Seward Park

These very wealthy neighborhoods are located along the hills by the lake. The park that gives Seward Park its name is located on a small peninsula jutting into the lake. It’s a peaceful plot of land with some of the oldest remaining forest in the city.

The Seward Park neighborhood is also the hub for the Orthodox Jewish community in Seattle. One of them is a long-time member of the Celestial Chorus who has dedicated herself to hunting down Nephandi.

Buried in the basement of a Seward Park home is a strange artifact from some long-forgotten Deep Umbral civilization. The home itself has been abandoned for nearly a decade, after the former owners, a couple who were collectors of the strange and unusual, died. In the years following, their daughter has been slow in cleaning out the house and preparing it for sale. Meanwhile, the artifact sits in a corner behind boxes of paperwork and objets d’art from around the world.

It is of roughly human size and weight, made of polished milky-gray stone, and resembles a sevenfingered hand grasping upwards towards something unseen. Originally found buried in the Arctic Circle by a crew of poachers who knew valuable black-market archaeological pieces when they saw it, it had lain dormant for unknown eons. At some time during the events of 2004, it began to reactivate. Why or for what purpose is unknown. It slowly returned to power over the course of several years, only recently coming close to full strength. Since doing so, it has begun to tunnel into the earth below the basement, slowly dissolving or disintegrating the foundation beneath it at the rate of millimeters a day. It is currently just partially buried, but solidly set in the floor.

It has also been sending psychic emanations to the minds that surround it. Nearly undetectable except by the very sensitive, these emanations nestle in the subconscious thoughts of living beings and prod them to take certain small actions - a man who begins parking his car on the opposite side of the street on specific days, or a squirrel who carries a pebble from one yard to another. To what end any of this is performed, or what will happen when the artifact is at full power and buried in the soil, is as unknown as the civilization that spawned it.


The Seward Park neighborhood is named after a beautiful park on a Lake Washington peninsula that is shaped like a cactus. It is the largest Orthodox Jewish community in Seattle and one of 3 with an eruv. You'll often find members of the Jewish community "walking the loop" of the park on holiday afternoons. The neighborhood has a strong Sephardic and Ashkenazi Orthodox presence. The community prides itself on its hachnasat orchim (welcoming of guests and visitors).

Sephardic

Seward Park is home to the oldest of the Jewish communities in Seattle. Seattle hosts a vibrant Sephardic population that moved to Seattle from Greece and Turkey at the turn of the century. The Seattle Sephardic Network organizes community events. There's even a department of Sephardic Studies at the University of Washington. Sephardic synagogues in Seward Park include Sephardic Bikur Holim (Turkish) and Ezra Bessaroth (Rhodesli). Hazzan Emeritus Ike Azose is an institution, having written the siddur and other holy prayer books used by both these congregations. They host awesome cultural events such as the Tu B'shvat Fruticas celebration and Bazaars where many homemade Sephardic goodies are sold.

Ashkenazi

Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath is an Ashkenazi Orthodox shul known for its extensive kids/groups programming. The congregation is over 100 years old and has beautiful stained glass windows in the synagogue. Minyan Ohr Chadash is a Modern Orthodox minyan where singing and group participation are integral parts of the services. These synagogues are very family-friendly.

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