Vedro

Rising from struts in the Mirror Sea is a growing community of desalination rigs and old Coalition sea forts connected by new construction: Vedro, smuggler baroness Dunyasha Sand's dream made real. Vedro answers to none of the major powers on Aureate - not the clashing empires of the Dodonan Tribunal and the Terrenon Dynasty, nor underworld kingpin Toporik Jet's stranglehold on her Nadezhdan people - and takes all who need refuge. More people flock to the city as it further blooms in rust and steel by the week, and a reckoning is soon to come for them all as it becomes too big to escape notice.

### Culture

Dunyasha came up from poverty in Pesok Station, and built her smuggling ring on being as honorable and pro-worker as she could; Pesok Line folks often lived lean lives, but always they knew she had their back, and that ethos was core to her vision for the settlement from the outset. As Vedro grows beyond those she directly works with, she's begun early talks about what a democratic governing body might look like. Diverse peoples have begun to move in, many guided by Dispatch-Captain Springfield Autumns's efforts on the mainland to attract those in need - and those seeking change.

A large farm (watered by desalinated waters drawn from the sea) provides staple crops at no cost to Vedro's people, supplemented from goods smuggled from the mainland or made by its residents; this is where Vedro's symbol (a sheaf of wheat) comes from. Power is provided free to all (though somewhat rationed), thanks to a sprawling field of solar panels.

Radio Free Vedro broadcasts every hour of every day, a pirate channel that's open access with a small waiting list. Smooth-talking Nikola Seasalt runs The Rustbucket, a morning talk show, and acts as a disk jockey until noon; smoky Lizaveta Gold runs a late night call-in show, *Nocturnal,* that often skews raunchy or conspiracy-prone, depending on callers' moods. Ludus, a Dodonan emigre with a pleasant, unflappable persona, hosts a twice-weekly relationship advice show.

Many Terrenon serfs learn sign language, both to communicate beneath the notice of their masters and because many working in the Dynasty's many mines suffer hearing damage, and the practice has spread throughout Vedro as many survivors have come to call it home. Dunyasha is rarely seen in public without her interpreter, Arik, and already new signs have been made for Nadezhdan slang and Taimu cuisine.

### Locations

**The Jenny Wren** is a quaint pub in a forgotten Old Earth style, all dark wood and kitschy decor; its fish and chips are the stuff of legend, and a modest beer selection (a mix of imported/smuggled mainland product and local brews, including a hard cider named for Captain Autumns) is well-liked.

Directly below via a narrow staircase is **The Ready Room,** where moody red lighting and industrial features paint a vivid picture of its distant military past and those looking to have important conversations can meet without being overheard. Dodonan defector Kladi Demos is the kindly late-night bartender, rarely talking about themself but always keen to lend a sympathetic ear.

### Personalities

Senga, an older Taimu woman, is a priest of the traditional Taimu faith by profession, but has come to run a small impromptu orphanage and daycare on Vedro; the war on the mainland has led to both a great number of abandoned or orphaned children, while many of those who've come to Vedro are essentially refugees and need the help. She still maintains a stock of herbal remedies, incense, and the like in her small shrine at the orphanage's rear.

### Military

Those building Vedro always knew it would be under threat, either from Dunyasha's old rival in Toporik Jet or from the two empires feuding over Aureate, and so securing strong, reliable allies was an immediate priority.

[Pesok Line + Dodeka + Two Moon Cry + Broken Crown + The Slag Knights + Khrusos Branch + The First of Many + The Righteous Spark Brigade]