Once, very long ago, silk barges plied the sunken canals in the Caverns Beneath out of necessity – trade embargoes and restrictions had quite literally pushed the business underground. After a decade or two the city realised that it could make more money on taxes and tariffs than the regular bribes its councilmen had come to expect to look the other way, but by that stage a romantic view of the silk canals had taken root in the minds of the populace and out of tradition they are still used to this day. With the silk trade legitimised, a certain type of man used to hiding even amongst thieves was forced still further underground, down in the dark, below the Caverns Beneath.