InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Nevermore."

Hans Ernst Varner (heil_hans) wrote in la_vie_ooc,
@ 2008-03-09 17:24:00

Current mood:	working
Entry tags:	info, locations

Locations
The great majority of this game takes place in the city of Paris, France. These are some locations around the city that may come in to play. Feel free to make up locations as you need them, and we will add them into the list of places. If your character owns a business, please do a little writeup on said business and we will add it to the list.

Paris (overview):
Paris is the capital city of France. It is situated on the River Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (aka "Paris Region"; in French: Région Parisienne or RP). The Paris unité urbaine (or urban area) extends well beyond the administrative city limits while the metropolitain area of Paris is known as the 'aire urbaine'. Paris has been an important settlement for more than two millennia. The Paris Region (Île-de-France) is France's foremost center of economic activity. In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the Battle of France, Paris fell to German occupation forces.

The Île de la Cité:
Paris made its début on the Île de la Cité, and this river islet is often regarded to this day not only as the center of the city, but the center of all France. During the days, the islet is bustling with activity, but after night fall curfew often finds it deserted of even criminals. Two of the most luminous Gothic churches ever built stand over the islet and are wonderful for sightseeing, however there are other delights – shady squares and embankments, panoramic bridges and the perfect symmetry of neighboring Île St-Louis, an island-village of the high 'bourgeoisie'. On a Sunday morning you can hear an echo of the old din in Place Louis Lépine's bird market.

Located on the Ile is...

St. Ursula's Academy For Young Ladies (school and church)
St. Ursula's is a walled and enclosed set of buildings, old, and of neatly laid stone. The grounds within are large enough for gardens, with a few shady benches beneath grand old trees upon which students and others may sometimes sit. The school building itself is quite large, veritably sprawling, and a bit maze-like, and in places, quite drafty.

The dormitories, other student rooms, the housing for the nuns, and chapel are attached, although the chapel is actually part of an even older structure, and attached a relative term, as additions have been built on to connect the disparate entities over time. The chapel has glorious stained glass windows, depicting the lives of various saints, and most particularly, some Post-Renaissance artist's interpretation of Ursula.

The rectory sits beside the school, and down a short flagstoned pathway. It is a simple, cozy building, though the stones are of the same type. Beneath the old Chapel, and the rest of the school, in fact, run various catacombs and tunnels, accessible through well locked and concealed chambers, one in the basement crypt of the chapel, known only to the Reverend Mother, and a few trusted long-term nuns, and one further down to a set of tunnels not otherwise connecting to the ones involved from the chapel. Entry to this is on the far side of the dormitories, within a sub-basement.

Occasionally, particularly mischievous and adventurous girls may sneak out this way, though to do so, they must first explore a great deal, pick locks, and actually find what amounts to a secret passageway. Periodically, the nuns board up portions of the entrance to the sub-basement.

There is an outbuilding used for the soup kitchen and to temporarily house homeless women and children (mostly) just to the right of the entry-gate.

The Conciergerie:
Just off of The Île de la Cité, a former palace known aas The Conciergerie is now a prison and seat of law in Paris. It is part of the larger complex known as the Palais de Justice. The governmental officers who were sent to rule over Paris have taken over the halls of The Conciergerie as their administrative buildings and are using the prison for countless French PoWs from the war. Though Vichy is the official ruling capital, there is much government business done in Paris and the Nazis have a strong interest in keeping control of this building and the government within.

La Boulangerie Chabert (bakery):
Opened in 1928 by Rene and Marie Chabert, this bakery features two large counter displays which were once filled with cakes, pies, cookies, and breads of all description. Now it is run by the widow Marie Chabert, with assistance from her granddaughter. Thanks to the shortages of war, the cases are far less from full - and feature more plain breads than treats. The cakes and pies and cookies are more often than not purchased by Nazi soldiers and government officials, as they are the only ones who can afford such luxuries. Though Marie tries to keep the prices down, the ingredients are costly. Occasionally one of them places a special order, and brings in the ingredients for such. The Parisian citizens come in for their bread - which Marie will let them purchase, even if they cannot afford it. "Pay me back when you can, take the bread now." is a frequently heard phrase. She still makes bread deliveries throughout the city, occasionally delivering a message along with the baked goods

The Occitan Bistro:
A small Occitan bistro owned by Bertrat, his wife Mireille, and their son Stephane . The bistro is the site of musicalas, informal musical gatherings. The family who runs the bistro are from the same town as Marie-Pierre. Bertrat is boisterous and tends to forget to speak French; Mireille has been having an off-and-on affair with Marie-Pierre for about a decade now; Stephane might be Marie-Pierre's, and if he is, then he is taking after the family business - working as a messenger for Duclos and getting far too excited by the thought of secret codes and such. Best known for 'that thing with the sausage'. Avoid the wine.

The Catacombs:
The Catacombs of Paris is a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Organized in a renovated section of the city's vast network of subterranean tunnels and caverns towards the end of the 18th century, it became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and was open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. This cemetery covers a portion of Paris' former mines near the Left Bank's Place Denfert-Rochereau, in a location that was just outside the city gates before Paris expanded in 1860. Although this cemetery covers only a small section of underground tunnels officially called "les carrières de Paris" ("the quarries of Paris"), Parisians today popularly refer to the entire network as "the catacombs".

Parisian members of the French Resistance use the tunnel system.

German soldiers have also established an underground bunker in the catacombs below Lycée Montaigne.

Also located in the catacombs is:

Le Moulin Noir
Le Moulin Noir lies deep within the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris. If you don't know where you're going, you'll almost certainly get lost; if you do, you had best know the password, as well, or the doorman won't let you in.

If he does, though...

The warm yellow glow of lamp- and candlelight spills briefly out into the tunnel you entered through, and you are ushered into a surprisingly large, open chamber. The acoustics are terrific - the low makeshift stage is on the far side of the room, but you can hear every syllable of the rather bawdy burlesque show being performed.

There's a real oak-and-mirror bar, tended by either a flirtatious young lady or a solemn old man. The old man - D'archet - knows of a cache of absinthe which was laid up down here when they outlawed la fée verte 25 years ago; he also knows almost everything else worth knowing, as a good bartender ought.

The tables and chairs are rather mismatched and the curtains rigged over the stage are patched and faded, but overall the attempt at recreating, with a certain dark irony, the glory of a turn-of-the-century Parisian music hall is highly successful.

The most popular number in the show is "O How I Love Being In The Gestapo (And How The Gestapo Loves Being In Me)".

Current password: je cours ma perte (I got a death wish)

Soldatenheim / Soldatenkino / Wermachtspeiselokal /Soldatenkaffee:
Some places in Paris cater to the German soldiers - cafes, hotels, theaters, restaurants and the like. This is usually marked with a sign outside and a Nazi flag. German friendly businesses were often listed in the Der Deutsche Wegleiter, a guidebook published twice-monthly for Germans in Paris. Popular Soldatenheim are located at Les Champs Elysées, Boulevard Sebastopol and Place Clichy.

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It Comes With The Nun:

little_scary
2008-03-11 01:07 pm UTC (link)

**The school is a complete work of fiction (Which I shall nonetheless describe in great detail, as some aspects of what I wish to do with it could be VERY interesting for the resistance. Please see apped description below, in fact), though St. Ursula actually does exist, mythically, at least, martyred off Cologne for wishing to keep her purity, apparently. She is patron saint of Catholic academies, so seemed proper enough to be behind the name of such an institution.

Description Of The School:

I was thinking to locate this on the Isle, nearby to one of the Cathedrals, though wherever the center of the action is might actually be best.

St. Ursula's Academy For Young Ladies is a walled and enclosed set of buildings, old, and of neatly laid stone. The grounds within are large enough for gardens, with a few shady benches beneath grand old trees upon which students and others may sometimes sit. The school building itself is quite large, veritably sprawling, and a bit maze-like, and in places, quite drafty. The dormitories, other student rooms, the housing for the nuns, and chapel are attached, although the chapel is actually part of an even older structure, and attached a relative term, as additions have been built on to connect the disparate entities over time. The chapel has glorious stained glass windows, depicting the lives of various saints, and most particularly, some Post-Rennaisance artist's interpretation of Ursula. The rectory sits beside the school, and down a short flagstoned pathway. It is a simple, cozy building, though the stones are of the same type. Beneath the old Chapel, and the rest of the school, in fact, run various catacombs and tunnels, accessible through well locked and concealed chambers, one in the basement crypt of the chapel, known only to the Reverend Mother, and a few trusted long-term nuns, and one further down to a set of tunnels not otherwise connecting to the ones involved from the chapel. Entry to this is on the far side of the dormitories, within a sub-basement. Occasionally, particularly michievous and adventurous girls may sneak out this way, though to do so, they must first explore a great deal, pick locks, and actually find what amounts to a secret passageway. Periodically, the nuns board up portions of the entrance to the sub-basement.

Addendum from former play: There is an outbuilding used for the soup kitchen and to temporarily house homeless women and children (mostly) just to the right of the entry-gate.

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fancy_lamorne
2008-06-04 09:16 am UTC (link)

Here's a description of the outside of The Black Death Tavern I used in a post...

The windows were boarded up, poor man's patchwork; and some of the stone was crumbling away with ware on it's corner side. The door was old and obviously original. Fancy saw no need to repair these things. No one inside came for the aesthetic value of the place. And if there was any longing for a better, a different life, it was dead now. She was sure of it.

There is a light coming from under the door, and through gaps in the planks over the windows, they are the only light the dreary little street offers. There is no sign, nothing to alert the casual observer that there is a tavern here, let alone to signal what really goes on behind closed doors. There is however, a clumsily painted red cross on the door.

There may be more as I *gulp* figure it out.

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bibliothecaire
2008-06-10 04:10 pm UTC (link)

Here's some info on the ALP:

The American Library in Paris is located at 9 rue de Teheran, near the Arc de Triomphe, in a beautiful old mansion. It opened in November 1919, before being incorporated as an American private non-profit corporation in May of 1920. Its operation was paid for by the American Library Association until November 1920, when everything was officially deeded to the Library's corporation. Donations and paid subscriptions have been used to fund it ever since, as it receives no government funding. Patrons include American citizens abroad, French nationals, students, journalists, and other English speakers. By 1938, one third of subscribers were French; this number has increased since the start of the war.

In addition to its regular services, the Library established two charitable programs at the onset of World War II: one which sends donated books to French and British soldiers, and the Soldier's Service which provides them with books to learn English or French. Soldiers were also issued free library cards (designated by a red, white, and blue stripe at the top) to be used while in Paris. However, these programs ended with the German occupation.

The library is currently under the new directorship of Countess Clara Longworth de Chambrun (the previous director, Dorothy Reeder, has recently been called back to America). The Countess is in the process of changing ownership of the library from the American-based corporation to the French Information Council, as a pre-emptive measure (should the United States enter the conflict) to allow for its operation through the war. Dr. Hermann Fuchs, now a German Officer and head of the Bibliotheksschutz (agency responsible for overseeing libraries in occupied territories), is also an ally of the library.

Paid membership is required to use the library. Subscriptions are available for individuals or families, at rates of 1 year, 6 months, or 4 months. One week and one day passes are also available to individuals, although these do not allow for borrowing privileges. Further information is available at the Circulation desk.

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bonjour_benoit
2008-07-09 11:44 am UTC (link)

Le Théâtre de Benoit, on the Rue de la Victoire in the 9th arrondissement. Stages a variety of plays, though comedy is popular. Ticket prices range from 5 to 20 francs for evening shows, and the weekend matinees are half price. Currently playing Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in the original English. During the summer months, short children's stories will be staged every weekday at midday, with free admittance to anyone 18 years or younger, or accompanying a child.

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