City '26, Weeks 5 + 6: The Rovers (Harborside Faction)

Well, another two weeks have come and gone, but I've somehow managed to maintain my efforts on City 26! Not bad, if I do say so myself. I was worried the beginning of February is where I would start to falter, but I'm still feeling very committed. Of course, I managed to keep Dungeon 23 going all the way up until April, so I'm not quite at the point of beating my record yet.

Once again, I'm trying to limit some of the hassle of the challenge for myself by only making updates here when I actually finish something. While I like writing, I actually struggle a lot with posting on social media (I never really took very well to the habit), and even though I really wanna share my work it's got to battle with my urge to remain unobserved personally. That aside, it means today I'm sharing the first fully complete faction of this setting/district, the Rovers!

 

Although they aren't pirates, I promise this image is relevant to the Rovers all the same. 

What Are The Rovers?

As a classic harbor/port district, Harborside doesn't feel complete without its share of crime. And of course, what's the point of having crime in a pseudo-fantasy setting if you don't have a few crime families/thieves guilds? Actually, Harborside (and Port Callus as a whole) have several, but the Rovers are my attempt at cutting into the classic "thieves guild" trope. I say cutting because, while I would like to have an approximation of a thieves' guild, I'm looking to break away from some of the repetitive standards of the trope and build something a little more realistic for my setting. Doing that means taking what I like (underground headquarters, honor among thieves) and leaving some stuff behind (specific "roles", firm hierarchy).

Before I get into the Rovers themselves, it's worth noting how I build factions. My method pulls from several places, but primarily the outline found in (again) Idle Cartulary's Preparing for City 26 blog post. The outline includes some common faction stuff I like to use (specific NPCs, Assets, Quirks) and some stuff I don't; the things I do use, I tend to write a little differently. For example, when trying to build quick NPCs (like for, say, a year-long writing challenge) I actually use The Retired Adventurer's system of Motive, Means, and Opportunity. I like it because it gives me a handle on how to run them, but for a location-based design challenge like this one, it also lets me weave them deeper into the fabric of the setting. Although I keep the wording of their motive general, I usually build it around how the setting works and what sort of factors in the setting that I know are putting pressure on that NPC.

Who They Are

I'll start with the factions major NPCs-- this isn't all of them, of course. There's plenty of members, but the point is to keep the Rovers as an informal group; again, trying to avoid the trope of a thieves' guild whose stringent ranks and organization leave it feeling like a military.

Ardin (M, Leader)

• Motive: "Traders take people's money, guilds take the trader's money, rich folk own the guilds, and sneaks like us take money from the rich. It's all a big circle of life."
• Means:
• Charismatic, naturally born leader, skilled at getting people to see his side of the story.
• Cultivates unyielding loyalty from most Rovers, many of whom would happily give themselves up to save him.
• Good at connecting events and actions that seem unconnected, letting him see the city's political flow even though he isn't directly involved.
• Opportunity: If Ardin can find a way to make the Rovers secure, to ensure the group lives on if something happens to him, then he's willing to risk everything he has to make it happen-- but only as long as it doesn't risk the gang.

 Diniz (NB, Smuggler)

• Motive: "Ardin doesn't take our line of work seriously enough, but if we tried harder, we could compete with some of the bigger gangs."
• Means:
• Well-known at the docks, although not well-liked, but many sailors and merchants are still willing to do business with them.
• Knows how to get in and out of the city without drawing attention. They also know how to get into parts of some of the city's landmarks that aren't accessible to the general public, either by bribery or by stealth.
• If it came down to it, some Rovers would support Diniz's bid for leadership, even though they're loyal to Ardin. This is because Diniz is better at bringing in money. But if the gang were to become financially secure, they would jump ship.
• Opportunity: If Diniz sees a chance to undermine Ardin's competency in front of others, they're sure to take it, but only as long as they can still feign ignorance later or if Ardin's plans works out.

Lacinda (F, Fence)

• Motive: "I'm tired of living small with the Rovers; I want to build up enough stock to open a real market stall, and do something with my life."
• Means:
• Has an eye for value, able to accurately estimate the price of most objects after a short period of study. She's even read a lot of history books, all to get better at pricing older, more unusual valuables.
• Has access to an existing network of collectors and merchants who purchase her questionably obtained stock at bargain prices, without asking questions. She hopes to turn them into real merchant contacts when she has her own stall.
• Has hidden away a sizable stash of money, nearly enough to purchase a cart, permit, and additional stock. But in a truly desperate emergency, something that threatens her safety or security, she'll use it.
• Opportunity: If someone brings Lacinda a particularly valuable item-- something unusual she or the other Rovers would never normally get their hands on-- then she can't resist the temptation to lie about its value, underplaying it in order to buy it cheap then sell it later and pocket even more for herself.

What They Have

After the major NPCs comes the major assets that the faction has access to. In the case of the Rovers, it's not a lot-- they're an informal group, closer to a street gang. But they're still more involved in the activities of a thieves' guild than any of the proper criminal families found in Port Callus. This means their resources are generally internal (fundamentally a part of the group) and their external resources (usually social contacts or physical objects) are pretty limited/niche in use.

1. Natural Talent: Joining the Rovers requires a natural talent for thievery, proven by the test for membership, which requires getting a signet ring from a member of a merchant guild. It doesn't matter which guild or how the ring was obtained-- they could break in to their house, slip it from their finger, mug them in an alley, or whatever works best. As long as they get the ring, don't get caught, and don't bring any heat back on the Rovers themselves. This means that all of the members are skilled thieves, in one way or another (and acts as a less formal way of establishing a member's "role" a la traditional thieves' guilds).
2. Hidden Headquarters: The Rovers host meetings, and several of them live, in an informal "headquarters" in a disused section of Harborside's sewer system. Located below the river's waterline, the massive storm drain was abandoned when the city undertook extensive renovations 60 years ago (right after the population started to explode again). It's very well hidden, behind a false wall that was originally built to brick up the storm drain entirely. Getting to the wall itself is tricky, requiring someone to pass over a makeshift, wooden bridge across a deep sewer canal. The bridge is sturdier than it looks though, and can actually be lifted by a hidden pulley system.
3. Secret Funds: The cistern at the center of the headquarters also holds a stash of coins, bank notes, and jewelry, and other stolen goods. It's kept in a small tunnel beneath a shallow pool of water, inside a watertight, leather bag. Every time more members work together on a job, they're supposed to bring back a little bit of the take as a fee for the group. Ardin has collected all of it, over time, and placed it in this stash. No one knows about it but him, although some members have suspicions about a hidden fund somewhere. Ardin uses it to fund bail for Rovers who get arrested, pay off informants and a few crooked guards, and buy supplies for the headquarters. But no matter what, he always collects more than he spends, planning to some day use it to make the Rovers into a proper organization.

How They Act

Every group needs at least one quirk to set them apart. Something that turns them from a faceless, disparate collection of people into a real organization of people bound together. 

In the case of the Rovers, every single member has a stick-and-poke tattoo of a jolly roger (the classic skull-and-crossbones pirate symbol) somewhere on their body. Most of them choose a shoulder, ankle, or the side of their abdomen, where it isn't easily noticed but can quickly and unobtrusively be shown off to other members. The specific design for each one varies as well, because the tattoo has to be given by the member that recruited you. This means long-term Rovers like Ardin and Diniz, people who've recruited several other members, tend to have developed specific styles, letting other Rovers know who recruited them when they see the tattoo.

What They Want

A pretty simple question, and an obvious one. What does the faction want to do? What are their aims, their long-term goals? The Rovers have two of them:

1. Obtain enough money for each individual member to support themselves, even in hard times. The ideal, however, is to establish the Rovers as such a force in Harborside that they earn enough to live well, even when they aren't actively working. This would also mean that if something happens to a member, and they can't work anymore, the others can still help take care of them.
2.  Update, renovate, and expand their headquarters. While it works well enough, and there's still more space than they need, it isn't the finest locale in Harborside. Most of it is the unused cistern and about a dozen old sewer maintenance rooms, but finding more nearby "dry" sewer areas would give them room to grow. Putting a floor over the cistern would make it safer, putting beds and furniture in all the rooms would give everyone a place to stay that isn't cold and wet, and making other entrances would mean more mobility across the district and avoid having to pass over the (admittedly a little dangerous) bridge each time they want to enter or leave.

Who They Know

Finally, every faction needs a few allies and a few enemies. One of each is good enough, two is better, and three is icing on the cake. These might be other large factions, either in the same district or a different one; a "mini faction" that comes into play only under specific circumstances; or even a major NPC in the district the faction is located in, who can almost be considered a faction in and of themselves.

The Rovers have two allies and two enemies, which is a lot for such a small-time operation, but works well when considered alongside the fact that the Rovers, and several of their major NPCs, are all looking to expand into something more formal.

Allies

Pinch: One of several major NPCs in Harborside itself. Although Pinch isn't a formal member of any gang, he maintains a close relationship with the Rovers; several of its members were recommended by Pinch, and are still friends with him. While he can't be counted on for a job, Pinch isn't above taking some heat or offering aid when he sees a member of the Rovers in trouble.
The Pearly Ray: A merchant ship and frequent visitor to Port Callus's harbor; its second mate is a former member of the Rovers turned straight, and its captain is a long-time friend of Ardin. Although the ship as a whole sticks to strictly lawful work, some of its crew are less scrupulous. They're willing to help the Rovers when they need muscle, information, an alibi, or if they can be convinced, even a place to temporarily lay low.

Enemies

Casa Nunes: Technically a rival gang, but Casa Nunes is an old-school family, proper mobsters, centered in the northern district of Terra Velha. That said, they've been involved in the seedier side of Harborside's businesses for over five generations. For their part, Casa Nunes views the Rovers as a thorn in their side, but are otherwise unbothered. They've got agreements with the other families, and the Rovers aren't going to be a major threat any time soon. But for the Rovers, Casa Nunes is a major factor in everything they do-- the Rovers present easy targets for Casa Nunes thugs, a patsy for the family to pin the blame on if something goes wrong, and a bug that Casa Nunes could crush any time if they felt like the cost of doing it was less than what the Rovers cost them in business. This means the Rovers feel constantly threatened, and are mostly hoping for a way to avoid the situation until they can protect themselves properly.
The Harbormasters: Exactly what they sound like, the people in charge of the both harbors, the river half and the ocean half. As well as being in charge of tracking incoming and outgoing ships and their cargo, the harbormasters of Port Callus function as law enforcement for specific "harbor" areas defined by the city's laws. This includes much of Harborside, making them enemies to most criminals, including the Rovers. Unfortunately for the Rovers, the big families and a couple of the largest street gangs have "agreements" with a lot of the individual harbormasters. As the new kid in town, the Rovers can't afford those same agreements. But fortunately, the harbormaster's newest captain, Master Guerreiro Gonsalves, is cracking down on bribery and has put his focus on threats from outside of the city, taking some of the heat off of the Rovers.