Rustwater

Rustwater District

  In the smog-choked expanse of Grizburg, where toxic mists from the Kalnith Jungle merge with industrial pollution, the Rustwater District sprawls like an open wound across the city's northern expanse. Known locally as "The Chemical Quarter," this sprawling bazaar never sleeps, its countless stalls and shops offering everything from mundane weapons to forbidden artifacts harvested from the jungle's darkest corners, all centered around the chemically-tainted river that gives the district its name.     The district's foundations form a maze of half-submerged chambers and hidden vaults, where the real business of Grizburg transpires in shadow. The tainted waters flowing through these underground spaces have corroded metal and stone over generations, creating naturally defensible spaces claimed by various criminal factions including Slazgar Two-Eyes' arms network and overseen by the Brinkburn family from their imposing Iron Hold fortress-factory.     Above ground, the architecture mocks conventional engineering as this vertical city rises in precarious tiers above the poisoned river. Rickety towers and bridges constructed from salvaged materials lean at impossible angles, held together by questionable science and desperate magic influenced by reality-warping energies bleeding down from the nearby Shadowspire District. Merchants string their wares between buildings on cables that crisscross the sky, creating a chaotic canopy of goods and contraband swaying in the acidic breeze.  

"The river doesn't just carry poison - it carries secrets. Every drop holds a whisper of power, if you know how to listen."

- Kregan Brinkburn

  The infamous bazaars operate continuously across five distinct zones, each catering to specific clientele and levels of criminality. The Upper Markets maintain a veneer of legitimacy during daylight hours, while the Twilight Bazaar specializes in questionable merchandise as shifts change. The Night Market, operating in the district's deepest recesses, trades exclusively in items and services forbidden even under Grizburg's loose laws. Alchemists' Row glows with unnatural light as practitioners transmute river poison into profit, while the Submerged Quarter hosts underwater deals in chambers partially flooded with caustic water.  

The Four Chemical Reservoirs

  Four dark blue water features throughout Rustwater serve specialized functions in the district's complex chemical economy. The primary reservoir collects and processes the most valuable compounds extracted from the toxic river, where Brinkburn alchemists harvest unique substances that command astronomical prices throughout the known world. The secondary basin serves as a settling pond where the most dangerous chemical precipitates concentrate before specialized disposal, while also providing the caustic water used in the Submerged Quarter's underwater trading chambers.   The third reservoir functions as an experimental facility where new alchemical processes undergo testing, its waters carefully monitored for the chemical reactions that produce the district's most profitable and dangerous compounds. The fourth serves as emergency containment for chemical accidents and overflow during seasonal floods that bring concentrated toxins from the jungle upriver, though many locals claim this reservoir has developed its own ecosystem of mutated organisms that serve as ingredients for the most exotic alchemical preparations.   Chemistry defines the district's character through the Brinkburn family's innovations. Their alchemists harvest unique compounds from the reservoirs' depths, while local taverns serve drinks laced with trace amounts of the water, claiming they grant visions or enhance negotiation skills. The long-term effects remain unstudied, though mutation rates continue to rise among the population that swells from twelve thousand to nearly twenty thousand souls during peak trading seasons.  

Iron Hold

  Iron Hold stands as the Brinkburn family's imposing fortress-factory, a separate complex that dominates Rustwater's eastern approach where conventional metallurgy meets forbidden knowledge drawn from the Whispering Depths. From this heavily fortified workshop-fortress, matriarch Kregan Brinkburn oversees an empire built on ruthless business practices and unparalleled industrial innovation, her influence seeping through every level of Rustwater's society like the river's own corruption.   The facility serves as both production center and arcane laboratory where the Brinkburns have pioneered methods of infusing industrial processes with eldritch energy, creating weapons and artifacts that blur the line between technology and sorcery. The complex houses the most sophisticated metallurgical equipment in the district, including specialized forges that can process materials enhanced with Dead God artifacts while maintaining the security necessary to protect the family's most valuable trade secrets from the criminal factions that surround them.   The criminal ecosystem thrives like a dark, mutated garden throughout the district. Hidden workshops in the Forge-Clans perform "unauthorized modifications" that transform mundane weapons into artifacts of terrifying power, while smuggling operations wind through networks of corroded tunnels, moving goods between the corrupted jungle and markets that even the Council of Thirteen pretend not to see. Slazgar Two-Eyes maintains significant influence through his arms dealing network, operating from his secret fortress-factory Dreadmil where conventional weapons manufacturing conceals sinister soul-processing operations.  

"In Rustwater, every drop of water holds a story. Every breath carries a price. And every deal might be your last."

- Anonymous River Merchant

  Local governance falls to a loose coalition of guild bosses and crime lords who maintain order through a delicate dance of mutual threats and shared interests. The Eyes of Tezra maintain a significant presence, their otherworldly gazes ensuring that certain boundaries remain inviolate and properly sanctioned corruption flows as smoothly as the tainted river. Slazgar Two-Eyes wields considerable influence through his weapons network, while the Tunnel Lords control underground domains and the Alchemists' Collective experiments with substances that blur the line between science and sorcery.   The district's relationship with the Bloodclaw Warband pulses with complexity. While their leadership publicly denounces Rustwater's activities, their elite warriors prowl the Night Market, seeking enhanced weapons and exotic stimulants derived from flora that should not exist. Many whisper that the Brinkburns encourage this hypocrisy, seeing opportunity in the contradiction between public rhetoric and private need.   The air carries value beyond mere breath - merchants collect and bottle unique combinations of industrial fumes and jungle toxins, selling them to spellcasters who claim these vapors enhance communion with powers that lurk in the Whispering Depths. The district's most successful traders have developed filtration systems that harvest specific compounds from the atmosphere, though many go mad from exposure to their own wares as the perpetually humid and acidic atmosphere creates frequent colored rains and strange atmospheric phenomena.   Deep beneath the marketplace lies the Drowned Exchange, where underwater deals transpire in chambers partially filled with caustic river water accessed through the extensive network of corroded tunnels that honeycomb the earth beneath. Specialized breathing apparatus, developed in the Brinkburns' secret laboratories, allows traders to stay submerged for hours in these naturally defensible spaces. Those who emerge often bear permanent marks - both physical and spiritual - that hint at transformations occurring beneath the surface.  

"The Rust Mothers see all that transpires in their domain. Their wisdom flows through corrupted veins, their whispers echo in dreams of rust and ruin."

- Vezra Blackbilge

  The district hosts a thriving black market in artifacts recovered from the Whispering Depths. These relics, bearing traces of Dead God essence, command astronomical prices in the Dark Market where forbidden artifacts and experimental weapons change hands in the perpetual chemical haze. Some say the Brinkburns encourage this trade not for profit, but to study how these artifacts interact with their own experimental technologies that push the boundaries between industrial innovation and forbidden knowledge.   Local legends speak of the Rust Mothers - entities that emerged from generations of exposure to the district's unique chemical and magical environment. These beings dwell in the most corroded sections of the underground tunnels, trading forbidden knowledge for biological sacrifices. Some claim they are failed experiments from the early days of the Brinkburn family's rise to power, while their cult maintains underground temple complexes and conducts religious ceremonies that channel Dead God energies.   The Rustwater's population reflects its nature as a nexus of commerce and corruption. Goblin merchants comprise over half the permanent residents and have adapted to thrive in the toxic environment, while orcs stride through the marketplace wearing elaborate filtration masks, their green skin mottled with chemical burns that mark them as longtime residents. Humans, making up barely a tenth of the population, cluster in the upper levels where the air is marginally less toxic, alongside a fascinating menagerie of tieflings, half-orcs, and beings so transformed by exposure that their original race becomes impossible to determine.   Several notorious establishments have transcended mere business to become institutions. The Corroded Crown tavern serves drinks in metallically-enhanced glasses that slowly dissolve as patrons drink, allegedly improving the flavor while binding them to the district's corrupting influence. The Acid Bath brothel offers "transformative experiences" that customers find physically impossible to describe afterward, though their changed appearances speak volumes about the district's capacity for fundamental change.   Weather patterns take on supernatural qualities as jungle mists merge with industrial smoke. Rain falls in impossible colors, sometimes flowing upward or freezing in mid-air, while lightning displays properties that defy natural law. The locals have developed elaborate systems of prediction based on these phenomena, though many prophets go mad or vanish after particularly accurate forecasts, their fate adding to the district's reputation for consuming those who delve too deeply into its secrets.  

The Price of Progress

  As night falls over Rustwater, the true nature of the district emerges. Shadows cast by the Shadowspire's towers stretch impossibly long, carrying whispers of ancient powers and forgotten technologies that influence the district's impossible architecture. The waters of the river and its four chemical reservoirs glow with an unhealthy light, while strange shapes move beneath their surfaces, neither fully organic nor entirely mechanical.   The Brinkburn family watches over all from their Iron Hold fortress, their influence spreading like a chemical stain through every level of society. Their experiments continue day and night, pushing the boundaries between industrial innovation and forbidden knowledge while Slazgar Two-Eyes conducts his own mysterious operations from Dreadmil's soul-processing forges. Many wonder if their combined quest for power will eventually consume the district entirely, transforming it into something beyond even their control.   Yet still the markets buzz with activity across all five zones, the forges burn with unnatural fire enhanced by Dead God energies, and deals are struck in corroded chambers deep beneath the earth where the Drowned Vaults hold secrets too dangerous for surface storage. In Rustwater, everything has a price - be it measured in gold, blood markers that bind life force to debt, or transformation of body and soul. And as the district evolves, taking on aspects of both mechanical precision and organic chaos, one truth remains constant: in this crucible of corruption and commerce, survival demands adaptation, no matter the cost to body or soul.