Caine Town

The soul of Neo-Soul, the heart of Heartland Rock and the dark of Neo-Noir cinema. My creative playground...

​Caine Town, and its surrounding areas, were once part of various squabbling kingdoms. It sits deep in a mountain range 100 miles North of the Aegean Sea and is surrounded by the remnants of its past; haunted fortress ruins and the Old Outposts - such as Bonehill, Tusk Valley, Gravelly Hill and Harlow's Hall to name a few - that guarded trade routes leading to the old mining settlements we know today as Caine Town. 

It served as one of the most important mining communities in the region during the 15th Century where it was known as Novas Mont at which time it became a melting pot for various cultures - something that has remained until this day - who sought their fortune. Sometime around the 18th Century the mines had all but dried up and the settlement, like its shadowy haunted fortress, had all but faded into memory. 

However, in the late 19th century two blood brothers, seeking their own fame and fortune, discovered a wealth of untouched silver in the mountains surrounding the settlement. The mines were rejuvenated and the settlement gave birth to a bustling boomtown attracting all manner of investment and trade. 

The blood brothers governed over the town and region with the younger of them displaying a real visionary talent for economic infrastructure and sociopolitical design. He wanted to turn the settlement into a truly free society; a libertarian promised land. 

He named it Canaan Town. 

For his realisation of this libertarian paradise the young blood brother was adored by all those who came to the town. But the elder brother, who was as envious as he was in need of assurance, began to despise his younger counterpart for his talent and the adoration he received. One night, in an argument, he killed the young visionary in a fit of rage and, once disposing of the remains, he and his goons, took control of the city where he declared himself in charge giving birth to a near feudal rule, presiding over the growth of the city’s  institutions and setting a tradition of oligarchical control that has persisted through the generations to this day. 

Although officially recognised as Canaan Town, the city would go on to be nicknamed Caine Town to mark the betrayal and fratricide that lead to its forging.

During the Second World War the city was a refuge and hotbed for all manner off black market trade and resistance factions during Italian and, after their surrender, Nazi occupation. This era marked the rise of local crime families who traded supplies and intelligence eventually evolving into powerful organised crime syndicates. These groups would later shift into narcotics, vice, gambling, prostitution and arms dealing forming the basis of the city’s criminal empire. 

It also marked the Arts Revolution where grandson of the founding family endorsed and imported big band jazz, cabaret and various Vaudevillian and Broadway attractions giving birth to an artistic tradition that remains in the city to this day. During this period these attractions brought together all manner of folk from disgruntled foot-soldiers to liberal freedom fighters.

During the Cold War, the city’s isolation allowed corruption and smuggling to grow exponentially. Leaders in the government and members of the founding family colluded with organised crime to build vast wealth and infrastructure like lavish government buildings, casinos and high-rise towers that stand in contrast to the impoverished outskirts not to mention the largely rural Old Outposts. Political and military ties from the Cold War still linger in the shadows, with corrupt officials and ex-mercenaries still maintaining their presence in the city.

By contemporary times, the city has become rough, with various factions vying for control: corrupt politicians, wealthy heirs, old organised crime families and corrupt lawyers. Its secondary nickname, The Unholy Vatican, is reference to the city’s unchecked criminal activities and the fact local governments won’t go near it. It is literally and figuratively cut off from the rest of the world both by the mountain ranges that surround it and the ruling classes that run it. The central family and political figures hold influence over a police force that struggles with its own level of corruption and warring factions between the idealists and those who are hungry for power.

​The population is disillusioned, forced to live under the thumb of those who hold power but, for many, it is also a place where rags can certainly lead to riches and life can change for anyone willing to hustle.