Around and about in Uppsala by Night

Uppsala is not a large city by any accounts...spread out - yes, large - no. However, the city is full of interesting locations. here you'll find details of just a few of them, and how the kindred make use of them.



The City


Uppsala lies 70km to the north of Stockholm, and about halfway between the two lies Arlanda international airport. Regular buses run from the airport to Uppsala. Uppsala is also linked to Stockholm by a rail link, which takes roughly an hour, though the station is located on the city's west side, as are most of the shops and several of the city's main tourist attractions relating to the famed biologist Carl von Linne. A few university departments are also located on this side, along with large residential areas, mostly occupied by non-students, with the exception of a couple of blocks. The major shopping streets in the city are also located on this side of the river, centered around Stora Torget. These streets are largely pedestrians only. To the south of the city the east bank becomes an industrial area, and then there are two large university department campuses at Glunten and Polacksbacken, where the Engineering, Mathematical and Computing departments are housed.

Two edifices dominate the city, the castle - built by the almost deified King Gustaf Vasa, who's remains lie in the other landmark - the very beautiful cathedral, with it's distinctive twin spires at the western end. Not far from the cathedral sits the Main university, which is now more of a centerpiece for ceremonies though lectures are still held here. Also within a short stroll of the cathedral is Carolina Rediviva, which is the main university library, lying in the shadow of the castle, reputedly positioned so as to give a commanding view of the cathedral. Following the main road - Dag Hammerskolds vag - past the castle goes past the university's Biological gardens and onto the modern architectural carbuncle that is the Biologisk Medicinsk centrum (B.M.C.) and the Teknologisk institut.

Also on the western side of the river lie twelve of the thirteen student nation buildings, in two clusters : on St Lars gatan are Sodermanlands Nerikes nation (Snerikes), Smalands nation, Upplands nation, Goteborgs nation (site of many happy memories for the author) and Vastmanlands Dalarna nation (V-Dala), with Kalmar nation close by. The second cluster is of Stockholms nation, Varmlands nation, Gastrike Helsinge Nation (G.H.), Ostgota nation, Vastgota nation and Norrlands nation. The second cluster lies to the south of the cathedral near the castle, the first to the north.

A walk to the north of Carolina goes to the Ekonomicum, the large building that houses departments of business and humanities. To the north of this point lie residential areas, with the same to the west, though the latter - the districts of Ekeby and Flogsta - have many students living in them.

To the far north of the city lies Gamla (lit - old) Uppsala, where the first church is located, alongside several burial mounds thought to date from Norse times, popular with tourists and picniccers.

You will find pictures of many of these places in the history of Uppsala. Get a map of Uppsala by clicking here.




A kindred perspective


Elysiums: Ragnar has declared the following buildings Elysium. Hunting may be conducted in these areas, but they are open to all and conflicts within them will not be tolerated: The Cathedral, The Castle, Ekonomicum, St Par's and Forum Gallerien Malls, Biologisk tradgatan, Universitetshuset and the Bus/train terminal. Ulrika has been putting pressure on Ragnar to add her club to the list.

Ragnar's rules of residence are pretty much the same as those of any city of any size - keep to the traditions, and don't go killing anyone if you can avoid it. If you do kill someone then clean up your own mess or you will be punished. He also requires that all the kindred of the city meet once a week, one hour after darkness each Wednesday, in the Cathedral.

Havens and feeding grounds:
Most - but not all - of the kindred of Uppsala rely on the student population for their sustenance, and use major residential areas, university buildings or one of the thirteen student Nations. The nations are thirteen establishments originally founded centuries ago that were intended to bring students from the various regions of Sweden for which they are named together, but which have now become a collection of loosely linked student unions, with bars, restaurants, study areas and so forth provided for members of all nations to use. It has been clearly laid out by Ragnar, in consultation with the other kindred who has claim to which feeding grounds, and in several cases the kindred use their feeding ground as a haven as well. The allocations as they stand currently are as follows:


In addition to these designations, hunting rights to the city's various areas have been divided among the residents as follows:


In addition to these areas, there are several unassigned areas, mostly those to the far south of the city, down to the banks of lake Mälaren, which are usually ignored by the kindred due to their distance from the city center. Occasionally one or other of them will go to Gottsunda or Sunnersta, though these trips are rare.

In fact, it is rare that the kindred even bother with these restrictions, and hunt freely accross the city, except in the areas claimed by Per...he pedantically demands permission from anyone wanting to hunt in his areas, so most leave them alone. It is more a matter of protocol than anything else that the city is thus are divided. Despite this, Ragnar still keeps a map of the boundries between each kindred's hunting grounds.

I'll try and produce this map somehow at some point in the future.

Notes on Uppsala :





All the kindred dread summer. Darkness never truly comes, though there are a couple of hours when the sunlight is weak enough and the sun low enough in the sky to be safe. At this time of year the university closes and a good proportion of the vitae sources in the city disappear. There are enough normal kine to provide, but getting at them is very much harder. The kindred are almost completely inactive over these months, though in July and August there are considerable numbers of tourists in the city who are easy prey. The city is pretty much dormant when the university is out of term, and the kindred feel much the same.

There are several festivals in Uppsala. Most of these are the same as those accross Sweden, but also each nation has special nights and festivities several times a term. One event in paticular warrants mention. Valborg is the 30th of April, and is a day to welcome the spring. It involves all the students getting riotously falling over drunk all day, starting with champagne breakfasts and finishing the next morning. Students from all over Sweden come to Uppsala for the day, and the whole city is packed. By the time kindred rise the parties will have moved to the Nations, where many drunk students will be making happy fools of themselves, and the streets will be paved with broken glass from smashed beer and wine bottles. The nations are guarenteed full, so hunting is easy if the kindred don't mind imbibing a lot of alcohol in in the blood.

Transport in Uppsala is by your own power. Most students use bicycles, as these are best for cheap transport through streets not really designed for motor vehicles. Most ordinary residents will use Bikes in the city and use cars for longer journeys. Uppsala has a fine Bus service which will take you to most places,but this is not cheap.

Stockholm

Much as the kindred in Uppsala dislike it, Stockholm's politics often spill into Uppsala, and the two cities' histories are much intertwined More than once a fugitive has hightailed it from the capital into Ragnar's territory to escape the vengeance of the city's Prince. Ragnar is tired of having to reason with the hotheaded Tremere ruler, especially with his dislike of the Stockholm Tremere.

Stockholm is firmly in the grasp of the Tremere. Many years ago a Ventrue prince, Marius, ruled, but with his growing age he grew senile, and in the last years of the 18th century the Tremere pontifex of Scandinavia took it upon himself to remove what he saw as a hinderance to the smooth running of the city and the country. This led to a war between the two clans, with the other clans - most notably the Malkavians - playing both sides. It is said that the well known distrust the Stockholm Chantry bears to The Malkavian stems from that clan's constant side switching.

Over the first years of Tremere rule, the Swedish population dropped dramatically due to emmigration to the new world. The Ventrue, now completely outlawed on pain of blood hunt from Stockholm and holding the city of Malmo as exclusively their own, blame their rivals for this, decrying the Tremere loudly. In return the Tremere blame the Ventrue. A Brujah scholar resident in Stockholm, Sigmund Bengtsson, has dared to try to defuse the situation by pointing out the huge influence of Get of Fenris lupine kinfolk in the moves. The Tremere and Ventrue both say this is rubbish, despite huge evidence supporting the theory. The elder Malkavain of Sweden, the second longest kindred resident of Stockholm, blames space aliens.

The Tremere have managed to turn Stockholm into a fine and beautiful city, certainly one of Europes finest Capitals. This is due in no small part to the Tremere influence used to keep the country neutral during the world wars, as per the instructions they recieved from Vienna. Stockholm was never attacked and thus much of its older architecture is still intact. It is through their rule that Sweden has its reputation as a clean and efficiently run country.

Recent politics in Stockholm has centered on problems with Sabbat and diablerists, mostly thought to be linked to the disputed city of Helsinki. There have also been disputes over werewolf and Giovanni influences in the city. The Ventrue influences in the city have also been on the rise since the early 90s, when Prime Minister Olof Palme was assasinated. While the Sabbat and Lupines have also been blamed for this, the Ventrue are widely thought to have been responsible. It was certainly they who brought about the entry of Sweden into the EU, and it is whispered that they control the current Prime minister Goran Persson, with the Tremere causing problems in his government to try and shift power back in their direction.

Important Stockholm Kindred

The Kindred of Stockholm are mostly Tremere and Toreador, though there is a significant group of Brujah also resident in the city. The Tremere rule is so solid because the Brujah are a fragmented group - scholars who care little for the political wranglings of the city or younger vampires, thought by some to be anarchs, but really merely ones who are enjoying their immortality - and the Toreador are oo busy squabbling among themselves to put together any serious push for power. In addition to this there are no Ventrue whatsoever in the city, and any who dare enter are subject to Blood Hunt. There are only a handful of Nosferatu and Malkavians, though the elder Malkavian, Andreas Blomqvist, wields considerable influence through his media ties, ZTV and the Aftonbladet newspaper and the Nosferatu rule the city's underground rail network. The lone gangrel of the city is also the oldest kindred in the city, 1600 years he guesses. he leads a solitary existence in the Djurgarden area, in the Skansen open air museum and zoo.

Uppsala By Night