The neighborhood called the Crab Caves was the location of
Ryoko Owari's first red light district. When the city was young,
prostitutes, actors and other unsavory types were chased out by
the magistrates but tolerated on the other side of the river, where
only those corrupt souls who sought them out would be tempted
by their lascivious wiles. (By the time the city walls were built,
there was a bridge across the river to make the aforementioned
wiles more readily accessible.) This is the neighborhood where
the Crab army of Hida Atsushige was seduced and broken.
It has been called 'The Crab Caves" ever since.
Since the licensing of Teardrop Island, the Crab Caves have
become the only thing worse than a nightless city - a second-rate
nightless city. From sunset tosunup, this is the domain of inferior
courtesans, cut-rate fences, bumbling grifters and penny-ante
pushers. During the day they scuttle back indoors to make room
for the city's biggest (and many say best) fish market, which
stretches from the Bridge of Drunken Lovers up West Bay
Avenue towards the Fisherman's Dock.
The Crab Caves lie between the Wretched Gate and
Timber Street.
