Upper Ring
From Thirdexalt
This section is where the poorer citizens of Gethamane dwell. It covers the area from above the Outer Ring and over the Guild District, up to and around the temples.
While the main thoroughfares are kept clear and patrolled by the Guard, the back passages can go unseen by official eyes for months. The area as a whole ranges from cleanbut-shabby, in the better and more aspiring parts of the district and along the main passages, to filthy, cramped and utter squalor. A lot of the inhabitants keep livestock (goats, chickens or pigs) and can’t be bothered to drag dung and waste all the way to one of the small gatherers’ gates to dump it or even to sell it to one of the dung collectors who cart it down for fertilizer in the Gardens.
The trip to collect the Dole can take 1-3 hours just to reach the Gardens, not to mention the wait at the Gardens to sign off on the Registers. In the remoter parts of the Upper Ring, it’s common for family representatives to be ambushed for the food they’re carrying while on their way back. As a result, groups from a particular set of caves often travel together, for mutual security. There are a number of gangs in the area, ranging from just a few members to several dozen in size. The Guard cracks down on any large gang that it can find and press criminal charges against, but a few gangs slip through the nets.
Such an environment breeds disease and encourages scavengers. Despite the use of small charms and the burning of certain poisonous herbs, rats lurk in the garbage, lice and worms infest the poorest inhabitants and it is rumored that certain dark creatures from the underways have escaped the Guard and now hide in the remotest passageways and caves, emerging to prey on those citizens nearby. Disease is also common, most commonly pneumonia or influenza or minor diarrhea and vomiting.
Another breed of scavenger found in the Upper Circle is the amateur treasure-hunter and scrollsearcher, who believe that the accumulated trash of generations and the unexplored nature of some of the less pleasant passages may hide the secrets of Gethamane.
(Occasional interesting finds have happened, but purseslitting, unpleasant diseases and general social condemnation are more common.) Tunnel preachers also wander these corridors, talking wildly about apocalyptic “end times” or claiming to represent the true gods, as opposed to the “false gods” worshiped in the temples. Ten of the 12 small portals used by hunters and gatherers to collect food outside of Gethamane branch off the Upper Circle. These portals are kept well clear and guarded, and the families who live nearby and who practice this as their occupation are among the better-off dwellers in the area. These families are prosperous and so well-regarded that they even manage to adopt or marry into Outer Circle or Garden District families from time to time. The best known of these families, the Otist family, even holds a seat on the Council.
Few in this district can afford expensive instruments or other gear for entertaining. Singing, however, is common, and some paupers with truly incredible voices have been adopted into better families or have made careers for themselves in the Outer Circle or the Guild District.
Another major leisure activity here is cooking. Even the poorest family has a set of recipes for preparing Dole fungi and any scrapings that they can get their hands on, and small stalls offering to season and cook a meal on the spot line some of the better thoroughfares.
[edit] THE WAREHOUSES
When the hunters and gatherers bring in game and food from outside, they can’t necessarily haul it down to the main food stocks in the Garden District, nor do they want to keep the game in their own homes — it’s too great an invitation to thievery. So, they bring the food and game here. These large sets of caves are owned by the city and may be used by citizens to store food on payment of a tithe of approximately one-twentieth of the food’s value (or of the food itself) to the city. There are five of these warehouses, set roughly in a circle round the district and each one close to two of the gathering entrances. The warehouses are heavily patrolled by the Guard and are manned by junior Bethanites who are judged by their elders to need seasoning. The corridors around the warehouses are constantly hustling with merchants, beggars, hunters and gatherers and people trying to strike a quick bargain over suspiciously overripe deer haunches or similar dubious goods. Incidentally, the poorer caves near here have some of the worst rates of dysentery in all Gethamane. The families buy their food cheap, and, sadly for them, they get what they pay for.
Five large warehouse-chambers, spaced around the Upper Ring, are kept cold with ice brought from outside. The city owns these chilled warehouses. Any Gethamanian can store food here, at a cost of one-twentieth the food’s value (or of the food itself). Hunters and gatherers often use this option, since keeping large amounts of valuable meat or vegetables in one’s home invites thievery. Plenty of Guards patrol the warehouses to protect their contents. The corridors near the warehouses bustle with merchants, beggars, hunters, gatherers and other citizens trying to strike deals.
Wealthy Gethamanians can enjoy fresh reindeer steaks with cloudberry jelly. The poor hustle for suspiciously overripe snowshoe hare carcasses. It’s no accident that the poor folk of the Upper Ring suffer rates of food poisoning much higher than in the rest of Gethamane.
CHARACTER CONCEPTS FOR THE OUTER RING
- Warrior: Gang Member, Guard
- Holy Man: Temple Priest, Apocalyptic Tunnel Preacher
- Savant: Archaeologist, Unethical Experimenter
- Criminal: Con Artist, Dole Fraud, Food Hijacker, Rebel
- Entertainer: Cook, Street Singer
- Bureaucrat: Hospital Staff, Warehouse Manager
