Theev System

Theev 0506 (book 1) - Friendly - Dangerous

A434500-F AMBER ZONE
Non-agricultural, Non-industrial, High Technology

Low gravity (0.35)
Very Thin atmosphere (Respirator required)
Wet world
Population 100,000+
None
No restrictions

Theev is a dusty, arid, Mars-like world. The only settlement in the system is Blacksand City, a high-tech city that rises from the sands of the desert like an impossible mirage.

Theev is an infamously lawless and dangerous port. There is no ‘legitimate’ government or business here – this is a port run by thieves and pirates, for thieves and pirates. The markets of Theev deal in stolen goods, in illegal weapons, in drugs and contraband and slaves from across the Sector. Not everyone who comes to Theev is a pirate, but they are all here for criminal reasons. They might be Imperial nobles, here to sample the illegal delights of the flesh-pits of Blacksand, or arms dealers hawking their wares, or mercenaries looking to hire on in some petty brush war, or merchants hoping to buy stolen goods on the cheap, or even spies, but everyone here has the same sordid stain that comes from spending time in Blacksand. It is impossible to visit Theev and not be soiled by the atmosphere of the place, which is more insidious than the fi nest dust from the desert.

The city itself consists of hundreds of skyscrapers that rise from a network of canyons. The skyscrapers are linked by covered walkways.

Highport: The starport – a hollowed-out moonlet – is in geostationary orbit over Blacksand, and is referred to as the Skull, as the empty craters resemble bony eye-sockets. The Skull’s shipyards are capable of building ships up to 2,000 tons, and here is where many of the corsairs and other pirate ships were made. The Skull’s craters also conceal hundreds of missile launchers and gun emplacements – any ship approaching Blacksand City without permission will be blasted out of the sky.

Downport: The port looks like a swarm of titanic black scarabs from above – every landing has huge bay doors that close overhead when a ship is docked there, to conceal the visitor from watchful eyes and protect them from the dust.

Blacksand: The only settlement on Theev is Blacksand, the world’s capital and downport. It is built in a maze of canyons, from which skyscrapers extend high into the dark sky. The upper levels are quite different in character from the Lower City, and are linked by sealed walkways. It is possible to land small craft atop some of the skyscrapers, and all have grav vehicle ports. Thus there is really no need for most visitors to enter the Lower City, and many would not want to.

The Law: New arrivals are briefed (politely threatened is perhaps a better phrase) by one or more black-robed Widows before entering the Upper City. They are told in no uncertain terms that whilst Theev has no formal body of law the Upper City is subject to what is called the Law of the Lords.

The Law of the Lords comes down to a complete intolerance of anything that disturbs the peace of the Upper City. That includes no murder and no weapons fire. Violence and thievery might get perpetrators dumped in the Lower City, if they are lucky, but is commonly punished by ‘summary disappearance’.

The whole of the Upper City is subject to the Law of the Lords, and is a very tranquil place. Parts of the Lower City, marked by red flags, are also subject to this law. Elsewhere, the Law of the Streets prevails. This is a single, simple rule – possession of a weapon that can breach the environmental seals on the settlements is punishable by death. Anything else is completely unregulated.

The red flag zones move, so some buildings in the Lower City are protected on one day, and left open to the Law of the Streets the next.

The Upper City:  resembles the business district of any high-class starport. It is clean, well-run and comfortable without being opulent or tacky. Pristine corridors lead to comfortable meeting rooms and entertainment suites where well-dressed business people meet and make deals with local and offworld concerns, and everything has a strong feeling of respectability and civilisation.

Some of the business being conducted is indeed legitimate, but many of these meetings concern piracy, murder and various forms of large-scale violence. Nothing is said openly in the Upper City; euphemisms and polite fictions are used to maintain the illusion of legitimacy even when arranging genocide.

Grand Hotel: Rising like the Sword of Damocles over the city, the Grand Hotel is the biggest and best hotel on Theev. Most visitors from the Imperium gravitate to the Grand Hotel, which occupies one of the largest buildings on Theev. It has its own shuttle landing area on the roof and sufficient entertainment facilities that guests do not really need to go anywhere else. 

Other Hotels: There are numerous other hotels in the Upper City of course, each with their own character. Some are also the dwellings of the Lords of Theev, who typically occupy a few floors as their own private preserve and run the rest of the building as a profit-making concern. In some cases, a hotel forms part of a skyscraper, with the remainder either made up of living quarters for workers or offices for businesses. Living standards are good in these communities, and those who cannot afford the high prices – or who offend their overlords – risk being evicted.

Asharden Camp: There are people who arrive on Theev without the money to pay the extortionate prices of the Upper City, and without the grit and fighting skills to survive below. The lucky ones end up in the Asharden Camp, a refugee camp on the edge of the upper city. It is filled with hopefuls who want to earn a place in the Upper City – or find their way back in – as well as those struggling to avoid being consigned to the Lower City. Not surprisingly perhaps, it is a good recruiting ground for desperate people.

There are plenty of desperadoes in the Lower City as well, of course, but those in the camp may still have something to lose, which can make them easier to control. They may also have skills not found in the rough-and-ready Lower City, as well as the ability to fit into the polite and (relatively) tranquil society of the Upper City. Assassins, spies and the like are often recruited here, on the promise of a better life in the skyscrapers above.

Cliff District: Within the Upper City there are various districts and zones. The most notorious of these is the Cliff District, where most of the mercenaries and arms traders are headquartered. It is commonly said in Blacksand that if you want to hire a bunch of thugs you can do so in any Lower City bar, but if you want trained mercenaries the Cliff District is the place to go. There are some highly skilled and reputable mercenaries for hire in the Cliff District, as well as various war criminals and professional psychopaths. The businesses located there will also source or manufacture weapons of various sorts, including weapons of mass destruction.

Industrial Zone: The Industrial Zone is an area around the base of several skyscrapers, where most of the world’s heavy industry is located. It is close to the downport, and also has offices for various manufacturing companies. Among these is Kallos Shipyards, which builds craft at the orbital highport but sells some components from its yards on-planet. Kallos serves as a clearing house for pirated ship components. As a rule, legitimate or hard-to-trace components are sold at the highport to anyone who comes through, whilst illegal parts (such as warship systems or parts of a ship that could be traced to pirate activity) are brought to the surface of Theev where investigation is far less likely.

The Lower City is a tangled mess of alleys, corridors and even tunnels built in the canyon bottoms. Some areas are underground, mainly where a passage has been forced between one canyon and another, and later some additional chambers have been added. 

Other parts are made from disabled space vessels. Most of the Lower City is essentially a ramshackle town with an environmentally sealed roof over it. The city is subdivided sufficiently that a breach will not kill everyone, but breaching the outer skin – or having a weapon that can do so – is punishable by death. Indeed, this is the only external law imposed on the Lower City. Apart from this, the place is officially lawless.

The unflagged flag zones of the Lower City are exceedingly dangerous; they are dark, filthy and crammed with all sorts of depravity. On street level, it is a tangled mess of bars, brothels, flop-houses and cheap entertainments for those on shore leave. Behind the cheap stalls, there are more exotic and expensive pleasures – alien drugs, strange churches, illegal technologies.

In the Lower City there are numerous groups willing to impose their own code upon others. Sections of the city are run by gangs or warlords, others have what amounts to a neighborhood watch. All areas are very rough-and-ready. Nobody cares if you steal from someone they do not know, or if you kill someone in the next street. However, everyone reacts to threats or actions that harm them directly, and the usual reaction is violence. Getting roughed up is considered a lucky escape in the Lower City; many people consider it simpler just to kill those that offend them.

Essentially, law and order in the Lower City comes down to ‘take care of yourself; nobody will help you unless it’s in their interests. If you become a threat to someone or a group, they will deal with you if they can.’ In some areas of the city it is considered to be in the interests of local businesses or residents to enforce some kind of law, and in these areas the city is not so much safer for innocents as more dangerous for wrongdoers. Motivations for these enforcers are almost entirely self-centred – it is easier to conduct business if there are no robberies and gunfights going on outside. 

Sometimes a building will be ‘red flagged’, which indicates that it is subject to the Law of the Lords. This is enforced by the Widows. Elsewhere the Widows will eliminate anyone who threatens the environmental integrity of the city, and occasionally others for reasons they do not discuss, but do not otherwise intervene in the affairs of the Lower City.

The Scrapheap: A large section on the fringe of the city is given over to wrecked starships and spacecraft. Known as the Scrapheap, this area is home to a small population who live in the wrecks and dismantle them for sale to anyone willing to pay for potentially stolen or damaged components. There are other purveyors of starship components elsewhere in the city, but the Scrapheap is a good place to find rock-bottom prices… for a reason. 

The House Without Questions: A cryptic establishment, the House Without Questions is said to be older than Theev. It is a place of last resort for travellers. One may go to the House if you have nowhere else to go, and they will take you in, clothe you, feed you and protect you, no questions asked. You may also go to the House and hire them to perform a task. If it is possible, they will quote a price, and if you pay the price, they will somehow accomplish your desired goal – again, no questions asked on either side. 

Blood Pit: A bloodsports arena, where sophonts fight to the death against monsters or each other. Gladiators, prisoners fighting alien predators, steel cage matches against killer robots, running gun battles – anything goes in the Blood Pit.