EMPIRE CITY

HISTORY

The site of Empire City was home to a Native American group called the Fox Tribe. European settlers established a fishing encampment in the area during the early 17th Century, but a permanent settlement was not established until nearly the end of the century. Empire City itself was founded in 1691 by a mix of groups, notably including King James loyalists who fled Boston after news of the Glorious Revolution had reached the colonies, as well as various disaffected religious groups. Relations with the local Fox Tribe started out well but deteriorated over time and by 1720 the last of the tribe had been killed or driven away.

The populace was divided during the Revolutionary War, with the British loyalists keeping control of Empire City in the early years. The city was the site of a major battle of the war in 1779 when the Continental Army took control of Empire on the back of heroic actions by Tomahawk's Rangers and noted local hunter and tracker Peter Kirk.

Initially driven by fishing and agriculture, the city's economy transitioned to textiles and printing during the 19th Century. The city was also the site of a strong abolitionist movement and was part of the Underground Railroad. Up to this point the population was largely English, Scottish and Welsh Protestants; but the 19th Century saw a wave of immigration, primarily Irish but with a handful from Eastern Europe as well as a small group of Chinese immigrants, who found work in the burgeoning textile industry and founded the city's Chinatown. These immigrants would settle the land on the west side of the Thunder River.

Despite the increasing development on the western shore, the area on the east shore around the original settlement remained the dominant center of Empire City until the start of the 20th Century. In 1908 a new bridge was built across the Thunder River connecting the two parts of the city. This led to a boom in construction on the western shore and by the middle of the century it had become the new city center. This was cemented in 1991 when the new City Hall was built in the Newbridge neighborhood.

In the 1940s the city was home to the Mystery Man called Manhunter, who was secretly the big game hunter Paul Kirk (a descendant of local Revolutionary War hero Peter Kirk). Kirk would vanish after the war, going missing during a hunting trip to Africa. Despite his disappearance, Kirk's legacy would impact the city in the decades to come. In reality, Paul Kirk had been taken in by a secret organization which used him as the template for cloned soldiers. Kirk would resume his Manhunter identity and take down this organization, at the cost of his own life, but some of his clones would survive. One of these found a trove of alien technology and became the criminal mastermind the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster organized a global Great Game, a competition modelled on a chess match that pitted criminal and intelligence groups across the world against each other. The one rule above all others in the game was that Empire City was to be left alone, a holdover from the Grandmaster's origins as a clone of Paul Kirk.

Though not crime free by any means, for five years the rules of the Great Game kept Empire City safe from the likes of super villains and terrorist organizations that did not want to risk retaliation from the Grandmaster. This changed when the Crime Cartel broke the rule and conducted an operation in Empire City. Their actions led to the formation of the heroic Guardians team, who the Grandmaster tasked with protecting the city now that the rule had been broken. The team did their best, but the lifting of the Grandmaster's edict meant that several groups, from corrupt city officials to street gangs to organized crime figures, began vying for power in the city.

The rising conflicts in the city were merely the beginning, as soon Empire City found itself at the center of the Revelations crisis. During this period an earthquake devastated the Brighton neighborhood and gang violence reached epic proportions before the crisis was ended in a final confrontation in Empire City's Midtown between the forces of evil and a gathering of heroes. The city had barely begun to recover when it was threatened with further destruction from an ancient being, one of the so-called Millennium Giants, until that threat was stopped by the apparent sacrifice of the Guardians.

Two years on, Empire City is still on the road to recovery with many new construction projects aimed at revitalizing the devastated areas of the city. A reborn Guardians team has recently appeared on the scene, giving the city back its superhuman protectors.

GEOGRAPHY

Empire City is located on the southern coast of Bristol County in Massachusetts, near the border with Rhode Island. Empire City is comprised of many distinct neighborhoods, including:

Points of Interest

  1. Empire City Coliseum
  2. Hunter's Gate Stadium
  3. Seaquarium
  4. Empire City Airport
  5. Empire City University
  6. Bayshore Nuclear Power Station
  7. Rift Manor
  8. Skara Brae Prison
  9. O'Brien's Pub
  10. Millennium Research Group

Warp Zone | DC Heroes | Places of Interest | Empire City