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locations & residents

📍 signal street current residents: armstrong notable locations: signal hill science center, dunn fitness, various businesses and industry

signal street is most out-of-towners' first impression of signal hill, being at the eastern border of town heading from the nearest city, sycamore. home to factories, the local science center, and a handful of derelict fixer-uppers, the armstrongs' pristine, modern home is peculiar among its backdrop, standing out like a sore thumb in comparison.

🧪 the armstrong household current members: tina armstrong, carter murphy, jonathan armstrong, jennifer "jenny" armstrong, archibald "archie" armstrong

the armstrong family is headed by rivals-turned-lovers, tina and carter. as pioneers of groundbreaking extraterrestrial research, going as far to parent two half-alien children, it's no wonder that the family are as wealthy and infamous as they are.

18 year old jonathan is creative, intelligent, and unbothered by the challenges that come with being different than his peers, choosing to ride the wave of life doing whatever feels good in the moment (which unfortunately includes some selfish romantic pursuits). 16 year old jenny is everyone's best friend, but struggles to focus, which causes some friction between herself and her exceptional parents. 13 year old archie is a quiet boy who prefers solitude, so that he can dream without interruption.

with their eldest, maggie, all grown up, their teenagers getting older every day, and their careers at their peak, tina and carter will soon be empty nesters with very little left to achieve.

📍 beacon point current residents: dunn, larson notable locations: paradise park (trailer park), boondocks (dive bar), The Great Outdoors™

when you take the long, sloping exit north from signal street, you'll find yourself in the most rural neighbourhood of signal hill, beacon point. tucked away as if it was meant to be hidden, with amenities and housing costs that match the upkeep, this area of town is home to some of signal hill's least wealthy inhabitants.

🎸 the dunn household current members: josie dunn, michael "mikey" zamora, christopher "chrissy" dunn

coming from a broken home and raised in poverty, josie has always been jaded about her situation, and her cynicism is tempered only by her high school sweetheart mikey, and their best friends, aj and markus, who keep her spirits up. with their opportunities few and far between, josie and mikey have had to pinch pennies to keep the lights on, especially after becoming parents. thankfully for the family, josie's older sister managed to marry up into the middle class, and josie eventually swallowed her pride and allowed her brother-in-law to help her open her own business, which has become the center of her world.

josie and mikey's children, alex and chrissy, are products of their environment: new young adult alex spent his childhood forced to mature and take care of his family through part time jobs, but overcame his troubled upbringing and his mother's influence to take a chance on university. 12-year-old chrissy doesn't really fit in with his family, soft in comparison to his parents and brother, and about to enter his teenage years not quite knowing where he belongs.

🪐 the larson household current members: ashley-joan "aj" larson, markus kimura, mars larson, kira larson, niko larson

longtime friends aj and markus were in for a surprise when their harmless friends-with-benefits relationship resulted in aj getting pregnant in her early 20s. despite not being necessarily in love, markus and aj got married, and through navigating financial issues, career changes, and their eventual three children, they have fostered a relatively stable and loving home, all things considered. aj currently works as a paramedic, and markus has recently quit his job in low-rung entertainment to write novels, which he has become moderately successful at.

their eldest, mars, is freshly in their 20s. having grown up with domestic duties on their plate as the eldest sibling, and having more of an artistic brain than an academic one, mars decided to forego college and still lives at home. currently, they're saving up money from their low-paying job to eventually move out - ideally with their girlfriend, anya, when she finally returns from university.

kira has big dreams, and her heart is set on a future in music, but unlike mars, she's itching to fly the nest as soon as possible. she's college bound very soon, much like her longtime family friend, former neighbour, and top secret ex-situationship, alex dunn. i'm sure that won't end poorly.

10-year-old niko is mostly concerned with growing up, making friends, and some early creative pursuits, inspired by his family of artists. hopefully his string of bad luck won't get the best of him.

📍 central signal hill / "downtown" current residents: - notable locations: darla's diner, the ruby (nightclub), various businesses and public institutions

the beating heart of signal hill, at least to an outsider. to most of signal hill's population, however, "downtown" is where their soul sucking 9-5 jobs are, after which time the hub of town is just as ghostly quiet as the rest of signal hill.

📍 "the suburbs" & signal hill northwest housing district current residents: lagerstrom, dyer, fletcher-reycraft, lee, king notable locations: -

to the west of downtown lies signal hill's most densely populated area. among its neat rows of single-family homes live some of signal hill's most middle class families - though the further northwest you travel, the higher the tax bracket becomes. what the suburbs lack in character is made up for by the promise of a peaceful, 2.5-child having, retirement-saving, minivan-driving, dog-walking life.

📚 the dyer household current members: gwen dyer, joseph rothmann

gwen dyer's marriage was already on its last legs 10 years ago when she and her family relocated to signal hill, and it didn't last much longer after they settled in. 7 years ago, she and her now ex-husband leo split their assets down the middle, sold off the house they had barely finished moving into, and have put miles of distance between them. it was hard, but gwen couldn't be happier as a single woman, with more emotional energy to focus on her career, her kids, and her cat.

after his older brother, zach, moved out for college, joseph has had to adjust to their family situation largely on his own. despite having a strong support system in his best friends, bel and adam, and being a smart kid with a lot of potential, he can't help but feel like he doesn't really know who he is just yet.

🌃 the fletcher-reycraft household current members: daniel fletcher, james reycraft, adam fletcher, ella reycraft

in his early 20s, daniel fletcher had everything going for him: a small home all to himself, a promising new career in journalism, and all the stamina in the world for weekends full of partying and socializing. that all changed when he ended up pregnant after a one-off hookup, and suddenly, he needed to put everything aside to raise his son. thankfully, arhan was happy to co-parent, and for a while, family life didn't seem so bad - but when arhan passed away suddenly, daniel's world was turned upside down once again.

adam matured quickly after the loss of one of his parents and the financial troubles that fell on the household in his wake. he became more determined than ever to succeed one day, and hopefully make all of daniel's sacrifices worth it, but in turn he has become a gravely serious young man, and he often struggles to loosen up and fit in with kids his age.

daniel's relationship with james felt like an inevitability, and after years of back and forth, they finally decided to settle down together. with a stable partnership, daniel was able to bounce back into security once again, and his and james' adopted daughter ella will hopefully grow up with far less to worry about than adam ever did.

💐 the lee household current members: bianca lee, nisha rai, seth lee

university sweethearts bianca and nisha moved to signal hill as newlyweds, and were meticulous in their planning for the future in all things: from their children spaced perfectly apart, to their careers progressing at exactly the pace they expected, and to their eventual home, purchased and moved into at the height of their parenting years, in the most desirable neighbourhood in all of signal hill.

seth and anya were brought into the world having everything they could ever want, but have reacted to their charmed lives in very different ways: the idealistic seth grew up expecting everything to go exactly as planned, which was a standard his mothers set for him; meanwhile, anya has always had a chip on her shoulder and a deep discomfort with the expectations that surround a life like hers.

through his relationship of over 5 years with zach rothmann coming to a fizzling end after infidelity on both ends (both with jamie king, mind you), and any chance of a relationship with jamie ending before it could even start, seth has been humbled by heartbreak going into his adult life, and is starting fresh as a single young man, living at home with his parents, and trying to fight against his lazy inclinations to find himself a path in life.

🏡 the king household current members: anthony king, hazel dunn, chloe king, katie king

by all social rules and laws, anthony king and hazel dunn should have never ended up together. coming from one of the wealthiest families in signal hill, anthony never had to work very hard for anything in his life, and his life has consisted of a long string of schemes and cons to keep himself comfortable while doing the bare minimum. hazel did not have such luck, having been raised by her grandmother in the trailer park on the other side of town, leaving school and any notions of a successful career to work for minimum wage to take care of her grandma and younger sister, josie. but fate brought them together in their late 20s, and what started as a reckless fling eventually became an idyllic middle class life that hazel could have once only dreamed of.

their eldest, jamie, grew up understimulated by his surroundings, and spent his teenage years counting down the days until he was able to finally leave signal hill behind. at home in his place remain his younger twin sisters, chloe and katie, who couldn't be more different from each other. energetic and extroverted, chloe is a whirlwind of a young girl, and while she doesn't have big dreams or ambitions (yet), she is excited to live it all the same. katie is more grounded, yet significantly more insecure than her sister, struggling in school and with socializing, and wants nothing more than to have a secure and frictionless existence.

⚽ the lagerstrom household current members: suvi lagerstrom, natalie king, quinn lagerstrom

suvi and natalie have always been cut from the same cloth. as trust fund babies, university athletes, and two women who were once singled out among their families for being different, they bonded in university over their shared life goals and thick skins, and their partnership has almost always come first before frivolous romance. while natalie hung up her cleats to join the white collar world and become an architect, suvi stayed on the athletics track for the money and glory, and quinn was born to check a box off their list of "things to acquire".

now a teenager, with two exceptionally successful parents raising her, quinn is saddled with expectations to follow in their footsteps. she spends her days studying diligently, trying to make friends with the girls in town, and wondering whether she even wants to be like her moms.

📍 laurel lake current residents: bishop notable locations: signal hill senior living, signal hill resting place, farmland (unoccupied)

as the most picturesque part of town, laurel lake is a highly sought after home for those who prefer an even slower life than what the rest of signal hill has to offer. whether you're an outdoorsy person who wants to spend your days fishing and gardening, or maybe just a solitary individual who yearns for peace and quiet, laurel lake is right where you belong.

🔨 the bishop household current members: erik bishop, neil summers, isabel "bel" bishop

stoic firefighter erik bishop, and vibrant chef neil summers could not have come from more different upbringings: erik, as the only child of a single father in a one-room trailer, and neil, who was raised alongside a horde of siblings in a high rise sycamore apartment. when neil moved to signal hill in his 30s to start a new career, he and erik's worlds collided, and they couldn't help but devote themselves to one another despite how different they were. soon, they were pooling their savings together, building their own cottage on the lake, getting married in a quaint backyard ceremony, and adopting their daughter, isabel.

isabel, or bel as she prefers to be called these days, is now 17, and has been given all the tools in life to find herself thanks to her loving and supportive fathers. she's most often found spending time with her best friends, adam fletcher and joseph rothmann, or tending to her plants in the greenhouse erik built for her, especially on days where she's skipping school (which are most of them).

📍 sycamore + sycamore university (SYCU) city residents: jamie king, margaret "maggie" armstrong, leo rothmann, zachariah "zach" rothmann university students: anya lee, alexander "alex" dunn. soon to be joined by jonathan armstrong, joseph rothmann, adam fletcher, kira larson, and chloe king

most people who migrate to or away from signal hill are united by one place: sycamore. as the closest city, reached only through two hours of car travel by highway, and the pinnacle of "getting out" for many small towners in the region, sycamore might not be the biggest city in the world, but at least it's got more to offer than its rural neighbours.

not far from the city is a small college town home to sycamore university, a modest regional university, and the first step to independence for many. the campus is small but charming, and feels like home for its students from signal hill especially.

🏙️ 1642 everett place, unit 5 current members: jamie king, margaret "maggie" armstrong

jamie king's reputation has always been one of independence and goal-orientedness, and his motivations have always centered around the ultimate goal of getting out of signal hill. but his resolve slipped at his first taste of freedom, and he somehow became the object of desire on both ends of his high school best friend's relationship, spending his years in university in a bizarre three-sided emotional (and sometimes physical) affair. with the chips falling in a way where everyone ended up single, jamie has promised himself he'll never fall in love like that again, and is back on the path of ultimate independence. hopefully his meager savings can keep him afloat in the city until he finds a job.

as the multi-talented eldest daughter of her overachiever parents, maggie was once faced with a critical choice: follow her dreams and pursue a career in dance, or go down the path her parents laid out for her in STEM. she chose the path of passion, studying performing arts in university, and is determined to prove that her choice was worthwhile. landing a job with a dance company straight out of school, she needs a place to live in sycamore, and thankfully, even though they weren't especially close at the time, her old college roomie jamie has a spare bedroom.

💼⛓️ the rothmann household current members: leo rothmann, zachariah "zach" rothmann

it's been seven years since gwen and leo rothmann's divorce, and in that time, leo has been enjoying his divorcee bachelor life, especially since moving back to sycamore. the freedom has given him room to breathe, and while he'll never be the most nurturing or understanding man on the planet, he's been softening while creeping toward his sixties, and he's been a bit lonely as of late.

zach has sworn for years that he cannot stand his father, and for good reason: not only was he privy to every misgiving his parents had with one another as he grew up, he and his father have always clashed in their values and personality, and their father-son relationship would have never survived if not for the divorce. if you told a teenage zach that he would one day be living with his father again, let alone as an adult with free will, he would have never believed you - but after landing an entry-level game development job in sycamore fresh out of university, and needing a place to crash that isn't with his best friend (that he just so happens to still be in love with), zach's options are limited, and his dad is offering him a rent-free place to live.

🎓 sycamore university cohort #2 current students: anya lee, alexander "alex" dunn

the teenage loves of the larson children, anya lee and alex dunn, are the first of this round's cohort of teens to start their university journey. anya, the withdrawn yet practical young woman that she is, is determined to succeed in school, and is limiting her contact with her peers as much as possible by living in an off-campus house, paid for by her wealthy parents. alex, on the other hand, is the first of his immediate family to go to college, and is already taking a massive risk in student loans to afford school, so he has no choice but to cohabitate in the dorms.

soon, anya and alex will be joined by the rest of signal hill's first generation baby boom. hopefully things won't get too messy.