Kingsport 1844: Marine Bank
- At July 19, 2021
- By Great Quail
- In Call of Cthulhu
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16) Marine Bank of Kingsport
405 Caldecott Street, Downtown. Est. 1829
A) The Bank
Established by the First Arkham Bank, the Marine Bank is Kingsport’s only public bank, and occupies a handsome Greek Revival building fronted by a columned portico. The impressive marble lobby holds a bronze statue of Neptune raising a gilded trident, his face an idealized version of Father Neptune. Portraits of Kingsport’s founders line the walls: inscrutable Tuttles, canny Illsleys, and dour Pickerings. The inevitable mural of Argus Blaine dragging cannons up the Causeway is also present, along with a wooden model of the USS Hannah, gathering dust inside an imposing glass case.
B) Personalities
The bank’s director is an officious Arkhamite named Franklin Crane, an earnest, middle-aged man dressed in the height of Boston fashion. Generally inaccessible to casual visitors, a Credit Rating of 25% or higher earns an appointment with Crane within 24 hours. Otherwise one of his clerks is available, either Isaac Colliver or Robert Maloret, a pair of interchangeable apparatchiks with thin, bloodless lips and ink-stained cuffs.
C) Services
The Marine Bank honors all notes from First Arkham and her Miskatonic Valley affiliates, rents safety deposit boxes on an annual basis, and offers savings accounts to anyone with a $2 minimum deposit. Embracing its position as the only bank in a booming port rich with speculative opportunities, the Marine Bank readily approves most reasonable loan requests. Any player character desiring a loan is granted an interview with a bank official. Characters with a Credit Rating under 10% must make a successful Charm or Persuade roll to be approved; but a Credit Rating above 10% automatically earns a loan of 10 × Credit Rating, with a Persuade roll increasing the multiplier to 15 × Credit Rating. Interest is high; but the bank has an acute understanding of the lay system, and knows exactly how much a client can pay after 2-3 years at sea. Obviously, significantly larger loans are available, but require higher Credit Ratings, and are unlikely to figure into this scenario
White Leviathan > Chapter 1—Kingsport 1844
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Author: A. Buell Ruch (based on the work of Kevin A. Ross)
Last Modified: 23 October 2021
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]