Butte de Beaumont
Established on the northern green hills that gave it its name, the butte de Beaumont is a peripheral area of Saltis. It is largest district of the capital, and considered to have a constantly fluctuating population. Beaumont has very little regulations or supervisions set by the Kingdom of Saltis, which some attribute to its rapid expansion and the limited availability of the Saltisian Armed Forces.
Demographics
Beaumont is a frightening display of disparity. With no strict zoning or planning, well-off settlers have found themselves surrounded by citizens of lower classes and the less fortunate of the city. Following the Kavirian Civil War and the Great Kadian Split, refugees and other odd wanderers have also made the butte as their home, as most of them were not permitted to settle further inside the city.
Travelers nowadays attest to crossing paths with a disturbing range of souls in the same street. From poor beggars to the elegantly dressed scoundrels and even more legitimate citizens, often escorted by their own personal security details. The butte is believed to have the largest criminal activity in the kingdom, and perhaps even around Lake Kadia.
The inhabitants of the butte de Beaumont are known for their inclination towards insubordination and defiance of authorities. While not outright visible, many can testify a growing hatred for the crown and nobility.
Infrastructure
The area is a patchwork of precarious buildings and wooden structures that intertwine chaotically to form a dense network of small alleys. Due to it’s arced topography, many improvised staircases and ramps connect the shady streets altogether.
History
The butte de Beaumont was not an official part of the city until 1356, and even after its jurastrictial inclution, it was never officialy recognized as teritory of the city of Saltis, but as a 'neighboring teritory under special authorative ruling.'
The name of the butte was most likely coined during the Great Kadian Split but its true origins are lost to history. Before the war, most of the butte were rural, sparsly inhabitted lands. Many of it's first settlers where traders and merchants who could not afford life in the city, or needed the close proximity to nearby farms and ranches.
During the Great Kadian Split, the butte started to rapidly grow in size, as refugees swarmed in from both around Lake Kadia and the Kaviri Highlands. These new arrivals where often denied entry to the capital, forcing many to either setlle in the lands of the butte or move elsewere.
With the army occupied with the war, the existing land owners where left to fend for themselves against refugees. This abandoment led to several hostilities, and even murders. Some owners began leasing the land to refugees at extorbonante prices, locking them in indebtitued work in their fields, farms and ranches.
In the years to follow, the butte continued its rappid expantion. Still muncipally disconencted from the capital, most of the infrastructure and social aspects of the butte were left to private hands. With the majority of the population unemployed and with no real law enforcement presence, local denizens quickly rose to unite and lead their communities, forming their own "districts", called 'blocs' inside the Beamount.
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