“You smell it before you see it—smoke, steel, and something sour under the surface. Folks say the meat’s fresher here, but that ain’t the only thing being butchered.”
Tucked into Chicago’s industrial belt just north of Midway, Archer Heights is a blue-collar pressure cooker. Freight trains howl through at all hours, slicing past slaughterhouses, casting yards, and low-slung apartment blocks thick with soot. It's a neighborhood built on work—Polish, Lithuanian, and Czech hands laboring in smoke-choked plants while their kids run wild in alleyways and empty lots. Archer Avenue cuts across it like a scar, ferrying goods, drunks, and ghosts alike.
This is where the city’s arteries converge into a rough, beating heart—steel from Cicero, meat from the Yards, and rumors from deeper shadows. Its neighbors include Garfield Ridge to the west and Brighton Park to the east, each leaking their own troubles across the rail lines. Outwardly, it's a place of parish fairs and sausage festivals, but under that civic pride lingers tension—industrial decline, labor unrest, and whispers of old rites hidden beneath new foundations.
Neighborhoods
Kostner Junction
A jumble of trackside taverns, worn tenements, and two big switching yards, Kostner Junction is where the working day ends and the real business begins. The CPD keeps a car nearby, but even they don’t poke too deep behind the old electric substation. Workers from the rail yards spend their pay here—booze, girls, and backroom deals. The St. Anthony Parish anchors the Polish community, but not even Father Jezik can quiet the strange singing sometimes heard under the tracks.
Slag Hill
Named for the heaps of industrial waste that once lined its western edge, Slag Hill is slowly being eaten by creeping development—and something older. A new meatpacking plant sits half-finished after “supply issues” and “worker disputes” shut it down mid-construction. Locals whisper about cursed ground, though most just blame union politics or Sabatino’s boys from further east. It's not unusual to see candle-lit shrines near broken fences, or hear grinding underground when no machines are running.
Notes
The rail yard foreman keeps two sets of books—one for the company, one for the Outfit.
There's a Veil-burnt circle of earth behind St. Anthony’s that no grass will grow on.
A meat truck went missing two weeks ago. No driver, no blood—just vanished off Kostner.
Old timers swear there's something under Slag Hill that predates the stockyards.
A masked healer offers “protection rites” in the alley behind Krupa’s Hardware on Tuesdays.
A small Polish theater troupe is actually a Veil cult, hiding their rituals in avant-garde productions.
Sabatino's crew is trying to expand west but keeps losing muscle—no one talks about why.
A WWI-era bunker in the Junction may hold something sealed away for good reason.
Ash-laced prayers, blood-streaked railcars, and meat that never quite smells right—Archer Heights is a place where the Veil hums low and heavy, pulsing beneath grit and labor.
| Wealth |
|
| Security & Safety |
|
| Criminal Influence |
|
| Occult Influence |
|
| Polish |
55% |
| Lithuanian |
20% |
| Czech |
10% |
| Italian |
8% |
| Other European</td]
| 7% |
|
South Side
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|
Southwest Side
|
TODO
Key Landmarks & Locations (Real-World & Civic):
St. Anthony Parish – Longstanding Catholic church with Polish roots and a secretive priesthood.
Kostner Rail Yard – Major freight junction, unofficially controlled by union muscle and criminal interests.
Archer Meat Cooperative – Once a sign of ethnic unity, now teetering on bankruptcy.
Krupa’s Hardware – Family-run supply store with a Veil-aware backroom.
Slag Hill Lot – Officially unused industrial zone, site of frequent disappearances.
Cicada Theater Collective – A weird little performance troupe hiding darker mysteries.
Kostner Junction:
The Switchman’s Tap – Dive bar where rail workers, enforcers, and rogue mediums rub shoulders.
Starlight Lounge – Vice parlor, jazz front, and Outfit hangout.
Boxcar Billy’s – An abandoned train car converted into a drug den, protected by unseen forces.
The Choir Hole – Hidden Veil site under a storm drain, used for auditory rites.
Red Signal Room – An old telegraph shack humming with Veil resonance.
Hollow Crosswalk – Ghosts walk the rails here—some you can hear, some you can’t.
Slag Hill:
Dogleg Plant #3 – Abandoned meat processing site, sometimes lit by lights no one turns on.
The Furnace Cut – Illegal fighting pit run by a breakaway union faction.
Toolie's Garage – Repair shop, gunrunner front, haunted as hell.
The Sinkhouse – Below-ground chamber used for blood rites by the “Bitter Faith.”
Chalkward Gate – An arched alley carved with runes, believed to seal off a breach.
Pietra’s Oven – An old bakery that bakes “blessed” bread—only Veil-sick can eat it.
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