Berlin: The Wicked City

Basic Overview

Berlin is the capital city of the newborn Weimar Republic, and is known as the Wicked City for its denizens' tendencies towards vices both esoteric and mundane. It straddles the banks of the Spree river and is surrounded by the greater state of Brandenberg, and is the setting of much fiction in the world of Red and Solace's fan universe.

transit map of Berlin from the year 1920 (source)

Getting Around

A large fleet of motorized cabs and buses serve the city, as well as electric tram lines and two urban rail networks. Buses are double-deckers of a type to make any Londoner feel at home, and horse-drawn cabs are still plentiful in the evenings to take theater-goers back to their lodgings.

The U-bahn (short for Untergrundbahn) is an electric metro rail line. There are seven lines in all, which—despite the name—sometimes rise above street level on elevated platforms or through railway cuttings. The U-bahn is extremely popular, and at rush hour every car is crammed full.

Berlin has five terminal railway stations: Anhalter (arriving from the southwest), Potsdam (arriving from the west), Leherte (northwest), Stettiner (north), and Görlitzer (south). The Stadtbahn stations of Charlottenburg, Friedrichstraße, Alexanderplatz, Silesian, and Zoo also serve cross-country trains. The Stadtbahn itself compromises two steam-locomotive metro rail lines: the Stadtbahn itself, which runs through the northern part of the city, and the Ringbahn, which connects the northern suburbs with the southern districts. Trains run from four o'clock in the morning to one o'clock in the morning. There are three classes of tickets (third, second, and a very expensive first-class), but the trains are always packed.

Media & Communication

News

Germany, and Berlin in particular, is currently experiencing a golden age of journalism; the capital city boasts sixty daily newspapers and a staggering 600+ weekly and monthly periodicals of various kinds. Popular German-langage newspapers include:

• Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger (conservative)
• Voßishce Zeitung (centrist, and also Berlin's oldest newspaper)
• Vorwärts (socialist)
• Rote Fahn (communist)
• Deutsche Zeitung (nationalist and antisemitic)

English-language newspapers and magazines can also be bought from stalls and kiosks across the city, and carry (slightly outdated) news from various locations abroad.

Mail & Messages

Like any modern major city, Berlin boasts innumerable post offices in every district. Letters may be delivered to any office, but parcels and packages must be picked up from a larger distribution center. The Hotel Bristol in Unter den Linden has a red letterbox in the lobby from which Berliners (and visitors) can dispatch airmail letters.

In addition, over 200 miles of tubing criss-cross the city's underbelly, carrying messages via pneumatic tubes in a system known as the Rohrpost. This service allows cash, cards, small parcels, and letters to be sent to ninety postal centers throughout the city, and to arrive within two hours of being sent. Post offices offering this service have a red lamp next to the door.