The City

The City

The City is not a simple slang, but the actual name of the city in which the Thief series is situated and where Garrett lives. It is a huge sprawling metropolis bisected by a wide-spanning river. The City and its surroundings is the setting for all canon and most of the fan missions.

Administration

The City itself is an autonomous city-state. It is not subordinate to any jurisdiction but its own. It is ruled by a Baron, who is in charge of trade, taxes, laws and the army. Below the Baron are representatives who are in charge of the different departments, including the Sheriff, who is in charge of the City Watch. The Baron is supreme commander of the City's army and leads it to war. The City is currently at war with another city-state called Blackbrook. The games provide little information about the rest of the world in which the city resides, or the war the The City is fighting.

Culture

Religion

Hammerite

The prevalent faith is the Order of the Hammer, a techno-theological authoritarian religion whose various inventions have made The City into the economic powerhouse it currently is. The Hammerites themselves are extremely pious and efficient, with harsh penalties for misdeeds.

Mechanist

The splinter group known as the Mechanists lead by former-Hammer Karras, sought to drive the Hammerite agenda further and farther, to the point of eradicating all organic life. They were popular with the City Watch, rich business owners and nobles, for their technology, wealth and gifts. The religion quickly disbanded and became very unpopular after Karras' demise at Soulforge Cathedral.

Pagan

The Pagan presence in The City rose steadily following the death of Constantine. Pagans have an affinity for nature and a hatred of civilization and progress. They inhabit abandoned buildings and fields, often displacing the surrounding residents and conduct their operations in secret. They do not seem interested in preaching to the local townspeople, although there are some cases of conversion, most notably that of Alfred Hurley.

Other

The majority of The City's population do not seem to be deeply religious. Guards and commoners may utter "God" as an oath, but it is not clear what god they are referring to. Hammerites/Pagans that interact with commoners/nobles/guards etc and even themselves will comment on their faith or lack thereof.

Language

English is the main language spoken in The City, and is stratified into distinct dialects. The Hammerites and Mechanists speak in a sort of archaic English, similar to the style of speech seen in King James Version Bibles. Pagans speak in a fractured pidgin. Modern English is spoken through all citizen classes. Commoners and guards speak with American or British Cockney accents, or Poshed American or British accents for the upper class. Even stereotypical "pirate" slang is used by sailors and fishermen.

for more, see Category:Language.

Cuisine

Meals are normally cooked at home, probably out of necessity. Most taverns serve only ale, and there are only two known restaurants; the Overlord's Fancy and the Sea Witch. Venison, once the most popular meat product in The City, becomes scarce toward the end of The Metal Age and is never seen afterward. Food of this early period is more often eaten as a buffet than a proper meal. Whole Apples, Cucumbers, and Carrots may be consumed with a wedge of Cheese or a piece of Baguette.

Mutton, and Rabbit are among the commoner's diet, and Burrick meat is also available to the adventurous consumer.

Wealthy nobles may dine on lamb, poultry, pheasant, or pork with various side dishes. Tea is a beverage common to the upper classes and may be consumed with cake or scones.

Pagans commonly subsist on herb soups, various meads, and fresh fruits such as Plums and Jacksberry. In the Pagan culture, food preparation may be the task of either husband or wife, depending on who will be away on other errands.

Law

A "Reward Offered" sign for Garrett, as placed all over the City, in Deadly Shadows

The Law and its enforcement is a central piece in the life of The City.

Typical of the justice system in a medieval setting, it is seen as unjust and corrupt, but over time, these have seen changes either for the better or simply concealing corruption from public view.

Watch

Before Gorman Truart took control of City Watch, the streets were patrolled by two entities: The Barons' Police, and the Order of the Hammer. Individuals both arrested by the Police and Hammers would be sent to Cragscleft Prison.

The old police was rife with corruption. Many of its members would receive regular bribes and kickbacks from organizations such as the Downwind Thieves' Guild.

Truart took control of the Watch and made many great sweeping reforms:

• Hiring of women

• Use of new Mechanist technology
• Prohibition of drinking on duty
• Centralization of uniforms, ranks, paperwork and a code system
• Clean and orderly Watch Stations (except prisoner cells and interrogation)
• Tougher measures and new tactics on street crime and campaigns to fight the Wardens
• Dedicated Divisions to fight major crimes, and the creation of crime labs and autopsy

Corruption was still a problem, as some Wardens would be prosecuted more than others, evidence would go missing and Truart himself would indulge in prostitution. The Watch also assisted in the genocidal campaign against the Pagans set by the Mechanists.

However, many of these additions were created alongside the rise of the Mechanists, such as similar uniforms, women, technology, and street cleaning for the Servant Project. After the fall of Karras, the Watch lost nearly all of what Truart created. Some things, like central uniforms, crime reports, city-wide cohesion, and others remained. Some things like the Mechanist technology and female officers were gone by the time of TDS.

Medicine

There are few practitioners of medicine and medical facilites encountered or referenced in the Thief Series, outside the Shalebridge Cradle. Reasonably, Garrett would not see profit in breaking into doctors offices or the homes of healers. Garrett is also only known to take care of his own medical issues, minus the placement of his Mechanical Eye.

The medical practices of The City are based off the elemental humors, therefore, the results of medicine can be mixed.

Conditions in the Cradle have been very poor in it's history, and reports of treatment, surgeries and success of healing/therepy in general have been questionable.

Despite this, the potion industry seems to be quite effective, a complete contrast with the general lack of physiological understanding.

Most ailments, including cuts and abrasions, are attributed to "bad humors". Doctors may prescribe quack remedies, such as abstinence from bathing and barley mash applied to the scalp.

Pagans rely upon their own form of medical treatment. As may be expected, herbal remedies play the most significant role; malloweed is taken for stomach upset, wormwood for aching feet, foxglove for heart ailments, and rue and valerian for various other problems.

Geography

Districts and Quarters

• Auldale
• Dayport
  • Dayport North District
  • Dayport South District
• Docks
• Downtowne
• Eastport
• Hightowne
• Newmarket
• New Quarter
• North Quarter
• Old Quarter
  • Sealed Section
• Shalebridge
• South Quarter
• Stonemarket
• Wayside Docks (Wayside)
• Shoalsgate

Islands

• Markham's Isle
• Overlook Mansion

Exploration

Few opportunities are given to look around in the earlier games. In TDP/TG, these include the areas around Bafford's Manor and the Hammer Temple, both of which are restricted to the streets alone, as well as the north end of New Market, with a modest number of rooms and passages to explore. T2 offered more by way of gratuitous locations. These included the streets surrounding Shoalsgate Station and the Truart Estate, in which some of the adjacent buildings are open to plundering, and most notably the streets of Wayside and the rooftops in Dayport, where a significant part of the mission is devoted to the journey.

Streets Near Bafford Manor

The Newmarket Canal

Wayside Marketplace

Shemenov Estate and Adjacent Buildings

In Thief: Deadly Shadows, one of the major new features is the ability to explore the City by foot. While the previous games sent Garrett straight from mission to mission, in TDS Garrett may walk the city streets between missions where he can:

• pickpocket, mug, attack, knock unconscious or kill passersby
• break into civilian homes and City Watch stations for loot
• spy on the townspeople and City Watch, and overhear their conversations
• pass through Keeper Passages by activating Keeper Glyphs
• begin major missions by touching certain glyphs
• complete the occasional side quest in addition to major story missions
• retrieve major mission maps from certain city and underground areas
• get imprisoned into Pavelock Prison by getting caught by the City Watch
• alert the whole town by leaving a dead body on the street
• die if killed by goons, pagans or the City Watch
• ally with the Hammerite faction using the Hammer Blessing
• ally with the Pagan faction using the Pagan Blessing
• make enemies with the Hammerites or Pagans by stealing from or killing them

The City in this game is not one large continuous map, but rather several small neighborhood maps/areas connected by load zones.

The city at night

City cottages and villas

A home in the City

Garrett in 3rd-person-view

See Also

• Architecture
• City Council
• City Warden
• City Watch
• Currency
• Street Names
• The Baron