Mayor Larry of Ed-Town: The Reluctant Rock Prophet
Before the Festival, before the Hodgepocalypse fractured the
prairies into psychic fault lines, Larry G was already a legend — a
musician whose mind could move crowds as easily as his voice moved matter. When
the world fell silent, Larry didn’t flee the stage; he turned the city of
Edmonton into a chord. Larry G became known to history simply as Mayor
Larry. Harnessing the power of sound and psionics, he stabilized the
surrounding ley lines, creating what became known as Ed-Town, the
Festival City Eternal, the ongoing psychic celebration that keeps Ed-Town
alive. A beacon of art, hope, and unlicensed pyrotechnics in a world that had
forgotten both electricity and applause.
Yet even the brightest lights burn low. Decades of holding
the psychic grid together have taken their toll. The Mayor’s charisma remains
undimmed, but his aura flickers — fatigue creeping into every note. He’s won
every election by margins too perfect to be natural, though he swears he never
campaigns. Convinced the city itself was willing him to lead, Larry devised a
way to delegate his growing responsibilities without unravelling the fragile
harmony of Ed-Town: the Ed-Town Urban Reclamation Project (EURP).
Through the EURP, he found a way to turn the spirit of
adventure into civic duty — empowering mercenaries, mystics, and dreamers to
rebuild what he can no longer personally fix. And so, while the Mayor watches
from his laser-lit council chamber, petting Deputy Whiskers and humming to keep
the ley lines in tune, the real work of saving Ed-Town falls to those who
answered the call of his melody — the Urban Reclaimers.
Mayor Larry insists the Ed-Town Urban Reclamation Project is
“merely a pilot program” — though with thousands of active field agents, three
annexes, and a psychic cat budget that rivals defense spending, few are
convinced it’s still in the testing phase.
The Ed-Town Urban Reclamation Project (EURP)
“Rebuild. Reconnect. Rock On.”
Overview
Founded under the authority of Mayor Larry — the psychic
musician-statesman of Ed-Town — the Ed-Town Urban Reclamation Project (EURP)
is an adventuring charter disguised as a government agency. Its purpose: to
restore, reclaim, and harmonize the scattered ruins of the Beaver Hills region
through civic cooperation, public service, and just the right amount of chaos.
Where other factions in the Hodgepocalypse seek power
through warlords, cults, or megacorps, the EURP believes in the dream of the Festival.
In this world, people can still work together, dance together, and build
something worth saving.
Of course, “working together” often involves surviving
mutant infestations, recovering lost infrastructure, or negotiating with
sentient raccoons for garbage rights.
Mission Statement
“To restore the civic infrastructure, cultural identity, and
psychic harmony of the Ed-Town region through the combined application of art,
diplomacy, and applied heroics.”
— Mayor Larry, in his 17th inaugural address
The EURP’s mandate is deliberately broad:
·
Repair and Reclaim: Rebuild or repurpose
structures, settlements, and systems lost to the Hodgepocalypse.
·
Protect and Preserve: Defend citizens,
maintain leyline stability, and prevent catastrophic “vibe collapses.”
·
Connect and Celebrate: Encourage trade,
art, and festivals — reinforcing Ed-Town’s identity as the City of the
Endless Encore.
What
the EURP Does Not Do
The Ed-Town Urban Reclamation Project is explicitly barred
from large-scale regime change, direct faction warfare, or overt political
coups. Mayor Larry maintains that acting too forcefully would “change the song
too fast,” risking catastrophic harmonic backlash across the region.
Structure
Headquarters: The Bureau of Harmonic Affairs
Located in a glass-and-steel annex beneath Ed-Town’s City
Hall (the one with the glowing pyramid roof), the Bureau hums with psionic
energy and bureaucratic intensity.
·
The main lobby is always half-full of
adventurers arguing over contracts.
·
A holographic mural of Mayor Larry watches over
the crowd, occasionally winking or coughing to remind people he’s “listening.”
·
Clerks are mostly Cat Agents, psychically
projecting forms and memos across desks faster than any mortal could type.
Administration
Director: Deputy Whiskers, Cat of Statecraft
Assistant Director: Eloise Redfern, Human Bureaucrat Bard (retired from
the touring circuit)
Chief Field Liaison: Sergeant Paws, Psychic Cat (Security &
Coordination)
Psychic HR Officer: “The Tabulator” — a semi-sentient abacus from before
the Fall, responsible for keeping records of hero mortality and morale
Recruitment
Adventurers who wish to join the EURP must pass The Civic
Aptitude Test (CAT) — a bureaucratic maze of riddles, forms, and interviews
designed to test courage, creativity, and civic spirit. Passing the test earns
you a Provisional Badge, a psychic sigil that resonates with City Hall’s
leyline hub.
Those who survive three successful reclamation contracts
earn full status as Urban Reclaimers, often receiving housing within
Ed-Town and free admission to all public festivals.
Operations
The EURP operates as a mix of a quest board, a research
agency, and a musical cooperative. Each assignment, or Reclamation, is
overseen by a project coordinator and falls under one of several civic
categories:
|
Category |
Description |
Typical
Task |
|
Public
Safety |
Deal with
rogue tech, psychic hazards, or hostile mutants |
Defuse a
haunted traffic grid or pacify a wild A.I. substation |
|
Cultural
Recovery |
Retrieve lost
art, data, or traditions |
Recover
recordings of the Old Concerts from data vaults |
|
Infrastructure |
Rebuild or
stabilize ruined settlements |
Reconnect two
collapsed highway bridges with jury-rigged teleport pads |
|
Environmental
Restoration |
Cleanse
corrupted zones and rewild regions |
Purify a
ley-swamp or plant psionic trees |
|
Diplomatic
Outreach |
Build
alliances with other settlements |
Negotiate
trade routes or music exchange programs |
Reclamations occasionally destabilize local harmonics,
resulting in side effects such as spontaneous musical numbers, temporary
alignment shifts, or the sudden appearance of additional cats.
Symbols and Regalia
·
Badge: A stylized maple leaf wrapped in
sound waves, superimposed over a gear — symbolizing unity between art,
progress, and nationhood.
·
Motto: “Make It Work, Make It Sing.”
·
Colours: Steel blue and aurora gold.
·
Uniforms: Optional. Most field agents
wear whatever feels cool, with a mandatory lanyard psychically linked to their
civic permissions.
Benefits of Membership
1.
Civic Clearance: Access to Ed-Town’s
restricted zones, archives, and infrastructure.
2.
CatNet Relay: Instant communication with
City Hall through the psychic cat network.
3.
Festival Funding: Small stipends,
housing, and access to “musical therapy” — the city’s psionic regeneration
concerts.
4.
Heroic Bureaucracy: Ability to request
resources from allied departments, from public works drones to municipal bards.
Relationships
·
Allies: Castledowns Confederacy (shared
logistics), Greasehold Franchises (food supply chain), and select Harvesters
Farms of the Beaver Hills. Mayor Larry
gets along with the 8 Baba’s of Power as well.
The legendary Minotaur Rocker Axel Thunderpipes and his clan are also
rumoured to be “EURPERS”.
·
Rivals: The Arsenault Angels (old civic
rivalries die hard), the Strathcan Militia, and private mercenary companies
jealous of EURP’s contract rates.
·
Enemies:
The nefarious Doctor D, Corpseman (the undead industrialized armies)
·
Public Opinion: 75% approval rating. 20%
think it’s a front for psychic surveillance. 5% just really like the merch.
Adventure Hooks
1.
“The Missing Minutes.” A failed City Hall
broadcast caused a 7-minute memory gap in all Cat Agents. Something — or someone
— edited history, and the EURP needs to fix it.
2.
“Bridge Over Troubled Sludge.” An
important reclamation bridge collapsed into a sentient ooze. The EURP tasks the
party with negotiating peace terms.
3.
“The Audit of Heroes.” A shadowy faction
within the EURP is falsifying records and pocketing leyline energy. Mayor
Larry’s too fatigued to intervene personally — the players must uncover the
mole.
4.
“The Festival That Never Ends.” A rogue
bard has turned an entire suburb into a perpetual concert powered by psychic
euphoria. The EURP must decide: shut it down or headline it?
5.
“Cats in the Field.” The Cat Agents
report strange interference — something is jamming their telepathic signals.
Players must enter the psychic undergrid beneath Ed-Town to reboot the Lyrical
Lattice.
DM Notes
The EURP works best as a “soft faction”:
·
A neutral quest hub with moral flexibility.
·
A civic organization whose goals are reasonable,
but whose methods often dip into absurdity and red tape.
·
A meta-structure allowing players to justify
almost any mission in Ed-Town or beyond.
If Mayor Larry represents inspiration, the EURP
represents execution — the world’s last functioning civil service, held
together by empathy, music, and paperwork.
Merchandising
Stickers and Patches
Clothing
Novelties
And Remember
