The Ties that Bind

"Blessed be the tie that binds."
-traditional hymn

I know where you want to go next. I have felt it ever since we set foot in this lonesome Citadel. Even now, as we stand together in the courtyard of the Keeper temple, I can see your eyes straying upwards, half in desire, half in disbelief. "How can such a thing exist?" you wonder. A curious and frightening place, the Web. Would you like to go there now? Much of what I have to show you can be seen more easily in the twists and turns of that city-within-a-city than down here on the sullen streets of the Citadel. Come, we will find an entrance and ascend into the Web.

Life is hard here in the Citadel, and many wish to flee. However, for most, the wilderness holds only the promise of certain death. Ravaging bands of Misbegotten, rogue Blessed, or even such mundane threats as bandits await those that venture into the wilderness. I have heard a rumor that a vast sewer system underlies the Citadel, connecting the different sectors of the city and even encapsulating some small part of fallen Kryshana. Yet I have never seen an entrance to this system, nor would I trust my life to the underground. Many share my concern. For them, the only way to escape was up.

As I have said in the past, once a shimmering dome shielded this city from the outside world. Although the crystal is long since shattered, destroyed by the dragons during the Rape, four arching supports still span the sky over the Citadel. At some point in the past, someone climbed one of these supports and built a small refuge. Others followed in his footsteps and slowly the Web began to form.

Quickly, into this building. It would not do to be caught entering the Web by the Citadel guards. They could make our lives difficult. Do they know that this entrance is here? Of course they do. In our world, do not most people know where illicit business may be performed? Could you not name for me the places that one could buy drugs, or a gun, or a woman? It is the same for these entrances. They are the worst kept secret in the entire city.

No, I would prefer to take the stairs. Yes, that freight elevator is in working condition, but I would not wish to pay for the electricity that it uses to whoever guards this entrance, nor would I wish to be flayed for blasphemy if the Keeper Inquisitors discovered us. Come, let us walk and I will explain further.

As more outcasts swarmed up the four Archways, they began to build out into the open space between the Archways, suspending their feeble huts and platforms both from the nearest Archway and soon from other hanging structures. Soon, an entire shantytown began to spread in the air above the Citadel. Rope, wire, and other substances were used to connect building to building and platform to platform. Slowly the Citadel began to be Webbed over. Even tall buildings from the streets below were being woven into the intricate maze of the Web and used to gain access to the streets below. The Web began to take on its own identity as a city in its own right.

There is a certain irony to the society that developed in the Web. On the one hand, the Web is much more accepting than the Citadel. The Blessed and Misbegotten are welcome in the Web. Rogue Restored walk alongside humans on the suspended walkways and "streets" of the Web. Yet, in its own way, the Web is as brutal as the Citadel.

No, it's quite all right. Just pay the gentleman. Remember, if someone has a loaded weapon pointed at you, he makes the rules. Besides, this is his tollbooth, after all. Now thank the gentleman and move on quickly. I am sure that he has friends in the shadows. Members of his gang, you might say.

That's right. The Web is split into the territory of various gangs. Oh they might not all call themselves gangs. Some might call themselves "family" or a "survival cooperative", but the intent is the same: mutual protection against aggressors. And believe me, there are plenty of aggressors up here in the Web. Conflict is endemic, but low-key. After all, you need to maintain good ties with the neighbors, and I do not just mean in a figurative sense.

Think about it. Unless a gang lives right next to an Archway, all their homes and other buildings are hanging in mid-air, supported only by their connections to the buildings around them. What if all your neighbors were to cut the ties that connect your homes to theirs? It is a long fall to the city streets below. Therefore each gang makes sure that their ties are strong with their neighbors and seeks to sever the ties of rival gangs, weakening their position in the Web, both literally and figuratively, until one day the rival's section of the Web finally gives way. I've seen an entire family take the Long Fall. It is a terrifying sight to behold.

You can feel it in the air, can't you? The air of underlying tension. Everyone is walking on eggshells here. Violence hangs in the air, coiled and ready to strike. Anyone could be the next victim. Anyone.

Except for that woman over there.

Why? She has a special place in the complex society of the Web. She is a lightning jack.

By now you have probably realized that the Web really cannot support itself. Rather, it is a leech on the Citadel, sucking up materials and resources to sustain itself. Lightning jacks are just the most blatant example of this.

Look around you. You still see electric lights, just like in the Citadel below. You saw the elevator in the building behind us. It also ran on electricity. Now, you are used to thinking of electricity as some sort of scientific force. Recall that here it is the sacred life force of Pheric himself, kept and treasured by the Keepers. It is they that regulate the generation and distribution of electricity in the Citadel. So how does it get up here? It is quite simple, really.

Lightning jacks steal it.

In the darkness of night, they creep from the Web and hack into power cables or transformers to run lines back up into the Web. This is a dangerous job. Not only is this illegal, but this is blasphemy. The Citadel guards are fairly harsh to arrested lightning jacks, but that is nothing compared to what the Keeper Inquisitors have been known to do.

Why do it? Isn't it obvious? Look at the way everyone is treating that woman? Down below she might be a despised criminal, but up here she is a queen. No one-no one-dares harass a lightning jack. Any gang that ever took such action would find itself taking the Long Fall without delay. I have heard tales of gang brawls pausing to allow a lightning jack to pass. It is a dangerous job, but it has its rewards.

Quite a difference from the clockwork streets below, isn't it? And in another way, it is more of the same. The same pall still clouds the sky, and in the distance the bell of Kron still speaks forth. These streets may traverse the sky, but still they are harsh and cruel, stained with blood. It is with pity that I look on these people here. For so many, there is nowhere else to run. The Web has ensnared them, perhaps forever. Come, let us continue on our way. There is much more to be seen and time is running short.