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  1. BATMAN GOTHAM: DC EXPANDED
  3. Lore

LORE PAGE III — THE GOLDEN WAYNE ERA (1900–1980)

LORE PAGE III — THE GOLDEN WAYNE ERA (1900–1980)

“A century of progress built atop secrets that refused to die.”

I. Gotham at the Dawn of the 20th Century

Between 1900 and 1980, Gotham experiences:

  • Economic growth

  • Cultural expansion

  • Architectural innovation

  • A boom in arts, medicine, and infrastructure

  • Massive philanthropy from the Wayne family

This is the era where Gotham earns the nickname:

“The City of Tomorrow”

But beneath the optimism lies a hidden war that begins to quiet…
and a secret that will later resurrect itself in horror.

II. The Court of Owls Retreats into Shadow (Early 1900s)

After centuries of controlling Gotham’s politics and industries, the Court suffers:

Major blows:

  1. Alan Wayne’s civic reforms reducing their influence

  2. Public investigations into corruption

  3. Shifting political power structures after industrialization

  4. Rise of new wealthy families not tied to Owl bloodlines

The Court’s strategy changes:

They abandon overt manipulation.

Their priority becomes:

Survival, secrecy, and deep incubation.

They retreat into:

  • Abandoned subway tunnels

  • Sealed chambers beneath Old Gotham

  • Cryochambers originally meant for Talon preservation

  • The hidden labyrinth beneath what will one day be Park Row and the Bowery

Their new decade-long mission:

Reconstruct the Lazarus Pit beneath Gotham.

III. The Gotham Lazarus Pit — “The Broken Spring”

Around 1910–1920, the League of Assassins sends operatives to investigate Gotham’s rumored Pit activity.

What they find:

  • Dead tunnels

  • No pit energy

  • No trace of alchemical responsiveness

They conclude:

“The Gotham Pit is dead.”

Believing it destroyed by shifting bedrock or industrial contamination, the League withdraws from Gotham for decades.

But the truth is more sinister:

The Court secretly:

  • Found the buried pit

  • Contained it within a stone vault

  • Redirected the polluted waters

  • Began refining a synthetic alchemical process to awaken it

  • Used the dormant energy for proto-Talon conditioning experiments

The pit is unusable —
until the modern era —
but it radiates just enough energy to sustain long-term cryogenic preservation.

IV. Rise of Modern Gotham — The Wayne Dynasty (1920–1980)

With the Court silent and the League absent, the Wayne family flourish.

Key Wayne achievements:

1. Wayne Medical & Penitentiary Reforms

  • Creation of Gotham General

  • Expansion of mental health programs

  • Early humane treatment initiatives

  • Safe orphanages (unintentionally cutting Court’s Talon pipeline)

2. Wayne Infrastructure Projects

  • Rail systems

  • The iconic Gotham bridges

  • Architectural landmarks

  • Subterranean support structures that will one day house the Batcave
    (These tunnel expansions rediscover forgotten Court architecture.)

3. Wayne Public Programs

  • Arts

  • Schools

  • Literacy drives

  • Anti-corruption activism

  • Funding of early GCPD modernization

This becomes the golden age of Wayne influence, culminating with:

Thomas and Martha Wayne

Beloved philanthropists.
Moral backbone of Gotham.
A beacon of hope.

Their work temporarily balances Gotham’s darkness.

V. Meanwhile… in the Deep Places of the City

While the Waynes shine, the Court grows stronger beneath their feet.

In the bowels of Old Gotham:

  • Scientists hired by the Court attempt to stabilize the dying pit.

  • Experiments produce the first “Cold Talons” (pure cryo resurrection, unstable).

  • Rituals mix alchemy with early electrical science.

  • The pit remains dormant, but awakens faintly every few decades, granting visions to chosen Owls.

  • Failed Talons are sealed in submerged vaults.

The Court prepares for:

The Great Return — sometime in the future when the pit fully reactivates.

VI. Crime Families Rise (1940–1980)

With the Court hidden and the League gone, Gotham’s visible enemies emerge:

  • Falcone

  • Maroni

  • Bertinelli

  • Odessa mob

  • Cobblepot political dynasty devolving into criminal empire

The underworld grows powerful, but lacks the occult mystery of previous centuries.

This sets the stage for the world Bruce Wayne will inherit.

VII. The Wayne Tragedy (Approx. 1980)

The murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in Crime Alley collapses Gotham’s golden age.

Consequences:

  • Philanthropic reforms halt

  • Crime skyrockets

  • Corruption returns

  • Mental health systems fail

  • Narrows and Bowery decay

  • Unemployment spikes

The Court of Owls observes without interfering —
waiting for the city’s descent to complete their prophecy.

The League notices the shift but does not yet return.

VIII. Hidden Seeds for the Modern Era

By 1980:

The Court

Is fully underground, Talon program expanded but pit still nonfunctional.

The League

Has written Gotham off — assumes the pit is dead.

The Lazarus Pit

Remains dormant, corrupted, awaiting a final catalyst to awaken in your campaign.

Gotham

Is poised to become the battleground for masks, madness, and legends.

Bruce Wayne

Will unknowingly be drawn into the same shadow war his ancestors fought.