Oxbow is famous for a few things, crime, poverty, squalor, etc. While it is true that Oxbow is the most dangerous district in the city by far, being considered entirely lawless by many, the district is not limited to its worst aspects. For every criminal in Oxbow, there are ten honest workers who are simply just trying to get by. Oxbow is home to craftsmen like blacksmiths, gunsmiths, thatchers, printers and, until quite recently, glassblowers.
The district has markets just as all of the other district have, the most infamous being the dodge, an officially unnamed square on Weyan Sister's street. At the dodge, the goods are just as likely to be stolen as they are to give you dysentery. Despite its odious reputation, the dodge and smaller markets like it are vibrant places where farmers and local craftsmen can hawk their wares.
The district also hosts multiple guilds, namely the occult guild and guild of bounty hunters. While these guilds do not hold the best of reputations, they are still powerful institutions which some in the district are rather proud of.
Several institutions in the district also exist to 'aid' the poor, a class of which the district has an abundance. There is a soup kitchen, Saint Eve's home for the destitute and a sick house. The sick house specifically is little more than a basement where the ill among the homeless population are dumped to meet the reaper, with a dizzyingly high mortality rate of around 80% thanks to scarce medicine and cramped conditions. The sick house is also where Saint Eve’s offloads excess patients when it’s infirmary fills up. Reports of typhus at Saint Eve’s present such an eventuality as imminent.
The very real criminal element is made up of multiple key players beyond just petty criminals. There are, for instance, the Yeelees who serve as an instrument of the Westrals, a powerful banking and mercantile family who wish to keep on top of affairs at all levels of the economy. More importantly, there is the powerful Marre crime family who extract protection money from most businesses in the district, and who are significantly more present than the city watch.
Oxbow is very much one of the city's expansion regions, and is where most new arrivals to the city end up, be it in dormitories, Saint Eve's or the mean streets. It’s a harsh reality that they find themselves in, consistent and gainful employment is uncommon, food costs money and the streets are unpaved, hardly the opportune land most peasants think of when they picture the city.
Until a few centuries ago, Oxbow was a rural plain ruled by the Barons of the Brinwood family. This Oxbow still exists, but is disappearing rapidly. The Brinwoods still technically hold their old title, but their lands now consist solely of their old tower house. They have resorted to crime to survive, processing stolen goods for the Marre family and other criminals.
by banter07_2