9. True to its reputation, it's ginormous, difficult to navigate, and crowded with people to the point of nearly squishing together. It's lit in bright yellow light and lined in tents and kiosks of all sorts. Equipped notably with an opium den, bar, stalls, and merchants selling everything from humonculi, to basilisk's fang, to, notably, brimstone powder.

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> *"Every inch of these secret tunnels is teeming with **vampires** and **freak shows** and **Cthulu cults**, each of them offering the finest scientific **contraband** Europe has to offer."*
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> - Hyde (Ch9 p9)
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Due to Hyde leading the cops straight to it, however, it is frantically taken down and presumably relocated at the end of Chapter 9, meaning it will no longer be found beneath London, and will likely reappear somewhere a few cities or perhaps countries over.

## Works Cited

1. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 1, page 3.
2. ↑ Disqus comment made August 11th, 2015 under Chapter 2, page 6.
3. ↑ Disqus comment made October 5th, 2015, under Chapter 2, page 14. (on the Society)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Disqus comment made October 5th, 2015, under Chapter 2, page 14. (on J&H)
5. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 2, page 8.
6. ↑ Disqus comment made August 30th, 2015, under Chapter 2, page 8.
7. ↑ Disqus comment made August 27th, 2015, under Chapter 2, page 8.
8. ↑ Disqus comment made August 17th, 2015, under Chapter 2, page 7.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The author's note below Chapter 2, page 19.
10. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 7, page 24.
11. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 3, page 20.
12. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 6, page 24.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 The author's note below Chapter 7, page 3.
14. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 11, page 17.
15. ↑ The author's note below Chapter 8, page 5.