[Accepted] Martian Gangs

While organized, strictly hierarched crime with strong ties to the local government is the most commonplace on Mars, other, much less disciplined criminal groups exist as well. Such groups were historically composed out of young, radical political elements.

Average age of a martian gang member is from 14 to 25 years old. While gangsters younger than this threshold are not uncommon, especially in the major gangs, anyone older than 27 is a very rare sight, as older members usually acquire enough connections to join actual and more lucrative organized crime.

Nowadays, the martian gang landscape is not in its prime. Although bickering over territory is, as always, very common, the last really major attack on civillians happened about ten years ago. In general, the major gangs currently are more occupied with fighting each other, and are largely introverted.

While flying hijacked shuttles from Mars elsewhere is not unheard of, no gang currently posesses territories on other planets. Which means oh yeah baby Martian gangster raider gimmick is pretty possible.

To more organized crime factions on Mars, the gangs are nothing more than an annoyance, mere child play. However, the young, Robin Hood-esque thugs fighting back against the enigmatic mafia kingpins seeking to undermine their ways is a somewhat popular theme in Martian pop culture.

Dating all the way back to 2284, this group initially consisted of young people in the far outskirts of New Dresden, who were made jobless by the sudden nuclear attack on the center of the city. In ensuing political chaos, it was easy for even an ill-equipped gang with few members to quickly seize power in the criminal underworld, staggering as well after the, arguably, most prominent crime lord at the time, Hugo Stein, died in the explosion. Their significant doings include kidnapping the mayor of Olympia, Terry Woodworkers, in 2301.

They were previously signified by wearing yellow-black clothing. Their hand sign is extending the index finger of the right hand upwards and pinching the end of it with the index finger and the thumb of the left hand, making a simplistic gesture roughly resembling a mushroom cloud.

Since almost two centuries have passed, the gang is currently mostly stagnant. It's in heated rivalry with the Boys. It engages in small-scale drug production and dealing and extortion of small businesses, and occupies territories as far as from Bova to Stapledon, even though the density of gang members in these areas varies significantly.

In 2449, a couple of Warheads known as Sludge and Tulip suddenly turned on their allies at an abandoned shuttle factory, graffiting over the Warheads logo with a one unheard of before. Shortly afterwards, a fight ensued, in which Sludge and Tulip singlehandedly killed around fourteen of their former gang mates with assault rifles. Tulip died in the skirmish. The word spread, and shortly afterwards, a new gang was born as many flocked to a new side. Sludge was proven to be a very capable leader with strong connections in the underworld, and the gang's territory expanded quickly.

However, the gang would only truly make itself known in 2450. After Aoina's police force intervened in a yet another huge fight between the two major gangs over an abandoned laser weapon factory, the Boys were forced to lose. However, Sludge was not going to let this slide. Just two weeks afterwards, the gang made a surprise attack on Aoina's police force headquarters itself. Their weaponry was extremely nonconventional, but terrifyingly effective against the woefully underequipped policemen, with the mobsters riding road rollers with huge gun arrays mounted on and flying shuttles into the sky only to crash them down. Casualties were reaching hundreds, and the Martian military itself had to intervene. Although many were arrested, they were all discovered to be new to the gang and low in rank, with the leaders and the organizers mysteriously vanishing from the scene. After this embarassment, the remaining police force in Aoina received significant reinforcements, including military-grade weaponry. The sole act of stating that you belong to a gang became a severe crime.

Their clothing is traditionally gray and blue, like a shuttle's typical insides. However, it is not usually worn due to the police specifically targeting young people wearing clothes of gang colors.

The rivalry with the Warheads is still heated. The Boys' specialization is gun trafficking. From Aoina, they have mostly expanded to the north, up to and including Capon and Nycatlope.

Integrity originally was a community of scientists way back in 2204, who started hacking into and stealing new cyborgs as a sign of political protest against cyborgification. Outcast from society, they very quickly resorted to other crime of increasing severity, and in several generations they were known as just a somewhat famous group of hackers. Nowadays, their membership is dwindling, however, their presence is exaggerated in popular culture after the cult film "The Chaser" describing the gang's history in much detail, heavily romanticizing most of its elements, such as birthing a common misconceptional image of the Operation going out and scavenging ruins for pieces of lost technology, equipped in makeshift, yet effective RIGs.

A small, closely-knit group hailing from Divitae, it was originally founded when several young boys working in the mines experienced the same kind of religious vision. Some kind of a very nonconventional cult was born, as the "dark deity" spoke to the members to... commit various street crimes. Some of these crimes are of religious nature, such as vandalising several Martian churches, while others are not. They traditionally wear all black clothing with some kind of a mask to conceal the face.

The migration of Tajara to Mars was not met with universal acclaim. A xenophobic element was born, named Integrity, committing various hate crimes, mostly murder. Although they are very low in number, society is very certainly aware of their existence, condemning their actions and publishing somewhat overblown news reports.

In the wave of Tajaran migrants, both the PRA and the ALA have sent in their spies to infiltrate Mars's mighty criminal underworld. However, both of these factions were not successful in this, as the rigid structure of criminal organizations was not ready for integration of a whole new alien race. In fact, their attempts had severe consequences, with most of the agents ending up in prison. The remaining ones decided to join forces and switch over to the gang landscape instead, in which they succeeded, the new gang, named "Representatives" in Siik'tajr, being an ally of the Boys.