The rise and fall of Ironwood

Nestled along the estuary where inland forests meet the Pacific, Ironwood was born of ambition and iron. In the early 18th century, settlers discovered rich timber and steel deposits, establishing sawmills and steelworks that would shape the backbone of modern America. Ironwood’s streets echoed with the hammering of industry and the chatter of innovation, its skyline punctuated by the chimneys of mills and factories. Early Garou recognized the city as a place of intense spiritual resonance, where ancient forests whispered secrets beneath the smoke and fire of human progress.

The Greenbelt, Ironwood’s last bastion of untouched forest, preserves a memory of the land before industrialization. Here, ancestral spirits linger, and hidden Caerns serve as sanctuaries for Garou striving to maintain Gaia’s will amidst human expansion. Just west, Bloodroot Valley’s red-tinted flora and underground subway labyrinths tell stories of forgotten corridors and spiritual energy, patrolled vigilantly by the Shadow Claw Pack, safeguarding both history and the supernatural threads woven into the city. Spiritglass Lake, with its unnaturally still waters, offers a liminal space where Garou commune with lost ancestors—a reminder of the city’s mystical undercurrent, even as mortality and chaos encroach.

As the city expanded, Briarbrook emerged as a pastoral respite, its organic farms and markets masking hidden horrors within abandoned dairy plants tied to agro-industrial conspiracies. Hollowpoint rose in contrast as a hub of technological ambition, built over the remnants of steel mills. Here, AI surveillance and digital networks trap spirits within their streams, while Pentex’s influence seeps through the data, corrupting both land and mind. Midtown, the urban heart, pulses with a mix of decay and renewal: aging tenements stand beside gleaming skyscrapers, cultural landmarks remind residents of the city’s glory days, and both Kinfolk and minor spirits navigate the tenuous balance between ruin and life.

In the east, Halycon Park conceals wealth and luxury, but beneath manicured lawns, Pentex’s “Halcyon Core” thrives as a Wyrm-tainted stronghold. Iron Heights, perched along jagged cliffs, recounts the labor and loss of steelworkers, abandoned housing and rail lines speaking to forgotten communities. Wyrdbark Thicket stretches beyond, where nature reclaims civilization, thick with umbral bleed, twisting time and space, and housing the Old Watch—Garou who maintain rites and connections to the Wyld, preserving an older, wilder order against the tide of industrial decay.

Ironwood’s fortunes turned with the decline of heavy industry. The mills closed or automated, corporate greed displaced workers, and gentrification transformed neighborhoods. The city became a patchwork of rusting ruins, pristine towers, and overgrown wilds—a fractured landscape of human ambition, spiritual resilience, and supernatural conflict. Garou now navigate this broken metropolis as protectors, hunters, and rebels. The Wyrm manipulates city governance and industry, while renegade Garou struggle to maintain Caerns and sacred spaces. Packs contend with both mortal and immortal threats, redefining what it means to serve Gaia in an urban apocalypse.

Today, Ironwood is a city of contrasts and tensions: ancient forests brush against tech-laden streets, spectral energies haunt forgotten subways, and the pulse of urban life masks the hidden war between Triat forces. Each district tells a story of creation, exploitation, and survival, a living testament to the city’s industrial past and its present as a crucible for Garou seeking to heal, resist, and endure. From the Greenbelt to Wyrdbark Thicket, Ironwood embodies the struggle of nature against human ambition, spirit against steel, and Garou against the ever-looming shadow of the Wyrm.