The Gateway
 Misfortune drives a beat up Suzuki | |
| STARVE YOUR CHILDREN | |
|---|---|
| Agenda | An end to suffering, aka destroying the world |
| Government | Gang-based anarchy |
| Techlevel | ... chaotic |
| Language | Swedish, Danish |
| Ethics | Awful - evil maniacs |
| Out of Game | |
| IRLCounterpart | Öresundsbron |
| Contact | adam.l.nathanson@gmail.com |
The Gateway is the bridge-city between Denmark and Sweden. The once proud bridge has collapsed and a city made of junk, corpses and shipwrecks have emerged in its stead. The Gateway is the home to the Chaosists and few others are welcome stay stay for long.
Contents
The City
Many of the seaborne pirates in the Baltic Sea and Kattegatt originates and make their home in the bridge-city. The bridge itself has long since fallen apart but an everchanging favela-like city has formed around the wreckage of crashed ships, bodies and fallen rubble. It is ruled by loose gangs and mafia-like organisations in ever fluctuating constellations. The cult living on the bridge seem to have as much loyalty to each other as they have to outsiders, which would explain why the gangs are always changing. The only thing that seems constant is the massive church bell that hangs on top of the original bridge pillars. It is said, that when the end of the world is here, you will hear the bell toll.
Commerce
To cross the bridge-city you have to pay a toll to the gang that holds the entry to the bridge that time. However, they can't (and won't) guarantee your safety in the city itself, no one can. Often you can get through without any major incidents, though. The city itself is almost taken out of a nightmare. Corpses in different stages of decay lay on the side of the road or nailed to the walls of the ramshackle buildings. People screaming out the top of their lungs to dark gods while they claw their flesh bloody. Almost every act of human cruelty and madness can be witnessed (or experienced) after some of travels across the bridge.
One of the largest slavers markets in the north can be found in the city. Even outsiders sometimes come to buy or sell slaves. Many come there to search for lost friends and relatives as chances are good that they ended up in the Gateway slave pits. If you are looking for pit fighters or gladiators, the Gateway is often a good place to look. The city's arena trains some of the most brutally creative and cruel instruments of cage fighting.
Factions
Though the organisation on the Gateway is very loose, there are some factions that are often spoken about and are influential. These are particularly large or wealthy gangs, co-operations, institutions, cults etc. These are the most well known.
The Slave Traders
The slavers are a sort of guild that have monopoly on slave trade in the Gateway. If you want to peddle humans, you have to go through the slavers first. The guild is governed by the most influential and wealthy slave traders, and the guild it self is the faction with most income of caps on the Gateway.
The Spiders
Most Chaosists don't stay to long on the bridge. They want to go out in the world and do harm. For this you need caps and ammo, and there is where the Spiders enter. The Spiders are individuals with many contacts among the rich and wealthy. These mighty men and women love to sponsor the ill-doers as it is the only value that money have. When you are looking to set out from the Gateway you first find a Spider with good contacts. They then act as a middleman between the rich person and the adventurer making sure both parties are satisfied. The Spiders do seldom get any pay for their work but instead increase their net of contacts and favors to call upon.
The Angels
The Angels, or Angels of Death as they are really named, are in reality the largest gang on the Gateway. This is a gang dedicated to bring war and terror upon the world. They are the holy soldiers of Chaos and wild murderers. Many of the Angels are deeply religious even in the more complex details of the Chaos gnostic faith. Most of the more violent, smaller gangs are work for the Angels at the point that few now dare oppose them.
The Order
The Order of Anticosmos is often just called "the Order" and is the largest sect on the Gateway. These cultists are particularly esoterically and magically inclined to the point that some of them never even leaves there homes due to their endless rituals and research. They do however command much prestige and many of the inhabitants of the Gateway look up to their spiritual example. It is also the Order that guards the enormous church bell in the middle of the city. The Order have a close partnership with the Angels. Many shift from one faction to an other and some people even see them as the same organisation. Many other sects of occultists and demonologists engage in partnership with the Order to share ideas and rituals, but also for protection.
The Ideologists
The Ideologists are a religious movement that are much more practically active then the Order and its sub-sects who (in the Ideologist opinion) spend to much time contemplating their own navels. The Ideologists do not have a rigid organisation but it is rather a loose gathering of charismatic people who are deeply religious but prefer to act here and now instead of performing rituals and summoning demons. Since there are no such thing as demons or magic, it is just a waste of time when there are real evils to be done. The Ideologists are well respected even though it stand in a conflict with the Order. The main reason for it not being more powerful than it is, is because of the lack of effort to organize.
Recruiting
It is not just the charming ideology of the Chaosists that make its numbers swell. There are actually a rather influential organisation behind a majority of the new Chaosists. That organisation is a fairly diplomatic one who believe in spreading the Chaos through others. They are seldom participants in combats but instead try to keep good contacts with the world around.
Gatekeepers
At the north and South end of the Gateway there are large portals. These are guarded by whatever gang holds them at the moment. The Gatekeepers are entitled to a toll for each and every one that wants to cross over the bridge. This makes them extremely rich and powerful and often one of the major power players on the Gateway playing field.
Infiltrators
The most secretive (rivaling even the Order) faction on the Gateway is the infiltrators. They are said to work by infiltrating states and factions outside the Chaosists. Nobody, however, no for sure what they are doing or if their work ever pays off.
The Pirates
Most of the Chaosists living on the bridge are pirates. The pirates, however, is not a single organisation rather each ship stand under its own command and there are seldom more then non-aggression pacts between the different captains. The pirates as a collective how ever is a force to be reckoned with. Would they ever organize themselves in to a single faction, would they be the most powerful of them all.
Rumors
- It is said that you can cross the bridge for free if you know their "secret handshake".
- Some mighty cult leaders in the city is trying to take control of all the Chaosists.
- There is an evil council that controll the Gateway and all the Chaosits.
