- London Map
- London Masks Map - Blank2.png (150.28 KiB) Viewed 2732 times
For later generations, New York will overtake the sprawling city on the Thames, but just now London is queen of civilisation. The Great War interrupted the rate of building, but that has since renewed itself despite labour unrest. The irregularly-shaped County of London is approximately 11.5 by 16 miles, with an area of about 116 square miles. It is ridiculously easy to hide in the swarm of streets and buildings.
The wealthiest portions of the city are north of the Thames: the West End, most of Westminster, with extensions into Chelsea, Kensingion, Paddington, and Marylebone. Within Westminster rest the palaces and governmental offices commonly thought of when the word London is mentioned. The most fashionable addresses include Mayfair (just east of Hyde Park), Belgravia (south of Hyde Park), Kensington (west of Belgravia), and Chelsea (to the south of Belgravia and Kensington). The actual City of London is about one square mile north of the Thames, within London’s medieval walls. It is there to which the rail terminals funnel, to the commercial heart of the British empire.
The district of Soho - a locale traditional to prostitutes and advertising men, and convenient to the seats of government - is roughly bounded by Oxford Street, Regent Street, Charing Cross Road and Piccadilly.
Further north, the districts are predominantly artisan or middle class.
The mean streets of the East End - Stepney, Bethnal, Green, Limehouse, Shoreditch, etc. - form a distinct and abruptly contrasting poverty, a state also normal along the south bank of the Thames from Battersea to Greenwich. A writer of the time noted that "even in the richest quarters, in Westminster and elsewhere, small but well-defined areas of the poorest dwellings occur..."
Further south of the Thames, the districts become progressively more middle class and suburban. - Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep (Chaosium 2001)
From the Eclipse to London, via Liverpool
The weather remained fine for the rest of the crossing, and the SS Devonian eventually slips into Liverpool Docks during the afternoon of the twenty-seventh, delayed by only one day due to the ferocity of the storm.
While Andrei remains locked inside his cabin for the duration of the voyage, distracting himself by pouring over Jackson Elias' crazy London notes, the rest of the investigators have a great time.
The spectacular solar eclipse has raised the spirits of everybody aboard the Devonian, and it seems to be one long party all the way to Liverpool. Maksim and Caroline seem to be the talk of the ship, as word quickly gets around all the passengers of their 'engagement,' everybody aboard that they meet think that they make a 'lovely couple.'
The customs officers at the port of Liverpool only glance at Elizabeth's piles of luggage, and so Timour's mighty automatic rifle passes into Great Britain unnoticed by the authorities.
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After a single night in a plush Liverpool Hotel, the party board the morning 'Merseyside Express' from Liverpool Lime Street Station direct to London Euston, Elizabeth books a first-class compartment - a private compartment with six seats - to ensure privacy during the train journey. There are no delays and the 200 mile journey takes just over four and a half hours.
- The Merseyside Express arrives at platform 6
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Outside Euston Arch - Euston Station, London
1:10pm - Wednesday 28th January, 1925
After collecting their luggage from the train the investigators make their way out onto the streets of London, standing outside the impressive Euston Arch that towers over the entrance to London's Euston Station they are greeted by lines of black taxis and bustling crowds of pedestrians. The road in packed with private cars, taxi, buses and bicycles; while the traffic here is not quite as heavy as in New York, both the roads and sidewalks are narrower and there is no grid system. This old city dates back to the Roman empire, and the arrangement of the roads is chaotic to say the least.
The air is damp and chilly, though warmer than New York, and a heavy mist hangs in air, not really one of London's famous 'pea-soupers,' but visibility is no more than a hundred yards. A few yards away a man sells copies of 'The Times' from a small newspaper stand, "Egyptian Murderer Strikes Again!" is the eye catching headline on the front page.
- Euston Arch & Taxis - 1920s
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