Not every member of the rabble is content to live in squalor, powerless
and vulnerable. And so gangs are common in Arcadia, each gang staking out
their "turf" on the city streets. Inside their range of authority, they
manufacture and sell drugs, shakedown local businesses, and offer
"protection" to area residents in order to make money. Clashes are common
rival gangs (turf borders aren't exactly registered with the city). The
more intrepid gangs have even been known to raid corporate storehouses
(leading to massive reprisals against the rabble). Many gangs have dreams
of achieving the power and resources of a Corp, but in reality, this is
more wishful thinking than anything else.
Gang structure varies from group to group. In general, there is a single
tough and ruthless kingpin with a number of lieutenants directly
underneath. Some gangs are much more free-form and chaotic, while still
others impose a strict and rigid structure upon all of their people.
The Razors
The Razors are estimated to be Arcadia's largest street gang, numbering in
the thousands. With gangs, territorial lines are always shifting; still,
the Razors have continually maintained a solid area of influence in the
southern section of the city. An abandoned shopping mall often serves as
a base of operations for the gang's leadership. Overall, though, the
group is very decentralized, broken into a number of sub-groups (known
within the organization as "Claws"), each headed by a trusted lieutenant.
This structure allows the group as a whole to continue to survive despite
government and corporate crackdowns against them. The gang's kingpin is
not publicly known and it is often rumored that only his lieutenants would
recognize his face. Some theorize that this mystery masks the fact that
the Razor boss is a roll that has actually been filled by numerous people
over the years. Others suggest that this is just a result of the leader's
paranoid psychosis.
Income for the Razors is quite diversified. In fact, different Claws
specialize in varying tactics of collecting income. With their overall
impressive strength and numbers, the gang holds firm control over several
large neighborhoods that are forced to pay "protection" money. Armed
robbery is another activity common across the entire group. Some Claws
generate income primarily through the creation and distribution of
designer drugs. Others, such the Wolf Claw, are known to take contracts
for thefts, assaults, and assassinations. Some have even taken to raiding
corporate properties for money, resources, food, technology, and weapons.
It is these actions most of all that have brought down the wrath of the
corporations and government upon the Razors, though they still manage to
thrive in the mean streets of Arcadia.
Grinning Skulls
Based around the north of Arcadia's train terminal, the Skull gang
terrorizes local ghetto communities with arson attacks, petty crime, and
random violence. Not known for their business acumen, Skull members are a
loose collection of the most psychologically unstable Shantytown residents
and owe allegiance to no city organization or particular locale. The
Skull's regularly raid the fleamarket district of west Arcadia, an area
largely unpatrolled by the city Enforcers. Gang membership is often
transitory (severe assault being the major cause of death), but often
reaches around a thousand, although only the lesser portion are active
malcontents, and an even smaller percentage participate in serious
criminal activities.
Organization in the gang extends to little more than planning mass street
brawls or riots, and income is generated chaotically through muggings and
aggravated burglary. Skull activities often spill over into West Side
Nation territory, escalating into turf wars, gun battles and ambush
shootings, in which the WSN's superior firepower is used to unfortunate
effect.
Roof Dwellers
The Westside Nation
Centralized between the compounds of Rabisi and Yakamoto Corporations, the
WSN boasts a unique role among the Arcadian gangs, taking money and
equipment from both corporations as downpayments on directed gang
activities or the cessation thereof. WSN members take full advantage of
their geographical situation, maintaining a large and active membership
who often operate under Corporate auspices. Strictly policed by it's own
gang forces, the WSN's influence on westernmost Arcadia has produced a low
crime zone, rich in small business operators (all making regular payments
to the WSN).
WSN membership offers benefits unlike those of any other gang, but the
highly regimented lifestyle and oligarchic leadership are often described
as 'Corporate-like', not as an endearing term, especially when used by
rival gangs. However, the Corporations who pay small 'tributes' to the WSN
regard the gang as expendable cannon fodder.
Maulers
Strifers
Notorious for their zealous ideology and ruthless tactics, the Strifers
are more accurately described as a revolutionary faction rather than a
simple street gang. With an almost religious fervor they devote
themselves to the ideals of pre-war Communist doctrine, and death (or
worse) to any that stand in their way. They insist that the city's
current power structure is incurably corrupt, and most citizens would
agree. However, the majority of Arcadia's population doesn't truly share
the Strifer's ultimate goal of eliminating private ownership and forced
economic and social "equality". The Strifers draw their most significant
support from the very poor and destitute who, of course, would have the
most to gain from their ultimate success.
The Strifers (whose "strife", or struggle, is against the immoral and
fascist rule imposed by the Corporations) are estimated to number
somewhere in the hundreds and possibly thousands. Those are simply the
active members, though, and this organization is known to have many
thousands of sympathizers among the city's lowest castes. The
Corporations and city bureaucracies consider the Strifers a significant
threat, considering the group's history of brutal attacks and bombings
against the Corps and their puppet regime. According to Strifer doctrine,
any action is justified as long as it has the possibility of advancing
their ultimate cause. This dangerously Machiavellian perspective allows
the organization the philosophical justification to commit to any course
of action they desire while still claiming the moral high ground in their
war of ideology.
The Strifer's manage to run a very decentralized organization in their
continual attempt to avoid Arcadian Security. Cells are kept very
compartmentalized to prevent city interrogators from learning too much of
the group and its overall machinations if caught. The group's leader,
Arach Pervez, is seen as a sort of folk hero by many of the city's most
needy inhabitants. The bombings and shootings against the city and
corporate institutions are spoken of with almost religious reverence.
The hundreds of innocent bystanders killed in such attacks are either
glossed over or referred to as those who "gave the ultimate sacrifice for
the cause."
Zodiacs
The Zodiac gang is not the largest gang in Arcadia, nor is it the most
prosperous. However, it is one of the most feared. People whisper of it,
and its leader David Zahl, in hushed tones. For the Zodiacs are not so
much a gang as they are a religious cult that practices rituals even the
jaded inhabitants of Arcadia find abhorrent. It is not clear whether Zahl
thinks he hears the voice of some dark god or if he believes he actually
is some kind of divine avatar. Nonetheless, Zahl and his followers
are zealously devoted to their faith. Very little is known about it, since
no one has ever quit the Zodiac gang and lived to tell the tale. What is
common knowledge, however, is that the Zodiacs frequently kidnap men,
women, even children. Some are ransomed, others are discovered horribly
mutilated... occasionally alive. A large number of victims, though, are
never seen again. The few survivors have told tales of dark ceremonies,
incantations in an unknown, guttural tongue, and horrific human
sacrifices. Exactly where these twisted rituals take place is still
unclear, as no one yet has been able to discover one of the Zodiac's
twisted altars.
The Zodiacs are estimated to number somewhere over 100 members at any
given time. They are fairly well armed for a street gang, likely through
their collection of ransoms (called by them "contributions" and
"donations"). One of the more unusual aspects of the Zodiacs is their
nomad-like organization. No particular locale in the city can labeled as
permanent Zodiac turf. The gang is known to roam from area to area, often
ignoring established turf boundaries, and setting up its infrastructure
for an unpredictable amount of time. Local inhabitants only become aware
of the gang's presence by the numerous occult symbols that seem to spring
up overnight.
GearSpawn
The broken, scattered remnants of the McDowell-Davis corporation
eventually condensed into the GearSpawned that once served as one of the
few viable roadblocks to CyTek's quest for more advanced technology.
They have recruited many of the scavengers (who tend to hold a nasty
grudge against the corps for one reason or another) and are suspected to
have sponsored the daring raid on the CyTek weapons lab that is commonly
attributed to the Lancer Peter Quinn. Sadly, though, like all noble
efforts, this cause has long since given in to the harsh vagaries of
reality, as GearSpawn often covertly sells their finds to CyTek in an
attempt to stay the Corp's wrath and keep afloat. They are one of the few
gangs that maintains holdings out side of the city's safe zone, a fact
which has irked many higher ranking corporate officials.
DataWalkers
The Datawalkers are one of the most powerful gangs in Arcadia, so much so
that until recently they had openly opposed Yakamoto Corp, much to CyTek's
delight. They are also one of the more mysterious of the many
organizations that hunt in the streets of this chaotic city. Unlike most
of the others, they have no central base of operation, preferring instead
to convene in the digital realm; often on freshly compromised networks.
These are the renegade geniuses, many of whom were left disenfranchised by
the corporations they once served when their work was done, while other
members of this binary army are those who were left homeless by the daily
power clashes of Arcadia. Now they haunt the virtual realm and prey on
the predators.
The most recent grudge-match was between Yakamoto and the Horsemen, a
loose alliance of 4 shadowy codemasters. Both sides simultaneously sued
for peace approximately 2 months ago, a coincidence which may have
something to do with the intervention of Ryan Kade and Lina Micano. As a
result of the treaty, DataWalking has been curtailed and the gang has
established a permanent liason with the Lancer's guild. Oddly enough,
one of the conditions appears to have been that Yakamoto would assist them
in setting up a fortress within the abandoned University and reactivating
the mainframe. Whether this was merely stipulated in the truce documents
or was a form of down-payment for services to be rendered is unknown.
Ghost Legion