Location Details: Carthag

Carthag was built by House Harkonnen soon after they were granted control of Arrakis. Though Arrakeen was the traditional capital of Arrakis and had been for thousands of years, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen wanted a residence more suited to his aesthetic tastes. The city was built rapidly, using prefabricated buildings whenever possible and employing the work of a vast army of forced laborers.

The megalopolis of Carthag is one of two significant cities on Arrakis and the local home to House Harkonnen. It is located 200 kilometers northeast from the other city, Arrakeen, across the Broken Land. As with Arrakeen, Carthag is located on the northern cap of the planet because it is more temperate than the Emptiness, and one of the only places that sandworms cannot reach. The surface of the planet is rocky here and features a few smaller mountain ranges.

While it is a walled city like Arrakeen, Carthag does not rely on its wall for defense in the same way. Its higher and rockier ground makes it less prone to a sandworm attack, mainly as it is hard to enter the city on foot up the rocks. An ornithopter is the best way to travel there, and so the roofs of many buildings also serve as landing pads. This also means those without ornithopters cannot come and go easily, keeping out ‘undesirables’—at least as far as the Harkonnens see them.

The capital of Arrakis under the Harkonnens, Carthag has an estimated population of over two million people. The true count is unknown, as many of the city’s occupants avoid census takers. This is a smaller population than Arrakeen, though Carthag is the larger of the two cities in total area.

Described as "a pustule on the skin of the planet" by Planetologist Pardot Kynes, Carthag was designed by the Harkonnens as a model of extravagant luxury, intended to both please its Harkonnen residents and dazzle the eye of any visitors—at least, those who are enamored of expensive trappings and garish décor. While Carthag is more modern than Arrakeen, it does not blend into its environment as well as its sister city. Instead, it rises in spite of the desert, built where no one else could build and made elegant in defiance of storms and sand damage.

Having said that, many buildings are quite blocky and utilitarian, built using cheap materials and completely lacking in elegance or finesse. Not everyone living here can afford to adorn and expand their homes and businesses. So great citadels rise from a rather bland and nondescript but well-planned city. Each citadel is a monument to the wealth of its owner, especially as such buildings cost a fortune to maintain in the Arrakis climate.

Carthag is well known for its hedonistic diversions. Though the best of these are saved to meet the demanding needs of the Baron himself, this still leaves plenty of decadent enjoyment to be had by those who can afford it—and who remain in the good graces of the Harkonnens. Parts of the city were designed specifically to satisfy the Harkonnen need to blow off steam, including brothels, drug dens, a gladiatorial arena, and a few options that would not be legal in many places in the Imperium.

Prominent Locations in Carthag

Harkonnen Residency
The red banners streaming down the sides of this luxurious palace advertise that it serves as the headquarters for Baron Harkonnen and his retinue, including Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Glossu Rabban Harkonnen. However, the Baron tends to leave operations to Rabban and he rarely visits Arrakis himself.

The Residency is surrounded by towering statues, and made up of several buildings with many levels. Much of the architecture of the Residency is designed to give the illusion of greater space, including false tapered pillars, craftily-arched ceilings, and high windows. The palace displays all the opulence expected of a Harkonnen residence, including antique furnishings, expensive art objects, perfumed air, and other lavish décor. Like the buildings of Giedi Prime, the Harkonnen homeworld, the buildings of Carthag are sealed and climate controlled as much as possible. On Giedi Prime it is to keep out the pollution, on Arrakis the heat and dust. But it has the effect of making the whole place feel just that little more like home for the Harkonnens.

On the Baron’s orders, the main square out in front of the Residency hosts regularly-scheduled military parades. Trumpets blare as fully-armed soldiers march in dress uniforms, observed by Rabban (and occasionally the Baron) on an observation platform high above the square. Attendance is mandatory, and in the case of the poorer residents of Carthag, it is physically coerced. Cheering is expected as well.

City Guard Complex
The Carthag City Guard is tasked with obeying the Governor, protecting Harkonnen interests, and preventing violence (except where authorized by Harkonnens). Whenever they see fit, the City Guard can sound alarms and lock down the populace of the city, instituting martial law. The Guard boasts over a thousand members, and their complex near the Residency contains the barracks, an armory, a prison, a training center, and an administration facility. (That last one might not sound intimidating, but it’s where the City Guard’s legendary interrogations take place.) The square at the center of the complex features the second largest statue of the Baron in Carthag. Guards are hired based on their obedience, strength, and ruthlessness, though they display varying degrees of greed and dedication to their job. Those who serve well are rewarded, and those who fail to enforce Harkonnen brutality or prove too soft hearted are similarly punished.

Carthag Spaceport
With room to land a dozen vessels up to frigate size, Carthag Spaceport size and accommodations rival those of some larger cities in the Imperium. The buildings here were constructed from blocky prefab components, modeled after the architecture of Harko City on Giedi Prime. Ships park on a landing field paved with fused silica, where they can be moved into nearby hangars for maintenance.

Fuel is stored in enormous silos, and crews use cranes and suspensor barges to unload crates of supplies and load outgoing shipments of spice. A plaz observation bubble has visibility over all spaceport operation. Shortrange transports are available at the port for carrying passengers to other locations in the city.

Merchant District
Anyone shopping for merchandise, food, water, transportation, or services—of any level of legality—will find a multitude of options in Carthag’s merchant district. Both shops and street vendors sell all kinds of wares and experiences, including some shipped in from other worlds. The largest part of the district is taken up by a packed bazaar, always noisy and chaotic from the constant give-and-take of individual commerce. Here a shopper can find water-sellers, stillsuit makers, taxi and ‘thopter drivers, tailors, weapons dealers, drug suppliers, information brokers, and more. City guards patrol the area regularly, but they are more interested in preventing violent crimes and accepting bribes than stopping any illegal transactions.

The Colloseum
The Harkonnens in general, and Rabban in particular, love a good gladiatorial fight, and Harkonnen cities almost always have an arena for this purpose. ‘Good’ does not mean ‘fair’, of course, and Harkonnen fighters win almost all the fights they participate in.

Modeled after one on the main Harkonnen world of Giedi Prime, the structure in Carthag is centered on a triangular arena with a sand-covered floor. Eager observers sit in packed stands and galleries arranged in tiers around and above the arena floor, where they wave pennants and sometimes sound horns. The Baron himself has a private (shielded and guarded) golden box from which he and his entourage can look down on the action. Rabban can often be found there if the Baron is not in residence.

Musicians play as slave-gladiators emerge through a red door. Combatants typically wear tights or leotards along with a shield or semi-shield. Duels commonly involve the customary pairing of dual knives: a poisoned one in the white-gloved right hand, and a non-poisoned one in the black-gloved left hand. The finale of a combat involving a Harkonnen is typically a foregone conclusion—thanks to a variety of tricks from drugs to hidden weapons to psychologically-implanted trigger words. But in case a Harkonnen is losing, they can escape through a prudence door on the arena floor that only opens for those wearing an Ixian-designed authorized identification band.

Spice Storage Yard
Ten huge silos on the outskirts of Carthag store the Harkonnen spice stockpiles—highly-visible ‘official’ ones that the Emperor knows about—the spice containers inside earmarked for shipment from the nearby spaceport to the Landsraad, the Guild, CHOAM, and the Emperor himself. Each silo has a lift on the outside and a platform at the very top, where one can view the entire storage yard. The entire area is well-guarded by Harkonnen troops and by scanner technology. Wellarmed ‘thopters constantly patrol the area for Fremen thieves.

Waterfall District
Not named after an actual waterfall, ‘Waterfall District’ is the name given to the wealthy part of Carthag by the city’s poorer residents, reflecting the common view of the rich as extravagant water-wasters. In addition to the local Guild Bank, this area is mostly filled with mansions and other less-than-humble estates, commonly those of water merchants, arms dealers, and other business magnates. Such residences typically feature rare art objects and statues, fancy draperies, exotic silks, an abundance of cushions, a rooftop ‘thopter pad, water misters, and in a few cases fountains that contain real water (demonstrating that the district’s nickname is not pure exaggeration). To protect such amenities, these dwellings tend to also be equipped with advanced security systems and armed guards.

Residential District
This is where most of Carthag’s middle-of-the-road residents live: the functionaries, merchants, mechanics, accountants, service providers, and other civilians of modest means. Homes here are decently maintained, if austere, constructed from simple pre-fab molds as is done nearly everywhere else in the city. The district offers apartment buildings (with rooftop ‘thopter pads) as well as small- and medium-sized houses (the large ones being confined to the Waterfall District). Temporary residences are available for rent as well, in the form of low-price inns and mid-priced hotels.

Slums
Though a visitor can see dingy homes, piles of rubbish, and shifty-looking people just about anywhere in Carthag, the city’s slums contain the pinnacle of the downtrodden and the damaged. The streets are narrow and cluttered, the pavement broken, the buildings dilapidated. Structures here mostly consist of simple prefab constructions—stained, blocky plazcrete buildings erected for use by spice workers and other laborers. The architecture is unadorned, and many of the taller buildings lean precariously. Buildings are commonly held together by haphazard sheets of metal and plaz. The refuse dumps in the slums make those in the rest of the city look like gardens.

The people of the slums are a mixture of the desperate, the dangerous, and the downtrodden. Here you will see dirt-covered servants and laborers, nervous beggars, and wild children playing among the junk and vermin. This is a good place to find an underworld contact, though it is also a likely place to be mugged by an assailant stepping from a shadowy doorway.

Factions in Carthag

The political triumvirate of the Great Convention includes the Major and Minor Houses of the Landsraad, the Imperial Household, and the Spacing Guild with its monopoly on interstellar transportation. Nowhere in the universe is this alliance more explicit than on Arrakis. And nowhere in the universe is the surety of this alliance more uncertain than when these titans cross the evershifting sands of lesser factions.

From water merchants to courtesans and mercenaries to manufacturers, lesser factions govern and influence the day-to-day economy of the desert planet. Neither ruler nor servant, these middle-tier circles have the power to shape events in their favor, if only by degrees. But the noble Houses calling Arrakis home understand degrees can mean the difference between life and death. Even the siridar governor does their best to keep enterprising factions content, or at the very least, in line.

Whether financiers, captains of industry, entrepreneurs, or criminals, these bourgeoisie live by the maxim: "Business makes progress! Fortune passes everywhere!"

Bankers

The Imperium uses solari for all free-trade transactions. Forever fixed to melange, the Spacing Guild (and by extension CHOAM) controls this monetary unit. Nothing within the Imperium, from the sale of Heighliner fleets to the purchase of a single literjon of water, occurs outside the solari economy.

This creates a complicated bureaucracy, rampant with corruption, managed by agents as calculating as they are pitiless: bankers.

Bankers fall into two categories: those associated directly with the Guild, and those who operate outside it. Guild Bank agents handle all monetary transactions on behalf of the Spacing Guild, collecting melange or solaris in exchange for interstellar passage. On Arrakis, they are the dominant economic force with financial advisors imbedded into every institution, government agency, and noble House. They also maintain an embassy in the heart of Arrakeen, and within the Guild, earning an appointment here is a mark of high recognition.

Non-Guild bankers exist on the fringes of the solari economy, lending an air of credibility to otherwise shady dealings. Generally, these brokers, money lenders, and financiers make their services available to Houses when treasurers prefer to avoid fiscal entanglements with the Guild. Some will also help local businesses and families in a pinch while others are no better than loan sharks working alongside the criminal syndicates of Carthag.

Courtesans
As a feudal monarchy, the Imperium is no stranger to slavery or prostitution. Both are legal. And while the majority of the Landsraad finds slavery distasteful, the sex trade doesn’t share the same scorn. Courtesans, also known as escorts, come in all shapes, sizes, and genders. Arrakeen natives make up most available courtesans, though off-world escorts are also in fair supply. Known Fremen, however, are never found in such places.

Most escorts pursue work with a service, while others stick to the freedom and security Carthag’s bars and brothels provide. A few of the more intrepid—or desperate—freelance on the streets. Escort services, be they high or low status, often earn more solaris from protecting their clients than from servicing them. With secrets and blackmail as valuable currency, spies and Face Dancers go to great lengths to infiltrate the sex trade. Elite courtesans can charge a premium for their company, security, and discretion, making it prohibitively expensive for anyone except nobles to buy their time. But these exorbitant prices come at a cost. Should the secrets of a loose-lipped lover become public, the escort can quickly find themselves blacklisted.

Criminals
When noble Houses or other organizations need to operate outside the law, they turn to the criminal underworld. Kidnapping, extortion, arson, and murder are all within reach on Arrakis, provided one knows where to look. Black marketeers obtain hard-to-find items as well as act as go-betweens for people who want to hire assassins, gangs, thieves, and smugglers. Money lenders offer easy credit with high interest rates and brutal consequences for defaulting on loans. And the street criminals of Arrakis profit from burglary, robbery, assault, and the sale of illegal weapons and narcotics.

In Carthag, the red-light district is a patchwork of rival gangs and syndicates, each vying for dominance with frequent and bloody conflicts over territory. Law enforcement ignores most of these territorial disputes, either out of ineptitude, or more often, because of bribes. Criminal enterprises pay good solari, and so long as they don’t draw too much attention to themselves, the law generally turns a blind eye. However, that is not the case in Arrakeen, where the criminals consider themselves more sophisticated than the brutes in Carthag.

Importers
The desert planet’s hostile environment means Arrakis imports most of its resources, supplies, and machinery. While the Guild handles travel between planets, importers undertake acquisition and delivery of off-world goods. Industrial machinery, electronic equipment, construction materials, vehicles, food, and water are just some examples of the cargo their fleets shuttle to and from the surface of Arrakis.

Importers act as hubs connecting legitimate businesses, criminal enterprises, the Landsraad, and the Spacing Guild. Whether an Arrakeen marquis needs wine, a Carthag repair shop needs parts, or a criminal needs weapons, importers ensure prompt and safe delivery. But it is an expensive, risky enterprise. They pay tithes to the siridar governor and the Guild to gain access to the planet’s spaceports. They hire mechanics to maintain their aircraft, pilots to transport their shuttles, mercenaries to guard cargo, and workers to load and unload. They also shoulder the costs of sourcing and importing supplies. And at any point, a spoke in their logistics wheel can snap.

Manufacturers

While heavy machinery and vehicles are brought in from off-world, the harsh sandstorms of Arrakis take their toll on anything with a moving part. Ornithopters, harvesters, and other spice equipment requires constant maintenance. But then there is also what people need to live on the planet. Whether building construction, stillsuits, thumpers, tools, garments, or furniture, needing to import everything can drain the coffers.

No company exists in the Imperium without a direct tie to either the Guild, CHOAM, or a member of the Landsraad. This creates a complicated Gordian knot with no difference between a noble House and the domain they hold primacy over. Which often means the manufacturers who populate the industrial centers of Arrakis can represent a noble House via proxy, adding another layer of corporate warfare to political jockeying.

Mercenaries
Living on Arrakis is a test of survival. With the political intrigue of rival Houses, various factions, and competing agendas, it is not just the harsh conditions that make the planet dangerous. Mercenaries find no shortage of employment on Arrakis. Either brought in from offworld or left behind as forgotten soldiers from fallen Houses, mercenaries find work joining private armies, providing extra security to nobles, or operating as muscle to criminals. Some government officials will even deputize mercenaries to act as magistrates. Whether bodyguards, security guards, rank-and-file soldiers, gladiators-forhire, or private combat instructors, mercenaries touch every aspect of life on Arrakis.

Water Merchants
Even though every home and building has water traps and moisture collectors, they do not always produce enough water. The working people conserve every precious drop; nevertheless, palm trees and fountains line the governor’s palace while nobles casually spill their water onto dining room floors. Water merchants and sellers get families the water they need and Houses the water they want.

Water-sellers own large-scale water farms and peddle their carts along the streets of Arrakeen and Carthag shouting, "Soo-soo-sook!" and "Ikhut-eigh!" Distributing water from storage drums, the Fremen and most off-worlders look down on them. Yet, they maintain their position within the city by banding together as the Water Peddlers Union. Participating members divide and share the work, coordinate routes, and divide the profits. The Union pays a fee to the siridar governor to operate and a stipend to the Guild Bank as a show of their commitment to the economy of Arrakis.