UKM Portsmouth Masquerade

Portsmouth in the World of Darkness is not radically different to the real world - to the casual eye that is.

The Navy still has the Dockyard, container and passenger ships still ply the routes to France, the Channel Islands and Spain, and the ferries still run to Gosport, Hayling and the Isle of Wight, but there are subtle changes.

There is a larger split between the rich and poor. Almost all of Buckland, Portsea, Paulsgrove and Somers Town are "social housing" A mix of high and low rise developments, some of which are quite pleasant, most of which are not.

The City Council has far more influence on much day to day activity. Successful investments in the Commercial Docks and a Labour controlled administration have meant an increase in spending. More housing has been provided, as above, and many of the formerly private services are firmly back in council hands. Refuse, sewerage and public transport are all run, with varying degrees of efficiency, from the Civic Offices.

The Naval base has far tighter security than of old, due to the large number of tourists who visit the Historic Dockyard. Sentries on the rest of the base are routinely issued with ammunition and are authorised to use "non-lethal" force after one verbal warning. In the last year three student protestors have been shot dead and five very severely injured. No military personnel have been prosecuted.

The regeneration of the Gunwharf and Tricorn areas of the city is still stalled by lack of finance, or perhaps political will. Partial demolition has taken place on both sites, and some of the Millennium Tower construction materials are stockpiled at the Gunwharf, but nothing seems to have changed in recent months.

Other public projects such as the waste burner and tram link to Gosport and Fareham are endlessly talked up and down, with partisan opinion on both sides resulting in meetings and discussion becoming slanging matches with nothing constructive being done. Likewise the Fratton Park football ground schemes are never quite agreed, leaving the club in disarray. Loyal fans still congregate at the ground, but the slowly decaying structure is in urgent need of repair. The Fratton Goods Yard area remains an urban wasteland, with scrap metal, abandoned cars and drug users’ leavings dotted here and there.

The University is doing quite well, student numbers are now about 17500 and showing signs of further slow growth. The University acts as a landlord for several high rise blocks and hundreds of multi- occupancy terraced houses. The students complain about the rent and standards of accommodation, but then they would! With its successful acquisition of an antiquarian library containing many rare mediaeval texts the University has opened new departments, Classics, Theology and History. Each department has a full faculty and does both graduate and postgraduate teaching, together with some research, although nothing has yet been published. The planned Medical school has been abandoned due to friction with the local hospital authorities, the students and staff becoming part of the Biology and Life Sciences departments.

The Hospitals, St Mary's and Queen Alexandra, have fallen out with the University over where a Medical School shall be sited, and who shall run it. As a result, there is no Medical School, some teaching still takes place in the hospitals, but less than there might be. Public opinion is that a foolish quarrel between the two is harming public health, but neither side is seen as being in the right, despite the efforts of each faction. The activities of the hospitals are slowly moving to Queen Alexandra, although a new Haematology Unit has recently opened at St Mary's.

Specific areas of Portsmouth

Southsea is no longer a genteel Victorian resort. While the large stores of the centre are still there, the smaller shops do far more trade. Southsea is far more student land than previously, guesthouse owners having sold up to the University at a profit. As a result, the age profile of the area has dropped. The seafront is crowded with pubs and clubs, jockeying for position with fast food joints and convenient alleyways to give privacy for vomiting, urination or casual sex. As off duty naval personnel also frequent the area the police presence is high and a rapid response unit is always nearby in case a fight gets too violent, knives are not uncommon and firearms are not unknown. Most recreational drugs are easily obtained in the clubs and police have been involved in street battles with dealers several times in the last couple of years. Street graffiti is commonplace, some of the larger murals are quite noteworthy.

Eastney and Milton are pretty much unchanged. Milton is full of students and Eastney has a nudist beach. The gunnery range at Fort Cumberland has closed down but the land remains MOD property and sealed off. Whether or not it is used for anything, or even wanted is unknown.

Buckland and Portsea are full of the new social housing. Employment levels are reasonable, the city's industries are doing well, but social deprivation and poor prospects blight many streets and estates. Homeless people haunt the area, looking for empty flats and houses to use as squats, drugs are dealt openly in some of the alleyways, and even outside some of the schools. Children as young as ten often carry knives and some schools are installing metal detectors as well as security cameras.

Other areas that are part of Portsmouth in a World of Darkness
Gosport is where Anarchs, Sabbat and the Hunted once congregated. Until very recently of course. In the summer of 1999 the Gosport Anarchs were wiped out, probably on the orders of Southampton but for no apparent reason. Since then, a steady programme of investment and development has taken place upping the attraction of the area and increasing local house prices. Industry has been encouraged into Gosport and a number of social ventures, including the development of a popular nightclub, has seen Gosport grow to a hitherto unknown preeminence. As property values increase, however, so the social divide in parts of Gosport has become increasingly apparent. A notable increase in police and military activity on the streets supresses a barely contained malcontent amongst the local populace fed by rumours of police brutality and white collar crime.

Fareham was, until recently, "The Neutral Zone" between Portsmouth and Southampton, fulfilling the same function as Bedhampton and Emsworth with West Sussex in the other direction. Kindred travelled there, but by mutual agreement no claims of Domain were made. With the recent turmoil in the domain of Southampton, however, advantage was taken by the Prince of Portsmouth. The town was surreptitiously annexed as a barony of the domain and kindred settled to hold the border.

In February 2001 the Malkavian Leonidas made public his tenure of Portsmouth, prompting the ex-Prince Henry Ethelrude to annexe the territories of Gosport and Fareham from the control of Portsmouth City. For a time, though welcomed by Henry, Portsmouth kindred travelled to those regions at great peril: Leonidas is a jealous prince... Now that Leonidas's rule has been confirmed it is expected that those areas will be once again brough under his praxis.

Waterlooville was recently cleansed of its Sabbat inhabitants and is slowly recovering though the scars from years of neglect and crime are still all too evident. Still definitely a "low rent" district and likely to remain so.

The forts in The Solent are a matter of conjecture. Spit Bank is near enough to Portsmouth not to be in dispute, St Helen's the same for the Isle of Wight. Horse Sand and No Man's Land are in the middle. But what use are the forts anyway?

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