Otherlands: Scaros City (Scar-o's)

General

Scaros City is quite a large city located on an archipelago west of Edari. Originally starting as a small town called Paradiso, it wasn’t much to make a fuss over. Soon Paradiso began to grow in population due to job opportunities in the textile industry. This rapid growth led to rapid expansion of Paradiso into neighboring cities and eventually counties. These other towns were not industrialized or very populated and Paradiso needed the room and these counties wouldn’t turn away free coin. Soon 5 towns Paradiso, Connly, Woodshire, Byre Island, and Livingston, were joined under one united city state called Scaros City. Scaros City, while thriving economically, has a bad crime rate with crime families running rampant. Whether this means territory disputes or more underground work, 5 crime families are hard at work in Scaros.

Culture

During the day Scaros City is pretty dull. Most people are at work or school. The only people you’ll see walking around are tourists, which is quite common. After work is where Scaros city shines. All the lamps are lit and people from all walks of life go out on the town. Not to drink publicly but to enjoy the speakeasies tucked away from watching eyes. Some even enjoy the ring fighting put on by the Rocca family or the illegal gambling of the Maynor family. During the day even though most residents are at work the streets are busy with tourists or people not at work. A solution for this is the pickup service, called Two n’ Fro Pickup, offered by Scaros City. Marked horse drawn carts travel the streets and if someone needs a ride all they need to do is flag one down and say where they’re going; payment is calculated based on the distance. Another interesting part of Scaros City culture is the autognome news industry. Frequently autognomes roam the streets with the purpose of handing out the day's latest news papers. Some are even programmed to spout breaking news that occurred that day, that didn’t have time to be printed. Scaros is a community constantly building upwards, due to the island locale you can only build outwards so much until you run out of room, so the leaders of Scaros looked to the skies. Galanthe is also a very important part of Scaros’ culture. Many people worship Galnathe and pay their respects for they believe that Scaros’ wouldn’t be the city it is without him. Many of the historic sites in Livingston have statues of him. Galanthe is even said to be the one who gave the magitech to Paradiso to make the textile industry so booming. A quite large statue of Galanthe can be found in Preyus bay, the bottom serves as a temple.

Economy

The economy of scaros is backed by it’s textile industry as well as it’s tourism. It’s textiles are exported nearly everywhere, most commonly it’s flux-cloth. A specially made cloth only made in Scaros. It feels finer and lighter than silk. Due to it’s easy production is can be sold at a reasonable cost allowing most people to be able to afford it.

Districts of Scaros City

Scaros City proper comprises 5 main districts all having a central focus. On the outskirts of Scaros there is farmland, not truly belonging to any one district yet still a part of the city.

• Paradiso- Paradiso is the main business hub of Scaros City. It’s also the largest of the 5 districts. It has a lot of taller buildings reaching 10-12 stories at the highest. However, currently a 15 story building is ambitiously being built. There is not much for tourists to see in Paradiso though there is plenty to buy.

• Connly- Connly is much more densely populated than the other districts since Connly is much more residential. Plenty of family owned businesses can be found in Connly. There’s multiple neighborhoods in Connly with 3 main ones. All neighborhoods are typically made up of apartment buildings.

• Dragon Lane- This neighborhood is designed around small races so it’s very common to find halfling, goblins, etc here. Ceilings are lower and furniture is smaller.

• Beholder Circle- This neighborhood is designed for some of the more medium sized races. This is the typical sized neighborhood so races like humans, elves, etc are found here.

• Giant Grove- The aptly named Giant Grove is a sized up version of the typical neighborhood. Everything is made bigger to more comfortably accommodate larger races. Goliaths, Firbolgs, etc. are commonly found here.

• Woodshire- Woodshire is the place to go as a tourist. World renowned plays and musicals are held at the Partly Theatres, Mayberry Park is a large park located in the center of Wooshire, and there are tons of restaurants to visit. Of course to accommodate this there are many inns.

• Livingston- Livingston is the governmental and historic district. The House of the Archon is here as well as the Guard Commissioner’s. All meetings of the Keepers are held in Livingston. Livingston also has many museums and statues for residents and tourists to visit about the history of Scaros.The train station is located here.

• The Sunken Isle of Byre- The Isle of Byre sunk into Preyus Bay long ago, how or why, no one truly knows though it makes for an interesting addition to Scaros City. Most residents found in Byre are typically amphibious or don’t need air. It is surrounded by a magical dome to keep air in. To reach it there is a clockwork lift to take residents in and out. Byre doesn’t have much to see outside of its spectacle but it is something to behold, most structures here are made out of coral and seashells. It’s mainly residential with some tourist traps and resteraunts.

• Farmland- The farmland of Scaros is unique and is made sure to be untouched by any developments. This is because the farmland has the ability to grow a very rare plant, fluxroot, that can be converted into the finest cloth. The farmers of Scaros’ are typically quite wealthy.

Families of Scaros City

There are 5 main crime families in Scaros City each having territories in a specific district. They all offer protection and produce alcohol, owning their own speakeasies. While their activities are illegal, due to crooked guards and lack of evidence it is hard to take them down. Not many people are fans of what these families do, well besides the alcohol they provide.

• The Abruzzo's- The Abruzzo family’s territory is the Paradiso district. The Abruzzo’s are well known as loan sharks, having tight deadlines and steep interest rates for anyone needing coins. The Abruzzo family is composed of Ash Elves. Their best known speakeasy is The Velvet Room located in the back of a clock store.

• The Roccas-The Rocca family’s territory is Connly. The Roccas deal in ring fighting, typically to the death. Bets would be placed on the fighters with percentages of the winnings going to the house. The Rocca family is composed of Goliaths. Their best known speakeasy, and ring, is the Thornage Tavern located in the back of a barber shop.

• The Maynor’s- The Maynor family’s territory is in Woodshire. They own quite a few casinos there. While the casinos are a legitimate business in the front it hides the illegal gambling in the back. The Maynor’s family is composed of Changelings. Their best known speakeasy is The Lighthouse, located in the back of one of their casinos.

• The Di Fiore’s- The Di Fiore family’s territory is Livingston. While all families produce alcohol the Di Fiore’s produce and smuggle it to all parts of Edari, not just Scaros City. It’s also said their alcohol is higher quality. The Di Fiore’s family is composed of Satyrs. Their best known speakeasy is the Wyrm located in the back of a local Pizzeria.

• The Lightell’s- The Lightell family’s territory is Byre. They have a bit of a monopoly on most businesses in Byre and do quite a bit of coin laundering and counterfeiting. The Lightell family is composed of Locathah. Their most known speakeasy is Atlantis located in a hotel.

Government of Scaros City

Scaros City is a democracy where every 3 years a leader is elected along with legislative leaders. This is a capitalist system of government leaving much to be desired by many peoples of Scaros. One unique law of Scaros is the banning of alcohol and drugs to try and keep people more in line and focused on work. This doesn’t stop people however, with many underground bars being run if you know where to find them. The leader is referred to as the Archon and the legislators are referred to as Keepers, with each keeper having their own specialized focus. There is also a large system of guards. Each district has a guard station and a sergeant in charge of the station. The sergeants all are under the commissioner. The guards initially tried to take down the crime families when they started, and were successful with all but those that remained. As long as the head of the family remains, nothing happens, and the Don never gets their hands dirty and lets nothing get tracked back to them. Eventually some guards gave up, some even turned crooked and can be found working with them. A handful remain vigilant but they are few and far between.

People of Scaros City

• Archon-Thomas Gunn (He/Him)- “Human”

• Guard Commissioner- Louis Lancaster(He/Him)-Giff

• People’s Opinion- he’s one of the few good ones left

• Pardiso Guard Sergeant-Isra Landry(She/Her)-Leonin

• People’s Opinion- Pretty sure she’s crooked

• Connly Guard Sergeant-Alex Greene(They/Them)-Kender

• People’s Opinion-do they even do anything

• Woodshire Guard Sergeant-Juliet Fox(She/They)-Tabaxi

• People’s Opinion-They’re not that bad

• Livingston Guard Sergeant- Aaron Chase(He/Him)-Owlin

• People’s Opinion-Pretty sure he’s crooked

• The Sunken Isle Guard Sergeant-Charles Cohen(He/They)-Sea Elf

• People’s Opinion- He’s better than nothing

• Don Abruzzo-Antonio Abruzzo(He/Him)-Ash Elf

• Don Rocca-Andrea Rocca(She/Her)-Goliath

• Don Maynor-Rowan Maynor(Any)-Changeling

• Don Di Fiore-Volta Di Fiore(They/Them)-Satyr

• Don Lightell-Celia Lightell(She/Her)-Locathah

• Keeper of Justice-Elizabeth Rose(She/Her)-Human

• Keeper of Progress-Tenacity Rinell(They/Them)-Teifling

• Keeper of Agriculture-Joseph Millstone(He/Him)-Firbolg

• Keeper of Transportation-Lyle Kearson(He/They)-Halfling

• Keeper of Economics-Gerri Ylst(She/Her)-Verdan

• Keeper of Labor-Marion Till(He/Him)-Minotaur

Type

Archipelago