The Luthadel Underground

[Ruin]

The Luthadel Underground

The Luthadel Underground is split into several parts. The first part is crews, groups of skaa that dislike working in the mills, forges and textile factories of Luthadel and instead work together to steal from nobles and Obligators. The second part is formed by simple beggars, run alone thieves, smugglers and the rare skaa informants. Next is the whorehouses, where most females who find their way into the Underground end up. The last part is the rebels, those considered by most of the skaa population to be optimistic lackwits and fools.

Normal Thieving Crews
Headed by a single crew leader, life in crews is pretty simple. If your crew is the kind that scams nobles or Obligators, everyone works together and then each person gets a cut depending on their rank. However, some crews are simply groups of thieves brought together for the sake of protection. While the thieves are still headed by a crew leader and still sleep under the same roof, they only ban together for large missions, usually the ransacking of some mill or forge that is known to contain a large amount of valuables or money. In these less-structured crews, life is much more brutal and everyone keeps whatever they can get for themselves, unless they beat someone else up and take their valuables.

Crew leaders are determined by fights for the title. If a lower thief can beat up or kill the crew leader then they take the defeated skaa’s place. In conning crews this is risky, however; challengers stand to gain a larger cut from any scams, but if a crew leader who is more talented at conning the nobles and Obligators is displaced, the entire crew loses its profit.

Allomantic Thieving Crews
The second kind of thieving crew is made up of allomancers- usually a specific kind of allomancer, for example a crew made up entirely of soothers. These types of crews are especially useful to skaa mistings because the people in them are specialized and masters of their metal. They take on new members and train them on how to burn their metal effectively in order to get the best result. These crews are often more profitable then normal crews, since they have unique talents and powers that allow for expanded opportunity. For example a crew of thugs can be bought out as bodyguards for some merchant skaa. A crew of smokers is often used by other Allomantic crews in order to hide from the Inquisitors.

Whore Houses
Most of the women who find their way to the Luthadel Underground will end up here. Any time someone decides a girl is simply too much to deal with, they will sell her to the brothels. Nobles come to these often and pay the owner of the house well for their services. However if it is ever seen that one of the prostitutes here is pregnant she is immediately executed; after all, we can’t have mixed blood.
Note: This is the main reason this site is PG-14, because this is a big part of noble life.

Underground Passageways
Around the walls of Luthadel and in the cellars of a few old houses are small caves, hidden and guarded by unnoticed beggars. In reality these holes are passages under the walls of Luthadel that go on for miles until they eventually open up into villages and deserted areas miles away from the Lord Ruler’s city. Each of these holes, or sometimes even a group of holes, is run by a family of smugglers. The families are willing to smuggle any one or anything into the city for a small (not really) fee. However the tunnels are closely guarded secrets and there are certain tricks needed to contact the family to tell them you will need something smuggled. Many rebels or thieves will use these passages to smuggle fighters or forbidden goods in, or those that need to disappear for a time out. The families are each run by their ‘head’ or a group of people who make the decisions regarding the tunnels and every person helps with the smuggling. Typically, the fit men will guard the entrances on the outside, kids will hold the lanterns for those who walk the caverns, elders will act as beggars in order to keep a watch on the entrance of the tunnels, and women work to keep the caves in good shape.

Rebels
Though they are a rather small group and most people think they are rather stupid, the rebels still manage to hide and collect new members. Recently they are spending most of the time hiding and running from the Inquisitors and Obligators because they know things about Allomancy that they aren’t supposed to. At the moment, the Rebels have decided that hiding will help their cause better then recruiting, so small groups of rebels have banned together and are simply trying to live normal lives until it is safe to start bringing new people to the cause.