Play Park enthusiasts

After the hospitals in Stolc, Daffa's Play Park might be the Galternene landmark best known throughout the Cluster Islands--but only within the past 70 years. For most of its 400-year history the park has been enjoyed primarily by Daffa locals and residents of other regions on the island. Tideriders in port with a little time to spare might occasionally visit the park, but tourists from other islands were rare. Few had the knowledge, time, means, and inclination to negotiate passage with tideriders just for a day of entertainment.   As part of the deal connecting Mraydor and Galtern with the first conduit, Walemin stipulated that the Play Park should be open to the rest of the islands for entry fees that would help finance its upkeep and improvement. Daffa agreed to the deal, and in 2000 Vol the Play Park received its first crowd of off-island visitors.   The opening was successful, and for the first few years Walemin's predictions of prosperity came true. The increased traffic in the park more than paid for the increase in maintenance. Visitors were impressed with the variety of things to do, especially the physical thrill section, which featured adventure-type activities no other island could boast. Sailjumping--falling through the air suspended from a sail to slow your descent--is the most extreme and most popular example.   The trick to the physical thrills is to invite the feel of danger without actually being endangered. Taking the example of sailjumping: the sail is attached to a harness wrapped firmly around the jumper, who is guided down the descent path by cables toward a padded landing zone. These precautions ensure a safe yet exciting experience--if the directions are followed.   For those first few years the outside islanders were well-behaved. But as they became familiar with the park and made return visits, a particular subtype rose from the crowd. The Enthusiasts were those who came to know the Play Park well, or at least believed they did. They came to the park in groups, had their favorite sectors to visit and knew the most efficient ways to travel between them. Almost inevitably they would monopolize the sailjump for up to an hour, and would repeatedly try to subvert the safety features for a more thrilling experience. Even when engaged in quieter activities, they were exaggeratedly loud and boisterous and would try to drag other visitors into their antics. If challenged, they argued back, attempting to use their numbers to intimidate. Any rough treatment of the park's birds was usually at the hand of a group of Enthusiasts. By paying the fee to get into the park, it was clear they believed they had the right to behave in any way they wanted. The locals, feeling their own park experiences ruined by these disruptive foreigners, tried to get their part of the agreement eliminated, to no avail.   Galtern was the last island to sever its ties with the Unity, and in doing so voided all agreements with other islands. In the thirty years since then, they have cautiously and selectively made overtures to the Allied Isles that offer hope for future cooperation, but it should be no surprise that the Daffa Play Park is not part of any of those contracts. For the foreseeable future, the park is once again limited to locals only.   In fairness to Cluster Islanders in general, the Enthusiasts were a small percentage of outside visitors. But it only takes a small group to drop an entire storm cloud of trouble. Based on the amount of damage that they could cause, that small and reckless demographic has caused all foreign arrivals on Galtern to start with the lowest social value.