Sigil: City of Doors

Jacob stepped out of his small kip in the hive and stretched broadly. He was a very large man, easily six and a half feet tall with a chest as round as a barrel. His greying hair hung loosely with the odd lock of hair tangled in his beard. A slight scratch of his belly as he surveyed the street he called home. It was a busy section of the Hive with people moving up and down the street heading to their varied destinations. Some merchants sold their wares while the odd filcher tried to take what they could. Children ran amok, squealing and yelling as they played games in the mud and filth of the lane. It was loud and smelled poorly but for JacobÂ… it was home.

Most people liked the large man as he was mostly friendly with his neighbors and treated them fairly. He also spent a great amount of his time ensuring the locals were safe. See, Jacob didnÂ’t like people telling other people what to do. DidnÂ’t matter if it was a local gang boss or an errant Harmonium patrol bent on enforcement, if you came into his neighborhood and tried to push your weight aroundÂ… youÂ’d usually end up speaking to him and he wasnÂ’t much for long conversations. This particular day was no different. As he stood out front of his home, still waking up from a night of drinking, a young boy ran up to him.

“Sol! Sol! They’re here for pop! Says he gotta pay them! They gonna hurt him!” said the child as he pointed down the street. The child’s name was Dan and his father was a local baker. It wasn’t uncommon for the locals to be shaken down by local gangs for protection money so Jacob knew immediately what needed to be done. He quickly made his way through the street to the shop. Inside was a local gang leader and two of his thugs. They immediately noticed Jacob. “This is none of yer business, Sol… jes go away. We gonna have a word with…”. He didn’t finish his sentence before his jaw snapped from the blow of Jacobs’s fist. The man fell hard and fast. His two crony’s tried to attack Jacob in retaliation but didn’t get far. One was hurled through the boarded up window to land unconscious in the street and the other was slammed into the wall and dropped to the floor, a few teeth falling out of his mouth. Jacob was no worse for wear and had barely broke a sweat. The three men were dragged down the street to the edge of the neighborhood where the Harmonium maintained a small checkpoint. They were then tossed in a heap in front of the guards. They were not surprised.

“Tyne and two of his boys, ey, Jake?” said the Notary as he handed Jacob a small pouch of jink. Jacob nodded to them as he took the coins. “Same as before like agreed. I turn ‘em over to you… you ain’t got reasons to come in”. The Notary nodded and shackled the still unconscious men. It was a shaky agreement but efficient enough. They would turn over troublemakers to the Harmonium in return for being left alone and bit of Jink for bounty. For the most part, it worked. Jacob tossed the coinpouch to Dan. “Fer your father to pay fer damages”. The child took the money and ran home.

It was till morning and the day was young. Time to find something else to do for the day.

((Feel free to add anything should you wish))

Things had changed a little in JacobsÂ’s small house. He had suddenly acquired a family. One of the neighbors had recently experienced tragedy. A woman who lived nearby with her three children had taken ill and perished. Her children had been left to fend for themselves. It being the Hive, charity and compassion were usually in short supply so Jacob did what he had to do. He had brought the three children into his small kip to watch over them himself.

In order to make things livable, Jacob had to organize things a bit. First thing was to move his cot out of the only bedroom in the small two room house. He stood it up, leaning it against the wall in the kitchen/eating area to keep it out of the way. He would move the table each night to make room for the cot and reset everything the following morning for the day. In the bedroom he crafted and hung 3 firm hammocks for the children. The house was built with only the one entrance so anything wanting them, would have to go through him. Although he wasnÂ’t much of a father figure, they would be safe, fed and cared for. He knew he would have to reach out to others to ensure their future but who and where were the questions he couldnÂ’t answer. For such a large man with a rough exterior, he held a great amount of empathy for others.

He also made a point to remind the locals that the children were his and it would be a graveÂ…. grave error if anything should happen to them. They knew him enough to know that his tone was serious and his threats real as his Sledge hammer was always within easy reach. He knew that in life, you rolled with the punches. It is what it is.