From SuspireWiki
Las Vegas History
Las Vegas is a new city within the Tomesha Valley Hold. Prior to 2008, it was considered part of The Free-States of the Oregon Territory. It is, in fact, one of the few actually conquered cities in the Hold - although for some time the Overlord has been working with the King to make Tijuana the second. Unlike Tijuana though, Las Vegas never knew it was contested. The Kindred of Las Vegas were taken by the sudden violent coup by surprise, many stood up to fight for their Overlord Cecilia Langston while many more fled north to Salt Lake City and Boise.
Before the coup...
Las Vegas was established as a Kindred city sometime in the mid-20s when the speak-easies really took off. Given that Kindred had no real desire for illicit alcohol, few made a point of traveling to Las Vegas unless it was to settle. It wasn’t until the late 40s that enough Kindred had migrated to Las Vegas for the Overlord of the northern territory to claim the city - at that point it wasn’t Cecilia Langston but instead her sire, Kenneth Langston who held the territory.
As soon as he realized the city could be a source of income for his empire, Kenneth appointed a Prince from his advisors and instructed Prince Patrick Harris to bring order to the unruly city. About the only thing Harris managed to bring order to was the system of tithes that Kenneth absolutely required be paid. Under Kenneth Langston Las Vegas was regularly and heavily tithed for the funds that poured through casinos like water which he funnelled to his special project of redeveloping Seattle.
In the early 1980s Harris had established a secure grip on the Kindred populace, who for the most part was built out of a mix of rough-and-tumble sorts and glitzy socialites. In the 80s, the Kindred in Las Vegas were much like the mortals - they were there for a quick buck and a fun party. The end of the decade held a shocking surprise for the Kindred though. Kenneth Langston announced his intention to go into torpor and the King accepted Kenneth’s petition that his childe, Cecilia Langston be granted the Hold.
Cecilia immediately started to rearrange things to her liking. Her sire had (wisely) maintained the cities of his Hold in a conservative and traditional manner, often staying hands-off except when intervention was needed. However Cecilia saw gaining the Hold as the perfect way to enact her own personal Experiment. She envisioned the cities acting along the lines of the Greek city-states with each city completely autonomous and laws for the Hold itself developed by representative democracy with representatives from each city picked by population.
She started her rearrangements in the northern city of Portland where she regularly resided and worked her way downwards. In this fashion, the changes didn’t make it to Las Vegas until the early 2000s. The disorganization that spawned from Cecilia’s attempts to force Kindred into new ways of thinking combined with the absolute financial collapse of 2007 lead naturally into the coup...
The inside story...
Penelope of House Hawke has always had a vain streak. She’s never been picked to sit on the Inner Circle, so she’s never been a Marquise. By the time she arrived there, Los Angeles had been fully settled so she’s never been an Earl. And with the Overlord as Prince, she hasn’t been a Duke. When she started developing her House though, she absolutely refused to do so without a Title of Tribute (and she did not consider Viscountess to be good enough). So in the mid-1970s she sent three loyal vassals to the cities along the border of the Tomesha Valley Hold to observe and determine which city was her best bet at becoming a Duke.
After ten years or so of observation, she received the reports that clearly indicated Las Vegas ripe for a take-over. After settling her gaze on the city of sin, she sent forth two more vassals to infiltrate, spy and slowly sabotage. The Ventrue and Daeva pair were remarkably good at their duties. They subtly encouraged the sort of risky investments that ended up collapsing not only Las Vegas’ economy but that of the entire United States (...if the King knew, he’d be pissed). When Cecilia came into the city in the early 2000s to start making her demands and changes, the pair didn’t encourage rebellion against her but instead sowed seeds of confusion and chaos.
Penelope was notified in 2008 that the city was ready. She called in markers, pulled new favors, and even personally sent half a dozen ghouls to the city. The conquering forces struck first at the havens of those the spies had marked as most likely to fight back. No quarter was given and the combination of ghouls, knights and soldiers left ashes in their wake. Word of the violent assault ran like wild-fire through the domain as blood sympathy shook sires and childer alike. Most Kindred fled, some hid out waiting for the ashes to settle, and some fought back. It took a year, but by the end of the it each and every one of Cecilia’s supporters had either fled or died. The few Kindred who didn’t bent a knee to Joachim Diaz and swore Fealty on their blood.
It’s said the Overlord was not happy with the whole scale slaughter of Kindred, even those that existed outside of his domain but his pleasure over having a new city (and such a charming one) to add to his Hold assuaged some of his anger. Of course, the fact that it was Penelope of House Hawke who arranged it probably tied his hands some bit. In the end, Penelope and her House were granted the title of Duke of Las Vegas despite not residing in the city and she was “requested” to swear a ten-year Oath of Fealty to the Overlord.
Since the coup...
Immediately after the ashes settled, the Overlord appointed his own Prince to the newly conquered city. Power loathes a vacuum and almost immediately Kindred started traveling to the city to make their own way with visions of unimpeded influences and unmitigated growth. Every ambitious, but stymied, Kindred in the Hold at some point or another considered packing up and moving to Las Vegas. For many it was a debate of losing all they have in their city for the gamble of earning even more, faster in Las Vegas. Only those naturally inclined to gamble find Las Vegas the home they’re looking for.