A Life of Crime

Sharoban does not have the most developed criminal underworld. There are gangs and thieves, extortionists and even murderers but little of the homegrown crime is a serious threat to the city. The city guard, whilst it does not have an official remit to do more than keep the peace, is not so overwhelmed that the streets feel overrun by criminals. Most people feel confident walking the streets and believe that the city serves them well.

That may all be about to change.

A change has started to make its way through the gangs in the western part of the city, as one of the gangs, the Blue Hands, have started to pick fights. Normally there would be nothing sinister in this, small skirmishes between gangs are common, but the Hands are doing something different. They specifically target the leaders of the rival gangs and, if they defeat them, lay down a simple choice; join the Hands or be destroyed. So far their opponents have chosen the former and now what was a gang with three streets under its control has territory extending over a quarter of the quarter. Most of their members are apprentices and journeymen in the Dyers Guild, a few come from other professions rooted in the area. Only a core of them are professional criminals and those are the high up members of the Hands, tough men who are too old, truth be told, to be still running with a gang.

This factor has also precipitated a change of attitude in the Hands modus operandi. Where they were once a purely territorial gang, keeping other boys and girls off 'their' patch and stealing wine to drink on street corners, now their plans are more daring. Blue Hand cut purses patrol the markets, taking opportunities where they see them, supplies are cautiously smuggled out of the dye shops and sold to outsiders; in fact a black market has started to spread across the city. Each member of the Hands has a target to meet to stay in the gang; every month they have to give the leadership their cut and failure to do so means a beating from one of the leader's henchmen.

The leadership comprises of Feydor, a small, crafty man, and his big, dumb friend Gustav. They are locals, who used to work the dye works until their master got tired of them and kicked them out. Unable to find any more work, and having burned their bridges with the Temple of Merida when they got drunk on sacramental wine, they were forced onto the streets. Taking over the Blue Hands was Feydor's idea, he convinced Gustav easily enough and they put their plan into action. It was easy to take over the gang and easier to get a few older members to extend their tendency to boss the younger children about into a system of extorting them for 'taxes'. Extending into other gangs' turf was a natural evolution once the pair realised how little they would glean from the tiny scrap of territory the Hands initially controlled.

Now, Feydor's plans are growing, he has his eyes on controlling the entire Western Quarter in a few years time and being able to style himself as a Godfather figure. He already has an inn, the Painted Pecker under enough control to comfortably use it as a base of operations. He takes the fireside seat in the snug and receives his gang members in what he imagines to be opulence under the mounted heads of a grey wolf, a steppe bear and a hobgoblin.

The other threat to Sharoban's security is not homegrown. In fact it comes from far to the east and hides behind the front of a small fortune telling stand in the central market.  Run by Bao Pen, a simple oracle, the stand is in fact a front for the Seven Eyes of Heaven Brotherhood, an organised crime front that specialises in smuggling, drugs, extortion and murder. It is a large gang, with a presence in every city in the eastern empires and kingdoms. They control cities, governors, some say they control kings.

Sharoban is a new project, they wish to get a foothold in the trade that flows through the city and use it to create a gateway to the west.  As such Bao Pen's presence in the city is a simple test of whether the Brotherhood could make money and gain power in Sharoban, and extend that into the Jorvin Empire. It is a long shot, which Lo Pen is more than aware of, and if it were not for the shadow demon he trapped in the Cave of Eternal Darkness he would have lost heart on the journey to the city. The demon is his agent in the city, flitting through the night to spy out secrets Bao Pen can use to gain 'favours' from people. So far he has gained enough information about a handful of merchants to start discreet overtures regarding their vices and they have been frightened enough to do as he instructs. A message went back east at last full moon, with a friendly merchant to say that more Brothers could be sent without too much concern. Bao Pen is sure that soon his Brothers will be here to make the city sit up and beg, the way they have with all the others.

Next time we turn our attention to the sad shanty town outside the walls.

The Guilds

The guilds dominate Sharoban's mercantile life. Since the earliest days of the city, proper, there has been an underlying assumption that guilds exist to help regulate trade, mostly by stopping anyone who is not a guild member from trading; often violently. Whilst they do not have oblique political power their influence over the economy means that they are listened to. They are permitted to have their own heraldry, seals and holidays, though these usually coincide with the city's general holidays.

For the young people seeking a trade the guilds are where their start begins and ends. Most children are expected to begin work between the ages of seven and ten and most will end up as apprentices in one of the guilds. Their first contact comes from the quarterly hiring fairs. These are huge events where the guilds advertise what positions they have. Other apprentices come from other routes, children entering the family business or being taken on as a private arrangement with a friend. But the bulk of apprentices do have to run the gauntlet of the hiring fair. For the would be apprentices' part this involves approaching the guild masters and journeymen and making a case for being hired. It usually involves being inspected, tested and sometimes even having the condition of teeth, eyes and hair checked, and many apprentices find the process a humiliating one.

If they are accepted apprentices will work for seven years initially doing the most menial tasks from cleaning, fetching and carrying and performing minor inventory duties before progressing onto more responsibilities. It usually takes three years before they are permitted to even take on minor work and that will usually be the construction of the most basic pieces. After seven years they will be tested to see if they can be trusted to produce good work. If they pass this test they progress to being journeymen and can travel or seek positions with other artisans. They are usually encouraged to visit the House of Fools and master other skills before leaving; a dead journeyman is no use to the guild at all and most master are happy to pay for basic defence training for their proteges.

Becoming a master takes a long time and is a long, arduous path which most artisans never complete. Those people who go on to become masters are driven, canny or have so much money the guild cannot see a good reason not to grant them master status. Masters are split across two different styles, some are so focused on their craft that their journeymen must do all their administration, whilst the other school of master is the opposite, the business side is important and their subordinates do the work. Masters are expected to take part in the public life of the city including the various banquets and high holidays where they parade in their finery for the full day.

The biggest guilds in Sharoban are the Smiths, Tanners, Bakers and Dyers but they are far from the only ones. Every trade operates some sort of guild even if there is only one artisan of the trade in the city. Every guild has its own culture and traditions; apprentices may look back on the humiliations of the hiring fair with fondness in comparison to the first few weeks at work. There will always be a period of hazing and apprentices are sworn to keep the guild's secrets and follow the Artisan's Law.

There is a great deal of variation in the way that the guilds in Sharoban conduct these matters. The Illustrious Brotherhood of Bakers for instance, prepares a small poppet of the apprentice and during their induction to the mysteries of the oven the apprentice must bake the poppet to show their commitment to the guild. The Dyers guild in contrast marks their new blood by painting their hands with Sharoban Blue dye (and there are rumours that the Dyers' hazing can be truly horrific). All the guilds take the issue of secrecy seriously and infractions are punished swiftly. This usually takes the form of a whipping in front of the other apprentices and journeymen, but someone who is a true blabbermouth will be ejected from the guild with their tools broken.

Next we'll turn our attention to crime, and the threats that lie within the city.

The Great Wall and the Watch

The Outer City is surrounded by another wall. A thick, high wall made of granite quarried in the Red Vein Mountains, two hundred miles north of the city. The instance of the quarrying of the stone is remarkable because it is the only time that the city has ever successfully approached the giant tribes in the mountains and bartered with them not only for space to work in but also for labour to help with the cutting of stones (so momentous is this achievement that the north gate in the wall is called Giant's Door).

Gatehouses stand at each of the four entrances and stone towers dot the perimeter, immense and imposing as they tower above the curtain wall, acting not only as lookout posts but also defence points against giants and dragons, against whom normal sized towers are useless. The tallest, Ice Walker's Tower, is the most northerly and stands on the spot where the giant was defeated and chained. It is always noticeably colder than the other parts of the wall, even in the depths of winter. The other 'master towers' are named after the Six and are dedicated to artillery and magic.  Squat ramparts jut out of the walls, primed with holes to drop rocks, oil or dung onto the enemy. The battlements are tall enough to cover the soldiers, even the tallest guardsman is protected if he stands behind one.

It is not widely known that the wall also contains a number of small, hidden doors, that can swing open to allow small numbers of people in or out. These are commonly used during sieges to allow Wind Striker strike groups out to 'unleash the wolf', a fancy way of describing guerrilla warfare. They are also, occasionally used when Sharoban's rulers dispatch hidden messengers.

The Watch is drawn from the petitioners to the Wind Strikers who show promise but are either unsuited to the life of a wandering cavalry troupe or do not make the grade. They are infantry soldiers and peace keepers, not detectives; armed with spears, short swords and shields and equipped with lanterns for night work. Their duties are to ensure that the city is defended, the streets safe and keep the peace on market days. As far as policing goes their remit extends to chasing down thieves, anything else falls outside their purview and would in all likelihood be passed up to the Keep to deal with. The Watch is divided into four Quarter Houses, the Old House, which covers the city close to the keep, and a the Market House which has a special duty towards the markets. All watchmen are cycled for three months work patrolling the city and three months on the wall, primarily as lookouts.

Their commander is one Natalya One Hand, a former member of the Wind Strikers whose hand was bitten off during a skirmish with hobgoblins. She is a fierce woman, committed to her duties who drives her subordinates to go the extra mile. She is seldom kind in her demeanour, and is known as 'the bitch' behind her back, pretty much universally.  She uses Giant's Door as her command headquarters and draws in the watch captains for weekly meetings. Alone in the city she has the keys to all the hidden doors in the wall  and, though the Council make no attempt to hide their dislike of it, if an envoy or shipment needs to leave secretly, she must be courted and convinced of the need.  Three times in her short tenure she has had to be ordered to allow a gate to open.

In contrast, Watch Captain Leo Anton's Son, works tirelessly to encourage his men to make sure that the people of the city are safe. His Watch House covers the east of the city, where thefts are high. Frustrated by the number of times his requests for investigations were rebuffed (leading to dressing downs by the Commander and a personal letter from the Council's leader, Ruto Allara's Child, asking him to stop), he has taken drastic action. Along with a number of volunteers he has formed a small vigilante group, the so called Roof Runners, who navigate the city after hours to locate stolen property, frighten thieves into giving themselves up and deal with murderers. The group's name comes from their solemn oath to leave the streets unmolested, as a result their favoured way of travelling the city is by crossing the roofs on foot.

Next time we return to the mercantile aspect of the city with an in depth look at the guilds.

The Outer City: An overview

In a ring about the Old City and the Keep runs Sharoban's Outer City, the pennants of both city and the Outer City, with the scimitar and gate on both and a quartet of coins on the latter, fluttering above it in the almost constant wind.

It is more spacious and less staid than the Inner City but it is also more ramshackle and less well constructed. The character of the Outer City is different as well, more focused on dirtier, smellier trades; butchers, tanners and so on. It sprawls within the walls that sandwich it growing higher in rickety buildings, gantries and bridges. There are four wards, North, South, East and West, the borders of which are largely defined by the four main roads that make their way through the city. These are further divided into districts, some of which are no more than a street or two long; all marked with their own insignia. Rivalries between the wards and districts are common, gangs of youths go out to defend their districts' "honour" in the face of other gangs, making a headache for the Watch who try to keep the peace inside the walls.

South Ward is dominated by a large animal market, by slaughter houses and tanneries. Animals are traded and killed here on a daily basis, as the nomad tribes come to the city for the best prices and a chance to rest for a few days. The north wind blows the smell of the industries away from the rest of the city, but it is still an unpleasantly smelly area. Currently laws forbid new tanneries opening away from the south for health reasons.

The east of the city holds most of the foundries and smithies, which specialise in iron works, horseshoes, household goods and weapons. The vast majority of goods produced here are simply functional, not the possessions of kings but ordinary people. The exception to this is the Villier Workshop, run by the blade master Joaquim. Another Jorvin he was a duellist before he became a smith and each of his blades is personally tested by him.

North Ward is predominantly dedicated to food and is probably the part of the city that drains Sharoban's coffers the most. The steppe makes for a poor farming land, it is possible but the fierce winds and lack of cover mean that crops are often destroyed. Some small farms near the city grow basic vegetables and grains, but a great deal is imported from the west. Jorvin produce, mostly from the empire's eastern edge, makes its way into the city every week or so and Gruber Comestibles is one of the largest importers in the Ward. Another business from the western kingdoms, the Two Rose Bakery, has a reputation for fine breads and cakes and supplies food to the Keep itself. Given that one on the Roses, a pale buxom woman from Amyar in the west Jorvin Empire is also a spy for the Emperor, this accolade is one that is extremely advantageous and she has cultivated a close drinking relationship with the Keep's chef under the guise of knowing what spices and dried fruits would be the most popular with the city's rulers.

The city's west is devoted to the fabric trade, dying and weaving. There are a lot of wool merchants, spinners and weavers. The city's blue dye is sought after by merchants and commands high prices.  Native Sharobanite Yngvy Cold Heart has an exclusive contract with the small kingdom of Arreyda to supply them with cloth dyed Sharoban Blue for their court livery. Yngvy, a stoic individual, takes the kingdom's money and ignores the rumours of a coup brewing within its borders as the regent plots to take his nephew's throne.

Politically, there is an unofficial council of burghers who are selected from the guilds and businesses to represent the districts and wards. The council has no official power, but liaises with the Watch and the Keep on a regular basis and wields enough influence to feel this is worthwhile. In truth they are listened to because of their economic power alone; their trades keep the city going. The current head of the council, Nikolai One Thumb is well aware of this but chooses to downplay it in order to keep relations with the city's rulers' cordial. Most of his fellows agree; only Bolaslav, the representative of the Tanners' Guild disagrees, wanting to push for more lenient taxes and a loosening of the trading laws. Fortunately Bolaslav mostly keeps his opinions to the debating chamber, though Nikolai fears that its only a matter of time before he goes too far, especially with his fondness for beer.

Next time we'll look at the Outer City's defences and the Watch.

The Inner City Part Two:

This week we'll explore more of the Inner City's crooked streets, the businesses that trade there and the people who live there.

The Benevolent Spice Guild comes from the east and specialises in both culinary and medicinal herbs and spices. They have been instrumental to introducing things like saffron and tea to the western kingdoms and hold a virtual monopoly on the trade to the west. In return they are interested in purchasing wood and, in particular scented bark, for shipment to their homeland.

The Guild employs locals for most of its labour and legwork, including all the courier and caravan work to the west. Their shipments east leave on closed, mysterious caravans that only cater to the merchants from the east. Similarly there are always parts of the goods they receive from home that they will not allow their local labourers to touch; only the masters and journeymen in Sharoban may handle them (usually with silk gloved hands, the only time that such things are seen).

To the city, the Guild presents a cordial but cool face. Business is conducted on the first two floors of their premises, the spices being stored on the first floor, whilst the ground floor is their shop floor. The Guild's traders have divided this area into two, at the back there are scales and measuring cups whilst at the front a set of tables and chairs allows the merchants to sit with clients and discuss their needs over tea or spiced wine. Most of these consultations are entirely innocent, though a few are more sinister and the Guild has been involved in at least one assassination, albeit indirectly. At least one of their regular clients is suspected to be part of the Jorvin Empire's Shadow Hand.

The Hunter is probably the dingiest of Sharoban's inns, one that has resisted all the attempts to oust it into the newer parts of the city or even into the shanty town outside the walls. Its clientele is largely composed of soldiers, hunters and 'adventurers', sell swords too undisciplined to get work in an army. The tap room is dark, small sconces with low candles guttering in them and a small fire that does little to alleviate the cold in winter. The liquor it sells is rough, 'frontier whiskey' gut rot, in which a major component is wood alcohol. Despite this, the cheapness of the drink and beds help keep it in business.

The main attraction however is the fighting pit in the cellar. This is a ten foot square pit line with wooden stakes around the top, apart at two places where a rope dangles, to allow entrance and exit. In a small alcove within the pit the statue of Baluz lurks. The statue is short and thin, showing a man who seems to be weeping. Only the smile on its face that casts doubt on how sorry the figure really is.

The inn's owner Fedor, is a high ranking member of Baluz's cult, having risen to the position in the traditional manner (slaughtering his way to the top). The Hunter is his prized possession and he will stoop to any depth to keep it open. So far this has involved blackmail, bribery and extortion, theft and at least one murder. He is smart enough to know that he  cannot remain hidden forever but hopes to be able to escape when the authorities realise what is happening. Fedor's chapter of the cult is small, and of necessity, anonymous. They gather for sacred bouts, in which nothing is forbidden, battling each other for positions in the cult's hierarchy. Whilst Fedor has forbidden them to kill in the city, for now, he does push them to openly compete against each other and to form brief alliances. These are usually broken in the most dramatic betrayals.

He has gained a keen acolyte amongst the Wind Strikers, a young woman named Galya, who turned to Baluz's service when her family were slaughtered by marauders. She is just beginning her descent into darkness and only knows a few words of Baluz's tongue.

Fedor's other notable acolyte is Aart, a scribe. A slight, quiet man, he seethes at every insult, locking it away in his memory for the day when he takes his vengeance on as many people as he can. He records every slight in a slim volume and nurses them, reading them every night before he sleeps. A poor fighter his chosen weapons are a set of knives with a drugged blade.

Next week the Outer, or New, City.