The Fire Department
In the post-Cascade Sprawl, the fire department is the only authority that truly matters. Not because they fight fires. Because they control infrastructure access.
"Corporations look for what their systems can see. The fire department knows where everyone hides." — Underground proverb
The Real Power
They know every building, every hidden space, every off-grid power tap. They know where cables run through places that don't officially exist. They know because fires don't respect bureaucratic boundaries—and neither do they.
Infrastructure Knowledge
Complete blueprints of every building, including the ones that were "lost" during reconstruction. Every maintenance tunnel. Every deprecated system. Every jurisdictional gap.
Access Rights
Fire marshals can enter any space at any time for safety inspections. No warrant required. No corporate permission needed. Emergency services have their own authority.
Network Reach
Fire stations in every sector, every district, every level. More distributed than any corporation's surveillance. More embedded than any faction's network.
Institutional Memory
The department predates the current corporate order. They remember who owns what, who built what, and what those reconstruction records conveniently forgot to mention.
Nexus controls 40% of the Sprawl's computational infrastructure. Ironclad controls the physical infrastructure above ground. The fire department knows the spaces where neither corporation can see.
Why Corporations Don't Control Them
Fire services predate the current corporate order. When the Cascade hit in 2147, the fire department was essential to survival—the only people who knew how to navigate collapsing infrastructure, fight fires without automated systems, and maintain equipment when supply chains failed.
"We were here before them. We'll be here after. The corporations know this." — Fire Marshal, Sector 7G
The Tribute Economy
The fire department accepts "tributes"—not bribes. Business arrangements. The distinction matters to them, even if it doesn't to anyone else.
The Consequences
People who cross the fire department find their buildings fail inspections. Electrical systems need rewiring. Ventilation doesn't meet code. Fire suppression systems require expensive upgrades. Construction permits get delayed indefinitely.
People who pay tribute find problems disappear. That suspicious fire? Electrical fault, no investigation needed. That structural violation? Grandfather clause applies. That competitor's facility? Surprise inspection found critical safety issues.
A building inspector can make your life very difficult. A fire marshal can end it.
The G Nook Connection
El Money pays tribute to the fire department. It was one of the smartest things he ever did.
When the Flatline Purists tried to destroy him—seizing his equipment, burning his locations, driving away his customers—El Money didn't fight back directly. He waited. He documented. And then fire inspectors started visiting Purifier facilities.
Code violations appeared. Electrical hazards were discovered. The Purifier movement's meeting halls failed inspection after inspection. Their funding sources dried up when their facilities couldn't operate legally. Within a year, the movement had collapsed. El Money had rebuilt stronger than ever.
The Arrangement
What El Money Provides
- Regular tribute payments
- Underground intelligence about infrastructure threats
- Early warnings about hazardous activity
- Access to information the surface world can't see
What Fire Department Provides
- Protected status for G Nook physical locations
- No questions about unusual infrastructure usage
- Pressure on El Money's enemies when needed
- The most reliable protection money can buy
"The Purifiers learned that some protections can't be hacked. Some protections are made of steel and paperwork." — Underground saying
Structure and Operations
Funding
Equal contributions from all major corporations. No single entity contributes more than 15%. This prevents any corporation from buying preferential treatment—officially, anyway.
Jurisdiction
Fire department authority supersedes corporate territory. A fire marshal can enter Nexus Central or the Ironclad Forge with nothing but a safety concern. Try stopping them.
Personnel
Multi-generational service. Fire department families go back to before the Cascade. They recruit internally. They trust their own. Outsiders don't make it past entry level.
Equipment
A mix of pre-Cascade manual systems and modern tech. They maintain both because they remember what happens when automated systems fail. ORACLE taught them that lesson permanently.
What They Know
The fire department maintains maps that no corporation has—complete infrastructure records from before the Cascade, updated continuously through thirty-seven years of inspections. They know:
- Every building's real blueprint, not the reconstruction records
- Where the jurisdictional gaps are between corporate territories
- Which maintenance tunnels connect to which systems
- Where people hide when they need to disappear
- What really happened during reconstruction—who built what, who demolished what, who forgot what
They don't share this knowledge freely. But they remember everything. And sometimes, for the right tribute, they'll point you in a useful direction.
"The corporations think they rebuilt the Sprawl. We just let them believe that. We know where the real infrastructure is—because we're the ones who kept it running while they were fighting over the ashes." — Anonymous fire department veteran