Good morning Salvation City! Today was a big business day! Meetings with the big boss, with a lot of exciting things on the docket. We’ve got more CEO of Sex, more Thread of Wonders, and more to come! I certainly got to feel like a big shot fielding a cross-corp collaboration meeting.
Three corps in one meeting, and what for? A fighting tournament, as it turns out! All the best fighters, from all over the city, in the Valkyrie arena, duking it out, with the winner taking home a hefty prize for the cause of their choosing. GEB will be doing the catering, and it’ll all be available with live coverage right here on the Trident Network. Stay tuned (tunaed?) for the latest updates!
In my heart though, I’m no big shot, just a humble columnist, looking to get the city under my heels. As soon as I could break free of the boardroom I took the train down to Row 32, chasing down rumours of spirit activity in the deprived area of the city.
The first thing you notice when you arrive in Row 32 is the darkness. There might be daylight out in Union Heights, or beating down on the Wasteland, but sunlight does not quite reach this place. Nonetheless, the neon lights blaze their defiance of the dark. The streets are full, with locals perusing the local noodle joint and milling outside the “Dirty Diamond”.
Unlike the Undercity, the Row has a clear place within the city administration. Residents were cautiously supportive of the work of Mayor “Coach” Eric. However, like much of the city, trust of authority is low, and tensions high. A recent incident where Union employees searched a business without a warrant has left locals wary of escalation with the authorities.
It isn’t always to the Union, then, that locals look to solve their problems. A key player in Row 32 is the local branch of the galactic mercenary organisation, the Wyverns. Once the cream of the Union’s military forces during the War of Unification, the mercenary group now sells their services back to their former employer – or any other group that pays. They seem to have built some respect in the Row – as I ask around about recent troubles the district has been facing, residents direct me not to the mayor, but to the local Wyvern leader, Titus.
Titus’s answers are brief and professional. Yes, the Wyverns have been contracted to assist with the matter of the spirit appearances in the Row. No, he cannot provide any details. No, he doesn’t recommend digging any deeper. I thank him for his time…and start digging. What exactly has been happening here, and what do the residents think about it?
Luckily, I bumped into a somewhat familiar face. We had never met in person, but the rather animated and eccentric goblin in a top hat was Grabble – our announcer for the Union Heights Tournament! He introduced himself by hitting me with his ‘gay beam’, which turned out to be a multicoloured hologram. (I’m not certain on the side effects, but if any interested ladies want to double check, my email is in my author bio.)
When we moved on to more serious subjects, he had nothing good to say about the spirits. “They steal things.” He said. He named a list of items that the spirits had stolen. In the Undercity, these antics are often considered harmless pranks, and part of the tradeoff for their haven. But here, spirits are outsiders, and their interference is taken as hostile. Grabble stated his hope that a “spiritual expert” would take care of the problem, and drive the problematic spirits away.
When I asked ‘Assistance Bot’ about the spirit incursion, they interpreted this as a request for assistance. He ran off and, troublingly, returned later with burn cream. Other residents explained that yesterday, there was an altercation between a ‘Greater’ spirit and two residents, Johnny Kiwi and Munch Killclan. No-one seemed to know precisely who or what had started the altercation, but everyone knew the result: the pair were left with severe burns which required treatment at the nearby Avalon clinic.
This news set the tone. In my afternoon spent in the Row, no residents spoke positively of the potential of the spirits and their presence. Instead, the unanimous verdict was that someone needed to handle this ‘problem’. The proposed solutions varied, with some hopeful Masaru might act as a saviour, and others emphatically against outside interference.
Thus, Row 32 is a district caught between worlds. They look up at the Heights above with suspicion, and now feel under siege from the spirits rising from below. A history far too long to recount here unpins their suspicions, and I won’t call them wrong for having them. Yet by looking above and below, we can see the shape of the paths the Row might take. In Union Heights, Masaru has begun to ward the major buildings against spiritual incursion, prioritising safety and the status quo. In the Undercity, the people live side by side with the spirits, negotiating daily and accepting disruption as the price for harmony with the magical world.
Row 32 must choose which way to leap. Or perhaps they have some third path that they’re keeping from interfering journalists. That’s up to them. Whichever way they go, I wish them luck. Stick around for more as the situation develops, in Down from the Heights.