Pit Cleaners
Lapis paused in the cracked collonade that overlooked the Pit, dreading to peek at the entrance, but did so anyway. People left their young ones there, and while dangerous, rescuing them from the carrion lizards was more important.
She looked down from her vantage point and sighed in relief; no one there. Good. Her gaze drifted to motion on the right; the cleaners, shovels and hooks in hand, snagged clothing, blankets and valuables, from the half-eaten remains. Their job, to clean carrion lizard poop from the Pit, gave them a chance to rifle through the dead in search of valuables.
More movement; a large carrion lizard meandered out of the shelter the defunct temple provided. She hurried on, batting at her instinctual fear. The lizard could not climb the steep sides of the enclosure, could not reach her, could not bite or scratch her which would lead to her death.
She did not understand how the cleaners never seemed to have difficulties with them. The animals left them alone.
In this document:
The Pit
The Pit, first formed by the Dentherion Empire to burn the bodies of the Jivaynan royal family and their retainers, now is the resting place of the deceased in the capital of Jiy. As funerals are forbidden rites to everyone but the puppet king, his family and his supporters, to be rid of the dead, family and friends tslide them over a bridge railing and into the courtyard of a once-grand temple. This courtyard houses carrion lizards who eat the bodies. These lizards are large and able to take out a human with their bulk, their venomous bite and their bacteria-laden claws. They make any trip into the Pit a dangerous endeavor, but someone needs to clean up the remains of fabric and the waste the animals produce. Those someones are the Pit cleaners.
The Pit Cleaners
While officially called the Pit Cleaners, in common parlance, they're referred to as the cleaners. Hard-luck individuals who refuse to work for the criminal underground fill out their ranks. While considered the most terrible job in Jiy, the cleaners receive pay from the palace, and while a pittance, it keeps a roof over their heads and food on the table. Cleaners must:- clean carrion lizard waste out of the courtyard and the interior of the temple the animals use as a lair, then cart this waste to an out-city building on the western border of the Shells, where it is added to a special mixture then shipped to farms as the best fertilizer Jilvayna has to offer
- collect uneaten parts and uneatable items, and burn them
- unclog drains after rainstorms
- keep tabs on the structural integrity of the courtyard and temple
A perk of the cleaning profession, if there is one, is the retrieval of valuables. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, bits, and other items are thrown into the pit with the bodies. The cleaners pick through the ripped fabric and the heaps of rotting flesh for choice loot, clean what they find, and sell it in the undermarket. Sometimes they make enough from the pickings to hold them over while they find another job.
Lucky cleaners can make a haul from shanks who pissed off their bosses and were flung over the bridge as a punishment while still alive. Sometimes they collect enough to retire and leave Jiy for a better life.
The Upsides
As untenable as it seems, there are upsides to working as a cleaner.- gets individuals off the streets
- loot collection adds to sparse incomes
- they are considered more respectable than those who work for the criminal underground
- the carrion lizards never attack them, and no one knows why. The city guards take advantage of this when a lizard leaves the enclosure and pays cleaners extra to herd the wayward animal back where it belongs (this does not apply to Mama Poison)
The Downsides
As one might expect, there are downsides to this profession- most cleaners die within a few years of taking on the work. Residents of the Stone Streets blame the disease-killing spray Dentheria uses in the Pit . Otherwise, they remain surprisingly healthy, never falling to colds or flus
- if they make enough from loot to find other work and start a family, the children often have birth defects. The exposure to the spray is blamed for this
- while they graduate to jobs like street sweeper, chimney cleaner and the like, other lines of work considered more respectable will forever be out of their reach
After an unmanaged fire tore through the Pit a few years after its inception and killed the carrion lizards, destroyed the enclosure, and set foul smoke into the air that reached all parts of the city, officials realized they needed someone to care for the place.
The puppet king decreed convicts should rebuild, then carry out the cleaning duty, but when more and more of them were needed for mining, the homeless became unwilling cleaners. From there, it grew into a profession meant to 'save' the downtrodden from living on the streets.
While there is no technical hierarchy other than the palace guard assigned to pay them, they have a leader called a scratcher who keeps tabs on schedules and gives reports to the palace. This person usually started out in a better Jiy district and had access to schooling before some tragedy took their previous existence away from them.
Scratchers manage disputes and tend to have a strong enough presence to keep the hotheads subdued. They are respected among other cleaners, and most listen to their advice and judgment.
Cleaners do not work every day. Only when the buildup becomes bad do they venture forth--or when the winds pick up and whisk the smell of rotting flesh and waste into more genteel parts of Jiy.
This is mainly due to the prohibition on helping anyone alive who has been dumped into the Pit at the front gate. The old, infirm, and very young meet their end there, and the cleaners will have their position taken from them if they aid them. This is a direct royal decree, and rather than burn with guilt for their refusal to disobey, they limit their exposure to the Pit, and therefore their temptation to help.
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