The Shambles
Ramshackle houses, strain upwards towards the light together over cramped, dirty streets. Broken carts, boxes, and barrels clutter sections of the street. Above street level, clothing lines studded with laundry and wood planks criss cross across streets and houses and from window to window and roof to roof, creating a three dimensional network through the dense labyrinth of civilization. Main thoroughfares split into a maze of smaller and smaller side streets, alleyways, and dead ends, before finally becoming lost in a jumbled of shacks, lean-tos and tenements, each built on the flimsy foundations of the last. In many places, this network is so dense and disorienting that even the city watch avoids wandering too far to avoid becoming lost or isolated, and through which only the most experienced locals know the best ways to navigate through the convoluted mess of passageways, back alleys, and scaffolded shortcuts. The Shambles is a city within a city, and many locals spend their entire lives in its crowded confines.
Throughout the area, the unmistakeable symptoms of poverty and neglect are rampant. As all but the most prominent streets are seldom patrolled by the city watch, authority and security in the shambles typically only exists at the point of a blade or in a well-made lock, and the citizens are generally left to fend for themselves and eke out survival however they can best manage. The Shambles has inevitably collected those pushed to the fringes of society, and typically can only claim a poor lifestyle at best, and at worst live in squalid conditions or lack housing entirely. While true starvation is a rarity in Whiteport due to the limited food relief programs offered by various organizations within the city, missing meals and malnutrition is not uncommon in the shambles, and few residents typically go to bed with full bellies.
Demographics
The Shambles are dominated by humans, with sizable minorities of halflings and gnomes, and disproportionately large minorities (relative to their frequency in the broader population) of half-elves, Tieflings, and Half-Orcs. Elves and dwarves are exceedingly uncommon in the shambles (elves generally possessing enough means to avoid falling into such squalor, and dwarves of lesser means in Whiteport generally gravitating toward the Brokenhold).
Government
While officially governed by the Duke of Whiteport and the Whiteport Grand Council, the Shambles has long existed in a state of practiced neglect, and behind closed doors many of those who claim to rule lament that the Shambles is almost ungovernable and a force unto itself. Virtually impossible to effectively police, the complete lack of any central organization has resulted in a labyrinthine network of dark city streets, crowded on all sides by masses of unsteady ramshackle tenements and shanties and crisscrossed by back alleys, rooftop catwalks, and sewer networks. Indeed, since the Bleeding Street Years the Bronzeguard has widely regarded the Shambles as a no-go zone for their patrols and left its residents to their own devices and fate. As a result, alongside the rampant poverty, crime is almost ubiquitous within the Shambles.
Out of this anarchy, however, the residents of the Shambles have created their own internal order, and while the lawful authorities have abandoned the shambles, the unlawful have established their own authority. Despite the high incidence of criminals and gang activity, an apparent quid pro quo exists which curtails the most blatant and egregious of these activities and enforces a certain code of honor amongst thieves, sparing residents of the Shambles the worst of the depredations and even engaging in various community charity and support efforts. As a result, many of the residents of the shambles actually view these criminal organizations more as local heroes and benevolent protectors, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, an image which the gangs are happy to cultivate. To most, the relatively peaceful coexistence between the various criminal gangs is a result of the hard learned lessons of the bleeding-street years, but others allege a wider conspiracy, suggesting this apparent peace is the result of the tight control enforced by the Court of Miracles cartel over its subsidiary gangs, and point to the shadowy boogeyman called the Prince of Thieves as the mastermind behind what they see as widespread collusion between the supposedly rival gangs of the Shambles.
Defences
The Shambles has no effective defenses to speak of, although the narrow city streets and chaotic layout make even law enforcement in the Shambles a challenging proposition for non-locals. During the peak of the Bleeding Street years, residents of the Shambles were known to throw together ad-hod barricades, and would patrol these makeshift parapets to defend their immediate surroundings.
Industry & Trade
The Shambles is undoubtedly the most economically depressed part of Whiteport, and industry and trade feature less obviously here than elsewhere in the city. Many locals exist in a semi-permanent state of unemployment, finding odd jobs here and there to make ends meet but rarely finding a lasting post. For those looking for honest work in the Shambles, jobs as a tavern attendant, cook, or washer are readily available enough, while others work in construction or fish the mudflats. Alternatively, many turn to crime as their primary means of supporting themselves. For some, these criminal undertakings are relatively innocuous, merely serving as informants or lookouts for the major criminal gangs, while more committed members may work full time as smugglers, thieves, assassins, or hired muscle.
Infrastructure
As a result of the broader network of Whiteport's sewers which run beneath the city and include the Shambles, the incidence of communicable disease and waste is not as severe as might otherwise be expected from comparable slums in other cities. Unfortunately, this is essentially the extent of the Shambles' public works. Even the city streets in the Shambles are in a state of disrepair, as in many places the flagstones themselves have been pulled up and sold or used in the construction of the many shanties which now crowd in on the streets. In some places, this has become such a problem the street functionally ceases to exist, the streets packed full of lean-tos and ramshackle home with nothing but narrow patches of muddy earth between them, while in other places they form dense city blocks of slums. This means that fire is a constant risk in the Shambles, as any blaze could easily jump from building to building without any streets to act as fire breaks, and the dried out timbers and often already unstable buildings make them especially vulnerable.
Districts
The Shambles has no coherent organization, often lacking even a clear street plan, which makes it difficult to identify where specific neighborhoods begin or end. Instead, locals simply refer to locations relative to local landmarks like "the Dirty Well," "Sybill's Place," "by Old Man Thatcher's," "around the corner from the leaning house," "past the Oyster Stall," or "behind Butchers' row." Unfortunately, this lack of readily discernible borders has not prevented the local gangs to carve out clear territories for themselves. Those who recognize Thieves' Cant will observe it to be commonplace in the Shambles, with locals frequently talking in code and with telltale signs and messages hidden on almost every street corner, demarcating which gang controls the territory, local safe houses and headquarters, and high risk locations or places with easy marks.
Assets
The Shambles is the poorest neighborhood in Whiteport, and so its residents generally have fewer assets than their counterparts in the rest of the city. Most in the Shambles count themselves lucky if they have a roof over their heads (or at least a warm, dry place to sleep), and a full belly. Given its lack of central authority, the Shambles possesses no collective assets other than those held by the City of Whiteport on behalf of the wider city populace.
Despite this poverty, residents of the Shambles are industrious. Near the mudflats, some locals maintain poleboats or fishing traps, which are used to gather food, while others run dive bars like the Rusty Nail and brew their own spirits, and as such the local stills are highly valued.
Guilds and Factions
The Shambles is presently embroiled in a slowly escalating power struggle between the traditional authority in the neighborhood. The most dominant faction in the Shambles is the Beggar Court, whose shady criminal underground has long pulled the invisible strings that control the neighborhood and which traces its roots back to at least the cartels which brought down Coulter Vance, if not further. Known for its subtlety, the Beggar Court is thought to have agents throughout the Shambles and the rest of Whiteport, especially favoring those society often overlooks. Although support for the Beggar Court is strongest in those parts of the Shambles closest to the mudflats, it claims widespread support throughout the entirety of the Shambles, and is often seen as the de facto law enforcement in the area.
Standing in opposition to the Beggar Court, the Crimsons have recently risen to prominence and are popular with many within the Shambles. Capitalizing on the general popularity of the Reds Chariot team within the faction, alongside highly publicized charitable outreach efforts and a reputation for defending the poor humans of the Shambles against the city's elite and the criminals of the Beggar Court, the Crimsons have been siphoning support from neighborhoods which were previously strongholds of the Court, creating escalating tensions. The Crimson's primary base of power is localized around the Rusty Nail, although their agents have been eyeing the prized smuggling routes near the mudflats, and controlled by the Beggar Court, with interest.
History
The Shambles was never intended to be a permanent district of the city, but has instead grown and festered over its years of neglect. Prior to the Drakehoff Terror, the Shambles featured neighborhoods much like those of the rest of Whiteport and looked nothing like the slum it has grown into today. However, widespread fires during the Drakehoff Terror not only resulted in almost three quarters of the Shambles being burnt to the ground, while the largely wooden neighborhoods which had sprung up just outside the walls as the city outgrew them were completely razed and many of these citizens were killed. The survivors found sanctuary in the homeless camp which sprung up within the walls, on the ashes of where the old neighborhoods used to be. Now destitute, for many citizens the terror was an unmitigated catastrophe from which they would never recover. With no clear record of property lines, dwellings sprung up on whichever patch of earth the refugees were able to claim and were made out of whatever building materials they could beg, salvage, or steal.
Generally left to their own devices to rebuild, and without any clear central planning, over time the mass homeless camp transformed into the slum it is today, with tents, tarps, and lean-tos gradually replaced with the more prevalent shanties and rickety tinderbox tenements. Many residents turned to crime as a way to make ends meet, often preying on the wider Whiteport population who had abandoned them in their hour of need. Unfortunately, the growth of these gangs couldn't continue unchecked forever, and eventually, as the petty turf disputes and power struggles produced a vicious criminal ecosystem ensuring only the most ruthless and cutthroat rose to the top. This culminated in the so-called Bleeding Street Years, in which the brawls over the choicest turf and targeted killings escalated into a full-on gang war between the various competing factions featuring armed brawls in broad daylight in the streets.
This eventually forced the lawful authorities in Whiteport to acknowledge the problem, and the Bronzeguard were ordered to intervene, increasing their patrols in the area and hunting down certain wanted and notorious gang leaders. This task was easier said than done however, and the Bronzeguard soon found themselves overwhelmed by the enormity of the task of keeping order and hunting down these fugitives in the mess of clustered shanties and cramped, confusing streets whose very layout seemed to change overnight, and further compounded by the fact many of the locals regarded them with apathy at best and were at worst actively hostile. Soon casualties began to mount as the cycle of violence spiraled further out of control, with Bronzeguard overstretched and ambushed in the streets, unable to ever truly confront or corner their attackers.
The fighting and police actions continued to escalate, threatening to plunge the whole city into chaos. This climate of violence and uncertainty helped launch many of the petty cutthroats and smugglers criminals into positions of importance and power, leveraging their lack of scruples into power and influence in the chaos. Out of this carnage ascended one of Whiteport's most famous and vicious criminals- a smuggler named Coulter Vance. Cunning and callous, Vance rapidly consolidated power, bringing many of the local gangs in the shambles under his control, and fighting a vicious street war with local rivals who opposed his control. His organization set deep roots in the Shambles, and it took a combined effort from rival gangs, the Bronzeguard, and local citizens to finally reassert the rule of law in the Shambles, with the orgy of violence only coming to an end with Vance's assassination. While many rumors circulate about who was responsible for Vance's death, with a wide range of suspects including rival gang leaders, local nobles, the city watch, fed-up citizens, jilted lovers, petty crooks, and plain bad luck. Regardless of who was behind Vance's death, his death ushered in an era of general peace and stability.
In the aftermath of the Bleeding Street years and Coulter Vance's death, calm returned to the shambles, and a sort of status-quo settled over the slum. Criminal activity faded into the normal background of city life as people tried to return to their lives, while the city watch withdrew back to those posting deemed more essential. Nowadays, the city watch's presence in the Shambles is almost nonexistent, leaving the residents to their own devices provided affairs in the Shambles never spiral so far out of control as to affect the rest of the city again.
Points of interest
The Shambles rarely attracts outsiders, and most of the major points of interest within the district are those which have special importance to the locals. The Rusty Nail Public House and Measly Fiddle Tavern are two of the most popular drinking establishments in the Shambles, and also serve as the unofficial headquarters for the Crimsons and Beggar Court respectively. While the Measly Fiddle is less obtrusive and is subtle about its affiliations, the Rusty Nail is more upfront with its allegiance, and is also the public face of the Red Chariot team, frequently hosting community events.
The mudflats adjacent to the Shambles may also be a point of interest, as during the day residents ply the flats for shellfish like mussels and oysters to sell, while at night the flats still see activity as smugglers use them to pass into the city undetected.
Another prominent landmark in the Shambles is the local orphanage. Run by a combination of charitable donations from the townsfolk and the Church of Aileron, and sponsored by the Reds, the orphanage serves as a vital social safety net for many of the children who roam the Shambles' streets, and many within the Shambles grew up under its protection and guidance. As a result, a sort of informal alumni network of former charges of the orphanage exists through the Shambles, working to ensure that no matter who controls the streets, the children in the Shambles are kept safe and have food in their bellies.
Tourism
Despite being a lively and bustling part of the city, the Shambles attracts very few visitors due to its widespread crime and poverty. Those non-locals who do visit the Shambles almost always do so with specific business in mind or a contact they need to meet, and generally refrain from lingering in the Shambles after dark. Visitors to the Shambles are often quite discernible as non-locals, and this marks them as targets for the various pickpockets, muggers, and cutpurses who stalk the dirty streets and dark alleyways. Alternatively, for those on the wrong side of the law, the Shambles is an excellent location to practice their trade, given the general absence of the city watch in the neighborhood and their reluctance to pursue criminals through the Shambles. This makes the Shambles an appealing place for wanted criminals to go to ground and lay low. As the poorest neighborhood in the city, the Shambles does potentially offer lodgings for those with nowhere else to go or who are looking for lodgings on the most meagre of budgets. As a result, the Shambles also hosts the largest population of unhoused individuals in the city, many of them congregating in open-air homeless camps and shantytowns between the dilapidated housing.
Architecture
Architecture in the Shambles is variable and unique, but is generally uniform in that each structure is clear defined by and a response to widespread poverty. Even the most affluent homes in the Shambles are at best of modest standards, while the vast majority of buildings can be considered poor, squalid, or even wretched. More affluent houses are built out of wood, stone, and plaster, and are relatively permanent structures (though this relative affluence is itself a double-edged sword, as these homes are frequently targeted by local criminals), while those buildings of poorer construction are made out of whatever materials can be scrounged from the surrounding area. Very few homes have a second story, and many look like they could fall in on themselves at any moment. In addition to the true buildings in the Shambles, many structures are little more than thrown-together shanties, often made out of little more than sheets of canvas, rotten timbers, and dried mud.
Geography
The Shambles sits on a patch of low ground on the south side of the city. It has access to Whiteport Bay to the north, though unlike the dockyards district with its more distinct shoreline, the shoreline in the Shambles becomes a wide stretch of mudflats at low tide, while a low rock seawall is all that shields the town here, and during heavy storms or rough seas certain parts of the Shambles experience minor flooding from the storm surge or runoff. It is bordered to its south and east by the city walls, and in many places shanties have sprung up directly abutting the walls themselves as an additional support. A branch of the rush river delta separates it from the Temple District to the North.
Climate
The climate in the Shambles is much the same as it is in the rest of Whiteport. Unfortunately, as a result of its low elevation relative to the rest of the city, it often suffers the worst in bad weather due to storm surges and runoff, and its branch of the Rush is the least well contained to its banks during bad weather of all the branches which run through the city.
Natural Resources
The only natural resources to speak of in the Shambles come from the mud flats along the water's edge. Locals frequently venture out onto these mudflats and rocky breakwaters to collect clams, oysters, mussels, and other shellfish at low tide, serving as the primary source of food for many of the city's poorest residents, while those of slightly more means leave traps for fish or crustaceans.
Type
Slum
Location under
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