Rhodesburg

## Summary

**The underdeveloped district of Rhodesburg is home to the lowest standards of living in Aurum, and it continues to fight a problem of obtaining clean drinking water, rebuilding important infrastructure and mitigating criminal activities in the area.**

## Geography

### Political Geography

The district of Rhodesburg is the easternmost district and a peripheral zone of Aurum, bordered by Hanley Park and Midtown. Similar to Providence, its location makes goods and services more difficult to come by.

### Physical Geography

The district of Rhodesburg is divided up into three political sub-districts *(listed below)* primarily following natural boundaries, followed only by socio-economic ones. The zone of Rhodesburg Hills encompasses a mesa formation with a rise of hills to the east of the district. Rhodesburg Canyon is home to the Spring Canyon and Canyon Creek, a river that runs through the canyon, through Hanley Springs, back through Puerto Pesquero, and into Liuhuang Bay. The area has rough terrain along this border, but is otherwise smooth.

## Sub-Districts

### 1. Rhodesburg Hills

Rhodesburg Hills, by far the largest part of the district, is home to some of the lowest level of development. Parts of the area do not contain proper water or sanitation services, and at times fall prey to criminal gangs who use this as leverage for money and services in return.

### 2. Rhodesburg Canyon

The westernmost area of Rhodesburg, also known as Rhodesburg West or Canyon Creek, is home to a naturally-occurring canyon created by tectonic activity. This is seen in its warmer than usual river that flows down the trough of the canyon. The area leads down into Hanley Springs, a sub-district of Hanley Park. The canyon is home to some of the strangest road networks in the city.

### 3. Puerto Pesquero

Nestled around Liuhuang Bay, the community of Puerto Pesquero lives up to it's name. It is an important port for fishing in Aurum, and much of Aurum's little nearshore fishing industry, a well as much of Aurum's offshore fishing ventures occur here. Regional competition for fishing territory is intense, with many of the nearby regional powers—China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam contesting the same waters.

## Public Safety

### Police

Aurum's police presence in Rhodesburg is minimal. Despite continual pressure from the Ministry of Law, Rhodesburg police often let regulations slide in order to keep relations with the public peaceful and cooperative, adopting a policy of benign neglect. The greatest crime in the area is theft, with tens of thousands of people each year reporting goods, personal belongings and vehicles stolen.

### Fire

Rhodesburg, with the low level of development has received spotty coverage from the fire department and in effect, the fire department is not able to service all areas efficiently due to crumbling infrastructure. On January 21, 2118, the news story broke citing an article published the day before mentioning that the lack of fire coverage in Rhodesburg was so poor that it was dubbed "The Tinderbox of Aurum" and, as some news networks suggested, "more dangerous in regards to loss of life than the pig trough."

In response, the Malpaya Administration in March 2118 started an initiative to overhaul Rhodesburg's fire coverage, including resolving its road and pipeline infrastructure problem, to be completed in January 2121. As a stopgap measure during ongoing development, smoke detectors were distributed to residents and business owners in the district through May 2118. After 7 years of ongoing work and only around 14% of the promised work done on infrastructure, the program mysteriously ran out of money and the then Minister of National Development, Mengyao Jiang, as well as a few other senior offocials in the ministry disappeared two days later.

Today, the fire department has seen its funding increased and has increased patrols in attempt to assure its residents and business owners that the fire coverage is present and fully effective, though this garners only limited trust from those living and working there.