ArcturusV
2015-11-14, 02:54 AM
For Thalia, Javert, Uriah, Erika, and Sarissa
"Welcome to Prohorovka. Please do not feed the Machine Spirits."
These words greet you as you land on Prohorovka's major starport. The trip down is rough, with acidic storms battering your lander, and by the time you make it down, you know it'll have to be serviced for at least a few days before it is fully flight rated again. Exiting the lander, you can see some deck crews coming quickly to hose off your vessel, washing it clear of the foul gunk that had accumulated during the trip down. None of the flight crew looked particularly healthy, lean, wasted away figures, and of course lacking protective covering as they were working on the Emperor Only Knows what foul crap had filled the skies of Prohorovka.
The Starport was a ramshackle, messy, confused place. The deck covered in foul, black gunk built up over what was likely millenniums of operation. Most of the ships there were small cargo landers like your own, landed haphazardly. And strangely enough for a Starport like this, there was a severe lack of Cargo Servitors, most of the work being done by men, though a few Cherubim and Servo Skulls floating around, buzzing and cracking as they did so.
You had been, before leaving the Larasse's Dagger given instructions to meet a local contact in your personal orders, and that you would known her presence by the Red Robes she wore, and the Challenge, "Who Stalks the Darkness", with you giving the counter code, "The Best of Hunters". The local is to provide you with any and all support that you need, as well as being your guide to the Hive.
For Vela
Your first set of orders had arrived 3 days ago, and in a fairly disturbing manner. A man approached you, identifying himself as working for the Inquisition, giving you the appropriate codes the Interrogator had provided you. He handed you a bundle of obviously falsified papers, and orders to be at the Upland Starport in 3 days, where you were to meet off worlders from an Imperial Navy Destroyer, to challenge them with the question "Who Stalks the Darkness". Unless they answered "The Best of Hunters", they were to be ignored, or killed if they were persistent.
It was after he told you this, that his head seemed to split in twain in front of you, the skull peeling apart like a frozen citrus fruit. You could see mechanical implants in his brain, sparking and smoking.
The papers the man gave you included what looked very official (But couldn't be, you didn't have the clearance) to take one of the better Ground Cargo Haulers out of the Mechanicus Motor Pool, as well as leave of absence from your Mechanicus duties for "The Duration of Need". Nearly open ended approval to be free of your current tasks as well as the means to get around the Hive. And all you had to do was meet and pick up these 5 strangers from another world.
- Upland:
Upland contains the major starport off Prohorovka hive, and is the center of offworld commerce with the wider Imperium. Most organizations, be they charterist captain guilds, mercenary organizations, noble families, and similar groups maintain offices in Upland as opposed to deeper in the hive. The highest and central territory of Prohorovka, it's also the cleanest, with fairly regular power, decent recyked air and water, and generally well controlled by the local Enforcers and PDF. The only Arbiter Precinct Fortress in Prohorovka is in Upland.
- The Palace Spire:
Off of Upland, the Palace Spire is where most of the local government resides and works, including the legions of Administratum Adepts, the Planetary Governor Tulis Remora (Who is known mostly a senile and ineffectual figurehead), and the Court of the planet, where the various power players meet and plot against one another. The Governor's personally favored Prohorovkan Guard maintains order in the Palace Spire.
- The Shrines:
A spire off Upland which contains the sole Ecclesiarchy presence on Prohorovka. Most Civil Services (Free Hospitals, Free Scholas, etc) are within this spire. The ever present Adepta Sororitas, Clerics and Acolytes of the God-Emperor maintain the peace here.
- The Stacks:
Just below Upland, connecting Upland to the wider base of Prohorovka. The Stacks is the "middle class" section of the hive, lots of workers, lots of families just trying to get along. No particular force or organization particularly claims long term control over The Stacks, though it is often the battleground in turf wars between Puerto Sou, Drake's, Coggers, and Mare, as well as regular purges by Enforcers looking to make sure the worst of the dregs remains out of the Uplands.
- Mare:
Connected to The Stacks, and Drips, Mare is the major aquafier of Prohorovka, maintained by the failing machine spirits of the hive. House Altair controls it, and outside of the guards and the workers, there is little actual traffic in and out of Mare.
- Puerto Sou:
Connected to The Stacks, Drake's, and Verge. Was once the major starport and center of commerce for Prohorovka. However with that moved to Upland Puerto Sou is in a bad place now. A gang called the Muertas has taken over the area, and Puerto Sou is known for the borderline, if not actual, heretical practices that happen there, as well as a much higher than normal instance of Psykers and Mutants which are harbored there by the Muertas.
- Verge:
Connected to Puerto Sou, Drake's, and Torley's. The Verge is a "Free" section of the Hive. No one has been able to take control of it, and no one really seems to want to. Renegades of all sorts gather there, anarchists and recidivists as well. It's said if anything can be found in Prohorovka, it can be found in the markets of The Verge.
- Drake's:
A section of the hive nestled between the larger Puerto Sou, Coggers, Stacks, Gilt, and the Verge. It has been carved out over the last 12 years by a warlord named Drake, who rules there with his gang. There's rumors that Drake's contains several higher quality Manufactorums than Prohorovkan standard, though most doubt that, as the area wasn't known for high quality goods before he took over. Regardless his thugs seem better off than most.
- Coggers:
A vast block downhive from The Stacks, between Drips, the Bustee, Gilt, and Drake's. "Coggers" is the informal name for the Mechanicus enclave on Prohorovka, where most of the Manufactorums in the hive have been established over the years and the Red Robes of Mars have near total control with their servitors and Skiitari maintaining efficient standards of operation.
- Drips:
A location downhive from Mare, between the Tangle, Coggers, and the Bustee, Drips is a swampy, muggy, foul section of the hive that has turned almost feral. Filled with stagnant water and strange growths, even bizarre forms of local life, Drips is considered a place that only the truly desperate or insane would go. Most of the time it is sealed off under the orders of the local Enforcers who both don't want to patrol it, or deal with criminals hiding in it.
- The Tangle:
A section of the hive near the outer walls, next to Drips, The Bustee, and Shadow. The Tangle is uninhabited. In any case it would not be an easy place to live, filled with tight spaces, hard turns, heavy machinery older than the Imperium, and hostile to humans.
- Francheska:
A spire off the lower hive, only reachable through Shadow or their own small starport. Francheska is supposed to be the home of several noble families of Prohorovka, though most think that the nobles choose to live offworld instead.
- Shadow:
Shadow is a relatively small corner of the hive, nestled between The Bustee, The Tangle, and Francheska. It's known as a strange place where Flesh is the standard of trade. Hard up, low class living where people literally will cut off their own skin, harvest organs, or scalp anyone they can in order to buy their next meal.
- The Bustee:
A large section of the lower hive between Shadow, the Tangle, Drips, Coggers, and Gilt. The Bustee is what most people think of typical Downhive in Prohovoka. Most make their living here as either gangers or scavengers. Poverty is rampant, and most of the unwashed hordes are very, very happy when the Munitorium comes down looking to take volunteers for the Imperial Guard. One meal of Corpse Starch a day AND a blanket? What are you bitching about, that is LUXURY down there.
- Gilt:
A relatively smaller section of the downhive between Coggers, Drake's, and Torley's. Gilt is named for the relative bright lights and sense of 'glamor' that still hangs around. Most of the lighting down there is neon, music is constantly playing over laud hailers, and most often crude local music as opposed to stately Ecclesiarchal Hymns and the like. Vices of all sorts can be found in Gilt, no matter how depraved your desires are, there's likely to be someone peddling it down there. Interestingly enough for Downhive it's actually fairly secure, as most people want the trade of Midhivers looking for a Thrill to keep coming.
- Torley's:
A small section of the downhive between Gilt, The Verge, and Damon's Spire. Torley's is a "Free" section of the Hive, so to speak. But unlike the Verge this is mostly because the local warlord, Damon, doesn't care to particularly control it. Lots of renegades, mercenaries, and hereteks gather here looking for employ in either Gilt or Damon's Spire, making Torley's more of an armed camp. Oddly no one knows why the region is called Torley's.
- Damon's Spire:
A large spire off Torley's, nearly coming from ground level and rising upwards. Damon's Spire is ruled by the Warlord Damon, who sacked and plundered the spire reputedly 500 years ago, kicking out the local nobles and the token presence they have maintained. Warlord Damon is perhaps one of the most powerful gangers in Prohorovka, and there are always rumors that he is planning on making a move and taking over the entire of the Underhive, perhaps even the entire hive itself. As ludicrous as that sounds, no one ever laughs at it.
- The Dross:
No one who's ever been there will talk about it. Information on what might be in the Dross is highly classified, if it even exists. Every once in a while there are ghost stories about some Mechanicus Priest or foolish Scavenger who goes down there looking to make it rich off some ancient Archeotech. But as far as anyone knows, those are only ghost stories.
"Welcome to Prohorovka. Please do not feed the Machine Spirits."
These words greet you as you land on Prohorovka's major starport. The trip down is rough, with acidic storms battering your lander, and by the time you make it down, you know it'll have to be serviced for at least a few days before it is fully flight rated again. Exiting the lander, you can see some deck crews coming quickly to hose off your vessel, washing it clear of the foul gunk that had accumulated during the trip down. None of the flight crew looked particularly healthy, lean, wasted away figures, and of course lacking protective covering as they were working on the Emperor Only Knows what foul crap had filled the skies of Prohorovka.
The Starport was a ramshackle, messy, confused place. The deck covered in foul, black gunk built up over what was likely millenniums of operation. Most of the ships there were small cargo landers like your own, landed haphazardly. And strangely enough for a Starport like this, there was a severe lack of Cargo Servitors, most of the work being done by men, though a few Cherubim and Servo Skulls floating around, buzzing and cracking as they did so.
You had been, before leaving the Larasse's Dagger given instructions to meet a local contact in your personal orders, and that you would known her presence by the Red Robes she wore, and the Challenge, "Who Stalks the Darkness", with you giving the counter code, "The Best of Hunters". The local is to provide you with any and all support that you need, as well as being your guide to the Hive.
For Vela
Your first set of orders had arrived 3 days ago, and in a fairly disturbing manner. A man approached you, identifying himself as working for the Inquisition, giving you the appropriate codes the Interrogator had provided you. He handed you a bundle of obviously falsified papers, and orders to be at the Upland Starport in 3 days, where you were to meet off worlders from an Imperial Navy Destroyer, to challenge them with the question "Who Stalks the Darkness". Unless they answered "The Best of Hunters", they were to be ignored, or killed if they were persistent.
It was after he told you this, that his head seemed to split in twain in front of you, the skull peeling apart like a frozen citrus fruit. You could see mechanical implants in his brain, sparking and smoking.
The papers the man gave you included what looked very official (But couldn't be, you didn't have the clearance) to take one of the better Ground Cargo Haulers out of the Mechanicus Motor Pool, as well as leave of absence from your Mechanicus duties for "The Duration of Need". Nearly open ended approval to be free of your current tasks as well as the means to get around the Hive. And all you had to do was meet and pick up these 5 strangers from another world.
- Upland:
Upland contains the major starport off Prohorovka hive, and is the center of offworld commerce with the wider Imperium. Most organizations, be they charterist captain guilds, mercenary organizations, noble families, and similar groups maintain offices in Upland as opposed to deeper in the hive. The highest and central territory of Prohorovka, it's also the cleanest, with fairly regular power, decent recyked air and water, and generally well controlled by the local Enforcers and PDF. The only Arbiter Precinct Fortress in Prohorovka is in Upland.
- The Palace Spire:
Off of Upland, the Palace Spire is where most of the local government resides and works, including the legions of Administratum Adepts, the Planetary Governor Tulis Remora (Who is known mostly a senile and ineffectual figurehead), and the Court of the planet, where the various power players meet and plot against one another. The Governor's personally favored Prohorovkan Guard maintains order in the Palace Spire.
- The Shrines:
A spire off Upland which contains the sole Ecclesiarchy presence on Prohorovka. Most Civil Services (Free Hospitals, Free Scholas, etc) are within this spire. The ever present Adepta Sororitas, Clerics and Acolytes of the God-Emperor maintain the peace here.
- The Stacks:
Just below Upland, connecting Upland to the wider base of Prohorovka. The Stacks is the "middle class" section of the hive, lots of workers, lots of families just trying to get along. No particular force or organization particularly claims long term control over The Stacks, though it is often the battleground in turf wars between Puerto Sou, Drake's, Coggers, and Mare, as well as regular purges by Enforcers looking to make sure the worst of the dregs remains out of the Uplands.
- Mare:
Connected to The Stacks, and Drips, Mare is the major aquafier of Prohorovka, maintained by the failing machine spirits of the hive. House Altair controls it, and outside of the guards and the workers, there is little actual traffic in and out of Mare.
- Puerto Sou:
Connected to The Stacks, Drake's, and Verge. Was once the major starport and center of commerce for Prohorovka. However with that moved to Upland Puerto Sou is in a bad place now. A gang called the Muertas has taken over the area, and Puerto Sou is known for the borderline, if not actual, heretical practices that happen there, as well as a much higher than normal instance of Psykers and Mutants which are harbored there by the Muertas.
- Verge:
Connected to Puerto Sou, Drake's, and Torley's. The Verge is a "Free" section of the Hive. No one has been able to take control of it, and no one really seems to want to. Renegades of all sorts gather there, anarchists and recidivists as well. It's said if anything can be found in Prohorovka, it can be found in the markets of The Verge.
- Drake's:
A section of the hive nestled between the larger Puerto Sou, Coggers, Stacks, Gilt, and the Verge. It has been carved out over the last 12 years by a warlord named Drake, who rules there with his gang. There's rumors that Drake's contains several higher quality Manufactorums than Prohorovkan standard, though most doubt that, as the area wasn't known for high quality goods before he took over. Regardless his thugs seem better off than most.
- Coggers:
A vast block downhive from The Stacks, between Drips, the Bustee, Gilt, and Drake's. "Coggers" is the informal name for the Mechanicus enclave on Prohorovka, where most of the Manufactorums in the hive have been established over the years and the Red Robes of Mars have near total control with their servitors and Skiitari maintaining efficient standards of operation.
- Drips:
A location downhive from Mare, between the Tangle, Coggers, and the Bustee, Drips is a swampy, muggy, foul section of the hive that has turned almost feral. Filled with stagnant water and strange growths, even bizarre forms of local life, Drips is considered a place that only the truly desperate or insane would go. Most of the time it is sealed off under the orders of the local Enforcers who both don't want to patrol it, or deal with criminals hiding in it.
- The Tangle:
A section of the hive near the outer walls, next to Drips, The Bustee, and Shadow. The Tangle is uninhabited. In any case it would not be an easy place to live, filled with tight spaces, hard turns, heavy machinery older than the Imperium, and hostile to humans.
- Francheska:
A spire off the lower hive, only reachable through Shadow or their own small starport. Francheska is supposed to be the home of several noble families of Prohorovka, though most think that the nobles choose to live offworld instead.
- Shadow:
Shadow is a relatively small corner of the hive, nestled between The Bustee, The Tangle, and Francheska. It's known as a strange place where Flesh is the standard of trade. Hard up, low class living where people literally will cut off their own skin, harvest organs, or scalp anyone they can in order to buy their next meal.
- The Bustee:
A large section of the lower hive between Shadow, the Tangle, Drips, Coggers, and Gilt. The Bustee is what most people think of typical Downhive in Prohovoka. Most make their living here as either gangers or scavengers. Poverty is rampant, and most of the unwashed hordes are very, very happy when the Munitorium comes down looking to take volunteers for the Imperial Guard. One meal of Corpse Starch a day AND a blanket? What are you bitching about, that is LUXURY down there.
- Gilt:
A relatively smaller section of the downhive between Coggers, Drake's, and Torley's. Gilt is named for the relative bright lights and sense of 'glamor' that still hangs around. Most of the lighting down there is neon, music is constantly playing over laud hailers, and most often crude local music as opposed to stately Ecclesiarchal Hymns and the like. Vices of all sorts can be found in Gilt, no matter how depraved your desires are, there's likely to be someone peddling it down there. Interestingly enough for Downhive it's actually fairly secure, as most people want the trade of Midhivers looking for a Thrill to keep coming.
- Torley's:
A small section of the downhive between Gilt, The Verge, and Damon's Spire. Torley's is a "Free" section of the Hive, so to speak. But unlike the Verge this is mostly because the local warlord, Damon, doesn't care to particularly control it. Lots of renegades, mercenaries, and hereteks gather here looking for employ in either Gilt or Damon's Spire, making Torley's more of an armed camp. Oddly no one knows why the region is called Torley's.
- Damon's Spire:
A large spire off Torley's, nearly coming from ground level and rising upwards. Damon's Spire is ruled by the Warlord Damon, who sacked and plundered the spire reputedly 500 years ago, kicking out the local nobles and the token presence they have maintained. Warlord Damon is perhaps one of the most powerful gangers in Prohorovka, and there are always rumors that he is planning on making a move and taking over the entire of the Underhive, perhaps even the entire hive itself. As ludicrous as that sounds, no one ever laughs at it.
- The Dross:
No one who's ever been there will talk about it. Information on what might be in the Dross is highly classified, if it even exists. Every once in a while there are ghost stories about some Mechanicus Priest or foolish Scavenger who goes down there looking to make it rich off some ancient Archeotech. But as far as anyone knows, those are only ghost stories.