Galendra
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Setting Intro | Visitor's Guide | Author's Intentions
To enter Nisora's largest city is to enter a web of backdoor allegiances, hoping you're either a spider or a very lucky fly. Galendra is a dozen different cities in a trenchcoat, and it assaults visitors with its vibrancy as soon as they enter the spaceport. Those who can't keep up with the kaleidescope of lights, colors, music, and occasional violence, might never make it back to their ship.
Layout
The disparate areas of Galendra blend into each other, mixing and mingling along their borders to where the city becomes gradient: from grimy industry, to cozy homes, to riotous nightlife, to sterile corporations. The Fractal River forms the only hard bounary, across which are forested cabins and lofty mansions perched high on a cliff. Around the city are various villages and farms, with the massive spaceport to the east as a hub of travel. With the city as damaged as it currently is, travel between different regions has become difficult. Tracks are too damaged for trains to run, various roads and bridges have collapsed, and some communities have placed blockades around their entrances. While repairs are underway, it will take several months before all areas of the city are traversable again.Galendran Districts
Governance
Galendra may not have a formal government, but it still has most of the same needs that a government might address, like repairing roads and handling waste. Residents want these handled, but it requires funding and organizing to manage. A gang, corporation, or other group of people who take control of a region are then expected to put in the effort and money to meet these needs, in whatever form that may take. In this way, Galendra's gangs form the government it lacks, with their methods of gathering money forming the Nisoran version of taxes.Galendran Gangs
Innumerable gangs vie for control across the city, especially now that Cryptix has lost so much of its territory. Everyone in Galendra should always be on the lookout for gang tags spraypainted on walls, along with other signs of gang activity. It could be a matter of life and death. The three most common tags:
Cryptix gang tag by Rin Garnett
Wyre Rats logo by Rin Garnett
Gaining Power
There are three main ways a new group make come to take over a territory:Through Charm
Rarely, a group may take over a region by convincing everyone that they should. Nisora United was able to do this in the Industrial District.Through Violence
The most common. One gang opens war with another, the victor claims the territory. This was how Cryptix functioned, and what smaller gangs are attempting.Through Money
In Commercial and Corporate zones, a business may have enough funds to maintain a territory and make the needed bribes to keep others away.Keeping Power
Once in control of a territory, the organization needs to constantly prove they deserve to keep it. Shows of force can deter some competition, like a business hiring extra security or flaunting their wealth, or a gang publicly ousting a traitor or expanding their territory.
However, the organization must also maintain its territories to a satisfactory degree else deal with poor roads, broken pipes, and other consequences of their failure. Competitors may take a poorly-maintained territory as a sign of weakness and invitation to start a fight. If it gets bad enough, it will be the residents that form a new group to overpower the old, and with support from the rest of the community.
Did you know?
Turf wars lead to a cycle of worsening conditions. The fighting causes damage, requiring more cash to repair. If the new gang can't provide, it's more likely another gang will fight back, causing more damage and requiring even more funds to repair.Using Power
The only reason a group takes over a territory is to use the power it gives them. Most commonly, they use this power to extract money from the territory's inhabitants. They raise prices, push out competitors, or extort money from residents through threats of violence. The gangs that survive longest are ones that do both: offering something in exchange, and taking extra what they want. Some groups do more, like the Union trying to improve working conditions or the Wyre Rats reasserting Nisoran culture where it got washed away. In every case, however, they own the territory because they believe they deserve the power more than anyone else.Information
Type
Large city
Location under
Included Locations
Characters in Location
Related Plots
Demographics
There is no formal census data for anywhere on Nisora, but as the planet's main transit hub, Galendra has the largest portion of off-worlders.
Icon for Astronius
Icon for Rada
Icon for Janus
Icon for Talmar
Icon for Kuwei
Healthcare
Hospitals and clinics work differently depending on who runs the territory:- Corporations make it a for-profit business, charging obscene amounts for basic care.
- More empathetic groups try to give everyone free healthcare, but rarely have the funds to support good care at these facilities.
- Short-sighted gangs try to restrict the best care for their own members and run into massive overhead costs to verify these preferred individuals.
Author Commentary
More Name TriviaThis is one of several locations my players named. We brainstormed names for the city during the session 0 for Campaign 2: The Gal Pals, and "Galendra" was the winning option.
Great article, and that is an excellent map! :D
Thank you! I had a lot of fun making it :D