A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London breathed in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that baked the metropolis. An even more repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a foul-smelling mire. The stench was overwhelming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and in

The year 845 AD. A chill wind swept across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent carrying salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a horde swarm of warriors seeking riches. Their longships, like prowling predators, sliced through the waters, their flags billowing in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneath the menace of Valhalla's emb