The Maelstrom

Structure

Warlock leads with his knowledge and social awareness, dictating leadership of the gang's violent affairs, especially against Inquisitors, to Quake. 
The left hand, Flenser, is their intelligence agent and a skilled Netrunner, though her low profile keeps information on her scarce.
Ripper leads the gang's scavs in recovering salvage from the combat zones as well as the Hot Zone.

Culture

Maelstrom members typically dress in black leather, darkened denim and chrome, preferring visible high-profile cyberware, generally appearing to be primitive and dangerous. Their past code of honor is slowly being replaced with a pseudo-spiritual belief in the power of Cyberware. The organizer of the gang's scavengers, Ripper, is known to send prospective members into the Hot Zone as part of a sadistic "test" which bears closer resemblance to a dark ritual. Even the “winners” bear scars.
Many of Maelstrom's members have begun to take after Lieutenant Quake's signature stylings: red lights, chunky chrome, and brutalist kills. Some say the gang is preparing for war.

Public Agenda

Maelstrom’s rank-and-file members work the gang’s drug or cyberware trade to advance and earn drinking money or credit with allied Ripperdocs. Word says their leader, Warlock, is far more ambitious, making moves to solidify the gang's home base, something quite possible with the gang's extensive trade network.
And, of course, Maelstrom is still a gang, so “Chrome, Smash, Dance, and Bash” is still popular with all members.
Side note? Every single Maelstrom member will set aside all other business to stomp any Inquisitors they come across.
There’s decades of bad blood on both sides.

Assets

Maelstrom controls a drug-trafficking network, which also moves reclaimed weapons and technology. They run packs of disposable wannabe gangers who scavenge the Hot Zone wreckage for valuable equipment of all kinds, but especially cyberware. They have deals with many Ripperdocs across the city, trading cheap parts for discounted service.
Of course, the gang has a strong presence at Totentanz, with their headquarters and garage in the same building.

History

2020

Maelstrom formed from what was left of the Metal Warriors, a gang that the Inquisitors almost completely wiped out. It also acquired members from the Iron Sights and the Red Chrome Legion, who also hold grudges against the Inquisitors. While the Inquisitors are a special target for their violence, Maelstrom also (of course) attacks anyone else as well. At this time about 30% of the gang were registered Cyberpsychos, with an additional 35% hovering near the edge.
Back when they were the Metal Warriors they held on to a code of honor. When their original leader Hammer was thrown out, the code of honor went as well, as for the rest of their humanity. Claiming a turf near the Docks, they were based in an abandoned building there. The area was volatile because many of the businesses in the area covertly supported Solos and some corporations. The gang realized this and excluded those businesses from their protection racket.
In the past, most of their crimes had been small time, but their hunger for newer, more lethal, and more expensive cyberware, pushing more dangerous drugs, inclined them to attack larger targets, such as those that serve the Solos and Corporations, priming the area for an explosive bloodbath.

2045

The Fourth Corporate War had a devastating effect on Maelstrom. In 2023, they lost their entire territory to the Arasaka Tower nuke, as well as some of its members succumbing to EMP-induced murderous frenzies. The few survivors fought to absorb other surviving high-chrome gangs and they eventually ended up more powerful than they had been before. Warlock, the gang's current leader, has forged Maelstrom's best and most ruthless members into a productive core that runs its businesses while he uses its rank and file to wreck competitors.
Maelstrom began leading gangs of scavs in salvaging valuable gear from the Hot Zone. Maelstrom survivors also stabilised the Burleson Tower Hotel which housed the remains of Club Totentanz, their new home base.

Type

Illicit, Gang