Description

[Flession]

Population: Anywhere between 1,200 to 24,380
Social Class: Lower
Character: Empty, distraught tenement buildings haunt the empty, winding streets.
District Type: Slums
Buildings: Poor residences, poor lodgings, poor services
First Impressions: The walls of the buildings in this district are covered in graffiti of varying talents. People tumble around going from place to place, mostly from nameless tavern to nameless tavern, in an attempt to forget their bleak existence.

The Xaositects don't have an official headquarters. They don't even have an unofficial headquarters. Oh, there are places they hang out, where a body can always find a few Chaosmen. 'Course, it likely won't be the same Chaosmen who were there yesterday. If asked, though, most Xaositects claim the Hive as their headquarters. They don't mean the whole Hive Ward, but the section within the Hive Ward called the Hive. The sprawling slum boasts decaying hovels and nameless streets, tenements as crowded as rat dens, and taverns and flophouses that the word "sleazy" doesn't even begin to describe. In this ever-changing place, buildings fall daily, only to be replaced later by new temporary structures. Some businesses have operated there for years, often changing owners without notice, and more than a few bashers conduct business there every day, always on a different corner from the day before. Corpses decompose in the reeking Ditch. The Hive's a chaotic jumble, a place where a body can easily get lost.

In other words, it's perfect for the Xaositects.

Chaosmen wander the area in groups, doing what they will, but generally avoiding Harmonium patrols that strut through from time to time. A basher can always find a Xaositect in the Hive, whether he wants to or not. Karan and the big bosses wander the area, talking to people, checking on things. (Even they don't seem to know exactly what. - Ed.) Until the Hardheads figure out how to handle them, the Xaositects rule here .. (Harmonium Factol Sarin has more than once rejected the idea of burning down the Hive. - Ed.)

'Course, it's an easy rule, one without laws. Either a body belongs or he doesn't, and a cutter that doesn't be- long (like a Hardhead, an annoying Clueless, or just any- body the Chaosmen don't like at the time) might pay the music for a trip to the Hive. Though not malicious, most Xaositects by their very nature prove dangerous. Faction members do venture into the rest of the Hive Ward sometimes, singly or in groups, and it seldom takes more than a minute or two to find some Chaosmen there. The rest of the Hive Ward, though also a slum, seems much less chaotic and degenerate than the center that gave the ward its name.