London, 1891

Where Narrow Lane leads from the Ratcliffe Highway down to the docks along the Thames on London’s East End, painted on the blank side of a derelict warehouse is the legend “This Way to Professor Paragon’s Palace of Marvels” above a mammoth hand pointing to the south. After a single block, Narrow Lane abruptly bends to the east to run parallel to the river. There stands an old storehouse now home to a six-pence museum, a curiosity shop, a hall of biological oddities and fantastic artistes: “Wonders and Treasures from the Five Continents and the Seven Seas gathered together in One Edifice for the Education and Delectation of All London”.
Among its canopic jars and Fiji mermaid, its Hottentot idol and the shrunken heads from Borneo, its Esquimaux carvings and the stuffed anaconda from the Amazon, not to mention its menagerie of human oddities, who can tell whether ancient and cosmic evil may be lurking within.

The player characters will all be denizens of the ill-reputed East End of London – Whitechapel, Ratcliffe, Limehouse. All will have a connection to Professor Pavel Paragon’s Palace of Marvels on Narrow Lane in Ratcliffe. Players are encouraged, if they like, to portray characters who are not of Anglo-Saxon or Norman stock, representing some of the various immigrants residing in the district. Anyone choosing an upper- or even middle-class background will be considered “fallen” having lost their status through some egregious circumstance.
Preferred occupations include: Antiquarian, Aristocrat (disgraced), Artist, Author (struggling), Cab Driver/Boatman, Clergyman (defrocked), Craftsman (failed), Criminal, Dilettante (impoverished), Entertainer, Explorer (ill reputed), Inquiry Agent, Journalist (yellow), Labourer, Lawyer (disbarred), Physician (scandal), Ex-Policeman, Professor/Scholar (disgraced), Shopkeeper/Merchant (bankrupt), Ex-Soldier/Sailor (cashiered). Other occupations can be proposed.

The Keeper will consult with players about their past life and their usefulness to the Professor. Possible jobs at the Palace include Barker, Bouncer, Scrivener, Fortune Teller, Performer, Oddity, Finder, and some others to be determined. Other occupations not necessarily connected to Paragon and the Palace will also be considered, but some link must be developed.