Coastal City, Rhode Island

[Mark Rand]

Coastal City is in Washington County, Rhode Island with Coastal City Bay an offshoot of Narragansett Bay. 

 

The two main institutes of higher education are the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (which also has courses in ship handling and marine law), and Coastal City University (a small university).  There is also a branch of Washington County’s community college.  Both Coastal City University and the community college branch are near the Coastal City Medical Center.

 

The two largest houses of worship are Tree of Life Congregation (Conservative Judaism) and Saint Michael’s Church (Roman Catholic).  On the synagogue’s grounds is a Biblical botanical garden that is opened and free to the public from June 1 through September 15.  It displays more than 100 plants once grown in ancient Israel, including cedars, dates, figs, olives, and pomegranates.  All are labeled with biblical verses, or their biblical name.  The garden also includes a waterfall, desert, and a representation of the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.

 

[Mark Rand]

Coastal City University is close to the Tree of Life, Saint Michael's Church, and Woodrow Wilson High.

 

The Honorable Margret F. Brannon is Coastal City’s mayor.  Paul Lanigan is Coastal City’s police chief.  Benjamin J. Rusk is Coastal City’s fire chief.

 

Rabbi David Small is the spiritual leader of the Tree of Life Congregation.  Cantor Harry P. Silver leads the Tree of Life Congregation in songful prayer and teaches the bar mitzvah class.

 

Father Frank Dowling is pastor of St. Michael’s Catholic Church.  Sister Stephanie Oskowski often works with Father Frank.  To many people, they act like father and daughter.

 

Edited May 1 by Mark Rand

[DShomshak]

Was Coastal City the home of an early 20th century horror writer who lived in obscurity but is now well known?

 

ADDENDUM: With tours of locations he adapted into his fiction, as he was a bit of a local-color writer as well.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

Edited May 1 by DShomshak

[Mark Rand]

25 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Was Coastal City the home of an early 20th century horror writer who lived in obscurity but is now well known?

 

ADDENDUM: With tours of locations he adapted into his fiction, as he was a bit of a local-color writer as well.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

I assume you're referring to Howard Phillips Lovecraft who spent some time in the Coastal City region.

[DShomshak]

But of course. If Coastal City is "Alternate Providence" the way Gotham City and Metropolis are both "Alternate NYC," then I presumed there might be an alternate Lovecraft, too.

 

If Coastal City is in addition to Providence, then there's no need. HPL would certainly have visited, though, what with the two cities being so near to each other.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Mark Rand]

31 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

But of course. If Coastal City is "Alternate Providence" the way Gotham City and Metropolis are both "Alternate NYC," then I presumed there might be an alternate Lovecraft, too.

 

If Coastal City is in addition to Providence, then there's no need. HPL would certainly have visited, though, what with the two cities being so near to each other.

 

Dean Shomshak

Providence, the state capital, is quite a bit north of Coastal City, which I would place Northeast of North Kingston and South of East Greenwich.

[Stanley Teriaca]

1 hour ago, DShomshak said:

But of course. If Coastal City is "Alternate Providence" the way Gotham City and Metropolis are both "Alternate NYC," then I presumed there might be an alternate Lovecraft, too.

 

If Coastal City is in addition to Providence, then there's no need. HPL would certainly have visited, though, what with the two cities being so near to each other.

 

Dean Shomshak

Considering Lovecraft's predijusts, he might of not visited Coastal City, as he couldn't stomach New York City when he lived there.

 

It should be noted that Lovecraft's hatred wasn't the common color of skin stuff, it was more against the pore and uneducated. It is just people of color made up much of the population of uneducated and pore.

[Mark Rand]

Medevac pilot Andrea Winslow flies with Melody Samuels, BSN, RN, PHRN (Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse), CFRN (Certified Flight Registered Nurse) and Flight Paramedic Deanne Morton.

 

James Marshall is President of the United States.  Grace Marshall, M.D., F.A.C.S., is an eye surgeon and First Lady of the United States.  Alice Marshall, age 12, is First Daughter of the United States.  Gloria Valdez is Vice President of the United States.  Michael Valdez is Second Gentleman of the United States.  Lloyd Shepherd is the White House Chief of Staff.  Walter Dean is the Secretary of Defense.

 

Emily Wells is Coastal City’s resident PRIMUS Intelligence Agent.  A former CIA agent, she drives an unmarked Explorer-based Ford Police Interceptor Utility and carries the electronic spider she dubbed “Charlotte”.

 

The University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography operates the National Science Foundation-owned R/V Endeavor. 

 

[death tribble]

Are you going to transfer what you liked from the other Coastal City thread ?

 

And if we still had ideas do we put them in this thread or the Brainstorm thread ?

(for example an Urban Legend about a shipwreck just off the coast that was supposed to be a treasure ship) 

[Mark Rand]

I'm going to add some stuff from the other thread.  Here's some of it.

 

Coastal City Airport, located two miles beyond the city limits, is a general aviation airport.  Just outside the terminal is a mailbox and a place where pets can relieve themselves.  Inside is a water fountain where one can fill a water bottle, restrooms, a vending area, the Runway 5 Café, and a first aid station.  A car rental agency and a gas station/convenience store are in the airport parking lot.

 

Outside is Skyhawks, Inc., gas pumps for 100 Low Lead Avgas and Jet-A, T-hangars, restrooms, and the base for Medstar 4, the area medical helicopter.  Light aircraft, including a helicopter, a biplane, and gliders occupy most of the apron area, but there are also ground vehicles with light bars, and a DC-3.  Any superhero aircraft are hangared.

 

The swank Birdmore Hotel is 20-stories tall.  There are tropical birds in giant cages in the lobby, and there are statues of swans out front in the fountain.  The whole hotel is filled with chandeliers and shiny brass.

 

The Coastal City Institute consists of the main branch of the Coastal City Public Library, the Coastal City Music Hall, the Coastal City Natural History Museum, and the Coastal City Museum of Fine Arts.  The music hall isn’t internally connected to the other parts of the institute.

 

Edit: There are also regular hangars at the airport.  One has been converted into a repair shop.

Edited May 9 by Mark Rand

[Mark Rand]

Except for weekday Jewish holidays, Coastal City University holds classes at the Tree of Life Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 3 PM.  On those holidays, they hold them at St. Michael’s instead. 

 

Cantor Silver’s 19-year-old daughter, Deborah, is the Tree of Life Religious School office assistant, sexton Becca Martin’s assistant, the synagogue’s audio/visual services person, and the Youth Congregation cantor, Torah reader, and shofar blower.

 

With Memorial Park, from the 5E book Champions Battlegrounds, in the city, birds of prey are often seen in the air.  One, a female peregrine falcon dubbed “Tara” nests outside Becca’s apartment and has been known to perch on her gauntleted left hand.

[Mark Rand]

On 5/2/2024 at 9:50 AM, death tribble said:

And if we still had ideas do we put them in this thread or the Brainstorm thread ?

(for example an Urban Legend about a shipwreck just off the coast that was supposed to be a treasure ship) 

Put them here for the Rhode Island Coastal City.

[Mark Rand]

Class hours at Woodrow Wilson High are from 7:40AM - 2:40PM.  Clubs meet after school and the auditorium is open weekends for events, plays, concerts, and for the Stage Crew to work.  Except for swim meets, swim team practices, and swimming classes, the pool is open for three hours after school, and all-day weekends and holidays.  The school is ADA-accessible.  The accessible entrance is in the parking lot on Tilbury Avenue closest to Forward Avenue.  While there is no school uniform, Career and Technical Education students wear the uniform for the course they’re taking.  The mascot is Dragons.  The motto is “Know something, do something, be something”.   The school colors are Green and White.

 

The high school, located at 2409 Shady Ave, was built in 1925.  The 4-story-building has a total area of 292,341 square feet.  It has the following facilities: 3 science labs, 18 computer lab classrooms, 9 dedicated computer labs, 4 art labs, 2 music labs, 16 CTE labs, 2 gyms, 1 pool, 1 auditorium, 1 cafeteria, and 1 library.

 

The prestige cliques are the jocks, cheerleaders, and the “popular” girls, most of which are also cheerleaders.  To the jocks you’re a wimp if you don’t play football or basketball and a poor poser if you don’t have a letterman’s jacket.  To the cheerleaders, which include the female athletes, you’re a wimp if you don’t play basketball and a poor poser if you don’t have a letterman’s jacket.  They call the girls’ swim team “mermaids”.

 

[Mark Rand]

More Woodrow Wilson High stuff.

 

Victoria Swanby, Ph.D., is the principal.  When she gives a student detention, they’re required to join the Stage Crew until the next big production is over.  Ms. Liz McIntyre is a guidance counselor.  Ms. Mary Lou Graham is the school librarian and the Student Library Staff faculty advisor/sponsor.  Ms. Carol Marcus, often called either “Ms. Carol” or “Aunt Carol”, is a young and attractive activities director and cheerleader coach who wears a cheerleader uniform when her team does and takes the field with them.  She drives a Spec Racer Ford in events sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and is one of the area pace car drivers.

 

Mr. Pete Dixon is an American History teacher and an accomplished private pilot.  Ms. Alice Johnson is his petite and enthusiastic student teacher.  Coach Ken Reeves is the boys’ basketball coach.  Coach Eric Taylor is the football coach.  Coach Mary Anne Kramer is the girls’ swim team coach.  She also teaches the weekend regular and mermaid-style swim classes.  Joyce Baxter, a student in the Career and Technical Education Health Careers Technology program, who has her Ocean Mermaid certificate, is Coach Kramer’s TA for the weekend classes and lifeguard for all swim meets and practices.  The “popular” girls have dubbed Joyce “Ariel”.

 

Ms. Alicia Addams is an English teacher and the Drama Club faculty advisor/sponsor.  She also directs the plays.  Mr. Kenneth Andrews is the Metal Shop teacher and the Stage Crew faculty advisor/sponsor.  Maestro Jennifer Collingsworth is the President’s niece, high school orchestra teacher and conductor.  Ms. Molly O’Connor is Jennifer’s TA.  Rumor has it that she’s actually a Secret Service agent protecting Jennifer.  Maestro Miriam Small, Rabbi Small’s wife, is the choir teacher and director and the Tree of Life choir’s soprano.  Mrs. Jo Anne Forbes is an English teacher and the Drama Club wardrobe mistress.  The Stage Crew calls her “Aunt Joannie”.

 

[Mark Rand]

School orchestras and choirs are divided into five groups.  Orchestra 1 and Choir 1 are the novices.  Orchestra 5 and Choir 5 are the ones that perform for the public.  In addition to their regular school gear and instruments, all orchestra students carry cases containing sheet music.  Some choir members also carry cases containing sheet music.

 

Annette Fox is a Drama Club member, a dancer, a member of the girls’ swim team and sings an alto part in Choir 5.  Doreen Mariko Tanaka, a Drama Club member and dancer, enjoys hiking through the city’s parks and riding her horse.  Judith “Judy” Harris is a Drama Club member who wears thick glasses, has been dubbed “Gypsy” by the “popular” girls is a professional belly dancer who likes to wear belly dance-related tee shirts and sweatshirts.  Tom Cochran is a Drama Club member and dancer is the roadie for the belly dance troop Judy, his wife-to-be, is a part of.  They also own and ride horses and are skilled dancers. 

 

Michelle Karpman is the Orchestra 5 concertmaster.  Melody Valentine is the Orchestra 5 timpanist and principal percussionist.  Lauren Kay is the Orchestra 5 principal oboist. 

 

Fraternal twins Don and Dawn Stewart are Stage Crew members who always dress in black.  Dawn, a skilled draftswoman, suffers from an allergy to nickel alloys and almost always wears gloves.  Erica Nelson is a skilled carpenter and Stage Crew member.  Jim Baker is the student head of the Stage Crew.  Valerie Brown, the technical expert who wants to be a NASA astronaut, is an African-American teen, AP Physics student, model rocketeer, amateur astronomer, and student pilot who is soloing in a Cessna 172S Skyhawk.  She has been to Space Camp, and sometimes wears one of her Space Camp flight suits to school.  She and Mr. Dixon sometimes talk flying at lunch.  She claims that her Uncle David, a NASA astronaut, once took her up in a Northrop Talon T-38 supersonic jet trainer.  Sandra “Sandy” Forbes, Jo Anne Forbes’ daughter, is a skilled seamstress.

 

The Cordettes from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer are the “popular” girls and cheerleaders.  Of this group, Harmony is the one who most often gets assigned to Stage Crew detention. 

[Mark Rand]

The New Urbana Galleria, also from the 5E book Champions Battlegrounds, is with all of its drama, just outside the city.  Of course, several of the mall’s merchants are just waiting for an opportunity to get even with each other over various petty slights.  They may attempt to use the chaos ensuing from any combat to settle little scores with one another, inadvertently distracting the heroes from far more important work.

 

There is an urban legend about a shipwreck just off the coast that was supposed to be a treasure ship.  (Thanks to Death Tribble for suggesting it.)  Most people think it’s either in Block Island Sound or Rhode Island Sound. 

 

From Wikipedia, “Block Island Sound is a marine sound in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately 10 miles wide, separating Block Island from the coast of mainland Rhode Island.  On the west, it extends to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, as well as Plum Island, Gardiners Island, and Fishers Island, all in the state of New York.

Geographically, Block Island Sound extends west to Long Island Sound and east to Rhode Island Sound.  Rhode Island Sound is a marine sound off the coast of Rhode Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay.  It forms the eastern extension of Block Island Sound and opens out the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard.”  

 

There are also urban legends about merfolk in the bays, sounds, and nearby ocean.  Some believe that Joyce Baxter, who often swims as a mermaid and is the Washington County Regatta’s official mermaid, is a real mermaid who can control her form and has chosen to live as a regular human.

 

Erica Thomas is the owner and operator of the Erica Thomas Funeral Home and Crematorium, which has a contract with the city. 

 

Claire McCauley, D.V.M., is the Washington County Zoo’s Director of Animal Health.  Debbie Hahn, D.V.M., and Alicia Myers, D.V.M., are two of her associate veterinarians.  Ginger Galvaneck is the chief veterinary technician.  There is always at least one veterinarian and one veterinary technician on duty.  Claire has a way with animals, and they instinctively trust her.

 

[Mark Rand]

The state of Rhode Island has a Western horseman's association that participates in a number of events. 

[Mark Rand]

Coastal City had its origins in the 3E module Atlas Unleashed.  It was a generic coastal city with a bay, a swank hotel, a museum of fine arts, a power company, a harbor, and an overcrowded freeway system and was near a USAF base and a NASA telemetry station.

 

From Wikipedia, “Narragansett is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States.  The population was 14,532 at the 2020 census.  However, during the summer months the town's population more than doubles to near 34,000.  The town of Narragansett occupies a narrow strip of land running along the eastern bank of the Pettaquamscutt River (aka Narrow River) to the shore of Narragansett Bay.  It was separated from South Kingstown in 1888 and incorporated as a town in 1901.

 

“The following villages and neighborhoods are wholly or partially located in Narragansett: Saunderstown (shared with North Kingstown), South Ferry, Bonnet Shores, Narragansett Pier, Point Judith, Galilee, Great Island, Salt Pond, Mettatuxet, and Jerusalem (shared with South Kingstown).

 

“Narragansett operates its own Pre-K through 12 educational system with three schools: Narragansett Elementary School, Narragansett Pier Middle School, and Narragansett High School.  The Narragansett High School principal, Mr. Daniel F. Warner, was voted the 2008 Principal of the Year.  The South County Museum is located within the town.  The Narragansett Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island is located in Narragansett.

 

“Narragansett High School’s colors are red and white.  Its mascot is a Mariner.  The mascot’s name is Murdock the Mariner.   Christopher Fiore is the principal. 

 

“The South County Museum contains artifacts dating from the 17th century to modern times.”

 

 The Narragansett Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island is home to its Graduate School of Oceanography.

[Mark Rand]

It's easy to move Coastal City from Washington County, Rhode Island to Kent County.  Kent County, like other counties in Rhode Island, no longer has governmental functions (other than as court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries).

 

 

[Mark Rand]

The University of Coastal City has two campuses, both in Coastal City.  The marine campus, on Coastal City Bay, is based on the University of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay campus, while the main one, in the heart of the city,is based on a flattened University of Pittsburgh campus.  It's adjacent academic medical center, however, isn't based on UPMC's Oakland campus, which is on several hills, but on UPMC Shadyside Hospital, which is on level ground.

[Mark Rand]

On 5/7/2024 at 8:46 AM, Mark Rand said:

Coastal City had its origins in the 3E module Atlas Unleashed.  It was a generic coastal city with a bay, a swank hotel, a museum of fine arts, a power company, a harbor, and an overcrowded freeway system and was near a USAF base and a NASA telemetry station.

I may just say, "It's a large, generic coastal city", and be done with it.