The District That Decides When Things Happen
Gearcross is the logistical and commercial heart of Brassveil. Streets are wider, cleaner, and relentlessly crowded. Clockfaces dominate façades. Bells, whistles, and timed signals govern movement with near-military precision. People here don’t linger—everything is scheduled.
If Foundry Ward provides force, Gearcross provides direction.
A monumental hall where master clocks synchronize the city’s official time.
Hidden function: Minor time shifts quietly alter labor flow, Watch response, and supply availability.
Oversees all rail traffic, cargo priority, and passenger routing.
Hidden function: Unrest districts are deliberately isolated through “maintenance delays.”
A vertical complex of counting houses, insurers, and contract registries.
Hidden function: Financial pressure is applied through selective audits and debt recalls.
A wide commercial avenue lined with cafés, arcades, and clockwork displays.
Hidden function: Surveillance is embedded in decorative mechanisms and street fixtures.
A fashionable leisure house offering timed baths, performances, and private rooms.
Hidden function: Confidential meetings occur under the guise of luxury and discretion.
Compact but well-maintained worker housing for clerks and rail staff.
Hidden function: Tenants are tracked through rent timing and utility usage patterns.
A massive open-air trading zone that opens only during a precise daily window.
Hidden function: Market timing is manipulated to provoke scarcity or surplus.
Coordinates patrol routes using clock-based deployment tables.
Hidden function: Response times are adjusted to allow or suppress specific crimes.
A hub of pressurized message tubes linking major districts.
Hidden function: Messages are copied, delayed, or rerouted without sender knowledge.
The busiest intersection in Brassveil, where five districts converge.
Hidden function: Traffic congestion is engineered to shape movement and visibility.
Housing here reflects hierarchy:
Clerks and coordinators live close to work in tight but orderly flats
Mid-level managers occupy elevated residences with private timepieces
Everyone lives by bells, not daylight
Missing a scheduled time mark can cost a job—or worse.
Gearcross is where players realize the city doesn’t need brute force to control people. It uses schedules, debt, and convenience. Violence is inefficient here. Delays are far more effective.
The district teaches a brutal lesson:
Control the clock, and you control the city.