Cirque de Ianua, 1900

Paris --PLBE-- Paris - La Belle Époque

The Cirque de Ianua is a circus built in the 12th arrondissment. It actually resides in the Bois de Vincennes. It is a rambling enclosure built inside a Grecco Roman wall with gates to the East and the West. there are also hidden doors to the North and South known as the Porte de Cardea (Heart Gate), and the Porte de Mania (Gate of the Soul) There are rambling paths leading up to the main gates, done in white and black cobblestones. The hidden doors are covered by thickets of trees and vines.

The Cirque is open from 10 AM to Midnight, Tuesday through Sunday. Various acts perform at different times, and the Acteurs des Avenues can be found here at different times. The Cirque requires a 18 Euro entrance fee, though there are monthly and yearly memberships available. Children and the elderly get in for 10 Euro.

Entrances to the Cirque

As the Cirque is named after the Gate Keeper, these are truly special items. The artwork here is fine enough to entrance Toreador when they enter. The Gates were updated in 1885, at the request of the Management by August Rodin. It is marked by the twin faces of Janus, and carvings showing the various sacrifices to the Guardian of the Gates.The Gate is warded, and the keepers know when a supernatural enters the Cirque. Of course Management likes it that way...

Gate Attendents

This is no small job here, and attendants are well regarded within the Cirque. While the main money takers are lower level flunkies, main performers come to the gates to welcome in the crowds. They can be found on main stage when they are not here. If one is lucky, they enter the Cirque when a popular main stage actor is on duty, getting to meet and get autographs from the highly talented performers. Performers are known to hand out free passes to those venues they inhabit.

Porte du Soleil Levant(The Gate of the Rising Sun)

This one of the main gates to the Cirque, done in beautiful varicolored marble. Various beautiful statues reside around it, and there are Cirque employees here most of the time giving out information. At Dusk Gas Lamps are lit, with a specific corps whose job it is to keep the paths lit.

Porte du Soleil Couchant (The Gate of the Setting Sun)

Here the walls have become a more gray marble, with barred copper colored wrought gates. There are always gas lights burning here. There is a specific corps detailed to keep them burning.

Porte de Cardea

This gate is hidden, cunningly carved to match the stone around it. While a regular shaped door, the mechanism that allows it to open are hidden in the carving of a human heart on the stone. When pushed the heart recedes, and allows the tripping of the lock mechanism. This door is monitored by guardians here, but they do not always move to defend the Portal.

Porte de Mania

This gate actually opens into the ground, taking the user into the limestone mines under Paris. There is no marked path, and anyone who enters here without experienced guides risks being lost. The cover that hides the Portal is a large round stone that is actually hollowed out and light. Needless to say, traveling through the Porte de Mania can expect to have their soul weighed. The Porte is warded by various spells and wards. There are also other guardians here...

Les Gens de Cirque

• -- Paulo Montressor
• -- Buffalo Billy
• -- Renard Leon

Acteurs des Avenues

• -- Bartleby Guysmith: The Sword Swallower
• -- Niamh Elwyn: Scarf Dancer

Donne D'Amour

These women (and men) work the main avenue. They also live and work out of Le Maison de Aphrodite.

Main Portions of the Cirque

The Avenues of the Cirque

La Route de L'Avenir

This wandering route is the main path through the Cirque. Le Grande Cirque lies along it's path, as well as Le Parc Animalier. Concession stands and curio shops line it's empty places. Many side streets take off of it. This is where the best of the Acteurs des Avenues are found.

La Strada del Cuore e L'Anima

This is the main path the divides the Cirque along it's north/south center. This road is done in red, gray, and black stones. The edges are lined with concrete swirls and triangles. The Strada ends in beautiful small green parks at each end, with picnic tables and roofed eating areas. Le Maison de Fous, Le Canal de Aphrodite lies along the North to South respectively.

Il Percorso Della Luna

This path way wanders roughly in a half circle north of La Route de L'Avenir. Mademoiselle Noreen has her shop along this path, close to the La Strada del Cuore e L'Anima. Devéria's Curiosities is also found along this path.

Il percorso del Sole

this pathway wanders roughly in a half circle south of La Route de L'Avenir. Buffalo Billy's Sharp Shooter Stall can be found here, along with it's talkative operator Buffalo Billy. Miglior Ale di Leon can also be found here, a moderate tent with 9 round tables, and a small shack where Renard serves from. His beer is famous among the beer crafters of Paris.

Le Grande Cirque

This is a huge building, with soaring roofs and beautiful stained glass windows surrounding the huge arena at the center of the Cirque. There are side buildings built onto it, to house the props, people, and animals that will be used each night there is a performance here.

Le Maison de Fous

This "tent" is built as a theater, with a stage for shows and performances. It has wings and fly space. Behind it and attached to it is the dormitory for the performers who "live" here. This is a building much like the layout of a modern office building. Inside are individual rooms for the clowns and "fools" of the Cirque. There is a main dining hall and kitchen available to them.

Le Labrynth de Haies

This is a huge wandering maze of hedges, walls, and mirrors. By turns it is beautiful, disorienting, and horrific. No one who enters the Hedge is sure they came out the same...

Casa Degli Amanti

Nearby Le Canal de Aphrodite is a three story mansion known as the Casa Degli Amanti, or house of the lovers. Both men and women (and a few transexuals) can be found for evening consorts, quick romps, or other lover enhanced entertainment. The Casa is cloaked behind hedges and a small parc. While prostitution is legal in the Cirque, the general family atmosphere is protected from the flaunting of these consorts.

Le Parc Animalier

This is the zoo of the Cirque, and all the animals used in the shows are kept here. The Cirque has collected various species from all around the globe. In some varieties the Cirque has the jealousies of the Zoo de Vincennes. It is overseen by Bronislava Ramsey.

Le Maison de Fortuna

This building is all about the lady of luck, Fortuna. Here there are major gambling rooms for betting of all kinds. The Cirque has set up teletype links with Monaco and Las Vegas in order to keep accurate books on current wagers for world events. If it can be decided by chance...somebody is betting on it in Le Maison de Fortuna.

Le Maison de Freaks

This is the building that houses the regular sideshows known as Freaks. The Bearded Lady, The Crocodile Man, The Tinniest Man. Those are just a few of the "Freaks" to be found here...

The Minor Attractions

• -- Buffalo Billy's Sharp Shooter Stall
• -- Emporium des Cristaux Célestes
• -- Mademoiselle Bindoux's Palmistry
• -- Miglior Ale di Leon
• -- Le Meilleur des Temps / Le Pire des Temps
• -- Richelieu's Pies
• -- Se Préparer à la Haie

Day to Day Management

There are several people who keep the Cirque running day in and day out. If there is a business deal to be made (selling trinkets in the Cirque, performing on La Route de L'Avenir) one must talk to Yannic Morel. A very effusive man, Yanic smokes terrible cigars and squints his left eye almost to the point of closing it.

The buying of supplies and hiring of permanent staff is done by Eulalie Leandres. A round figured blond woman in her late 40's.

Enforcement of security for the Cirque is done by Fred Leone. Everyone who conducts business in the Cirque will deal with these three at one time or another.

History of the Cirque

There was always a grove of trees here. It was always a place of natural beauty and reverence. When the Normans invaded France, there were trees felled here. The forest resisted. In time it was known that this area should be left untouched, as bad luck followed those who took from here. The area was a grotto, node, Caern, whatever you want to call it. The people of Lutecia left the area alone, and left gifts, sacrificing to keep the beings of the woods happy.
As the city of Paris grew, so over time did the groves here become encroached upon. The Arboreals and changing breeds worked hard to protect it, but man is relentless. As luck would have it, Luis VI, Louis the Fat, fell in love with a nymph of the grove, who convinced him to make it Royal Land, protected as the kings land. He did, and it was handed down through the kings, protected from harvesting as the other woods around Paris were not. That held until the time of the Terror.
When the blood of royals ran in the streets of Paris, the lands outside of it had been kept as gardens and hunting grounds. The people now wandered them freely, and once more man encroached on the Wild. On the dark of a moon a group of players happened to camp here, and their instruments and dancing attracted the eyes of the Wild. In a burst of epiphany, the Wild asked the performers to stay, and create a place of music and laughter for them to enjoy. A bargain was struck,and the troop of travelers found a home, here in the old trees the travelers called upon Janus to bless the beginning of their compound, and he did. He promised them that as long as they kept his festivals, honored their beginnings with sacrifices to him, he would protect them. The bargain was kept. Over time the compound grew wealthy, and the walls grew to encompass more area, until today they cover almost a half a kilometer around the Grotto under the main arena.

Management

While the day to day management of the Cirque is run by humans, (it has to), the real management set up by two Fae and a Werewolf.

• -- Ianua the Lesser
• -- Fedlimid Boilcast
• -- Anat Ardak

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