Overview

If Metropolis is the City of Dreams and Gotham is the City of Nightmares, then Morhaven is the City of Consciousness. It's history is a seemingly endless tale of destruction, chaos, death, corruption, rebirth and hopelessness that cannot be possible anywhere else but the attentive reality of this one. It has the third highest homicide rate of any city in North America. It has suffered many disasters both man made and natural and is the home of the very illusive and enigmatic vigilante The Spirit.

City Information

• Location: Northeastern United States Seaboard
• Population: 2,722,665
• City Layout: The City of Morhaven is divided into six (6) separate boroughs, each with their own feel, rhythm and personality.

1. Marrowind: is Morhaven's northernmost borough. It is the birthplace of the steampunk culture, the site of Midas Stadium, and home to the cities infamous monorail and air boat system. The borough contains the major business centers and few cultural attractions that the city still has left standing.
2. Abbey: is the most suburban in character of the six boroughs. It is connected to Marrowind by the "Siphon" (most commonly referred to as Abbey Road), which is an underwater tunnel that hosts several road blocks, security checkpoints and hidden cameras. The Siphon was built after the Smithson Bridge which was connected to Marrowind was destroyed by the at-large terrorist known as The Octopus.
3. Ochoa: is the most densely populated borough and home to most of the cities still-standing skyscrapers. The Ochoa district is most famous for being the only part of the city that hasn't been reconstructed after "The Great Panic". Most of the collapsed and charred buildings and housing complexes still remain abandoned and intact. The Spirit's base of operations is rumored to be hidden in one of the hundreds of abandoned constructs.
4. Antiland: is the only borough to be considered "unlivable" throughout the city due to most of it being completely submerged underwater. That doesn't stop criminal activity however as it is said to be the most dangerous part of the city, with high homicide rates, missing person's reports and general heinous acts. It is said that The Octopus is based somewhere deep below the icy forgotten district.
5. Vertice: is geographically the largest borough and the most ethically diverse county in the entire city. Historically a collection of small towns founded by the French, the borough today is mainly residential and middle class, housing most of the law enforcement officers and city officials.
6. Goldfort: is the wealthiest, smallest and most exclusive borough in the city. Though most of Morhaven is considered dangerous and unsafe, Goldfort remains defiant as one of the most safest counties in the entire country. Because the borough is privately owned by corporate leaders and business tycoons, it is guarded heavily and protected by private paramilitary police forces who outrank standard MCPD. Most of Morhaven's wealthiest citizens occupy this borough as well as the mayor of Morhaven himself. The district is named for its large mirror plated walls which surround the borough, giving the appearance of a "golden fort" when the sun is setting and reflecting the golden light at mid-noon. The walls are heavily guarded and patrolled through the use of the private police force. Goldfort has been described by many as the "heart" of the city.

History

( Due to the cities nature to grow and crumble, it has gone through many name changes throughout history, it's most common name being Central City until most recently when it was changed back to it's very first and founded name Morhaven. )

• Lorelei Rox founded Morhaven in 1633. It was presumably named after her father's fishing boat, which became lost at sea when she was just a young girl. At the time, Morhaven was just a trading and bartering outpost at the edge of the mostly unexplored New World, but soon grew in size, popularity and population as more and more emigrants came from all around the world.
• When the War of Independence broke out, the British held Morhaven for most of the war, renaming it Point Bleak because of it's barren and dirty appearance. A resistance was ensued by the residents of the town shortly after, but were ultimately defeated and killed off by the British. After the war, the name of the city remained as well as it's deteriorating condition.
• Point Bleak (Morhaven) continued to grow in size even though conditions in the small city remained the same. Architect August Haben is hired by the small cities wealthy judges to design and and construct the growing city into something different and unique. Haben's industrial-gothic style would continue to dominate the look of Point Bleak.
• In 1882 Point Bleak is quarantined off from the mainland by the American Naval Army after a lethal, contagious disease consumes the city. Symptoms include fever followed abruptly by sudden death. 1/3 of the population is wiped out before the disease suddenly disappears three months later.
• In 1920, Prohibition is declared. Many criminal empires begin to grow within the city (ten to be exact), profiting by selling illegal booze, drugs and other illicit substances. Throughout the chaos of crime and corruption a viscous war erupted in the streets of Point Bleak as a means to eliminate competition. Two out of the initial ten crime families remain intact after the gang war, one of which has deep roots within the Point Bleak Police Force. Crime and corruption within local law enforcement rapidly grows.
• In 1926, Tartarus Fortress is founded and later constructed by the cities council after crime continues to sky rocket within the city. High profile crime leaders, kingpins and corrupt government officials are held in the elite prison.
• Point Bleak, like the rest of the US, is hit hard by the Great Depression. During this period, organized crime grows exponentially. Once again, corruption and crime infiltrate all levels of society from crooked cops to politicians who remain in the pockets of the crime lords that reign over the city.
• Point Bleak would remain in the clutches of the two main crime families for almost forty years who unofficially change the cities name to "Central City". The slang name for the city catches on and is mostly referred to as such. Point Bleak is officially changed to Central City in 1966.
• The city remains unaffected for a few decades.
• Central City is heavily damaged by an earthquake along with many other cities on the Eastern Seaboard. A few minutes after the initial quake, a large tsunami overtakes a large part of the city. The disaster lowers the population dramatically, killing hundreds of thousands of people. During the crisis a large portion of the population evacuate and are relocated. By the end of the ordeal the cities population is lowered to an all time low 3,000,000 million people.
• With the city in ruins, the city becomes completely embedded with crime and corruption, honest civilians and cops being a rarity.
• Eustace Dolan becomes the new Commissioner of Central City after revealing several city officials (including the mayor of that time) to be corrupt. With his promotion, Commissioner Dolan reaches out to a select few and forms a task force of cops and city officials that he can trust to raise the city from the ashes.
• Tartarus Fortress is reopened as an institute to house metahuman criminals.
• Commissioner Dolan promotes up and coming rookie cop Denny Colt to detective after defeating and obtaining The Octopus, a man who killed 200 people after purposely destroying The Smithson Bridge. With his identity never revealed to the public, The Octopus is sent to Tartarus. The underwater tunnel "Siphon" is later built that year to replace the Smithson bridge. The Octopus vowels to kill Denny Colt while on trial. Denny Colt is praised by the general public and labeled Central Cities "hero".
• In 2008, The Octopus escaped from Tartarus releasing 149 prisoners in the process. Eight days later the city is struck with the biggest lose of life since the earth quake and tsunami that struck the city not thirty years before. Hundreds of people around Central City are killed after multiple bombs are detonated across the city. The city is deemed "lost" and "out of control" within the next 24 hours by the US Government after looters and riots overwhelm the streets of Central City. A Quarantine is placed on the city after Martial Law is declared.. The next morning the body of Denny Colt is found in an empty alleyway outside of Antiland while The Octopus seemingly disappears. Denny Colt is buried later that day, but his body is excavated soon after. Dolan leads a search to find the detectives body, but to no avail
• Commissioner Dolan under the advisement of the mayor officially announces the name change of Central City back to it's original name Morhaven, due to Central Cities name originating from crime and corruption.
• Five years later a masked vigilante is spotted numerous times throughout Morhaven. He is given the name "The Spirit" by Dolan, Commissioner of Morhaven City.