Postally
The sun does not reach Postally. That is the first thing visitors learn and the last thing they remember, because without natural light the hours blur together and time becomes a suggestion rather than a fact. Somewhere above, the rooftop gardens of Under Sea bake under open sky. Down here in the Crucible, the underground passage system that was shored up when the sea swallowed old Seattle, there is only the glow of lanterns strung between banners and flags that drape from the low ceiling like the decorations of a celebration that forgot to end.
It never does end. Postally operates in a state of perpetual festival. Food vendors crowd the twisted passages alongside performers, musicians, and the kind of strangers who press a drink into your hand before you have finished introducing yourself. Gifts change hands freely. Laughter echoes off damp stone. Groups gather in corners for conversations that look, from the outside, like exactly what you would expect at a party: friends catching up, toasting to something, drifting apart to find new company.
The party is real. The conversations are not always what they seem.
A cabal of Saltwise, Full Dead, and Red Star created Postally as a space where Murder Inc operations could be conducted in plain sight. The constant revelry provides natural cover. A package exchanged between partygoers draws no suspicion. A quiet conversation in a crowded passage looks like socializing. Members dress as festival-goers and rotate between groups of "friends," conducting business before slipping away to missions in the surrounding region. The camouflage is elegant in its simplicity: nobody interrogates a party.
Red Stars govern the area with a communal hand. Anyone who wants to work in Postally must first complete a job in service to the local commune. This requirement applies to Murder Inc members and ordinary newcomers alike, making Under Sea simultaneously one of the safest and most dangerous cities in the region. Follow the rules and the community protects you. Cross the wrong people and you will discover exactly how organized the opposition is.
Within Murder Inc circles, Postally carries the weight of a proving ground. Aspiring operatives travel here to complete a job and demonstrate their capabilities. In some Murder Inc families in the region, visiting Postally and finishing a contract is a required step before full membership. It is a rite of passage conducted under banners and lantern light, in a place where you can lose track of whether you have been underground for hours or days, surrounded by people who are either celebrating or killing or, in the particular logic of Postally, doing both at once.
It never does end. Postally operates in a state of perpetual festival. Food vendors crowd the twisted passages alongside performers, musicians, and the kind of strangers who press a drink into your hand before you have finished introducing yourself. Gifts change hands freely. Laughter echoes off damp stone. Groups gather in corners for conversations that look, from the outside, like exactly what you would expect at a party: friends catching up, toasting to something, drifting apart to find new company.
The party is real. The conversations are not always what they seem.
A cabal of Saltwise, Full Dead, and Red Star created Postally as a space where Murder Inc operations could be conducted in plain sight. The constant revelry provides natural cover. A package exchanged between partygoers draws no suspicion. A quiet conversation in a crowded passage looks like socializing. Members dress as festival-goers and rotate between groups of "friends," conducting business before slipping away to missions in the surrounding region. The camouflage is elegant in its simplicity: nobody interrogates a party.
Red Stars govern the area with a communal hand. Anyone who wants to work in Postally must first complete a job in service to the local commune. This requirement applies to Murder Inc members and ordinary newcomers alike, making Under Sea simultaneously one of the safest and most dangerous cities in the region. Follow the rules and the community protects you. Cross the wrong people and you will discover exactly how organized the opposition is.
Within Murder Inc circles, Postally carries the weight of a proving ground. Aspiring operatives travel here to complete a job and demonstrate their capabilities. In some Murder Inc families in the region, visiting Postally and finishing a contract is a required step before full membership. It is a rite of passage conducted under banners and lantern light, in a place where you can lose track of whether you have been underground for hours or days, surrounded by people who are either celebrating or killing or, in the particular logic of Postally, doing both at once.
Purpose / Function
Postally was created by a cabal of Saltwise, Full Dead, and Red Star as a space where Murder Inc operations could be conducted in plain sight. The perpetual festival provides natural cover for package exchanges, quiet conversations, and the coordination of missions. Within Murder Inc circles, Postally serves as a proving ground: aspiring operatives travel here to complete a job and demonstrate their capabilities. In some Murder Inc families, visiting Postally and finishing a contract is a required rite of passage before full membership.
Design
Located in the Crucible, the underground passage system beneath Under Sea that was shored up when the ocean swallowed old Seattle. The passages are twisted and damp, with lanterns strung between banners and flags that drape from the low ceiling. Food vendors crowd the corridors alongside performers and musicians. The architecture is utilitarian, reinforced tunnels and watertight rooms repurposed into a permanent festival ground where the structural bones of the old city serve as the framework for something its builders never imagined.
Sensory & Appearance
No sunlight reaches Postally. Lanterns provide the only illumination, their glow catching on banners and flags that drape from the low ceiling like decorations from a celebration that forgot to end. The air is damp stone and cooking food and the press of too many people in an enclosed space. Laughter echoes off the walls. Music drifts from multiple sources, overlapping into a continuous ambient sound. Drinks are pressed into hands before introductions are finished. The hours blur together without natural light to mark them, and the distinction between visitor and resident, between partygoer and operative, dissolves in the warmth of a place that never stops moving.
Hazards & Traps
Under Sea is simultaneously one of the safest and most dangerous cities in the region. Follow the rules and the community protects you. Cross the wrong people and you discover exactly how organized the opposition is. The underground location means no natural light, and time loses its grip on anyone who stays too long. The constant revelry masks the presence of professional killers operating among the partygoers. Red Stars govern the area and require anyone who wants to work in Postally to first complete a job in service to the local commune.
An underground festival strip in the Crucible beneath Under Sea, where Murder Inc conducts business disguised as revelry.
