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What comes to mind whenever you think about California? Hollywood? Silicon Valley? How about the natural beauty of the Golden State, like the redwood trees? As you may know, the state of California was founded during the Gold Rush and as a result of the Mexico-American War. What most of the citizens of the 31st state of the USA don't know is that monsters have been living in a small coastal community south of Eureka and the Eel River called Midnight, the antithesis of sunny California.
Before the explorers from Spain arrived as far as what would later be called San Francisco, there was the Wiyot tribe of Native Americans that lived near Humboldt and Arcata Bay in addition to the aforementioned Eel River. They lived peaceful lives before the brutal 1860 Wiyot Massacre, and one of the few survivors, a man named Jacy (name meaning "moon"), made a vow to enact retribution upon the white men that committed genocide upon his people upon reaching lichdom. However, he had a change of heart when he saw a small family about to be killed one night via mob. Jacy heard them calling the family "monsters" and "savages" before he intervened with his group of Wiyot undead skeletons, driving away the humans for good. After this, Jacy approached the family and discovered that they weren't human: they were vampires known as the Sterlings, originally from Ireland and Massachusetts. After thanking their rescuers and explaining why they sailed with the gold prospectors, Jacy made an alliance with the Sterlings to make their own society away from humans, thus founding the coastal town of Midnight, California.
As a consequence, humans tried to enter the safe haven with evil in their hearts after the initial 49ers fled to the northern part of the main valley. But thanks to Jacy's magical defenses, the humans were driven out every single time after they saw their greatest fears. It didn't take long for other species of the supernatural to journey to the little settlement such as merfolk, werewolves, Driders, cats, and ghosts. When Jacy was nearing the end of his life, he knew that the community would be in danger since the magic barriers' energies were tied to his life force. Things seemed rather bleak until Rowan Sterling, father of Darren and Riley Sterling, gave Jacy a magic staff and a scroll on how to become an arch lich. The process was grueling in making the potion, but in the end, Jacy successfully became the archlich under the name of Ewan Devlin and became the eternal mayor in 1917, in which the sacred magical defenses are still intact to this day.
After World War II ended, Midnight continued to grow thanks to the business practices of the Sterlings' coffee business known as Antique Brew Cafe, the Skelly Deli, and the modest fishing by the merfolk. Shortly after Starbucks was founded, Rowan and Ella Sterling decided to retire in Seattle, Washington after gifting the cafe's business to their son Darren; Riley had no interest in continuing the family business and became an artist instead. 80 years later, Darren is still in charge of Antique Brew Cafe and the main barista who brews everyone's coffee to perfection with a fanged grin. So if you're a creature of the night that needs a place to stay if you're in the Northwest part of California, we will welcome you with open arms.