Arcanepath.net

Hinterland: From German Hinterland, from hinter ('behind') + Land ('land').
1. A remote or undeveloped area, a backwater.
2. A forgotten Place.

January 1984 - An Undisclosed Basement Below The Imperial Capital.
The official screwed up his nose, dressed in his Norton & Sons suit he looked disdainfully at the dingy basement office where such meetings were conducted with annoying regularity. A distainful odour had invaded the room.
Stood within the shadows his guard resolutely poised, while the source of the odour settled into the high backed chair provided, grinning at the officials discomfort and annoyance.

The figure who sat was dressed in a bedraggled set of clothing, his faced lined in curious ways not normal in an average man, small sharp eyes that missed little in the way of detail nor opportunity, thick grey whiskers extended from pits in his cheeks as well as from amongst his eyebrows, betraying his rodent genes.

Daley Vaaish smiled a hungry smile at the official, he particularly enjoyed his meetings on behalf of the Stepney Sewer King Douglas Grimaldi.
"So lets get this over with!" started the official with a derisive tone
"Normally I get a cuppa!" replied Vaaish with mock anguish, removing his fingerless gloves, stretching his nimble fingers and emitting loud cracks from his knuckles
"And last month you assured me that this little skirmish of your Kings wouldn't affect production or get out of hand!" spat the official
The Gamma's eyes narrowed, however a smile crossed his face "We're jus following our great empires example of staking our claim!"
The official looked less than impressed, nether the less he still bit "Your petty squabbles are not quite colonial ambition, more like a gangland territory war!"
"I fink we can debate the differences in words all day"
"Quite, so a 3% drop in output and delivery to the Crown Rail Depots in Wapping and this has nothing to do with the fighting" the official looked up from his Whitehall headed reports
"I was saying no such fing" replied Vaaish "Casualties of war" he shrugged
"Not to mention that your fighting spilled out into the open, which is a direct breach of terms and your assurance last month!"continued the official without seeming to take any notice of Vaaish's reply
"Perhaps I should be done with it and hand the entire contract to Lambeth"

"I don't fink you should be too asty"
"Oh why is that, your king continually goes back on his word, actually to be frank I think he has no intention of honouring his word, every assurance given in the past year has been broken and in fact been a lie, I don't think there's any haste on my part, the States patience is running very thin!"
The official leaned forward to emphasis his point, although Daley was never aware of his name nor was it ever given, this suit was not some office clerk, the Gamma had a knack for reading people, this one had police or even military all over him, no push over.

"Cup of tea" tested Daley, the officials cold stare remained
"The king is not about to apologise for protecting what is family as taken so long to build and we ave been protecting production, I can't answer for the Loons owever they've upped their game, sabotage, murder all sorts which unfortunately as an effect"
The official sighed "So The Stepney Sovereigns are the innocent victims of unprovoked attacks!"
"Don't be silly, this is a war, its tit for tat, owever to cut to the chase, they'll be no shortfall in production this month and we'll be delivering the missed 3%"
The official scowled "Far to easy, what's going on?"
"Lets jus say that the Loons won't be in a position to affect our production this month or ever after" Daley's face grew dark, a vicious leer crept across his features
The official seemed either unwilling or interested in the details "I'm sure your king is familiar with the concept of compensation, there'll be an additional 2% yield expected, so to be absolutely clear this month you'll meet your quota plus 5%, 2% you bear the cost!"
Daley shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the Sewer Kingdoms were the ultimate opportunist's conceding anything gratis was anathema to them, still the suits held a lot of power and muscle.
"After all I wouldn't want to take the steps of reinforcing the Sewer Watch with members of the Constabulary particularly Tactical Officers, now would we!"
"Agreed" Daley finally replied, at that point the stoic bodyguard arrived with his mug of tea
The official whispered in the guards ear to attend to something, while his attention was away Sewer Duke Daley Vaaish allowed himself a cunning smile, all he had to do now was ensure that they stole the 5% from the Loons, 1984 was certainly shaping up to be an enterprising year.

January 1984 – The Thames Overflow Tunnels, The Stepney Sewer Kingdom, Below The Imperial Capital.
The overflow tunnels were some twelve feet wide and easily fifteen feet deep, designed to carry vast amounts of storm and tidal waters, it was full flow swollen with early spring currents and high tide.
Millicent Reid or Milly to her folk was tall for a Gamma, good five feet which meant she towered over her companions, the stocky and stalwart Roight waited by the waters edge, Nise hung back in the shadows and old Tom stood in the access archway that led into the main tunnel.

The final members of their group Wooks and Booth steered the collection of oilskin kayaks into the ledge. Roight growled at Nise and the younger Gamma stirred himself to start loading the earthenware bottles into the boats, Old Tom supervised Milly tying a series of water sealed barrels to back of each kayak.
Each member of their party had a short spear and large knives, standard fair for the sewer folk, the exception was Roight who carried his home made Blunderbuss.

The loading and tethering complete they boarded, Wooks and Booth both had their scarves covering their mouths and controlling their respective boats, they waited until the ebb carried the waters level down they powered off, each of their passengers gripping their paddles and furiously rowing.
Each ducked as the surge carried them close to the ceiling , leaning to carry them straight as the tunnel descended at a 50 degree angle, the next tunnel flattened out the waters still charging them into the next part of the labyrinth.

January 1984 – Sub Level 5 Route Tunnels, Below The Imperial Capital.
They’d come ashore at a pillar foundation in the depths of sublevel 5, the London sewer system was immense, not as large as the giant Great Metropolis but massive nether the less.
As the key Crown cities expanded and were revitalised their infrastructures were also expanded, in this case downwards, within the Capital this was all the more necessary to channel the water of the Thames beneath the city.

“What happened to the Beatles Tom?” asked Milly, the old gamma smiled, she’d picked up on Wook’s whistling the subversive song “The Yellow Submarine”
The group had set up camp, a welcome fire to warm them and river cobbler fished from the fresher water pools, in fact Milly found herself eating better than she normally did.
“They fled to America” Tom replied and looked at Wooks “Probably heard it in the Scope, still drifts round up there I hear”
Wook’s handed her a plate of cooked cobbler, neither he nor Booth had removed their highwayman scarfs, added to their mystery she thought, he took his seat, she noticed that neither of them were eating.
Nise was guarding the barrels while Roight scouted the area, they were far from the beaten track and hopefully far from Loon Scouts, but the sewer folk ranged far and wide.

Milly turned to her gadgets, adding further pieces to her device.
“Watcha got there” asked Wook’s eyes bright with curiosity
She smiled girlishly “I’m trying to build a Scope point to get some music” she replied,
Wook’s looked impressed despite his scarf “Clever girl”