Camden, short for Camden Town, is the name of the district in II Cohort Section 4, or II-4, an area of London controlled by the mime-lord known as the Rag and Bone Man.
Description[]
Camden Town is the nexus of II-4, and its own small world where amaurotics and clairvoyants jostle in an oasis of color and dance music. Hawkers come every few days on the canal bringing merchandise and food from other citadels. It's a hotbed of illegal activity, and thus as safe a place as any for a fugitive. Costermongers sell numa and aster hidden inside fruit. The voyant NVD Vigiles never expose this market because a lot of them rely on its trade and a lot more of them spend time here when they are off duty.[1]
Camden has the largest community of voyants in London. It's a busy market neighborhood that's clustered around a stretch of the Grand Canal. Camden is a good forty-minute walk or fifteen-minute drive away from I-4 and Seven Dials. The dominate gang in II-4 is the Rag Dolls. Many of the voyants in II-4 color their hair or nails to match their auras. The Rag Dolls are one of the few gangs to have invented their own "uniform." It consists of pinstriped blazers, bracelets made of rat bones, and colored hair to match their aura. They also have a small tattoo of a skeleton's hand, ivory-white, outlined in black, its finger reaching upward to their shoulder. They also wear creepy, painted, grinning masks. Their mime-lord is the Rag and Bone Man. The Rag Dolls tell the district what to do. They call all the kidsmen and the séance-masters to a meeting and get them to spread the word. The Rag Dolls send the dates for the meetings with the kidsmen's gutterlings. When someone joins the Rag Dolls, they get a tattoo called the skeleton's handprint and is the Rag Doll mark. If they leave the gang, they have to let the Rag and Bone Man burn it off and aren't allowed to visit a tattoo parlor to have it removed.
Camden Town is also home to the only underground cinema in the citadel, called the Fleapit, which is only one of its many risqué attractions. Another landmark is the Camden Hippodrome, a luxury dress shop by day and discothèque by night. Camden Lock is full of narrowboats floating on the scummy green water, each manned by a costermonger. The air is constantly full of them shouting out their wares and prices. Camden High Street has a statue of Lord Palmerston.
The Interchange[]
The Interchange, formally known as the Camden Interchange, is an enormous building that looms over a quiet part of the Stables Market. It's derelict, though the red brick is in good condition. The Interchange is shaped like an upside-down T and the whole place is boarded up. It's the Rag Dolls' den and the home of the Rag and Bone Man. Nobody's allowed inside except for members of the Rag Dolls. The door to enter the building is always guarded. Dead Dog Hole is on the other side of the Interchange. It's the old canal basin and is a secret entrance to the Interchange. The Interchange is at the top end of Oval Road. Beneath the brick warehouse that is the Interchange is the secret labyrinth of the Camden Catacombs. The Camden Catacombs is the location for any scrimmages that should occur. Inside the Catacombs is a lost station of the London Underground. It was once part of the Republic of England's postal service.
The Stables Market[]
Hawley Street is a quiet, residential street near the Stables Market. Chalk Farm Road is a busy street of shops on the other side of the wall marking the Stables Market. Agatha's Boutique is in the Stables Market, past Camden Lock. Its windows glisten with fake gemstones. A girl selling saloop stands outside. There's a basement window in the back of the building. There's a rickety staircase, hidden behind a rotating curio cabinet, that leads down to a bolthole. In the cellar, the walls are crammed with penny dreadfuls and dusty ornaments. The remaining space has two mattresses covered by patchwork quilts. There's a bookcase made of dark, smooth wood that covers the opening of the bolthole. The bolthole leads to the Camden Catacombs.
Notable Locations[]
- Camden Catacombs
- Camden Hippodrome
- Camden Lock
- The Fleapit
- Dead Dog Hole
- Camden High Street
- The Interchange
- Hawley Street
- Chalk Farm Road
- Stables Market
- Agatha's Boutique
Notable Inhabitants[]
- The Rag and Bone Man
- Cutmouth
- Ivy Jacob
- Agatha
- Jos Biwott
- Nell
- Felix Samuel Coombs
- Cloth: one of the Rag Dolls
- La Chiffonnière: The Rag and Bone Man's mollisher
- Rin: one of Agatha's gutterlings
References[]
- ↑ The Mime Order: Chapter 3