The orphanage began when Josie, a young and innocently insane Daughter of Cacophony, came to the city, and felt compelled to do something for all the poor and abused children she saw in Swarthmore. With money provided by Mace of Ventrue, she bought a house in the city and established the orphanage. At first, Josie ran the place by herself, assisted by the oldest child, Nancy.
After Mace struck a deal with a demon and went Infernalist, Lord Brendan of Malkav gave Josie the money she needed to pay for everything the orphanage needed. It was at that time that Catherine, a Malkavian who later became an angel, moved to the orphanage to help with the children, and Eternus Hyperion of Gangrel adopted Josie and also made her home there. Over the course of its existance, the orphanage has been home to many wayward Kindred with no havens, Kyle and Bastian the Caitiffs, several members of DX, and numerous others.
After Kyle's murder, which was blamed on Sabbat but never officially solved, Josie went into self-induced torpor for five years and Eternus went to Chicago to aid her sire, leaving Nancy, now a ghoul of Josie's to tend the children with the help of a few mortal volunteers. Josie awoke with a more mature outlook on unlife, and a blood bond to her lover, Bastian. She asked others to call her 'Josephine' and chose a last name, 'Al Coda', which she gave to Nancy, whom she adopted. Eternus, in a bout of depression over the disappearence of her ghoul and sire and the seeming loss of her daughter, went into self-induced torpor, rising years later.
The following works are more or less the time-line of the orphanage as it was happening In Character. Other information about the orphanage appears in more detail in the Swarthmore By Night chronicles. The orphanage, ever since its creation, has had a unique place in Swarthmore, and I now wish to credit the players of orphanage-related characters:
Josie Al Coda - Philomena Oranzi
Catherine - Mae Kalwaic
Eternus Hyperion - Amanda Spikol
Jack Lupus - Brandon Ward
Vincent - Mike Guer
Kyle - Ian Harper
Bastian - Mike Gurer
Nancy Al Coda - Amanda Spikol
As time passes in SBN, chronicles are written, but I also do extra works that revolve around the orphanage and encompass the lives of the orphanage characters. Consider it Swarthmore's own private soap-opera, an institution of role-playing far too valuable to be shrugged off, ignored, or destroyed. Rumors abound IC that Sabbat tried to burn it down during a raid, the FBI once investigated the welfare of the orphanage children, its denizens have been the targets of insane sires and twisted foes from the past, and the place has been watched at times by lupines and fairies. The truth is, it's the orphanage, and anything's possible.
Notes From The Orphanage I
Notes From The Orphanage II
Whispers
First Kiss
Songs In The Hall of Shadows
Overscript
De Capo Al Coda
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