Thread: TARAK TALES BACKGROUND THREAD - WORLD MATERIAL (no comments)

Tarak the Tower City - Other Features The City Guard The Guard is a combination police force and defensive army, with occasional civil disaster and firefighting duties thrown in. It employs not only the best warriors it can get among the humans, dwarves, and halflings, but also recruits useful species who can live in Tarak, such as giant eagles and giant bats at least the sentient breeds. The Guard is generally a positive force in the city, and while it is not totally free of vice, neither is it distrusted by the populace in general. The organization adheres to strict codes of conduct while on the job, and works hard to ensure that its members don't succumb to burnout or corruption. While some citizens are treated more equally than others, as with any stratified society, it's an important point that no citizen is allowed to be mistreated therefore, there are always certain minimum standards of conduct that the Guard is expected to maintain. The Guard keeps barracks and small dormitory quarters in the Sun Levels, but all Guard residences are near Quick-Deployment Poles QDPs , which are basically firehouse-style sliding poles that allow Guards to come out of their barracks in an emergency and zip down to the appropriate level within the Tower City. All Guards get training in combat, in Law Enforcement, Investigation, and in Siege Engine Operation regular duty rotations keep the various skills fresh. There are distinctions within the service the regular Guard is seen everywhere in Tarak, the trademark bright blue of their uniforms tending to evoke reassurance in most of the populace. However, the bright red uniforms of the elite Council Guard tend to make everyone nervous. They answer only to the Council and the city judges. With respect to the City Guard as a whole, the Council Guard acts as Internal Affairs, or as the FBI in investigative matters, or as Special Forces in military matters. They are popularly considered dangerous and fanatically incorruptible, and they know this, and use it when necessary. Guards don't apply to be Council Guards the Council Guards select who they want to join when they have an opening. The current High Captain of the Guard is Sir Donal Aardensen , and his Lieutenants Major , Aenna Stonebiter , Texis Norram , and Sallis Tor Mantas , are directly responsible for the morning, evening, and night shifts, respectively. Derrison Maywell is the current Chief Defensive Tactician , and has been for at the past 50 years nobody knows more about the Tower City's various defenses than this old halfling, but he's trying to train several assistants to eventually take his place. The Shadowguild Criminal activities are an unavoidable aspect of civilization. Some would even argue that they play a necessary role as some sort of safety valve for the pressures of society. Whatever the case, crime can be especially troublesome in cramped and confined quarters, such as within Tarak. The Guard exists to help moderate crimes, but ambitious criminals could do a lot of damage before the Guard would be able to stop them, and the resulting crack-down would be damaging to everyone else's business. Centuries ago, a loose organization of criminals, eventually dubbed the Shadowguild, evolved as a self-regulating criminal syndicate. The members of the Shadowguild still operate outside of the law for personal profit without regard for most ethics or morals, but they are careful to keep their activities quiet, and they both guard against the excesses of fellow Tarak criminals and against intrusion by outsiders trying to operate in Tarak without making the appropriate contacts, first. The Shadowguild has no formal hierarchy, and there is no one individual in command in every situation authority is fluid, but the Guildmembers are used to the apparent chaos, and believe it helps obscure their activities with regard to the City Guard. If one is looking for something not strictly moral or legal, anyone who can provide it is undoubtedly connected to the Shadowguild. Dragon Gate Park This is merely a little spot of actual greenery within the Warrens, with planters full of various shrubs and flowers and a short cover of grass. All vegetation is carefully selected to survive with only limited light Gemlights can only do so much, and the dawn light and the overhead illumination help, but if the plants don't enjoy the shade, they won't thrive. What space isn't occupied by plants or walkways is covered with sand and has children's playground equipment installed upon it. The cultivated plants, plus the noise of the shaft and the din of excited children makes for great audio cover, and therefore this location is popular for clandestine meetings where secret business must be discussed, but the participants don't trust each other enough to meet privately. The Blue Boggan This is an infamous tavern and gambling house, located not far off the River Shaft, a few stories up from the shaft floor. Its lewd signage of a small faerie creature in typical oversexed male distress is a welcome sight to travelers in the know. Inside, one can find the best music, the prettiest working girls, and the least-obviously-rigged games, and just about anything can be bought under the table, if you talk to the right bartender. There are private rooms available in back for business, dining, or dalliance, the food is excellent, and the drinks are barely watered down at all. It's costly, of course, but many find the quality worth the price. The short and misshapen half-troll owner, Jonek Truenose Trallk , keeps a bloodshot eye out for the City Guard his rarely-wrong sense for deception is what earned him his nickname, for sniffing out potential spies. Trallk is definitely a mover within the Shadowguild, but as usual, nothing can be reliably pinned on him. On the Guard's part, they are constantly trying to get hard evidence on Trallk for fencing stolen goods and trading in violence-for-hire and the addictive hallucinogen thorndust, which is top of Tarak's very short list of substances banned for the public good. Trallk's wealth and connections, and the tavern's popularity, keep the Guard from closing the place down entirely, but they keep waiting for the half-troll to make a mistake. Given his track record for burying the evidence sometimes literally, they may be waiting a long time. Jenna Mugmaker generally manages the tavern on Trallk's behalf, and the looming half-ork Rann Sor Fillix frequently operates as Trallk's right-hand man.