Themes: too trusting, burned bridges, radicalisation, distant responsibilities
When growing up, Ira was quite famous around the neighbourhood for being a bit too... softhearted. Naive. The target of quite a few pranks. Good friend, but never anyone's choice for a life partner. When the opportunity presented itself to the three Verhoog children (Kit, Ira, and Billie) to leave La Cage using the money earned through their family pawnshop, Ira didn’t hesitate. They left and maintained only sparse communication with the old gang, slowly transforming themselves. Ira managed to get a respectable job in insurance and finance and even start their own family. But all that came to a halt when their parent started having health issues. Ira spent more and more time in La Cage in the past year while the gap between them and their new life grew. And being sandwiched between a job, a new family, and caring for their parent, Ira had to find new ways to boost their energy.
“You matter. Shit happens and it can be hard to get back on your feet. This is when addiction catches you. Now remember sister, brother: you are not alone. You will never be any more. In our Addicts Anonymous meetings, we always listen with care, love, and respect. What is told and done within the circle stays within the circle, no matter what.
We care. You are safe. You matter.”
Everybody who lives in La Cage is mostly poor and desperate. The families and professionals living in Apartment Blocks are the ones who really try to keep some semblance of normality in their lives. The Block A is the wealthier one - it consists of people that are sure to have food even next week but are not entirely sure if they can get medical care in times of need. All while enjoying the luxury of reliable electricity and mostly repaired windows. The people living here have at least some "power" due to their jobs, but almost everybody is afraid that their little slice of paradise will be taken from them by relocation to a different flat.
Life in La Cage could never be called easy, but nothing takes the edge off like a little something to tickle the brain. The Druggies are less a formal group and more a handful of users that found themselves in the same grim alley every day to take the edge off before the corners got too crisp. Whether trying to escape or enhance reality, to get a grip or lose it, the Druggies explore the fractals behind their own eyelids, may it lead to enlightenment or their own destruction. The users of the group are enabled by the suppliers that take advantage of them: manufacturers and smugglers with their own agendas. Should the users ever manage to get it together, they might find some clever ideas to turn the tables.
Some young people of Revachol felt lost in life. Nothing made sense and they saw everything around them going to shit. Slowly, they realized what was causing this - the foreigners, bringing in drugs and crime, and the liberals that love them so much. Then, a solution hit them - fascism! The Iron Cadence is formed out of fascists (although the less radical of them prefer being called Traditionalists) of varying degrees. Not necessarily racist fascists, but quite often that. Joined together by a sense of the world being wrong and wanting to put it to right, by staying in SUPREME HEALTH, having SUPREME LEADERSHIP, and basking in SUPREME FRIENDSHIP.
