OK sirrah, we’ll try not to stay here long. Mostly because we might both get killed, and then you won’t pay me my jink!
This is the Hive. It’s not pretty, not clean, not nice. This is what you might think of as the slums of Sigil, though you won’t find any nobles here slumming it – any that try don’t stay out of the deadbook long.
Now, you’ll have to pardon the smell, the drains here don’t really drain so much as drip, and lots of them get used as middens, or worse.
That’s how we go the Sump – a big pile of stuff in a big puddle that wouldn’t drain, eventually broke through into what passes for sewers here. And then kept filling up. It’s filled with all sorts now – it’s a breeding ground for oozes and the fortunate cranium rats that can avoid them. Rumour is some barmy lives in it too.
This area we call Souptown, on account of the kitchens some of the charitable bodies in the other wards set up. Of course, the lines are so long they can never close.
Must’ve got it in their heads that this was a good idea from Unity of Rings, the deva that hands out fruit to the streetkids. They’re a nice sort I suppose, but most fold in the lines are just there for the free meal. They could easily go make one themselves, but hey, free is free.
Next up we’ve got Tenfoots, up near the edge of the Clerk’s Ward. Here’s thing about the Hive – most of the streets are real cramped together and twisting, except for Tenfoots. This whole area, the streets are exactly ten feet wide.
Exactly!
And it don’t matter if you knock walls down and rebuild, it’ll still be as wide. Weird place.
Last is Vagabond Alley. You need a mercenary for work, well… you don’t come here. You need someone for a suicide mission that you can afford to pay up front, this is the place for you.
Filled with barmies this place is, and they’re always looking for a fight.
OK sirrah, I think we should leave, I don’t like the way those two red pigeons are watching us. NO! Don’t look!
OK, so now we’re running to the next Ward. GO!
There’s not a lot to recommend the Hive, but that’s the point. It’s the black lesion of Sigil, where the hopeful end up when they become truly hopeless, when the city really becomes a Cage.
Cagers that live here are tough, but those that survive growing up here are the toughest. Don’t mess with anyone that says they were a streetkid in this part of the city, especially if you think you recognise their colours. They wear them with pride and as a warning – if they can survive in a place where the Blood War spilt over, they can definitely hold their own in a bar brawl, street fight, or a life of adventure.
There are, of course, parts of the Hive that are safer to live than others. As long as you don’t annoy the group keeping them safe.
The Block is a ward within a ward, an almost solid mass of buildings stuck together one atop the other. Interior walkways allow the residents access to the rest of the Block, but only small entrances lead out into the Cage.
Naturally, it’s become a stronghold of one of the more powerful gangs in the area – unimaginatively named the Blockers. Do as they say and pay up what they call ‘tithes’, and a resident can live a life almost unknown in the Hive. Cross them, and… Well, best not to listen to rumours.
jot jot ïota 