Scavies

 

            Scavies exist in a somewhat gray area of the law. While officially the Haven Ministry of Justice frowns upon their practices, they nevertheless operate in the open – usually in public places like the Bytown Market in Caelo and similar locations in other towns. Although referred to as scavies (scavengers), many are not actually the individuals who obtain the scavenged goods. In most cases they are resellers, purchasing items from Havenites returning from contract work in the Third Reich, from freighter crews who have traveled to vamp port cities, and from trawler crews who have circumvented the boundaries of the recognized fishing zones and entered abandoned coastal cities on the mainland.

            Salvage sold by scavies ranges from electronic, electrical, and mechanical parts to such things as old magazines and household furnishings. With the passing of time and the abandoned cities falling into further disrepair, the acquisition of such vintage items has become increasingly difficult.

            The Central Haven Library, which disburses books throughout the islands, owes much of its collection of pre-war books to salvage. And many machines on the islands have been maintained because of spare-parts that have been acquired through scavenging runs made to the old mainland cities of the Pacific Rim.