The old criminal gangs – the Crips, Bloods and others – have not survived the Collapse and subsequent changes intact. Partly that was because gang members, even the leaders, had lifestyles that made them particularly vulnerable to the plagues and violence of those years of breakdown and died in their hundreds. Partly, it’s because the new world that has arisen from the ashes of those times is both hyper-local and at the same time more distributed.

Whereas a block’s gangsters might once have belonged to one of a half dozen large national groups which were each held together by their members in prison, now there are no prisons but the interconnectedness of the modern world means a block’s violent and diasaffected youth can as easily adopt the colors and mannerisms of a gang clade a thousand miles away as adopt those of one from the neighbouring city.

Gangs have become “Boostergangs”, Clades identified by their propensity for random acts of violence and excessive cyberware installation as they ride the Edge towards psychosis; “Combat Gangs”, who live to show their prowess and honor in combat with the boosters like some modern urban Apache counting coup; “Drugs Gangs” who live only to get high and finance their trips by selling what they take; Guardian Gangs of youthful vigilantes, taking the warrior ethos and grafting on a healthy dose of neighbourhood watch, who protect the common people of their territory from other gangs – and so on.

These Clade gangs may be entirely localized or a fragment of a larger group which is still locally autonomous. Any gang with more than around 100 members locally has certainly already made the transition to professionally criminal organisation, with all that entails.

Particular gangs will be detailed in the Organizations section of this wiki.