The Carcernatorum
The first established Sunken City, The Carcernatorum has thrived in the small bubble containing the sunken islands.
Initially a small settlement on the coast known as Southmarch, the original Breachking quickly turned the Island into a privatised prison. This eventually expanded into a sprawling city, including an elite nobles district built on the clifftops overlooking the prison complex.
While officially owned by The Breach-King and five appointed Wardens, the Carcernatorum is complex and full of sociopolitical power struggles; four family-run gangs fight each other over legal and illegal businesses, councils attempt to scrape together enough support to turn the city into something more than a prison, and the Watch terrorises the street in disguise of law enforcement. The city that never sleeps does so for a reason; it's dangerous to not keep one eye open in Carce.
Demographics
The city is split by class and whether or not the person was born on the island or exiled to it; in the prison complex is where the majority of prisoners live. Within the first ring of thick walls around the building are ramshackle buildings created by the prisoners with less strict incarceration. Beyond that ring lies those who have served their sentence but had nowhere else to go; over time this expanded into the main portion of the city, it's inhabitants numbering at an estimated 50,000.
Government
The BreachKing owns the Carcernatorum on paper, but he is said to have never left his castle on the Surface. Instead there are five Wardens governing the prison complex and city, though in the last 30 years a council has been elected to speak for the various districts that have formed over the years.
Defences
The Carcernatorum has a personal army, the Carcernatorum Watch, that usually numbers from 900-1,000. This number is depending on whether any sections are being used for menial labour or Watch work within the city. The maojority function as patrol men, though in times of war it's common for all to be calle in to serve specific orders from a Warden.
Industry & Trade
Over time, as the free population grew, a broad variety of needs and demands arose within the public. The result was the start of the Cacernatorums own economy and businesses; a familial gang called the Thompsons managed to pay enough to the Wardens to establish the Carcernatorum Mint, and coins began to be carved from minerals and gems found on shores and in the mines. They were soon followed by loans and business oppurtunities for others, and soon a broad variety of shops and services existed crammed in between the homes people had built for themselves.
Infrastructure
The inner sections of the Carcernatorum, the Centrum, is built in stone, carved from the rock and from materials imported from Above. It has often been described by locals as a great big ugly brick shoved in the centre of the city; beyond it lies the First Wall, a series of guardposts and watchtowers positioned within it to look over the ramshackle huts and houses built by inhabitants using the remains of what was left over.
Beyond the First Wall, but within the Second, lies the local districts and general populace outside those incarcerated. Over time factories and markets have been built, all run by the family-lead gangs that peddle illegal goods in-between the legal ones. A bank has even recently been established by the Thompson gang, though it runs more as a loan facility than anything else. The majority of homes and buildings are built with resources found on the island itself; treated bone and hardened scales are common structural resources.
Beyond the second wall lies the remains of Southmarch and the Drowned Quarter; homes that had originally been carved into the stone of the shores have been mostly submerged by rising waters. On the remaining land lies homes built with more innate knowledge of fleshwork; Southmarchers don't let a single piece of carcass washed ashore go to waste.
Guilds and Factions
The Carcernatorum is, on paper, kept in order by the Carcernatorum Watch. However as the city has grown, more and more social factions have been on the rise. The Gauwick family own the steelworks and drugs trade, the Thompsons make their profit in the newly established Bank Of Carce, and other rival families jostle to claim the scraps.
Various religions can be found within the Carcernatorum; some of those who originated from the Remnants Above still carry the beliefs of various Gods and traditions, whereas Southmarchers have their own fundamental beliefs on existence, and an apocalyptic cult known as the Seekers of Truth have begun to start screaming in the streets.
As well as that, the Carcernatorum is home to the Shrinepeak, a set of three towers dedicated to deities with their names hidden under lock and key. While so much is kept under wraps, the third tower is available for public access and often a place of respite for any wishing to meditate on the supposedly sacred grounds. The Shrinepriests are said to run the half-way houses amidst Carce, housing children with nowhere else to go whether it be a lack of parents or ones sentenced to the Centrum.
The Academics Guild within the Noble district is the provider of the majority of fleshworkers and academics within Carce; a new development within the last fifty years, but the developments have pushed the Carcernatorum closer and closer to an industrial era. They are considered the academical elite of the Noble district, and noble families often pay a lot to sign their children up to study there.
History
Architecture
In replacement of wood, Carce has discovered a method of treating bone to make it far studier. The amount of creatures that wash ashore, and the smaller amount they manage to successfully hunt, has built the majority of the homes outside the second wall. Post a trade deal with the Hives, fungi from subterranian forests is collected for its waterproof tendencies. The roofs are all sloped and watertight to protect from the endless rains of the Ocean Above. Guttering is essential. Beyond the prison-complex, homes become ramshackle and unorganised, built into available space and then atop eachother when that space ran out.
Geography
The Carcernatorum is overflowing atop a small rocky island. What isn't stone is a bit of moss growing stubbornly over stone. Due to the Ocean Above, it is constantly raining, cold and dark outside man-made lighting.
Natural Resources
Due to the lack of sun, there is no way of growing viable wood or plants outside fungi adapted to the cave-like environment. This has resulted in the inhabitants of carce discovering other resources; cloth is made from the silk-worms found in the deep-set mining ravine. There are precious gemstones and rare ores within the ravines, some not found in any other place Above or Below. The natural fauna of Carce is dangerous, but hunters make the most of what they can kill or scavenge.
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The Carcernatorum
Maps
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The Carcernatorum
Built initially as a mining outpost, The Carcernatorum has expanded from a prison to a city overfilling the small island it sits upon.
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Founding Date
1005
Alternative Name(s)
Carce
Type
Metropolis
Population
roughly 80,000.
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Carcers for the local populance, Southmarchers for those native to the Island before the Carcernatorum, and Carcerats for the prisoners.
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
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