[Open Post: Amrit] Vermillion House Write-Up
WANTED: Gamblers, gunslingers, Frontiersmen, drinkers, adventurers, smugglers, criminals, travelers, ladies of questionable virtue but unquestionable wit, and all other sundry Ole' West types - for character ties or simple background filler. Mortal, ghoul or vampire may apply.
It's my hope to use this little saloon I dreamed up as both a place for character ties for my own character and as a possible hook up point in the Old West for other characters to simply take advantage of at their discretion. Free resource, you might call it. I'd like to ask that, should your character wish to meet up with someone else's at my establishment, you just let me know so that I (and my partners) am aware cognitively as to how many PC's drifted through our little characters' place of business - but even that is not required.
Enjoy!
Vermillion House - Guittard Station, Kansas, 1867 - 1909
The Guittard Station, Kansas of 1865 - a plot of land called ‘Vermillion’ before it was officially settled - is a hamlet of a whopping seven adults and two children, all but two being members of George Guittard’s immediate family. The settlement that amounts to the family’s ranch house/hostelry, barn and smithy are located about 8 miles northeast of what later became the Marshall County seat of Marysville, putting it just West of St. Joseph and the Missouri border and not far South of the Nebraska border. It was the first such settlement in Marshall County, and it would have stayed an unremarkable little clump of shacks had it not somehow become a stop on the nigh legendary though short-lived Pony Express trail a few years before, in 1860. So instead of fading into obscurity, the trail makes it highly accessible and advantageous for the stalwart Frontiersman who wishes an out of the way but convenient place to rest his weary head and stay a while.
In August of 1867, four of the enterprising inhabitants of Guittard Station, finding that trail from St. Louis through to Sacramento is still being traveled, flush with the relative success of their hostelry during the Pony Express year and given the added financial (and motivational) backing of a few interested parties, finish the second undertaking that will cement their town’s place on the map - Vermillion House.
The new hostelry is built on the east bank Vermillion Creek - a tributary of the Big Blue River - so called from its sandstone bottom, which gives the creek bed a delightfully red tint. It boasts a bar, long-term storage capabilities and a well-maintained stable, as well as extensive lodging options - though some options are rather esoteric. The citizens of Guittard Station, however, don’t ask any questions, and don’t mind the extra digging they had to do to create the network of chambers that extends under and out beyond the normal foundations of the house. Their hard work will be paid for in protection, in freedom from the oppressive and self-righteous lawmen, and even more so in coin. They know, because Mr. Hale and Mrs. Stewart said so. And neither of them has ever been wrong.
Indeed, through the years, the Vermillion House - and with it, Guittard Station - becomes a well-known evening oasis for Vampires who have just come to the edge of Western Frontier, or who have made it one of their regular ‘watering’ holes. Its apparently small size, out-of-the-way location and veneer of harmlessness allows it to fly under the radar of most mortal developers so it doesn’t attract attention - but its same deceptive location along the old Pony Express trail puts it close enough to major population epicenters that even the most discriminating Vampire - at least adventuring Vampire - can’t complain.
Its unusual accommodations, lack of mortal authorities and covert storehouse capabilities make it a first-rate location for many a smuggler, gunslingers and vampires on their way across the country for the first time. The proprietors are also known to bring in girls from all over the country - sassy, sharp witted girls some of whom have a working heart and some of whom don’t - to provide additional entertainments for many of the clientele. So it isn’t long - around 1875, in fact - before the house is known all along the Western trails for its almost salon style atmosphere, where gambling, some drunkenness, philosophical discussions, whoring, debate and backroom politics are all happenstance.
In the late 1880’s, it becomes and even more well positioned establishment, being halfway between Marysville and Summerfield, the proposed location of a major train station just north of the Nebraska border. Mortals flock to Summerfield, making both Guittard Station and Axtell, Kansas (directly north of and half way between Guittard Station and Summerfield) into the places where railroad workers come to enjoy more leisurely pursuits.
But from 1867 to 1909, the years of operation for the Vermillion House, there is no law in Guittard Station that isn’t Vampiric rule, thanks to the skill, wit, fast talk and charm of its proprietors. And those rules are handed down by the same three proprietors of Vermillion House - a Mr. Crawford Hale, a Mrs. Victoria Stewart (called Mrs. Vickie) and a Miss Veronica Gerard.
The First Rule: People come here to have a good time. A good time *will* be had by all. Getting in the way of everyone having a good time will see your rump on the other side of the creek.
The Second Rule: The people who live and work in Guittard Station are content being here because they are well-treated. Mistreating them will see you with your rump on the other side of the creek.
The Third Rule: The plain Joes who pass through here will be going somewhere else one day soon. So unless you can make them forget what they saw or suffered, don’t do anything that will draw undue attention to us - like from the law. Doing so will see your rump far away from the creek, and on fire. You’ve been warned.
The Golden Rule: All the usual laws apply at Vermillion House. We hope we don’t have to tell you what breaking those laws will see your rump doing.
The end of the Gay 90's and subsequent turn of the century sees a decline in the house's popularity, and Vermillion House officially closes its doors in early 1909. The whole town is demolished so as to be rebuilt by the 28 mortal inhabitants of the Guittard Station of 1910. The true reasons for the closing aren’t really clear - but it seems that it was generally agreed by all involved that the world was moving on, and it was time for them to as well.
It is interesting to note, however, that in modern day Kansas the little town is once again called Vermillion.
It's my hope to use this little saloon I dreamed up as both a place for character ties for my own character and as a possible hook up point in the Old West for other characters to simply take advantage of at their discretion. Free resource, you might call it. I'd like to ask that, should your character wish to meet up with someone else's at my establishment, you just let me know so that I (and my partners) am aware cognitively as to how many PC's drifted through our little characters' place of business - but even that is not required.
Enjoy!
Vermillion House - Guittard Station, Kansas, 1867 - 1909
The Guittard Station, Kansas of 1865 - a plot of land called ‘Vermillion’ before it was officially settled - is a hamlet of a whopping seven adults and two children, all but two being members of George Guittard’s immediate family. The settlement that amounts to the family’s ranch house/hostelry, barn and smithy are located about 8 miles northeast of what later became the Marshall County seat of Marysville, putting it just West of St. Joseph and the Missouri border and not far South of the Nebraska border. It was the first such settlement in Marshall County, and it would have stayed an unremarkable little clump of shacks had it not somehow become a stop on the nigh legendary though short-lived Pony Express trail a few years before, in 1860. So instead of fading into obscurity, the trail makes it highly accessible and advantageous for the stalwart Frontiersman who wishes an out of the way but convenient place to rest his weary head and stay a while.
In August of 1867, four of the enterprising inhabitants of Guittard Station, finding that trail from St. Louis through to Sacramento is still being traveled, flush with the relative success of their hostelry during the Pony Express year and given the added financial (and motivational) backing of a few interested parties, finish the second undertaking that will cement their town’s place on the map - Vermillion House.
The new hostelry is built on the east bank Vermillion Creek - a tributary of the Big Blue River - so called from its sandstone bottom, which gives the creek bed a delightfully red tint. It boasts a bar, long-term storage capabilities and a well-maintained stable, as well as extensive lodging options - though some options are rather esoteric. The citizens of Guittard Station, however, don’t ask any questions, and don’t mind the extra digging they had to do to create the network of chambers that extends under and out beyond the normal foundations of the house. Their hard work will be paid for in protection, in freedom from the oppressive and self-righteous lawmen, and even more so in coin. They know, because Mr. Hale and Mrs. Stewart said so. And neither of them has ever been wrong.
Indeed, through the years, the Vermillion House - and with it, Guittard Station - becomes a well-known evening oasis for Vampires who have just come to the edge of Western Frontier, or who have made it one of their regular ‘watering’ holes. Its apparently small size, out-of-the-way location and veneer of harmlessness allows it to fly under the radar of most mortal developers so it doesn’t attract attention - but its same deceptive location along the old Pony Express trail puts it close enough to major population epicenters that even the most discriminating Vampire - at least adventuring Vampire - can’t complain.
Its unusual accommodations, lack of mortal authorities and covert storehouse capabilities make it a first-rate location for many a smuggler, gunslingers and vampires on their way across the country for the first time. The proprietors are also known to bring in girls from all over the country - sassy, sharp witted girls some of whom have a working heart and some of whom don’t - to provide additional entertainments for many of the clientele. So it isn’t long - around 1875, in fact - before the house is known all along the Western trails for its almost salon style atmosphere, where gambling, some drunkenness, philosophical discussions, whoring, debate and backroom politics are all happenstance.
In the late 1880’s, it becomes and even more well positioned establishment, being halfway between Marysville and Summerfield, the proposed location of a major train station just north of the Nebraska border. Mortals flock to Summerfield, making both Guittard Station and Axtell, Kansas (directly north of and half way between Guittard Station and Summerfield) into the places where railroad workers come to enjoy more leisurely pursuits.
But from 1867 to 1909, the years of operation for the Vermillion House, there is no law in Guittard Station that isn’t Vampiric rule, thanks to the skill, wit, fast talk and charm of its proprietors. And those rules are handed down by the same three proprietors of Vermillion House - a Mr. Crawford Hale, a Mrs. Victoria Stewart (called Mrs. Vickie) and a Miss Veronica Gerard.
The First Rule: People come here to have a good time. A good time *will* be had by all. Getting in the way of everyone having a good time will see your rump on the other side of the creek.
The Second Rule: The people who live and work in Guittard Station are content being here because they are well-treated. Mistreating them will see you with your rump on the other side of the creek.
The Third Rule: The plain Joes who pass through here will be going somewhere else one day soon. So unless you can make them forget what they saw or suffered, don’t do anything that will draw undue attention to us - like from the law. Doing so will see your rump far away from the creek, and on fire. You’ve been warned.
The Golden Rule: All the usual laws apply at Vermillion House. We hope we don’t have to tell you what breaking those laws will see your rump doing.
The end of the Gay 90's and subsequent turn of the century sees a decline in the house's popularity, and Vermillion House officially closes its doors in early 1909. The whole town is demolished so as to be rebuilt by the 28 mortal inhabitants of the Guittard Station of 1910. The true reasons for the closing aren’t really clear - but it seems that it was generally agreed by all involved that the world was moving on, and it was time for them to as well.
It is interesting to note, however, that in modern day Kansas the little town is once again called Vermillion.