According to the propaganda, the City is a bastion of humanity's best and brightest, an isle of civilization bobbing in a vast sea of darkness and danger. Under the watchful guidance of the Head, the 25 Districts of the City - each the territory of individual, powerful megacorporations known as Wings of the World - run with clockwork certainty, keeping the horrors of the Outskirts at bay.

[Select one.]

>(Backstreet Boy) If you hadn't been born, raised, and bloodied in the City's very own Backstreets, you might have had room in your withered heart to believe such flowery prose. Unfortunately, you know better. Only in the Nests will you ever know safety, but now that you've carved out a little place of your own in the guts and muck of the City, you're not about to let it go. [+5 to Physical Stats] [W-District Backstreets]

>(Nest Egg) You had a roof over your head, food in the fridge, and people you could consider acquaintances, if not quite friends. Then, the week following the Dark Days left you orphaned, alone, and just a few steps shy of destitute. There's no time to waste; with your current savings, you'll have to enter the workforce before the month ends. Life in a Nest doesn't come cheap, and errant Feathers will soon be plucked. It won't be easy, but you'll manage. You have to. [+5 to Mental Stats] [K-District Nest]

>(Dregs And Remnants) You remember the warmth of a distant light–but nothing else comes to mind. Waking up in the midst of crumbling ruins, surrounded by cooling corpses and tacky blood… You're alive for now, but whatever did this could come back for you at any moment. There's nowhere for you to go but up-and there's no one to help you but yourself. [+5 to Physical/Mental Stats] [+3 to Identity Stats] [Face the Fear]

—

Salve Your Tears. Pay In Blood.

Welcome to Pay Your Taxes Quest, a tale of the common man's common struggle. If you fail to meet your monthly quota, the Head will catch you in the grip of its Claws.

The secret to happiness? To lead a life worth dying for.