Gotham City

"I'm not particularly fond of Gotham. It's like someone built a nightmare out of metal and stone."

- Superman Gotham City, or simply Gotham, is an American city based in New Jersey. The city is rifled with crime and corruption that has been the city's problem for decades. The city is also the home of it's vigilante and protector Batman.

Founding
The origins of Gotham City are some shrouded in mystery. Many millenniums ago, an evil warlock was buried alive beneath what would one day become the central island of Gotham. It is alleged that while the warlock laid in a state of torpor, his evil essence seeped into the soil, poisoning the ground with his dark, corrupt touch. By the warlock's own reasoning, he claims that he fathered the modern spirit of Gotham City and has even taken to calling himself Doctor Gotham.

The territory surrounding Doctor Gotham's burial spot was also the home of an ancient Native American tribe known as the Miagani. The Miagani inhabited the Gotham islands several centuries before European explorers ever crossed the Atlantic. The Miagani tribe is no longer in existence, and there is much speculation as to their final fate. One posited theory suggests that a shaman named Blackfire came to them, proclaiming to be a holy messenger. Within short order, however, Blackfire took control of the Miagani and proved to be a cruel and evil tyrant. The Miagani chieftain, Chief Paleface, demanded that Blackfire leave the tribe. Unfortunately, the shaman would not be silenced, and he struck down Paleface with his staff, killing him. The other Miagani revolted against Blackfire. They shot him with their arrows and tied him to a pole to die. Blackfire didn't die though, so the Miagani sealed him inside of a cave. They erected a totem in front of the tomb as a warning sign of the evil that resided within. Some sources cite that Shaman Blackfire emerged from the cave and used his power to cause a blight across the land. As such, the Miagani had little choice but to abandon their homes in search of fertile ground. Two days into their journey, a rival tribe came upon them and slaughtered all of the Miagani. Some legends, however, say that it was actually Shaman Blackfire who murdered them.

Almost three hundred years later, refugees from the island nation of Santa Prisca came to Gotham City and believed that God had tasked them with making the city the center of a "Latin Empire." Several of the refugees died, and the survivors returned to Santa Prisca in disgrace.

In 1789, a few years after the American Revolution, settlers from Scandinavia came to America and labored through harsh winters to build the foundations of Gotham City. There were many tales that recounted what the settlers endured, including encounters with mythical beings and fights over Native American burial grounds. Much of Gotham's early history had been garnered through folklore, which was passed down orally during those first trying years. The British eventually took over the settlement.