Post by The Mad Hatter on Sept 29, 2009 16:55:27 GMT -5
12 January 2006[/b][/color]- Jonathan Crane perfects an ingestible additive for the chemical already coursing through Gotham's water supply. He begins testing this new chemical on his henchmen. After two weeks of his trial run, and extraordinary results, he feels he is ready to take Gotham by storm.[/font]
10 February 2006[/b][/color]- As a prelude to Valentine's Day, Crane releases his newest contaminate on an unsuspecting public. Three days worth of citizen poisonings follow before officials discover the source. Many citizens are evacuated. It takes almost a month to undo the damage done. Crane is arrested and taken into custody. He will spend his next three years locked behind the solid walls of Arkham.[/font]
01 April 2006[/b][/color] - Using the downtime of city officials and, of course, the day in significance, The Joker targets downtown Gotham with a series of detonations. Five buildings are demolished entirely, leaving the skyline looking a bit empty. Many lives are lost. [/font]
30 October 2006[/b][/color] - Trick or treat!! Amusement Mile is next on his agenda. The Joker attacks at dusk, when the horrific screams of children will be most prominent. The park's oldest wooden roller coaster is derailed, sending a car full of people to their death. The Ferris wheel is blown from its base, sending the large wheel crashing down. Few attractions are spared. The Joker is caught and apprehended, where he, too, will spend the next few years in Arkham.[/font]
27 January 2006[/b][/color] - A thorough investigation in a seemingly abandoned house reveals a nightmare that policemen, to this day, still refuse to talk about. Complaints about a putrid odor emerging from a decaying house trigger officials to examine the cause. Much to their horror they discover sixteen blonde bodies in various states of decomposition. No evidence could point to a suspect.[/font]
16 December 2006[/b][/color] - Jervis Tetch and his accomplice, Alice Liddell, hijack a cargo ship of a well known tea manufacturer. The couple attempt to force the hands of the ship to dress up as Wonderland characters, though things go quickly awry. Tetch becomes violent and begins decapitating the crew, throwing their bodies overboard, reminiscent of the "Boston Tea Party". When the coast guard intervenes, Tetch throws Alice overboard as well in an attempt to keep her from being captured. Tetch is eventually arrested, after several more decapitations. He will eventually be assigned to a life of Arkham.[/font]
Though that shouldn't come as a shock to most of you. Gordon is known around Gotham for seeing the light as the end of the tunnel. Though I'm sure that light has long burned out. Or Harley Quinn, once escaped, came along and shot the bulb out with a pop gun.
To sum things up nicely? Gotham has fallen apart. It only took three years for the process to happen. Three years of everyone and their brother running wild; some people taking justice into their own hands, others trying desperately to eradicate the city of any remaining traces of the law... turning a place of hope into one of absolute devastation.
After Crane's catastrophe, about half of Gotham's citizens were evacuated before the city began its downward spiral. Some returned to their home, trickling in slowly as they tried to rebuild their lives. Once Joker hit the downtown metropolitan about another ten million picked up and left. Apparently people were not receptive to the clown's idea of fun. Over the course of the last three years the city has taken a huge hit on its population... leaving less than a million in its grasp. And everyday we lose more.
The city is only about three quarters functional anymore. A quarter of the buildings don't hold electricity any longer, and some of the others are targeted by the mob. The whole of the city mirrors this... it's desperate. It's loverly.
Gothamites are pleading for the vigilantes to step out of the woodwork and rescue what is left of Gotham before it is too late.
Most of the city's more notorious criminal element, including yours truly, have been restrained behind the walls of Arkham - assumed to be safely locked away, where they can do no further damage.
You've heard what they say about assumptions, yes?
[/color]