Skavara
It is here, in this mountainous city-state of Skavara, that the HCS Eastern Sun crash-landed in TN 1454. Though little remains of the ship itself, the city is venerated for being the first of what would become the ESE. Every year, on the anniversary of the crash, the Patriarch and his emirs gather here for a somber memorial ceremony that borders on ancestor worship. This is usually followed by lavish festivities that include public parties and free bloodsports.
The most popular bloodsport in Skavara is the Labyrinth, a maze stocked with obstacles and opponents. Convicts are released into the maze and must escape the maze alive, fighting against booby traps and expert gladiators. Some “blockers” are called minotaurs. These fighters have undergone massive body sculpting in Atsi to make them resemble the bull-men of legend. Pumped up with powerful psychoactive drugs, they are unpredictable and vicious.
Skavara specializes in producing high-technology products such as electronics and military hardware. It also manufactures some Gear models, although not the common Jäger, a line that was completely driven out of business when Paxton Arms flooded the market with their clone of the Hunter. Skavara Heavy Industries is the Emirates’ only Gear manufacturing company. Their large automated assembly line, located to the West of the city, produces licensed versions of the Iguana and the older Basilisk-class Gears. Both models are slightly modified variants of the standard designs and generally carry an additional arm-mounted light machinegun for “crowd control.” Their electronics are somewhat cheaper and less reliable than those in the standard models they are derived from. The present combined production rate is about 250 Gears per year, although this number varies according to demand.