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Message: <blockquote data-quote="apocalypstick" data-source="post: 1041768" data-attributes="member: 12356">Imagine the forking river as an upside-down “Y.” Valoran City is split into three wards by the rivers – East Ward, West Ward, and South Ward, otherwise known as “the Hive.” These wards are connected only by well-guarded stone bridges with towered gatehouses and iron portcullises looming at either side. Traveling from one ward to another requires a Ward Pass.West Ward is the home of the craftsmen, the minor merchants, the shopkeeps and the chimney-sweeps. Its most notable feature is a gargantuan mechanical lift, built of many cogs and winches and pulleys, which allows large freights to be raised and lowered between the warehouses and the docks. The people of West Ward are the middle-class, dreaming of something better but forever forced to struggle, to work harder and faster, just to keep what they already have from slipping through their fingers.East Ward stands behind tall stone walls crested with crenellations and cannonades. Valoran Tower, the seat of the city’s governor and magistrates, stands upon a jutting cliff face overlooking the river. It is the home of the city’s well-to-do – the wealthy merchants, the noble families – these are those who have “made it.”  It is said that the streets in East Ward are cleaner, wider, smoother and better-lit, that the homes are large and warm and no one ever goes hungry. That is what they say. But you wouldn’t know – no one gets into East Ward unless they belong there. The Hive… that is where the Empire says you, and others of your ilk, belong. Buildings of pitted brick and crumbling plaster are packed tightly together, stacked atop one another in the fashion of a wasps’ nest. Ancient puddles of scummy, stagnant water stand in the cracks and gullies of the uneven cobblestone streets. The tight enclosing walls are streaked with grime. Beggars and lepers sleep beneath tattered blankets in the gutters; dirty-faced children play stickball in the road. The Imperials never come here and the only Hivers who manage to leave do so in pine boxes. The Hive is a scientific model of the theory of evolution – survival of the fittest.Welcome to the end of the world.Edited for clarity.</blockquote>

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