Metal Corsairs
Written by: Null Kit
The nature of organised crime allows one to accomplish many objectives without the same obstacles that the 'legitimate' route demands, but no level of lawbreaking can bypass the simple reality of logistics. No matter the size of your group or its goals, success will rely on their ability to procure and move things from A to B in a short-safe manner. Most criminal organisations make this part of the legwork done by their subordinates, but others will make it their specialty, to a point of outsourcing their talents to other groups for a steady profit and a partial monopoly on illicit supply-lines throughout their territory. The Metal Corsairs are one such group, and arguably one of Raleigh's finest. From an outside point of view, the Corsairs might be seen as no more than a collection of paint-huffing street racers whose technical and performatice accomplishments are as much about the luck of the foolish as they are the talents of their individuals. This is true. What is also true is that they are still a group of dangerously competant couriers and smugglers in spite of all this, and that for every garishly decorated tuner-car they have careening into foodstalls with police in tow there are another two or three unassuming looking sleeper-cars subtly moving illicit cargo in and around Raleigh. The races are as much a means to control attention as they are an end to spend their ill-gotten gains on. On the occasion that they look to hire you instead of the other way around, expect the job to involve little of rigging or racing, they've got that covered in excess. Their de-facto leader, Nitro, occasionally calls on Shadowrunners to take on jobs he considers too dangerous to send his own on, not out of apathy towards runners but an alleged protectiveness of his own. The rewards for such are often modest in straight cash, but offer plenty in terms of favors and car/drone related periphery.Structure
If there's any kind of organization beyond the unspoken recognision of Nitro's leadership, it's a closer-kept secret than cybermancy. Individuals form into groups only as the situation demands it and dissipate just as quick, and someone that takes charge in one operation is as likely to be on the bottom of the pile in the next. The only semblance of hierarchy or pecking-order is that mechanics and garage-owners will tend to have the final word on things, on account of being the ones who have an actual business and property to look after on occasion.
Identifiers
Interestingly enough, the Corsairs have no physical motifs or dress-codes with which to identify themselves, and besides a predilection towards youth and counterculture fashions prefer to decorate themselves and their cars towards inconspicuously. Instead, the majority of the gang's 'colors' are virtual, overlaying outrageously garish and colorful icons over their person and vehicles whenever there is no need to remain beneath suspicion.Public Agenda
Publically, the Metal Corsairs like to present themselves as just another group of street-racing hoodlums that occasionally gather up, giving them a mostly harmless appearance to the authorities and helping to attract more newcomers into their fold. Their reputation as smugglers, couriers and the such are discouraged from being presented to anyone except those that Nitro and the other more senior Corsairs deem trustworthy of such information, and otherwise strongly encourage their members to play up the 'petty joyrider' image whenever they can. As if such encouragement were needed.
Assets
The group's actual list of material assets is mostly perpetually in flux as new cars and their owners are brought in and old cars are demolished or cannibalised for various pet-projects, but what remains consistent is that the Corsairs own at least seven seperate garages around Raleigh along with a number of hidden and makeshift lots for storing unused cars. The group has no 'main' headquarters, having little need for such, and important meet-ups tend to happen wherever is deemed most convenient.
Or wherever Nitro wakes up with a hangover, just saying.
History
To date, the Metal Corsairs are the most relevant example of an illicit organisation that was founded entirely by accident. The founder and unwritten leader, Nitro, had began to establish a well-known reputation among the shadows as a reliable and talented driver, to the point that new and inexperienced drivers and riggers had began coming to him for advice, and Nitro's attempts to send them off on errands and snipe-hunts so he could get some time to himself backfired when they eventually came back for more. Nitro didn't want to be giving orders to anyone, but knew that there were far worse people they might start listening to instead, and so kept it up until he ran out of fake jobs he could get away with and started sending them on some actual milk-runs in exchange for some short cash and a few slices of pizza.
Things continued to escalate in undesirable ways for Nitro as rookies would get in over their heads and the rest of the gang would do their best to bail them out, occasionally causing worse messes in the process and demanding a tightly-knit, protective group to stop the cascading circumstances from getting someone gutted by actual go-gangs. Panic phrases became slang, impromptu getaways became smuggling-routes, overall a loose collection of rules for self-preservation became its own microculture as more and more people heard about the group and wanted in, much to Nitro's frustration as his attempts at reigning them into (comparatively) safer routes took them further into Raleigh's criminal underworld, until he eventually threw his arms up in surrender and resigned himself to his fate as leader of a driving/smuggling ring.
"We brake for nobody!"
Founding Date
2069
Type
Illicit, Gang
Demonym
Corsair
Leader
Location
Peace
Having a sizeable monopoly on smuggling through most of Raleigh, NeuSec regularly call upon the Corsairs to ensure their 'front lines' are well stocked in military-surplus gear, in exchange for monetary payment and use of their turf as smuggling-routesand - so long as care is taken - racing lines, an agreement the Corsairs are more than happy with.
Neutral
The Pack don't have much of an opinion on the Corsairs and vice versa, on account of one being a gang of violent drug-dealers and another being a school of kid racers without too much in common ground. Occasional conflicts of interests keep the official relationship a little frosty, but that doesn't stop them from occasionally goading eachother into races.
Ongoing Contracts
The Aoyama clan instinctively look down on anyone that isn't one of them, but their relationship with the Corsairs remains polite, albeit a tad condescending, on the grounds that while the latter have next to no respect or appreciation for how the Yakuza go about things, their talents and aid in the former's logistics routes can't be ignored.
Aggression
The Corsairs and the CMNG have been quietly sniping away at eachother for a while, as the latter makes continued attempts at usurping the former's growing monopoly on smuggling and transportation networks.
Unfriendly
Not having as much in the way of firepower as other gangs, the Corsairs suffered a spate of thefts and assaults from Devils looking to prove their mettle in a 'real gang war', and the have since been going out of their way to make life miserable for the upstart Devils.
Open Hostilities
The CoE make no attempt at hiding their disdain for the 'wreckless criminals' of the Metal Corsairs, who show similar disdain to the 'sanitized corporate-bootlicker' biker-gang. Violent classes are brief and rare, but very deadly.
Comments