The Junk City Jerks

Junk City, as the name suggests, is a district of Gateway known for vast, mountainous salvage yards and clutter-clogged roads and alleys, and the many infamous hoarders and junksmiths that haunt them. But what many don’t realize is that Junk City was once home to some of the richest caches of magical artifacts, tools, and devices in the Known World. Every block of Junk City was jammed with a variety of antique stores, curio shops, second-hand shops, reliquariums, crystal outlets, consignment shops, and pawn shops. Its bustling, cacophonous markets were the city’s primary staging ground for many of the largest rare artifacts trading centers, and in the late 1600s an official guild with its own complex governance and regulations was formed to manage and regulate them. It was called the Junk Exchange and served as the destination for folks from all over the Known World to buy, sell, and trade magical items, until it was disbanded in 1865.

At the height of the Exchange’s popularity, Junk City, despite its shabby appearance, was bustling with activity. But as Gideon’s Inquisition was ascending, the district was identified as one of the more difficult to police so it was targeted for special treatment. Using an army of previously decommissioned municipal constructs called The Sledge (basically walking bulldozers), the City Guard attempted to forcefully clear many of the roadways and alleys clogged with junk and debris. But as soon as one intersection was cleared another one a block away became clogged with junk.

It was the residents of Junk City, uninterested in having their streets “fixed” by the constabulary, who organized grassroots efforts to replace the piles. In heated town hall-style meetings, locals told City Guard representatives that clearing out junk from Junk City would change the character of the district and interrupt the natural flow of the markets, which worked in concert with the directed flows of traffic. They warned that Junk City’s markets would not be able to operate successfully if the City Guard continued with its plan; the Junk Exchange would suffer, as would the local economy.

The City Guard Commandant in charge of the cleanup effort reportedly stormed out of one of the meetings, fed up with the stubbornness of the residents and saying for all to hear that he was “done with these Junk City Jerks!” Llewelyn Craigmor, an old arcaenist and Junk City historian who represented the district on the City Council, overheard the outburst and used it as a badge of honor for himself and the people he represented. Llew then organized street protests and anti-cleanup sit-ins across the district.

He recruited a few respected local wizards to assist him as the City Guard’s tactics, including the razing of entire blocks of unregulated markets, became more brutal. The wizard helpers were a striggan (batfolk) sonomancer named Samara K'Thesh, a drueggarkin cephalomancer named Yanuk, and a magilith (a wizard who has encased their soul in a carven stone) named Alcheronis who was aided by his familiar, Mr. Molchee. Unsurprisingly, this small band of mischief makers called themselves “The Junk City Jerks.”