The Scavenger Lands

(Excerpt)

Nexus

The Dogma

No taxes shall be raised, save by the Council.
None shall obstruct trade.
None shall bring an army into Nexus.
No one shall commit wanton violence.
None may falsely claim the Council's name or sanction.
None shall harbor a fugitive from the Council's wrath.

Nexus has been called the City of a Million Lice, the River Harlot's Legs, the Threshold Jewel, the Bright Sword and the City of Black Snow. It is all of these and more. It is the headquarters of the Guild—a city of wonder and mysteries, crime and vice—and it is the crossroads of the River Province. Every good or service imaginable can be found in Nexus if the price is right, and people from across Creation gather there to seek their fortune. From brilliant First Age palaces and corrupt politicians to filthy slums and cutthroats, Nexus has something for everyone—be it a purse of orichalcum or a whetted blade.

Nexus stands on the remains of the First Age city of Hollow, at the confluence of three rivers: the Yellow and the Gray Rivers, which join at the middle of the city to form the Yanaze River. The mansions of the ruling Council of Entities sit atop the crests of the highest hills, free from the rats, disease, flooding and stink of the poor below. Below them lie the villas and manors of the ruling class, the rich merchants and those who can afford well for themselves. The rivers carry their waste downstream, along with trade, ore-smelting byproducts and the occasional corpse, to the massive markets and slums where the poor live. The water and waste flood downriver into the wide floodplains there, silting and fertilizing the land to produce the "swamp rice" for which Nexus is infamous. It might taste dubious and be resistant to chewing, but it is nonetheless edible.

Nexus has no formal laws. Public and social order depend on the Council of Entities and the Guild. The Council of Entities is not an authority appointed by any sort of law, but it issues public decrees that can take any form—and those decrees must be obeyed. The only constant figure on the Council is the mysterious Emissary, who is supposed to date back to the founding of Nexus. The Council's decrees are archived in the Incunabulum in the Council Tower. If a new decree contradicts an older one, the older one is stricken from the record. Companies of mercenaries exist to enforce the Council's decrees, however strange or unreasonable those decrees might be. The Incunabulum consists of two parts: the Dogma (six pronouncements on which Nexus was founded) and the Civilities (the mass of past and present decrees issued by the Council).

Multiple layers of civil servants interpret the Council's wishes, pass on its decrees and take bribes and favors in return for influence. Otherwise, as long as a citizen pays her taxes and obeys the Dogma and the Civilities, she is able to do whatever she wishes, however violent or self-interested. Of course, other citizens can also do what they wish in response, which is why feuds and vendettas are so common in Nexus and must usually be stopped by the Council eventually.

Nexus still shows many signs of the First Age city that it once was, from the great dams across all three rivers to the many remnants of First Age architecture. It is even home to six tombs of ancient Anathema, dating back to the First Age, which are often used as city landmarks. The newer parts of the city are a triumph of function over form, crisscrossed with canals and waterways, with a system of pulley-cars that go up and down the hills, and the smelting technology that makes Nexus the largest ironworks in Creation. Scholars frequent Nexus, dangerous as it is, keen to take advantage of this juxtaposition of the old and the new.