 |
 |
 |
|
The Rogue Isles are a mysterious archipelago that exists in a bizarre hiccup in international law that has them claimed by no country. Over the years the islands have been the home to a pirate fortress, smuggling rings, arms merchants, and all sorts of other nefarious characters. Lord Recluse, who was initially introduced in City of Heroes, manages to utilize this "blind spot" to have the islands declared a sovereign nation by the U.N. and himself a head-of-state, immune to arrest and prosecution in the United States. He then sets the islands up as a loosely controlled criminal oligarchy overseen by himself and his lieutenants, collectively known as Arachnos.
There is a Gothic feel and random haphazard architecture with narrow, crooked streets, and a lot more variation on individual areas ranging from an old pirate fort to toxic industrial wastelands. Arachnos isn't really big on zoning restrictions, so people build wherever they can and don't worry about stuff like OSHA regulations and EPA requirements.
The result is a society that seems to be running along Mafia lines. Much the way that the Mafia were infamous for controlling random street crime in their own neighborhoods, that's essentially what passes for law and order in the City of Villains. The city has a police force, who, while being completely corrupt, are nonetheless pretty effective at keeping the street clear of petty criminals (more effective, in fact, than regular police since they don't have to worry about pesky things like Miranda warnings). The player's mission structure reflects that Mafia-like tendency for criminal gangs to jockey against each other to claim pieces of "turf." |
|
 |
|
 |
