Hobeck

Hobeck is the former capital city of the Azure Isles, and the largest by far, spanning half of the island. Its status as capital was revoked after it became known as the crime citadel of the world, the honour instead going to the Azure Beaches.

Hobeck is disorderly and chaotic in both its residents and its design. Hobeck was designed and built very quickly due to the fact that the island’s benefactors weren’t getting as much money back as they thought. It’s a labyrinth of streets that will easily disorient any newcomers, and this is made worse by the prevalence of concrete high-rise buildings. These block the view and largely look very similar, as not much thought was put into their construction. Moreover, there’s usually a thick smog over the area and building often conceal the sun, placing Hobeck in perpetual darkness. Plant life is almost completely non-existent and parks are usually destroyed.

Most Hobeckians live in poverty, while some are extremely rich. There’s no in-between, as anyone with enough money will probably have the sense to get the hell out of there. Hobeck was marketed as a ‘free world’, and plane tickets and housing were sold very cheaply in order to convince people to move there. The prospect of a new life inevitably attracted people who had no life to begin with, and many gamblers, criminals and people in huge debt flocked to the city.

Crime was immediately on the rise and was threatening to spill out into the richer cities, so the government decided to ‘contain’ it by being very strict on crime within Azure Beaches and Eden, and much more lax within Hobeck. They hoped this would inspire criminals to stay within Hobeck, and this worked a little too well. Hobeck became known as the crime hub of the world, a place where you didn’t have to worry about the police.

Due to the lack of government and police presence, Hobeck is very unmaintained. Streetlamps are often broken and buildings abandoned. Fires aren’t uncommon because of overcrowding, the control of which is usually left to the citizens. Gangs tend to control fires and other disasters within their own areas of influence, becoming their own sort of police system.

Homeless are rife in Hobeck, as many moved without much money to begin with, and some were just driven out of their homes. Jobs are unpredictable as many places of work are raided for not belonging to a particular gang. Because of gang influence, most workplaces are either illegal or connected to the criminal system.