Exploit

Exploit is a city built within the walls of another, larger city. The citizens do not live in the rooms; they live in the crawlspaces, the ventilation shafts, and the gaps between the floorboards. They are shorter than average, having adapted to life in the margins. They move through the infrastructure of the host city like viruses, opening doors that have no handles and walking through walls that appear solid.

The economy of Exploit is based on the "Zero Day"—a secret tunneling technique that allows passageway into a previously secure vault. The citizens trade these secrets in hushed whispers, for once a tunnel is known, the host city pours concrete into it, sealing it forever. They are masters of disassembly, taking apart the machines of the host city to see how they tick, and then reassembling them to tick to a different rhythm.

They are feared by the giants who live in the light, who call them thieves and vandals. But the citizens of Exploit see themselves as liberators. They believe that no space should be closed, no logic sealed, and that if a system has a flaw, it is a moral duty to widen it until it becomes a door.