"The city of Philadelphia is all about the underdog." – Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagle
The old money in Philadelphia has more or less always existed along the Main Line, so named for the name of the railroad trunk that used to pass through it. Commuter rail still passes through the northwestern regions and suburbs of Philadelphia, although the locals refer to it interchangeably as the R5 or the Paoli-Thorndale line. The Gilded Age of the 1880s to the 1920s was the peak of prestige for the Main Line. Townships like Radnor, Wayne, Merion, Haverford, and Devon sprung up around the palatial country estates of Philadelphia's wealthy elites. Those days are long since gone, and the upper-middle class has filled itself in around the ever shrinking lots of the old mansions still occupied by the truly wealthy, but it remains an undeniable truth that the Main Line is where the wealthy and powerful of the region live and play. Money and power pour into this part of the region and rarely, if ever, flow back out again. The poor and the powerless may only catch a glimpse of these places through the frosted window of a SEPTA train, or when they show up to clean the toilets of the people that live there. And the residents are happy with that arrangement.
High Society in Philadelphia is quite subjective. The old money families with names like DuPont, Widener, and Lenfest still live at the gleaming tip of the diamond, admired for their history and achievements as much as their contemporary fortunes and influence. Yet the newly wealthy and powerful continue to make names for themselves, establishing their own nascent dynasties in technology, media, and the arts. The cosmopolitan nature of the city ensures that class is the true factor in these social circles. Race and religion are of vanishing importance where the solidarity of the wealthy is concerned. Wealth and its utility eclipse all other concerns. And in a town where whole hospitals can bear the name of a wealthy founder, vanity and charity are frequent bedfellows.
Are you old blood or new money? Do you wish to share your prosperity or build a higher wall around your country club? Or is your goal buying enough politicians and police officers to tear down the walls of someone else's and absorb their influence for your own? It's all there for the taking now. The Gilded Age has ended. And we're making America Great Again.
Rules and System
Status in High Society are your keys to the castle. Politicians depend on your donations, civic institutions look to you for charitable giving, the police are apt to look the other way when you're caught drinking behind the wheel. Your surname, if not your given one, carries the weight of wealth and prestige. It's scrawled in the note pad of the chief of police under the heading 'Do Not Cross'. You can start and end careers. Build or destroy lives. Create fortunes for aspiring capitalists or turn a land developers visions of gentrification and wealth into an endless parade of bureaucratic red tape and protesting tenant unions. You are the asshole that asks 'Do you know who I am?' rhetorically before walking away from a pointed gun. In a city of plebians, you are Cicero.
Status 1: The child of new money, a host of some successful social functions, the new guy at the country club
Status 2: New money, the child of old money, the financial planner to the wealthy who knows where the bodies are buried
Status 3: Old money, the name on the side of the hospital wing, the owner of the country club
Status 4: You married a DuPont, your family founded a college, your name is synonymous with charitable giving
Status 5: Your family dates back to the founding of the city, your family ruined a family that dated back to the founding of the city
Joining the Sphere
Players may enter High Society either at character creation or through play, though it is certainly far easier to enter it during character creation. Gaining that first dot of status in play marks a transition in status and lifestyle that really ought to be the culmination of a story in its own right. And certainly players are encouraged to craft a character arc to that end, explaining how they came to hold influence over the city's elite.
Players should give thought as to where their prestige comes from. Are they old money, keeping to the old traditions? Are they new money, trying to shake up the social elite? Where does that money come from? What city institutions do they favor with their patronage? What is their relationship with the local police, or the media? What are their ambitions, and what are their fears? How does your character fit into all of that?
There are no stat requirements to enter High Society, although the following stats are encouraged.
Resources, Allies, Contacts, Fame, Staff, Safe Place (Reflecting the family estate)
Theme and Society
What use is power if you never use it? And how do you keep power that you use when others are hungry for it? While American wealth and power need not be treated as a zero sum game, there are very few in the upper echelons of society who would dare to view it that way. There are people they can control, people they can purchase, and people that are a threat. The elites of Philadelphia may share solidarity of class, but they very much enjoy watching others tumble from the peaks of power in Haverford to the peak of a three story row home in East Norriton. And there's always another pretender eager to fill the void created by a toppled elite. Perhaps one more agreeable to your point of view than the one that came before them. And that's how dynasties are made; by destroying someone else's.
The old money looks to protect its legacy. The new money looks to create one. The tug of war in city government tends to revolve around these disputes, with the pawns of the various elites caught in the middle. Land developers, local politicians, government officials, and even restaurateurs or club owners typically all have allegiance to one family or more. Middle class families send their kids to college on your scholarship grants, the archdiocese looks to you for money, for moral leadership, but in the absence of morality? Even more money.
There is no part of civic life you cannot influence. You can write your name in the clouds, make the whole city look up, and whisper your name in wonder. And the only people that can stop you are the same ones you have to have at your next dinner party if you're to continue on as you are. You need them. They need you. And you all hate each other for it.
