Nuclear Warlocks
Written by: Ripshot
Now some of you out there might think of the more magically inclined gangs out there to be a whole different sort of mess to your regular ones, and that's true to an extent with things like blood magic, shamans going toxic and whatever the hell the awakened people in the Howling Blades do. But the truth is that most of these gangs aren't really different from your run-of-the-mill groups of legally-challeneged idiots, wanting the same staples of power, thrills or sending a message to someone or something. Lemme tell you chummer, no group proves that right more than the Nuclear Warlocks, especially their head-honcho Meltdown. They put on airs of being a mysterious cult, dressing up hazing rituals in mystic sounding drek and putting everyone in these cute little faux-silk hoods, but once you start looking up at the higher ranks, things start looking less like an otherworldly order and more like a garden-variety narcotics business. Kind of a necessity to actually keep the money safely rolling, but it only makes the costumes and 'dark ceremonies' (painting nonsensical symbols all over the Elevated Plaza ) look even more ridiculous.Funny thing, if you overlay some of those symbols across eachother you get a QR code that once linked you to a 15% off coupon for McHughs' delivery.All that said, don't underestimate these guys. They're one of the smaller groups and most of them, but they're still an actual gang with actual mages making up the majority of their rosters. There's a reason their actual territory around the RUG Radio Station ain't often contested in the Concrete Forest.
Structure
The warlocks have a pretty simple system of hierarchy, made to keep infighting and cliques down to a healthy minimum: Their leader has authority over four lieutenants, who in turn boss three subordiinates and so on right down to the bottom, give or take the extra guy depending on numbers. What makes this interesting is that everyone, even Meltdown herself, can only give orders to their four underlings and nobody else, even if they're below on the chain of command, outside of pressing matters.
Makes it hilarious when two people in different parts of the chiain of command have different idea on whether or not someone should be disciplined, and the whole thing plays out like a heated PTA meeting.
Identifiers
Imagine an edgy teenager who thinks they're a wiccan because they bought some plastic tarots from a StufferShack, now throw some glowsticks on 'em and have them live in the barrens for a decade or so and you'll get the look of a typical Warlock right down to a T. They even drive around in old minivans with pentagrams on the side, aye aye...Public Agenda
Publically, the gang puts on airs of being one of those new-age 'spirit group' type of places, calling themselves advocates for awakened rights and promiting magical healing and enlightenment, yoga stuff. In the Shadows, they're all about awakened drugs and magical services of the more criminal sort.
Assets
Nobody's got numbers on the Warlocks, but it ain't a secret that they've got a good chunk of Raleigh's awakened criminals in their ranks, from astrally percieving 'sparks' to out-and-out mages and shamans. Most of their property are stashed around the Concrete Forest, including their main drug manufacturing facilities, but Meltdown's main abode is in the 'legit' parts of Raleigh. Not the nice parts, though.
History
The Warlocks haven't been around for long, but most of their members had a start in gangs and SINless communities in and around Raleigh. So the stories go, Meltdown just sort of passed by in her nomadic phase of life and started making friends with any awakened she passed by (and blasting the ones that tried to pull drek on her), and some of them liked her enough that they started to follow her around. By the time she made it to the outskirts of Raleigh's barrens, she had a pretty decent crew of awakened friends (and and a handful of sympathetic flatliners), but the combined noteriety of the group meant that they couldn't just settle down and set up a business in downtown, so they settled down in an abandoned part of the Concrete Forest and made ends meet whatever way they could.
Their real claim to being a legit group came in '73, when one of theirs managed to stumble in the path of a Horse Dancer raiding-party and got taken ransom. Meltdown arrived personally with the agreed pile of credsticks and bike-fuel, only to let rip with a bunch of other mages and turn the meeting-point into a corpse-strewn firestorm. Horse dancers thought they were easy pickin's, but Meltdown left with their hostage and with the ransom money (you can guess what happened to the fuel).
What they don't tell you is that Meltdown ate a lot of lead that day, only managed to walk out on her own feet 'cause she wanted to keep appearances of being invincible.Realising this put the group on the radar, the Warlocks started getting organised and began building their gang up into a semi-respectable drug operation, setting up in the RUG radio-station (after some tense and weird diplomacy with DJ Rum Twister). making money selling the stuff only a few dozen shamans could cook up while establishing a rep as something to avoid by sending their rookies off to vandalise civilized parts with fake sigils and drek, make people think they're some sort of dangerous cult. This sort of backfired a few years on when some of hte people inside started believing the drek in earnest, but it got the job done of putting their name out and deterring other gangs from starting a fight where there wasn't need. Since then, Meltdown and her crew have been slowly consolidating power in and around Raleigh through boring but efficient and practical means of selling basic awakened drugs and magical cleanup in measures no other gang could, all while the younger ones kept everyone at arm's length with magical shenanigans and the occasional immolation of an interloping ganger.
"Higher Understanding Through Awakening."
Founding Date
2068
Type
Illicit, Gang
Demonym
Warlock
Leader
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Peace
Despite mutual tensions from conflicting dogma, the Warlocks and Falconers remain on mostly decent terms on account of their mutual disdain for other, less scrupulous groups within the Concrete Forest.
Cold War
The Warlocks have been a constant thorn in the side of the Horse Dancers and their goals of 'noble conquest', but outright hostilities have simmered down to quiet but tense ceasefires, as both sides are aware but uncertain of the others' growing capabilities.
Open Hostilities
Make no mistake chummer, these two groups kill on sight for too many reasons to list in one cache.
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