Nomad

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

They drove your family off the farm ten years ago. The corporations rolled in, took over the land, and put rent-a-cops all over the place. It wasn't the first time it'd happened and it wouldn't be the last. Gradually, your family fell in with a bunch of other homeless families, and they met another group... until you'd create a Nomad pack of nearly two hundred members.   Now, crammed into a huge, ragtag fleet of cars, vans, buses and RV's, your nomad pack roams the freeways. You look for supplies, odd jobs and spare parts in the world where society has fragmented. The pack is your home - it has teachers, med techs, leaders, and mechanics - it's virtually a town on wheels in which everyone is related by marriage or kinship. Sometimes the pack pulls into a town just to fuel up or get grub. Other times, it swings south to follow the harvest; you pick crops in trade for cash or food. Less terrorizing cities and hiring out as muscle in Corporate wars. For obvious reasons, cops don't like nomads. But it doesn't matter - your vehicles are usually well armored and bristling with stolen weapons; miniguns, rocket launchers and the like. Every kid knows how to use a rifle, and everyone packs a knife. Being homeless in the 2000's isn't easy.   The most visible members of the pack are the scouts - leather-armored riders on bikes or in fast muscle cars, who protect the convoy from attacks and hunt up safe campsites. As a scout, you're on the lookout for trouble, and you usually can find enough of it, with rival nomad packs, the law, and the cowboys; you ride the hard trail. You've got a gun, a bike and that's all you need. You're a nomad.

Shared customary codes and values

All nomads, whatever their stripe and lifestyle, have a code of behavior and honor. This varies greatly by pack and family, but a general code was understood by the year 2020:  
  • PROTECT AND RESPECT YOUR CLAN, AND ABOVE ALL, YOUR FAMILY.
  • YOUR WORD IS YOUR BOND.
  • SHARE WITH YOUR CLANFOLK.
  • RESPECT THE PRIVACY AND PROPERTY OF YOUR CLAN.
  • NEVER CAUSE TROUBLE FOR YOUR CLAN.
  • TAKE ONLY A FAIR WAGE FOR A DAY'S WORK.
  These are iron-clad rules for an iron-clad culture: work hard, be fair, protect the family. Words to live by, and words to die for. The nomad lifestyle is far more than a vehide, a tent, and an attitude; nomad life is governed by imperatives as powerful as any corporate regulations, and (hopefully) a whole lot more moral besides.   Following these rules, nomad families eventually coalesced into larger and larger groups, all centered on this common ethic. Today the majority of nomads are affiliated with one of the Seven Nations; each is a major nomad group and a powerful economic and political force to be reckoned with. Although the Nations act independently, they are united in their respect for each other's cultural and social roots.

Common Customs, traditions and rituals

Nomad groups are divided into families, clans, bands, and nations. Families can be as few of two people to as many as one hundred. Clans are made up of several families and can range from a few hundred to a over a thousand members. Bands consist of several clans and can consist of several tens of thousands of members. Nations are the largest groups and number in the hundreds of thousands. The biggest nomad Nation has roughly one million members.   In 2020 the Nomads were Mad Max style small bands of gangs who roamed the wastes fighting among themselves and being pirates to anyone entering their territory.   However in the time of the RED after the Night City Holocaust when a nuke went off in the Arasaka tower, the nomads became united and moved into Night City to take over and control most physical forms of transportation in and out of Night City and to any other city across the U.S. and the Pacifica Confederation, through goverment, corporate, or criminal cooperation.

Major organizations

The Seven Nations were formed by a series of unofficial treaties and conferences across America, and these meetingsand gatherings continue today, especially as their importance grew during the Time of The Red. The seven nations include Snake Nation, The Jodes, The Blood Nation, The Meta, The Aldecaldos, Thelas Nation, Folk Nation, and the Eight Nation, The Raffens.
Related Organizations

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