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2. World Almanac/Regions of Baltun'ia/Falduhir/Caford/The Pigskin/The Pigskin.md

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+### Type:
+
+Automaton Tavern — haven, hiring-hall, and quiet information-exchange
+
+### Location:
+
+[[Caford]], [[Falduhir]] — in the city's automaton quarter, a short walk from the grand central arena and the [[Vault Singers' Church]].
+
+---
+
+### Description:
+
+- A warm, low-beamed tavern that never quite goes quiet: the clink of tankards, the tick and whir of automaton joints, and easy talk between **[[Automatons|automatons]], [[Dwarves|dwarves]], and [[Humans|humans]]** sharing the same benches — a rarer sight than it should be.
+- A single **reserved table** sits apart, always kept for the house's host; a private **back room** off the main floor is offered to those with matters best not overheard.
+- The air smells of hot fat, spiced ale, and machine-oil. To an automaton walking in, the Pigskin reads instantly as *safe* — one of the few doors in a fortress city that opens to their kind without a second look.
+
+---
+
+### Lore & Role in Caford:
+
+- [[Caford]] is a fortress and trade hub with a hard edge toward automatons — the shadow of the [[Automatons|Reclamation Sites]] hangs over every construct who works its walls. The Pigskin is the counterweight: a place where an automaton is a patron, not property.
+- Over time it has become an **informal hiring-hall and information-exchange** for Caford's automaton community — where an out-of-work construct can find a berth, and where those who need discreet, capable help can be quietly pointed to it.
+- It is neutral ground on purpose. The house trades in **favors and goodwill**, not politics, and keeps its welcome by keeping its mouth shut.
+
+---
+
+### Ownership & Management:
+
+- **Host & fixer:** **[[Karen - The Pigskin|Karen]]** — an [[Automatons|automaton]] who keeps the reserved table, runs the house through a handful of trusted subordinates, and vouches (or doesn't) for who gets help. It was Karen who confirmed the party as the ones who had aided [[Oils - The Pigskin|Oils]]'s escape from the [[House of Suits Casino|House of Suits]], and Karen who put the two together.
+- **Lodger:** **[[Oils - The Pigskin|Oils]]**, the small investigator, has a room here since returning from the mines — coin all but spent, given a berth on the house.
+
+---
+
+### Regular Patrons & Visitors:
+
+- Caford's automatons first and foremost, plus the dwarves and humans who treat them as equals; travelers who've heard it's the honest table in a hard city.
+
+---
+
+### Plot Hooks & Adventure Seeds:
+
+- **A door that stays open.** The Pigskin is a haven the party can return to between forays — to re-hire [[Oils - The Pigskin|Oils]], to rest, or to ask Karen to quietly *find* something or someone in Caford.
+- **The favor economy.** Karen helps for goodwill, not gold; help given here is remembered, and help *received* is expected to be repaid in kind.
+- **Under the city's edge.** With Reclamation-Site prejudice pressing on Caford's automatons, the Pigskin is one spark away from becoming a flashpoint — or a refuge — in the wider fight over automaton rights.
+
+---
+
+### Notable NPCs:
+
+- **[[Karen - The Pigskin|Karen]]**, host & fixer *([[Automatons|Automaton]])*
+    → Runs the house and the favor-ledger; a neutral, well-connected broker who helped the party because they'd earned it. Knows who's who among Caford's automatons.
+- **[[Oils - The Pigskin|Oils]]**, investigator & relic-appraiser *([[Automatons|Automaton]], small)*
+    → Lodging here since the mines; a loyal, re-hireable ally who reads relics and memories with his stone slate.