Homebrew Keep on the North West Borderlands

[Zaukrie]

Living in Portland.... This thread is kind of interesting to me, and I may need to steal ideas. I think my in person group might enjoy some PNW whimsy.

I wonder if they want to be the librarians? Which is a bit too campy for me. Or leverage after they supposedly lived here?

 

[aramis erak]

Further off is the small town of Cicely. Where Twin Peaks is off beat and off putting, Cicely is cozy and friendly and welcomes without judgement. But beware, they are not above indentured servitude for debts owing.

You forgot to mention the indentured Alchemical healer-surgeon, who wants to be anywhere less exciting and more safe. He just wants to hand out potions...

(Love the Northern Exposure reference, BTW. It claims to be Alaska, but is actually shot in Washington.)

 

[aramis erak]

Like Catholicism and vampire hunting fiction, Cascadia and spooky supernatural stuff is a natural combo, for the great visuals in each case.

Throw in some Jack London and Robert W. Service for the Alaskan flare... and some happy little trees. Who may or may not be carnivorous... and beware The Raven, the trickster, who may just look like a huge bird... talk to him nice or you'll pay the price. Just remember: In the Joy of Painting, we almost never see people, only places people used to be...

Oh, and Bald Eagles like dog and cat. I've seen them dropping strays in Eagle River and near Kenai Lake.

My favorite bit of Robert Service's poetry.

The Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam…

www.poetryfoundation.org

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Sam Macgee would make a fine ghost. Goes around setting things on fire for the warmth.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Little bit of a necro but, there's also Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall as possible inspirations.

Both are cartoons. Gravity Falls is explicitly set in the PNW. Over the Garden Wall is not, from what I remember, but could definitely add a good spooky vibe.

These both sound excellent! (alas I've not seen either of them.)

But children wandering in the woods is always a classic.

 

[jian]

Another addition - in the quiet logging and trapping town of Patience, near the beautiful lake of the same name, lives a quiet and eccentric physician called Brian Steeler. Steeler the Healer is a local celebrity and much admired by most people in Patience, who are mostly genuinely very happy that such a skilled doctor lives in their town and treats everyone, and doesn’t even charge very much.

The main exception to this general reverence for Steeler is little Maks Hedgerow, the son of the mayor and the only person who can see that Brian is in fact a mind flayer who uses his psychic abilities to conceal his species (and incidentally be a very effective doctor). Sadly, little Maks is only nine and nobody believes a word he has to say about Steeler.

As for Steeler himself - well, he’s far from home and he actually likes humans, and not just to eat. He is a bit worried about the number of animal corpses building up in his icebox from his frequent nocturnal hunting forays, but his neighbours are mostly happy to take the meat off his hands (and are very impressed that he apparently manages to kill bears solo, apparently by beheading).

(The series is set in Washington but is filmed in Ladysmith and Squamish in British Columbia.)