Felim collapsed into the snow, exhausted. It felt like it would be the last fall this time, his limbs stiffening and flesh numb. The adventurer had heard of natives that thrived out here, men who slew bears and made coats of seal fur. But who could build anything out here...?

Just as he felt light start to fade, Felim cast his gaze up to see the sky one last time. He was startled - or would have been, if his body had the energy - to see a furred hood and a leathery face with a toothless grin. "Ho there, brother!" it spoke. "You came to just the right place."

"Bristlebane ale. Tall."

Mathus looked up. He didn't recognize the man ordering, but he seemed the type: muscles beneath a layer of fat, a snarling expression with most of his teeth missing, fists like summer hams. "You want it in a bottle?"

"From the tap."

Mathus nodded. "This way," he said, stepping from behind the bar and into the back room, the "customer" following.

A fresh-faced young man sitting at the bar looked around, confused. "Bristlebane? Sounds adventurous."

"You couldn't handle it, son," an older man said from across the plank bar with a hint of derision. "It'd right kick your ass."

One of the Cosmic Era's most populous and vibrant cities, Novo São Paulo also has one of the widest economic gaps with an underside illustrating its crushing poverty.