NYAE

From Namericanpotter

Information

Location: Underneath the Great Lawn of Central Park (79th Street to 85th Street)
Founded: 1780; moved to current location in 1874

History: The New York Artifact Exchange began as a small group of mages who would trade and sell tomes, magical items and other such things to the magically-inclined in New York. It was originally located in a storefront in lower Manhattan, but moved around the boroughs when the need arose. When construction began on Central Park in the 1860's, a Moros who was on the planning committee spoke with the group and they worked out a plan for a marketplace of sorts beneath the park itself. With judicious use of Space and Matter magic, a clear space was created underground that, while exactly to their specifications, caused no problems to the integrity of the park itself.

The marketplace, called simply that, opened to the magical public in 1874. It quickly became a place of great meaning to the wizards of the Big Apple. It sported a speakeasy during Prohibition (with the best alcohol that the Matter mages could make), offered shelter to those who were devastated by the Great Depression, and its buildings served as a general meeting place to the cabals of the city throughout the decades.

Of course, the trading of tomes still went on, albeit on a larger scale. No one really knows how many rare texts and artifacts have changed hands in the coffee shops, libraries and alleyways of the marketplace. In the 1940's, a young mage jokingly referred to the marketplace as the New York Artifact Exchange, and the name stuck.

Today, just as ever, the NYAE is a vibrant place filled with the Awakened of New York and beyond. Londoners may have Diagon Alley, but any New Yorker worth his wand will tell you that they'd prefer their little slice of Awakened heaven to a place stuck behind a bar any day.

The Layout

Coming soon!