Chicago

Chicago is the most populous city in Illinois, and one of the main settings of the 1934 arc. In addition to being the home base of Nebula's headquarters, the Russo Family, and the Gardastance Group, it was originally home to Jacuzzi's Gang before circumstances forced them to relocate to New York.

Timeline of Events

• A few decades prior to 1934 AD: Cal Muybridge founds Nebula. At some later point in the 1920s, Ladd Russo breaks into his office intending to kill him.
• c. 1924 AD: In a farming community on the outskirts of Chicago, Nader Schasschule promises to Sonia Bake that he will become her hero. Sonia later becomes a member of the robber trio Vanishing Bunny when her parents pass away.
• c. 1926: Nice Holystone is gravely injured in an explosives accident, and Jacuzzi Splot obtains his tattoo.
• Pre-[December] 1931:
  • Renee Parmedes Branvillier becomes the director of development at Nebula's sixth pharmaceutical sector, where she conducts research into the Elixir of Immortality. As part of her research, she buys humans to use for human experiments.
  • Jacuzzi founds a gang of bootleggers in response to the Russos' abuse of the Prohibition ban for profit and murder.
  • At some point, Pamela's casino cheating causes the Russos to place a bounty upon her head.
  • The Russos kill eight of Jacuzzi's friends the first time they attempt to sell bootleg liquor, and Jacuzzi shoots up and robs eighteen Russo-owned establishments in retaliation. A bounty is issued on Jacuzzi's head, and the gang declares war.
• December 29, 1931:
  • Noon: In an abandoned factory a few dozen miles south of Chicago, Nader—who has promised Placido Russo that he will defect to the Russo Family—leads a coup against Goose Perkins and the rest of the Lemures and fails miserably. Close to twenty of his fellow traitors are executed, and he is left for dead. A doctor passing through the area discovers him, and saves his life.
  • Night: Sidaris and several other Russo executives corner Jacuzzi near an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Chicago, furious over Jacuzzi's robbing spree. All of the Russo executives are murdered by Jacuzzi's gang.
• December 30, 1931:
  • Morning: Isaac & Miria arrive in Chicago and rob the Russo Family of their monthly earnings.
  • Evening: The Nebula-owned luxury transcontinental express Flying Pussyfoot departs from Chicago's Union Station for New York's Pennsylvania Station. Nebula is later involved in the cover-up of the massacre
• December 1934: Renee makes Placido, Krieck, and other Russo capos incomplete immortals on the condition they capture the Lamia for her, and Placido summons Graham Specter and his gang to Chicago to capture the Lamia in his stead. Meanwhile, Huey Laforet plots to involve Chicago in one of his grand-scale experiments.
  • Gustav St. Germain and Carol arrive in Chicago on the same day as Graham and Turner. Others in Chicago at this time include: Manfred Beriam; Bartolo Runorata, Begg Garrott, and their Runoratas; Lua Klein, whom Placido is holding in his manor as leverage; and Ricardo Russo and Christopher Shaldred. Krieck escorts Gustav and Carol to the manor, where Carol joins Lua as a hostage.
  • The Lamia infiltrate the manor several days later, coincidentally on the same night that Renee and her researchers pay the manor a visit. As her researchers pursue Sickle and Hong Chi-Mei, Rail is horrified to see her and sets off several explosives; amidst the chaos, Gustav helps Carol and Lua escape the premises. With Placido's failure to capture the Lamia obvious, Renee devours him where he sits. Frank witnesses the murder, but the Nebula researchers capture him before he can tell the Lamia what has happened.
  • Frank's capture sends Rail spiraling further into despair, and they swear vengeance upon Nebula. By noon, with Sham's aid, they set off a series of an estimated three hundred bombs across the Nebula-controlled town Elleson Hill. The explosions, coupled with the recent mass disappearances of upwards of two hundred Hilton (and possibly Sham) vessels in and around Chicago, plunge Chicago's residents further into anxiety.
  • Jacuzzi's gang and Miria Harvent soon arrive in Chicago in anticipation of Isaac Dian's arrival, only for the police to blame Nice for Rail's explosives. The Runoratas capture Nice, Miria, and Rail and interrogate them at Nebula's headquarters, where a subsequent showdown takes place upon the rooftop involving Renee and her researchers, Graham and Shaft, Christopher and Rail, and sundry persons including Gustav, Carol, Lua, Jacuzzi, Nice, and Miria.
  • Rail attempts suicide, but Jacuzzi, Miria, and Nice leap to the rescue; Huey (having escaped Alcatraz), Sham, and Ronny Schiatto all lend their aid in helping Isaac reach the roof in time to help Nice pull Rail, Jacuzzi, and Miria to safety. As Graham and Christopher turn the tide against the Nebula researchers, and Ricardo helps the non-combatants escape, Renee eventually flees to her lab on a lower floor. Huey, Sickle, and the Poet are waiting for her; Huey gouges out her left eye, and he and the Lamia reclaim Frank from her clutches.
  • Huey, Bartolo, Gustav, Carol, and others have a lunch meeting when the dust has settled, though what was discussed is unknown. WIth Chicago no longer a viable testing ground, Huey sets his sights on New York City.
• 1935-onward: Ricardo temporarily relocates to New York with plans to learn and someday restore the Russo Family to its former stature.

Associated Organizations

• Nebula: A powerful conglomerate founded in Chicago itself.
• Russo Family: A crime syndicate fronting as automobile manufacturers.
• Jacuzzi's Gang: A small-time criminal gang founded in Chicago; transplanted to New York in 1931.
• Gardastance Group: A multinational corporation counted among the top ten companies in the United States.

Notable Locations

• Nebula's headquarters
• Elleson Hill: A Nebula-run town in close proximity to Chicago.
• Gansluck Hotel: The hotel where Gustav and Carol stay in December 1934.
• The Russo Manor

Residents

Current

• Cal Muybridge
• Rubik
• Ricardo Russo and Christopher Shaldred (temporarily relocated to New York)
• Renee Parmedes Branvillier
• Rude Gardastance
• Multiple vessels of Sham and Hilton

Former

• Placido Russo (deceased)
• Krieck; Sidaris (deceased)
• Ladd Russo and Lua Klein
• Who
• Leila (deceased)
• Graham Specter (birthplace)
• Jacuzzi Splot (birthplace); Nice Holystone; Donny; Nick; Jack; and several other members of their gang
• Nader Schasschule and Sonia Bake (living in a farming community on Chicago's outskirts)