Smashtown

The Neighborhood once known as Marshtown

Marshtown was once a community, a happy one at that. Built on a delta of Halcyon River it began as a trade and marketing area but evolved into a full, prospering part of the city through the 70s and 80s where it took it's counter culture elements and embraced them fully. Sadly it didn't last and the entire region was flattened during an incident in the Early 90s when the original Peace Keepers had to battle the sea monster Lobstriker under the control of Captain Kaiju, the deranged terratologist.

## The History of Marshtown

Marshtown was originally a small port far South of the town that would one day become Halcyon in the late 1700s. Founded largely by minority groups such as the Irish laborers, Caribbean sailors, Chinese rail workers and escaped African abductees it traded in fish and peat for the town proper, building up along a set of marshy riverbeds that it converted into functioning canals.

The Barges of Marshtown were extremely popular and over time as the city expanded it fell into the boundaries of the city, becoming incorporated into the Halcyon "family" by the mid 1960s. It became a haven of sorts for the Bohemian lifestyle in the 1800s and did the same in the 1900s, drawing in diverse communities and protesting racism, war, capitalism, pollution and even a hint of fascism with gatherings in its large open parks and spaces.

Unfortunately, on Saturday the 12th of June 1999, Marshtown was the victim of another, devastating peril in the grand design of Halcyon City.

## Where Stomps The Lobster

At 13:21 on the 12th of June, 1999 the locals were enjoying their summer markets when the dockside promenade suddenly observed strange behaviors in the waters. A gigantic mutant lobster emerged from the water four miles off the coast and promptly began firing jets of pressurized sea water from orifices in its body with enough force to imitate cannonballs.

This creature, the "Lobstriker", was under the control of Nonaka Takeshi, the deranged Captain Kaiju who had a long abiding agenda of destroying Halcyon City for its "strange properties" and used sea monsters in these pursuits. No one had expected the attack and the city was caught off guard as the lobster beast and its master made their way to the shore.

The Peace Keepers scrambled swiftly to intercept and managed to prevent the creature closing in on the The South Side or Founders Landing however at the cost of Marshtown. The battle destroyed a lot of the infrastructure and cause the deltas to breach and canals to overflow, ultimately destroying the area completely.

## Marshtown to Smashtown

Today "Smashtown" as it is called, is a collection of neighborhoods to the South West of The South Side that is occupied by less than 100 people, abandoned buildings and warehouses still stand but only barely and those who live here do so because there is no alternative. Many squat in the more northern parts of the district that still has solid foundations, while others live near the swampy delta that has been formed by the battle sight, fishing from the dark waters and hoping toxic dumping or magical run off doesn't pollute their supplies.

The Area has minimal attention paid to it and any developer who has looked to gentrify or restore it has lost interest after seeing the price tag attached. The HCPD don't even come near the area and all it's original families have moved out. That being said this is one of the few places in the city with access to Echo Lane, the mystical street used by magic practitioners that only recently came to town due to the defeat of Nilfax.