Amsterdam Gambit

Amsterdam — the unofficial capital of the Republic. The largest city on the east coast, as headstrong and bustling as a capital should be. Today it will offer you all pleasures, from the strongest Medland brew in the back room of a respectable café to a pinch of cayenne on the nail of a giggling flapper seeking nighttime adventures to the sounds of orcish jive. And tomorrow... Who knows what will happen tomorrow? This city creates billionaires and stars in the blink of an eye and equally easily turns them into beggars. Here, the path from a semi-underground theater on the outskirts of Hooglan to the stages of Gideon-hall can be as short as the flash of a clever journalist's camera, and the relocation from a penthouse on Fourth Avenue to the flophouses of Dortland can be as smooth and unnoticed as a sunset. Here, one moment you can rise above the crowd, cashing in on the stock exchange, and turning a corner on Grotmuurstraat, find yourself an unwitting victim of another showdown between Families, who are fighting over the proceeds from an underground wine shop. This is Amsterdam — the City of Rain.