The setting of Hollows Bio Cell will be explained in two parts. Part 1 is what Hollows Bio Cell was and is right now. Part 2 will be the fun part we get to fill in as we go.
(To note, this was inspired by Kim Harrison's novels about her witch detective Rachel and her companion Ivy. No, Ivy is not the same in the book. For one, he's not a woman, and too he's Russian with a very old past. The setting idea and feel is though.)
Now pay attention and listen well.
Hollows Bio Cell was originally a gang operated drug ring on Earth. Which Earth? Pick a variant, probably that one, and look for a city called Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah, Cincinnati is where this drug ring came about. Wasn't your ordinary ring either. Mostly comprised of Lycans, Living Vampires, Witches, and a few summoned and bound demons all serving a very old and noble undead Vampire.
Lord Baron Sten Velsp had been among the waking world for a millennium and hand his emaciated, hooked fingers in many of the worlds economic ventures. As the centuries went by and the flavors of mankind's perversions shifted, so did Velsp's many darker, underhanded business ventures. Gladiatorial fights, brothels, slave markets, wars, arms dealing, and with the new age of technology and chemistry, designer drugs.
In the modern era of Cincinnati, where the unusual was now common, where Lycan children went to school with normal children, living vampire kids played hopscotch with young victims innocently, a new sensation had been found. A drug that worked on strange, something illicit and nervonic for the worlds non-mundane inhabitants.
Brimstone. Not to be confused with the sulfur infused magma rock. Brimstone was the equivalent to the mythical Pandoras box. The reactions and euphoria caused varies with each user, each species and did nothing for humans. It was a versatile, multi-form delivery slice of private heaven for what goes bump in the night.
Lord Baron Velsp was the first to capitalize on Brimstone. Starting with that small gang and buying out every other gang that would be bought, manhandling those that wouldn't and eliminating the stubborn, he had a monopoly going in Cincinnati. Yet, with a monopoly in drugs came scrutiny from both paranormal and mundane investigations.
Velsp was clever. He created the Hollows Bio Cell, a pharmaceutical company named after the Hollows, a section of Cincinnati where the paranormal lived in an almost self sanctioned and self enforced reservation. From there with a legal front producing real, life changing and medical ground breaking drugs for everyone, Velsp was able to run Brimstone production unchecked deep within that company.
Soon, branches of Hollows Bio Cell erupted all over the United States, then Europe, then Japan, China, India and Russia. In Russia he found a living vampire with promise. A vampire with a well known history that even Velsp's ears had heard over on the shores of the New World when it was owned by savages.
Thus, Ivan Vel Yovin came into the employ of Hollows Bio Cell as head of the chain, and with years of loyalty, personal Scion to Velsp.
But this is where things start to change. Velsp was slowing being contaminated with Brimstone himself by his other partners. Madness grew in the undead vampire, leading him to send Ivan on a business venture to new grounds. A multidimensional land called Rhydin to start a Hollows Bio Cell there for all of the paranormal oddities to enjoy Brimstone.
Things appeared to run smoothly. The company was set up. Sell went up. Rhydin saw odd cases of some of their citizens behaving oddly and the varieties that Brimstone came in were immense due to the ingenuity of Ivan. Thus at the height of achievement the house of cards tumbles. Velsp is killed on Earth, Ivan is branded as an inside liability and ordered to be liquidated.
On the run, Ivan and his assistant, Icesong vanish for two years avoiding or defeating pursuit. Hollows Bio Cell continues under the leadership of Armand Rolo, yes man of Earths Hollows Bio Cell CEO's.
This was to change though. Ivan was done running. You can chase a Russian, but you better be ready when they dig in and chase back.
(To note, this was inspired by Kim Harrison's novels about her witch detective Rachel and her companion Ivy. No, Ivy is not the same in the book. For one, he's not a woman, and too he's Russian with a very old past. The setting idea and feel is though.)
Now pay attention and listen well.
Hollows Bio Cell was originally a gang operated drug ring on Earth. Which Earth? Pick a variant, probably that one, and look for a city called Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah, Cincinnati is where this drug ring came about. Wasn't your ordinary ring either. Mostly comprised of Lycans, Living Vampires, Witches, and a few summoned and bound demons all serving a very old and noble undead Vampire.
Lord Baron Sten Velsp had been among the waking world for a millennium and hand his emaciated, hooked fingers in many of the worlds economic ventures. As the centuries went by and the flavors of mankind's perversions shifted, so did Velsp's many darker, underhanded business ventures. Gladiatorial fights, brothels, slave markets, wars, arms dealing, and with the new age of technology and chemistry, designer drugs.
In the modern era of Cincinnati, where the unusual was now common, where Lycan children went to school with normal children, living vampire kids played hopscotch with young victims innocently, a new sensation had been found. A drug that worked on strange, something illicit and nervonic for the worlds non-mundane inhabitants.
Brimstone. Not to be confused with the sulfur infused magma rock. Brimstone was the equivalent to the mythical Pandoras box. The reactions and euphoria caused varies with each user, each species and did nothing for humans. It was a versatile, multi-form delivery slice of private heaven for what goes bump in the night.
Lord Baron Velsp was the first to capitalize on Brimstone. Starting with that small gang and buying out every other gang that would be bought, manhandling those that wouldn't and eliminating the stubborn, he had a monopoly going in Cincinnati. Yet, with a monopoly in drugs came scrutiny from both paranormal and mundane investigations.
Velsp was clever. He created the Hollows Bio Cell, a pharmaceutical company named after the Hollows, a section of Cincinnati where the paranormal lived in an almost self sanctioned and self enforced reservation. From there with a legal front producing real, life changing and medical ground breaking drugs for everyone, Velsp was able to run Brimstone production unchecked deep within that company.
Soon, branches of Hollows Bio Cell erupted all over the United States, then Europe, then Japan, China, India and Russia. In Russia he found a living vampire with promise. A vampire with a well known history that even Velsp's ears had heard over on the shores of the New World when it was owned by savages.
Thus, Ivan Vel Yovin came into the employ of Hollows Bio Cell as head of the chain, and with years of loyalty, personal Scion to Velsp.
But this is where things start to change. Velsp was slowing being contaminated with Brimstone himself by his other partners. Madness grew in the undead vampire, leading him to send Ivan on a business venture to new grounds. A multidimensional land called Rhydin to start a Hollows Bio Cell there for all of the paranormal oddities to enjoy Brimstone.
Things appeared to run smoothly. The company was set up. Sell went up. Rhydin saw odd cases of some of their citizens behaving oddly and the varieties that Brimstone came in were immense due to the ingenuity of Ivan. Thus at the height of achievement the house of cards tumbles. Velsp is killed on Earth, Ivan is branded as an inside liability and ordered to be liquidated.
On the run, Ivan and his assistant, Icesong vanish for two years avoiding or defeating pursuit. Hollows Bio Cell continues under the leadership of Armand Rolo, yes man of Earths Hollows Bio Cell CEO's.
This was to change though. Ivan was done running. You can chase a Russian, but you better be ready when they dig in and chase back.