La Kosa Nostra
- Intent: A slummy apartment building where low-level mafiosos, criminals, and low-income citizens of Coruscant reside
- Image Credit: Xombiedirge.com| Blenderartists.org; Kilian Van Hasten | 2minutetabletops
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Structure Name: The Tremaine Building (aka Tremaine Apartments)
- Classification: Apartment Building/Residence
- Location: Uscru District, Coruscant
- Affiliation: The Family
- Accessibility: Located within 30 minutes by foot from the Entertainment District, this high-rise ghetto “slum” is one of many spread across Coruscant. Access to the building’s numerous floors is attained through a small lobby located beyond a series of small shops on the ‘ground floor’; two turbolifts provide semi-reliable access to the residences above. A number of stairwells provide access to the floors of the building, but lighting is poor and very few people use this route. Foot traffic outside is heavy.
- Description: A number of shops are accessible on the ‘ground floor’, with a grimy, graffiti-decorated hallway to the rear of the small shopping promenade. Twin turbolifts located within the hallway provide access to the floors above (185 floors in-total, with 10 apartments per floor). The state of each floor, and each apartment, varies wildly - some are reasonably well-kept & quiet, while others are strewn with trash and sport various levels of neglect & damage.
Each floor possesses a communal space which may or may not be occupied. Each floor generally manages itself as an individual ‘biome’, and anyone who refuses to conform or align with residents’ unspoken rules may be either ostracized (at best) or victimized (at worst). Generally, criminal action is either tolerated or (in rare cases) leads to vigilantism.
Under most cases, residents simply mind their own business & ignore anything that doesn’t directly affect them.
- Apartments: Catering to a majority of solo occupants, residents vary wildly on the economic spectrum. The apartments are typically small, and residents are generally very private.
(An example of layouts has been included below)
- Sub-levels: Consisting of maintenance tunnels, storage rooms, and a small number of offices, the floor ‘below’ ground level is reserved for privileged access by the building’s mostly-absent management, security, and maintenance.
- Rooftop Garage: Accessible by turbolift, the rooftop possesses basic facilities for private transport. Space for a single shuttle to park is available for a monthly fee. As most residents within do not have access or the funds necessary to own private shuttles, this area generally sees little traffic outside of the occasional visitor looking for a scenic view.
- Shops: Located on the ‘ground floor’, a small shopping center sees considerable foot traffic at all hours of the day. These shops include a news stand, a small convenience store, a shady telecommunications retail outlet, and a street-food vendor run by an old Ithorian with a reputation for good food but terrible hygiene.
Low
- Residents may access the turbolifts by swiping their mag-key - the very same one they use to access their apartment - but this system is notoriously easy to hack. An intercom system is also available, allowing visitors to buzz a particular apartment - but this intercom is often broken.
- Cameras exist on certain floors, but many are either inoperative or entirely missing. There are a significant number of blind spots throughout the structure.
- CSF (Coruscant Security Forces) are unlikely to respond to anything but all-out war being waged inside residences of this type, and while uniformed security is supposed to respond to disturbances, such a thing is rare. Residents themselves are often left to their own devices & means; which either result in criminal acts either going unhindered or (on the opposite end of the spectrum) residents taking matters into their own hands.
- Some members of the Coruscanti Mafia, also known as The Family, occupy the building and tend to become involved in any overt acts of aggression. While a number of small-time gangs & “crews” own particular floors, La Kosa Nostra has developed a reputation for taking any encroachment on their territory very harshly.
The Tremaine Building is one of thousands of slummy apartment buildings throughout Coruscant’s lower levels. It is managed by a real estate company by the same name, but very little information is available as-to their headquarters, holdings, or any other information. Residents are generally left to fend for themselves, but maintenance crews do provide support (albeit rarely). The building has been in operation for hundreds of years, and been managed by numerous corporations in the past; though very few (if any) have paid any real attention to gentrifying the building.
A little-known rumor throughout the Coruscant Underworld alleges that members of the Coruscanti Mafia, known to its members as “The Family”, claim a number of apartments within - using them either as safehouses or residences for low-level members of the Organization. A number of residents pay the Syndicate for protection from the various street-gangs, addicts, thieves, and small-time offenders who call the building home.
