Riala Marini

Brightly colored billboards with positive messages, all trying to sell you something you don't need but might want if they include enough exclamation points, tower over the city of Riala Marini. The docks welcome newcomers to the city. Newcomers with a sparkle in their eye and promise in their hearts. After all, they've been promised a land of hope and opportunity. They've been promised a city paved in gold. They've been promised a better life than the one they left back home.   But in this city of the future, with its tall buildings that reach the sky and glowing ads, hides, beneath the surface, an extravagant criminal underground. Many of the citizens manage to keep their noses above water. They walk the straight and narrow. At least enough not to swim with the sharks.   But you? You weren't so lucky. You didn't get to be naive about the true nature of this city. Whether you've always lived here or you arrived on those same docks once upon a time, you were never destined to live above the murky surface. Your fate had determined to set you on course for a life of crime.   One day, each of you received a message from a small shopkeep. His shop was broken into. His life's work stolen out from under him. Work priceless to him, but large sums with plenty of zeroes for you. Sums much too large for you to pass up.