Oldest City in the New World
Santo Domingo de Guzman has been through a lot. Tainos were already living there when Cristobal Colon landed in. It was the first European city in the Western Hemisphere, first settled in 1496. It went from Nuevo Isabella to Santo Domingo, it was known as The Gateway to the Caribbean, was destroyed in 1502 by a hurricane, rebuilt on a different site (though by now the old site is part of the Colonial Zone), it was captured by Francis Drake in 1586 and held ransom, attacked by Oliver Cromwell in 1655, ceded to France in 1795, conquered by Haiti in 1801, recovered by France in 1802, and retaken by Spain in 1809, became the capitol of the independent nation of Haití Español in 1821, conquered again by Haiti two months later (a lot of the Spanish population either dies or ditches during all this strife), becomes the capital of an independent Republica Dominicana in 1844, conquered by Spain again in 1861, restored to independence in 1865 (they celebrate two separate independence days), was occupied by the United States from 1916-1924, was destroyed by hurricane San Zenon in 1930, and rebuilt as Ciudad Trujillo (yeah, Trujillo had the nerve to rename Santo Domingo after himself), saw the violence first hand of the second United States occupation in 1965, and lives to this day. A city more than 500 years old. Given, a lot of these historical events shape the entire country, if not the entire island, but Santo Domingo has born witness to it all. It has been the base of operations for countless conquistadores, merchants, pirates and settlers. It has struggled against its neighbor, the result of the most successful slave revolt in history, and been trampled by just about every powerful country in it's long, long lifespan. There are monuments to Cristobal Colon with street merchants selling replicas of Taino art out front. There are skyscrapers that look over the house where Cristobal Colon's son lived. Invasions, hurricanes, life and death, the city has stood through it all. And, with all this history, it's only natural that the island has become the focal point for a lot of strange supernatural occurrences over the centuries, and the home of more than a few nasty entities. The constant power shifts are not only of mortal interest, but reflections of the ongoing struggle for dominance in the supernatural community.
Aspect: The Tides of History
Face: Abuelita Maccaez the old woman you can usually find down by the Sea. Face: Rodrigo de Triana the White Court vampire who claims to have come over with Colon.
