Petty Wars of Kartam

**Petty Wars of Kartam** are flare-ups of violence in the bad neighbourhoods of the city. Called that way due to the high-intensity nature during a short timeframe, their combatants are extremely diverse. Some include one gang trying to take turf from another without official interference, others are fights between the police force and criminals. Yet anothers include the City Guard of Kartam, the Sacred Band or even the Šurghan Host, and any of the aforementioned forces, a coalition of them or they devolve into a multi-sided fray where civilians, sanctioned police units and criminals battle each other for an extended period.

## Origins

Kartam was founded in 216 as a minor outpost with questionable defences but it quickly became a central location as conquest made all of its surroundings far and wide an imperial area. In 263 the capital was moved there and the settlement was enlarged along premediated plans. From that point until the end of the seventh century, official control was strong over the city. Some criminal activity happened but it was of usual nature, the public order was satisfactory. The City Guard of that era was considered an elite, military-grade unit with iron discipline and formidable enforcement capabilities. No assault against a guardsmen went unpunished, what made even their presence enough to keep up the law.

Downturn came when the Pentarchy took power and imperial fortunes started to slip. Monarchs did not have the financial means anymore to keep every service going. Public bread distribution was kept, but the City Guard was among the first to suffer. Capable personel defected in droves, commanders put down the arms, corrupt officials weren't prosecuted anymore which led to large-scale extortion. Guardsmen ranks were filled with recruits of questionable quality, some of them pardoned or impressed criminals. Irregular payments made them prone to take part in criminal activities against ordinary citizens. Middle classes started to leave the city en masse turning former well-off neighbourhoods into slums filled with recent immigrants. The demigraphic composition of Kartam experienced a dramatic change: Administrators, rank-and-file merchants emigrated in search of safe havens or moved inside the Harkonian Walls offering more protection. Lower level traders, some artisans offering day-to-day services remained in place alongside skyrocketing crime. T

his gave rise to self-defence communities, typically made up of the inhabitans of a large tenement house with several dosen household who closely monitored the activities within their own confines. For small-scale criminal activity like thievery or minor assaults these tactics worked well, but on-off rapes, kidnappings or muders were much rarely stopped. The process accelerated in the times afterward as many houses formed units to defend their streets, some streets came together to policy a neighbourhood etc. Some of them turned into well-functioning local initiatives, even giving rise to thriving, new areas of relative wealth beyond the walls, while other were kidnapped by ambitious individuals of sinister intentions and turned into criminal enterprises known as the gangs of Kartam. As criminals, guardsmen and citizens form and intricate network in the settlement, frontlines are ever changing. An offence going unpunished on a given day might provoke serious backlash on another that makes petty wars ever more likely.

## Reasons and Outbreak

### Conflict between citizens and officials

Petty wars can be a result of literally anything in the slums of Kartam. City magnates expect the guardsmen to enforce order in a visible and public manner which leads to countless grievances. Side activities from them like assistance for criminals, or hazing treatment on the streets are often the last straw that make denizens go into a frenzy especially in more serious cases. Demostrations are dispersed, protests are swept off the table what forces average inhabitants to resort to violence. Better-prepared communities take preemptive measures by bribing guardsmen officers or dubšars in the vincinity thus warding off danger. In lone cases they are even know to employ a private security force and to nurture good relations with powerfuls of the city councils thus receiving twofold deterrence.

Such protection is off limit for the vast majority of the population so they resort to hired blades to dispose of undesirable guardsmen. Guardsmen are frequently attacked on the street by ragtag mobs who wish to avenge a perceived or real insult. As such things happen in public areas like markets their origins are hard to determine so sweeping revenge operations do not happen. In the residental areas the situation is different, so both guardsmen and the local populace are much more vary of each other. Patrol can disappear at any point, most denizens willl maintain that they have seen nothing, heard nothing and know nothing. Without direct evidence, revenge must confine to the private sphere as the guards are not allowed to commit crimes in uniform. However killing an executive is a last-resort measure as a murder brings curfew and sweeping perquisition to the area that amounts to home invasion in most cases. Although under official supervision, guardsmen are permitted to commit small-scale looting. More relaxed superiors even permit rape or other kinds of violence what induces another round of grievances. Suspects are promptly arrested and sentenced to death, carried out in the Great Arena of Kartam, ironically to keep the very same demographic entertained.

Although officially under supervision, the guardsmen are permitted to perform small-scale looting. Violence like assaults or muders are considered self-defence. Occasionally persons are kidnapped either working on orders from criminals, or at own initiative to be sold as slaves. Young females and children are particularly vulnerable to such handling, as are women regardless of age who are mass raped in some cases to assert dominance and break resistance in the most restive districts. Needless to say, the hard-handed approach as much as expected helps nothing to achieve a more secure Kartam.

### Conflicts between citizens and criminal gangs

Criminals are not bound by the same rules the City Guard is, what affords them a great degree of freedom in dealing with detractors. Gangs by their nature are cladestine organisations who do not like to put their power to public display. Sometimes they enlist the City Guard for their cause, especially during their raids. Otherwise show-offs are rare as most gangs do only have limited resources and high casualties would cripple their usual operations. Particularly obstinate civilians are intimidated, often with the help of the guardsmen, assaulted, their relatives kidnapped without causing a uproar before getting blackmailed. If this isn't enough the resisters are disappeared in the dead of the night and disposed as if he would never have been there in the first place. Petty wars between criminals and civilians are an unknown subtype, as the bands police their much better, weeding out any possible resistance in the initial phases.

### Conflicts between criminal gangs

Violent interactions between the gangs of Kartam account for the overwhelming majority of petty wars. They preluded by an initial incident - like trespassing - that in itself does not warrant more serious action but starts a period when threats are exchanged. One party - the initiating side in most cases - presses on by taking the insults seriously and attacks. An attack can range from an assault against a rival gangs member to more severe deeds like destroying an establishment under the competitors protection, or to outright murder against confidetes. On rare occasions this initial charge could be the main attack, a full-scale blitz operation resulting in permanent damages to the rival gangs structure. If successful the turf is easily absorbed into the others. This can also turn around, if the defenders take the initiative in the same manner.

However most struggles feature an opening exchange of blows where attackers don't throw in their full forces at the onset of the conflict. Then tradtition dictates a reconing against the insulters that may result in casualties. Afterwards the enemies prepare for the main confrontation. To allow an uninterrupted conclusion without official interference, a petty war rarely features more than one battle. City life can carry on in turbulent times both money and business disappears from the streats what threatens the livelyhood of the gang. Long conflicts have only been fought for extraordinary resources. Common petty wars feature initial confrontation,

## Course of Battle

Defending parties are usually forewarned of the impending attack. In that case they make preparations by erecting barricades, stocking projectiles in strategic positions and distributing both actual and improvised weapons among their members. Incendiary ammunition isn't used as it can cause significant fires in the densely-stocked Kartamese streets, which in turns draws unwanted official attention alongside widescale hatred from the victims. However boiling water is a common substance to be poured. Attackers try to inch as close to the first line without raising an alarm as they can, often coming under the cover of the night. Vicious melees break out as they try to penetrate the defences often aided from both sides with a flurry of slingshots, bolts and arrows. Some extraordinarily well-armed gangs even use scorpions but their great worth and cumbersome mechanism makes them prime targets in the scuffle.

If the barricades fall, invaders have to overcome the streets while hot water, stones, furniture, urine and feces falls upon them alongside shots from the uncounted windows. Home aren't easy to penetrate either, having a common door for the entire house that is reinforced, and it also takes vicious hand-to-hand fight reach the upper floors in the narrow wooden steps. As high casualties can only be tolerated by the largest gangs