Port Desire is a city of sharp contrasts. In one corner, you’ll find the ultra-elite flaunting luxury Kadansk wool and sleek Cidrian power-suits. On the next block, you’ll find the rest of the city in crusty hand-me-down tank tops scavenged from the central bazaar.
Defining the visual language of Port Desire came in waves. We knew that we didn’t want to repeat what we did with The Ascent. To break away from the battle armor-clad aliens on Veles, we realized that we had to give the clothing in NO LAW a much more grounded feeling.
Port Desire's history is etched into its very fabric, visible in layers of local attire. Throughout the city, pedestrians display a diverse array of fashions, ranging from basic graphic tees to utility suits that have been tailored to accommodate the mechanical mishaps or combat scars of the wearer. Because Port Desire is a collision of cultures, the bazaar features many market stalls offering styles from the three surrounding nations. It is a direct result of the migrants and mercs who have passed through Port Desire.
Port Desire has weapons dealers, stalls selling edible objects that resemble food, and a constantly churning cauldron of commerce. That produces a very particular kind of street trend: ornamental repairs, visible stitching, salvaged hardware. A jacket might carry the history of three owners, patched, re-lined, restitched, and in Port Desire, that survival instinct is essential to making it through the night. Modular military gear gets repurposed as fashion, or picked up by gangsters looking for an edge in a fight.
The tactical tech all have a chunky, mechanical, and audible feel to them. When you interact with the gear and suits in NO LAW, we want you to be able to feel the weight of it. Of course, we want these artistic choices to look cool. But we also want you to be able to tell immediately who is a corporate fixer, who is a local merc, who is a Peacekeeper just by their silhouette, the number of spikes on their vests, or the color of the armored padding.
When you see a character with a metal plating on their chest or cranial impact protection, you’re looking at survival, military history, or the cost of a life that has already been damaged. In Port Desire, heavy modification is rarely an upgrade. Full prosthetic limbs and robotic replacements are usually the result of mechanical accidents, war wounds, or necessity.
The true sign of access is not a replacement arm, but the systems built around soldiers and the remaining hardware of the last war. Much of this technology was originally funded by the three surrounding nations to give their soldiers an edge. Now, the survivors who still carry that equipment are using whatever remains of their milspec advantage they can to carve out power on the streets of Port Desire.
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