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“SIE Compound” at Raven and 13th

In a more conservative part of the city where pubs weren’t as welcome as banks, apparently, I wandered around confused by the way my feet moved when working soberly. Arriving at my destination more quickly than I had anticipated I nearly passed the building if not for the fact that its doors alone were so comically tall it made you wonder if they might be seen from space. How dramatic. It was cold here, colder than the surrounding areas. I wondered at the possibilities behind that fact, what exactly lay within this massive grey stone fortress? Was there an ice skating rink inside or perhaps some rich and famous hockey team practiced here? I looked around more discriminatively, taking in my surroundings to further my findings and noticing things looked a lot more abandoned here than other places.

For all of the buildings grandeur the only identifying sign out front was made of painted wood. Upon inspection I read the following inscription:

"Welcome to the SIE Compound

Within these stone walls you will find the Sanctuary of Immortal Enlightenment. A clan of the utmost integrity, commited to protecting their family at all costs and dedicated to the procurement of knowledge. Here you shall also find the Sanctuary of RavenBlackCity, a fun and lively public place for all to visit, drink and chat. Finally the Training Ground Institute is where you begin your training when you wish to join SIE. This is a wonderful school for learning everything a vampire needs to know to become everything they were meant to be. Enter if you dare and thank you for stopping by."

Lies, all lies! She’d been in SIE once, a great clan, but long since over. You wouldn’t find that clan here, just its ghosts. Furthermore, for a clan “dedicated to the procurement of knowledge”, they spelled committed wrong. Perhaps just as the clan’s flame tragically flickered out too soon, so too did their mission to alphabetically learn to spell words from the dictionary before they could even reach the letter C. I wasn’t one to wag a finger, I can’t spell myself, but I noticed someone else had recently corrected the mistake with a black marker. Continuing to dissect the script, as my self appointed job asked of me, I noted to the obvious about the comments concerning the liveliness and fun I’d find here. Daring to enter I proceeded on in hopes of finding out if perhaps at least the part of building that was public was still active. Maybe some former members that still remained in the city stopped by once in a while to clear up the cobwebs and share fond memories.

I passed the Training Ground Institute on my way to the Sanctuary and found a sign out front indicating that it had moved from this location to another. I wondered where that was and if it was any more active than this one. When I finally found the Sanctuary I looked for a similar sign based on the stagnate nature of its exterior, but found no indication that it had also moved. It was difficult to get inside despite its claim to be open to the public. I was forced to peer through the windows looking for the information I wanted and finding only faint traces of any history of activity. The place looked frozen in time with remnants of the way I remembered 2007 looking, back when SIE was still active and back when I remembered being active with it. Had five years really gone by since last I saw this place, did that make it a historical landmark now? There were probably a lot of those around this city but none of them, she was sure, had closed their doors on the high note SIE had held when they stopped singing their song. My only comfort in leaving this building was that somewhere, someone was still taking care of this place. If only to keep the air conditioning running on high for all these years, because damn this place was cold!

Creativity:  2 out of 5

Unique Name:  1 out of 5

Ease of Travel: 4 out of 5

Welcoming Nature:  4 out of 5

Curb Appeal:  3 out of 5

“SIE Compound” Overall Rating: 14 out of 25

[A gas lamp flickers in the evening breeze, outside two great mahogany cathedral doors, which loom to dramatic heights before a gray stone structure that looks like a fortress. An icy chill emanates from the entrance and permeates the area.

A painted wooden sign states in dark, scrolled writing,

"Welcome to the SIE Compound

Within these stone walls you will find the Sanctuary of Immortal Enlightenment. A clan of the utmost integrity, commited to protecting their family at all costs and dedicated to the procurement of knowledge. Here you shall also find the Sanctuary of RavenBlackCity (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secret_sanctuary/), a fun and lively public place for all to visit, drink and chat. Finally the Training Ground Institute (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Traininggroundenrollment/ )is where you begin your training when you wish to join SIE. This is a wonderful school for learning everything a vampire needs to know to become everything they were meant to be. Enter if you dare and thank you for stopping by."]