Underbelly

Underbelly is a location in Torment: Tides of Numenera.

Background
Every city has its slums and Sagus Cliffs is no different. The Underbelly is where the filthy industry of the city is located, along with the downtrodden, impoverished, and the hunted. Paipers live side by side with merchants and workers, while the Dendra O'Hur move in the shadows, bringing the dead for consumption. A lovely place, in other words.

The Manufactory is the most interesting part of the Underbelly. Its leader, The Master Foreman is a large, ancient construct, about twice the size of a human. It looks as though it was built for heavy labor, but it's now frozen in place, as if shut down in the midst of its work. However, it can still think and speak, and it directs the work of all the human smiths and workers in the manufactory.

Long ago (a prior world), this construct and the two others in the chamber (and possibly others) performed the heavy labor of building and maintaining the starships. At some point, all their bodily functions were shut down by their superiors, without explanation. Only their minds were left 'on,' leaving the constructs to find some other purpose or meaning for their existences.

Fortunately, their machine minds were designed to be flexible, and they slowly adapted themselves to think more abstractly, analyzing the work they had done for centuries, devising ways to do it more efficiently, and making plans to fabricate all manner of (mostly mundane) objects. They also came to understand the principles of cobbling the numenera into useful forms and knowing which items to use for what purposes. But they had no way to put their knowledge into action.

When humans found their way into the Underbelly in the early days of Sagus, the constructs taught them to engineer great public works, fabricate all the basic items they needed to survive, and make use of the numenera they excavated from the underneath the city, providing Sagus Cliffs with an early and critical advantage over its neighbors. Their workers fabricate all of the metal and synth objects needed by the city authorities (e.g., weapons and armor for the Levies, cobbled numenera when needed) as well as many ordinary objects that are distributed to citizens by the authorities for a small fee. They are also permitted to take on some jobs that interest them, as they are not technically answerable to the authorities.

The Foreman was responsible for devising the system that redirected the energy from one of the buried starships to many different uses for the local people. These pipes were scavenged from some of the ruins under the city, and the Foremen directed the human laborers to assemble them as they are now. (This happened centuries ago - fortunately, the pipes are made of durable stuff, and they've held up all this time.)

Points of interest

 * The Underbelly is fairly spread out. In the heart lies Mechela's stall, with the exit to the Denra O'Hur Chapel to the northeast.
 * The Manufactory is to the northwest. You can interact with the disabled construct to the left, the Master Artisan.
 * Aligern's Lab is to the south-west. Next to it is a pillar of orbs that you can use to communicate across space and time using rude gestures. Rhin shows her sarcastic side on that point.
 * The exit to Cliff's Edge is to the east. In the tunnel near the exit, you can excavate the rockslide with, allowing you to gain 2 XP when you mention it to Ch'kekt.
 * The fishing rod in the south, near Crooked Qeek, yields a Sparkle if used once. If you come back and use it on successive days, you'll eventually get an Abtrucense, which grants a permanent +1 Might bonus when used.

Characters

 * Aligern: After he leaves your company, he can be found in his lab to the south-west.
 * Manth Pa and the Headless Man are in the shacks to the southwest.
 * Crooked Qeek is by the creek to the south. Varrenoth is nearby.
 * Fulsome is by the inlet to the southeast.
 * Mapper is right by the central pillar.
 * Meatmonger is opposite the exit to Cliff's Edge.
 * Peliai and his levies are to the northeast, near the sticha and Ch'kekt.
 * Mechela stands in the center, near the corridor to the Dedra O'Hur chapel.
 * Tarnish and the Supervisor can be found at the Manufactory, together with the Master Artisan, Master Foreman, and the Crippled Foreman.
 * Wheedle is by the inlet to the southeast.