Gotham City

### Residents

Bruce Wayne, Helena Bertinelli, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake, Leslie Thompkins, Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox, Stephanie Brown, Vicki Vale, Damian Wayne, Sasha Bordeaux, Jack Ryder, Kate Kane, Titus, Dinah Lance, Zatanna Zatara, Harper Row, Carrie Kelley, Silver St. Cloud, Vesper Fairchild, Julie Madison, Jean-Paul Valley, Michael Lane, Luke Fox, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Selina Kyle, Bette Kane, Eric Needham, Joseph Blackfire, Holly Robinson, John Constantine, Barbara Gordon, Roy Westerman, Tammie Westerman, Ashley Westerman, Clementine Westerman, Trey Westerman, Ace, Tye Longshadow, Colin Wilkes, Asami Koizumi, Eddie Dorado, Lincoln March, Jim Gordon, Sarah Essen-Gordon, Duke Thomas, Boston Brand, Terry McGinnis, Dana Tan, Nimue Inwudu, Warren McGinnis, Matt McGinnis, Max Gibson, Rick Flag, Jefferson Pierce, Harold Allnut, Zinda Blake, Charles McNider, Adrian Chase, Emma Campbell, Rina Nishida, Monique Forcier, Edgar Cizko, Ellie MacKay, Evelyn Crawford, Maxie Zeus, Tatiana Forcier, Tot Rodor, Maggie Sawyer, Anissa Pierce, Jennifer Pierce, Elissa Wayne, Em Parker, Derek Powers, Angie Aimes, Diedre Vance, Nina Damfino, Patients and Staff of Arkham Asylum

## Overview

**Gotham City**

* **Mayor:** Lincoln March (2016 - ), Preceded by Sebastian Hady (2012 - 2016) and Hamilton Hill (- 2012)
* **Districts:** Bristol, Burnside, Park Row, Otisburg, New Town, Gotham Heights, Cherry Hill ("The Hill"), Gotham Village, The Coventry, The Bowery, Barr Town, The Cauldron, Robbinsville, Fashion District, Diamond District, Financial District, Old Gotham, Gotham Square, Little Italy, Chinatown, Burnley, East End, The Narrows, Tricorner

**GOTHAM-BLÜDHAVEN METROPOLITAN AREA**

* **Dimensions:** 1,019 sq mi
* **Population:** 10,271,939
* **Density:** 10,080

## The Gangs of Gotham

* **Masterminds:** The Masterminds are a confederation of criminal elements that collectively rule most of Gotham, having seized up most of the power that was once held by Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni. The Masterminds are mostly free to run their own operation as they see fit but meet together as needed to work through internal disputes or conduct other business.
	+ Black Mask has the largest slice of Gotham. His gang rules the vast majority of the West Side of Gotham. Black Mask's gang is headquartered out of the Sionis Steel facility.
	+ Great White Shark has the next largest slice of Gotham, the East Side. He's headquartered in White Investments in the Fashion District.
	+ Two-Face runs his outfit out of Old Gotham, where he oversees the Southside and much of the old downtown area.
	+ Penguin does business out of the Iceberg Lounge, though he also owns property all over Gotham.
	+ Joker runs the Laugh Pack and rules over the area of Amusement Mile and Park Row.
	+ Riddler is the only Mastermind without a sizable portion of turf.
	+ Hush was once a member of the Masterminds but hasn't shown up for meetings in some time. His territory was divided out to Black Mask and Great White Shark.
* **Cosa Nostra:** The Cosa Nostra is an Italian mafioso group that once ruled Gotham but much of their business was usurped by Roman Sionis in the wake of the arrests of Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni. Defeated but not destroyed, the Italian mob remains a credible threat to Gotham's law and order.
* **Scarface Gang:** Scarface and his Ventriloquist own the biggest, independently operated organized crime syndicate in Gotham. Though they have worked with the Masterminds in the past, they typically oppose them. Peyton Riley runs the Riley Crime Family (aka: "The Irish") and when in possession of Scarface, she also has the loyalty of Scarface's organization.
* **Yakuza:** Eiko Hasigawa is the head of the Gotham branch of the Yakuza. They are a recent addition to Gotham's Underworld and have yet to find their footing. They mostly deal in smuggling.
* **Greek Crime Families:** Maximillian "Maxie" Stavropoulos is the new head of the local Greek crime families. Maxie is the undisputed king of Gotham's nightlife, running a popular club in the Diamond District called Olimp which is the biggest competitor of the Iceberg Lounge. While Maxie is a popular figure among Gotham's youth and club goers, he is a feared figure in the underworld, called 'Zeus' for his fascination of electrocuting those who have wronged him.
* **Escobedo Cartel:** The Escobedo Cartel has always had little interest in Gotham, but that seems to have changed as word on the street is that the Cartel has sent a big player to Gotham to establish a foothold to prepare the way for a steady stream of drug running. That big player is Ignatius "Iggy" Nevada, or better known by his street name Snowflame, a metahuman with a secret past as a former Checkmate operative who gains powers from the use of various intoxicants and narcotics (his favorite being cocaine).
* **Sons of Batman:** Jean-Paul Valley is the leader of the Sons of Batman Motorcycle Club. Traditionally speaking, the Sons of Batman do not consider themselves criminals despite their dealing in drugs, weapons, and extortion markets. While the Sons patrol throughout Gotham, few gangs even dare to come within a five-block radius of the Sons' Clubhouse.
* **Tobacconists' Club:** Rupert Thorne runs Gotham's Tobacconists' Club which is an exclusive old money club for the rich and powerful. It is suspected of having ties to the Court of Owls and has their fingers in many illicit deals. Once said to be the true power of Gotham, the Tobacconists are usually somehow connected to most of Gotham's political scandals and corruption charges. They deal with a great amount of white collar crime. Alexander Sartorius, aka: Phosphorous, is Rupert's right-hand man and enforcer, often using his time in Arkham to recruit talent.
* **China White Triad:** The Chinese Triad is represented by Carlton Duquesne. Duquesne was a former low-level gangbanger from the Burnley Town Massive street gang who took advantage of the Triad looking for a foothold and had his crew side with the Triad, going against the wishes of the gangs higher up on the food chain. The gamble worked out in Duquesne's benefit as he survived the resulting turf war and married into the Triad, marrying the sister of Chien Na Wei, increasing his influence with the Triad tenfold. The two had a daughter and became wealthy and powerful, standing on the backs of the victims of their drug peddling and weapons deals. Since the death of his wife fifteen years ago, Duquesne has allied himself with the Penguin, acting as Penguin's chief weapons importer, and also is rumored to have ties to the Tobacconists' Club.
* **Bone:** Bone controls the high-end commodities corner of the black market. While he has a few other gigs, most of his money is made off illegal sales of stolen wares; and though he prefers art and antiquities, he'll move anything for the right price. While he used to be strictly mid-tier when it comes to Gotham's criminal element, he has been making waves in recent years, and rumor is he plans to get himself a membership among the Masterminds.
* **Black Light Tribe:** A street gang distinguished by their use of brightly colored paints which they use to mark their bodies, clothing, cars, and territory. They are headquartered in the East End and operate mostly through protection rackets, sex trafficking, and drug dealing; but also are trying to get into gambling, arms dealing, and money laundering. Their leader, Thomas "Neon" Chatham is a capable young man, but he is regarded by most high-profile criminals to be something of a joke.
* **CRIME:** Part organized criminal gang, part religious cult, part terrorist cell. This organization caters to career criminals, zealots, and anarchists alike. Overseen by Bruno Mannheim, who is considered to be a crime lord, prophet, or mercenary depending on who you ask. This cultist gang claims to be the vanguard for an inevitable invasion of the planet wherein a new galactic overlord will seize control of Earth. The organization is also known informally as 'Intergang' and the 'Religion of Crime' by different agencies.
* **HIVE:** Terrorist group dedicated to Earth being made better through the process of accelerated human evolution, by whatever means necessary.
* **Safinat Dakhma:** International organization of assassins.
* **Court of Owls:** The Court of Owls is a mysterious entity, which has long been considered nothing but a mere urban legend among Gothamites. However, more and more evidence emerges that the Court still exists.
* **Cult of Days:** Paige Monroe, aka: Calendar Girl, went on a year-long crime spree in 2006 to 2007, ultimately ending on July 4th, 2007. Paige's motives were entirely personal as she was merely out to avenge her career and take revenge against those who had wronged her. However, her chosen theme of the calendar and her celebrity garnered much attention and that attention soured in a bad way. Over time, a cult following began to develop on the dark web and soon there were fanatics dedicated to Paige's personality and persona.
* **The Children of Arkham:** The Lady of Arkham, also simply known as Lady Arkham, is a masked woman who has been hacking television broadcasts to declare her message of exposing government corruption and false idols. Much of her rhetoric also demonstrates that she is in devout opposition to Mayor March's proposed shutting down of Arkham Asylum. Armed with prototype security weapons and a mask that was once a proposed armament for Arkham Security under Amadeus Arkham's direction, Lady Arkham has a clear connection to Arkham Asylum but her identity remains unknown.
* **Circus of Strange:** Professor Pyg, which used to be short for *Pygmalion* but is now more aptly associated with swine, is a diabolical mad scientist who leads a group of criminals that celebrate their deformities and abnormal behavior. Under Pyg's protection and direction, these freakish felons abduct 'normies' for Pyg's cruel experiments, many of these resulting in the victim becoming a 'dollotron' or 'Pyg Doll' which involves having a doll face grafted over their own and usually accompanied with a lobotomy that turns the victim into a mindless drone for the Circus' devious desires.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Gotham is home to many sports teams:
	+ Gotham Rogues is Football
	+ Gotham Griffins is Baseball
	+ Gotham Knights is Basketball
	+ Gotham Blades is Hockey
* The sky above Gotham is red due to pollution particles and algae.
* The reason for many cases of mental illnesses in the area might be the presence of Delirium of the Endless.
* There are a labyrinth of tunnels under Gotham comprised of subways, utility tunnels, sewer tunnels, tunnels made by the mob and Batman.
* Unlike other cities where the Ryde app is functional, there are still taxis in Gotham.
* There are rumors that Eli Spengler, one of first architects of the city, was also a member of a secret society of occultists and was responsible for creating powerful wards and runes which sealed dark entities away under Gotham town and Lewiston (which would later be renamed Gateway City).
* It's one of the areas where Belphegor operates. It's also one of the areas where Balthazar rotates.

### Notes

* Many of locations are named after writers and artists of *Batman* comics:
	+ Archie Goodwin International Airport - Archie Goodwin
	+ Finger Park - Bill Finger
	+ Rogers Yacht Basin - Marshall Rogers
	+ Miller Harbor - Frank Miller
	+ Sprang River - Dick Sprang
	+ Cape Carmine - Carmine Infantino
	+ Grant Park - Alan Grant
	+ Morrison Park - Grant Morrison
	+ Barr Town - Mike W. Barr
	+ Puckett Park - Kelley Puckett
	+ Aparo Park - Jim Aparo
	+ Burnley - Jack Burnley
	+ Dixon Docks - Chuck Dixon
	+ Mooney Bridge - Jim Mooney
	+ Kane Bridge - Bob Kane
	+ Robbin's Road - Frank Robbins
	+ Burnett Road - Alan Burnett
	+ Capullo Corner Apartments - Greg Capullo
	+ Loeb Bridge - Jeph Loeb
	+ Von Gruenwald Enterprises - Mark Gruenwald
	+ Reaves Road - Michael Reaves
* Wonder Tower is a nod to *Batman: Arkham City* video game.
* Linseed Bridge might be a nod to Mayor Linseed from the 1966 *Batman* TV series.
* A Batcave located on the Arkham Island is a nod to *Batman: Arkham Asylum* video game.
* Pinkney Street might be a nod to Cyrus Pinkney from *Batman: Arkham Origins* video game.
* Shreck's Fashion is a nod to the *Batman Returns* movie.
* Coventry, Diamond District, Miagani Island, and the Cauldron are locations from the *Batman: Arkham* games.
* Otisburg first appeared in *No Man's Land*.
* Omnimed Research is a nod to the *Grotesk* storyline from *Batman, Vol. 1 #659 - #662*.
* Burnside first appeared in *Batgirl Vol. 4 #35*.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Gotham City
* Location Gallery: Gotham City
* Residents of Gotham City

1. ↑ E27 Journal: Gotham Underworld (W.i.P.)
2. ↑ VOX Box: Heretic Saga 17
3. ↑ VOX Box: Monster Mash 1
4. ↑ Network Files: Egon Spengler 1
5. ↑ Network Files: Belphegor 1
6. ↑ Network Files: Balthazar