I was listening to Writing the Universe (BBC Sounds) and Robin Ince was talking with John Lloyd about The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. They played a clip from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which talked about depositing 1p in your own time and using compound interest over billions of years to pay for your meal at Milliways. And that made me think that if that was the case, there would be bank accounts here and there, slowly accumulating interest.
And then I wondered what that would look like if you stumbled on some of those accounts today. Then I wondered what sort of story you might generate from that, which is when I decided to turn it into an Other London idea.
As I didn’t have the answers, I decided on a faction. (I have no idea if or how this will ever make it into a game, but it’s a fun idea to noodle around with.)
Trent & Rochester & Associates
Concept: Legal firm managing the estates of the dead
Trouble: A troublesome heir who wants what’s rightfully theirs
Goal: Maintain the accounts until their owners return
Trent & Rochester & Associates (“the firm”) is a small firm of lawyers specialising in managing the investment accounts of those “no longer around” (a euphemism) to manage them. The accounts themselves are held in banks and other financial institutions. The firm merely manages them. The firm does not disclose how many “clients” it has, but charges handsomely for its services.
At least one account has been managed by the firm since it was founded in 1766. The firm has reportedly managed many others for over 100 years. These are not ordinary accounts.
Trent & Rochester was founded in 1766 by Thaddeus Trent and John Rochester after they graduated from Cambridge. They set up business in London, providing discreet financial services to specialist clients. In 1812, shortly before Mr Trent died at sea, the firm changed its name to Trent & Rochester & Associates. Rochester welcomed a new associate, Thomas Taylor, shortly after.
Since then, the firm has only ever had two partners. Currently, these are Timothy Thwaite and James Rochester (no relation).
Mr James Rochester (no relation): Wealthy aristocratic lawyer, partner in Trent & Rochester & Associates, skilled bureaumancer, recluse
Awesome (+4) at: Probate law, investment law
Skilled (+2) at: General law, bureaumancy, knowledge of Other London factions, wine,
Bad (-2) at: sports, youth culture
Stress: O O
Rochester went to Harrow and studied at Cambridge. He spent ten years working in the City for a variety of investment bankers and law firms, where he was a promising high flyer. However, in an unexpected move, Rochester joined Trent & Rochester & Associates. Since joining the firm, he has become a recluse and no longer sees his family or old friends.
The inheritor
Seraphina Black is an art student studying at West College London. She has learned that her great-grandfather, Peregrine Black, was extremely wealthy and that his assets should have been hers – but instead, they are held by Trent & Rochester & Associates.
Unknown to Seraphina, Peregrine was one of the original members of the Golden Dawn. Peregrine was a Seer and predicted the rise of modern technology. His account includes detailed instructions for investing his wealth - for example, his last instruction was to invest in "Googol" in 2005.
Seraphina Black: Streetwise art student, I’m older than I look, I grew up in Tower Hamlets – of course I’m carrying a knife, I may have latent Seer powers inherited from my great-grandfather
Skilled (+2) at: Art, London street culture, surviving and scavenging, scrapping
Bad (-2) at: Following rules, listening to my parents
Stress: O
Questions
- Who owns the accounts?
- How many accounts are there?
- Will they return? If so, when?
- Why do they need so much money?
Information, rumours and lies
- The firm only ever has two partners, and its “associates” are little more than fake identities for Trent and Rochester (unliving immortals who take different names over the centuries)
- Clients include vampire lords, angels, sleeping fae, or King Arthur
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel had an account with the firm
- The firm steals money from “dormant” bank accounts – there are no clients
- The firm is struggling with anti-laundering laws and needs computer specialists to help with modern accounts
- Some old accounts have been recently closed
Location: One Canada Square, Canary Wharf
Enemies: Modern banking laws, HMRC, The Order of the Gilded Reflection
Allies: The City of London, Lord Slyke, Lord Boston, The King of the Tangled Wood
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