The following page is a secret brief that is only available to those intimately familiar with Blackout. It represents a significant investment of IC time and effort. Please do not copy and paste the contents to other players.
With that proviso you may feel free to communicate the information IC using your own words. Of course, your neighbours may not like their private affairs gossiped all over the ship, and if you are caught doing so you may face significant IC consequences.
Chaos territory has a new man in town: Quake. A huge, armoured, masked man has been taking out the trash in Chaos, and he has earned himself the Duke's coat. A bootleg vid is doing the rounds, with a grainy picture of Quake giving a passionate speech to a crowd:
”… you see, people of Blackout, you have lived in impenetrable night your whole lives. Every day spent engulfed in the dark that your petty Dukes have kept you shrouded in. But those times are changing, can you not feel it? The bedrock you have lived upon is shifting, and the corrupt men will tremble and grow to fear that quaking! I am Quake, good people, and I will lead you out of the darkness and into the light. I am here to bring the dawn!”
After months of fighting it looks like a new Duke has finally emerged in Duncan Red's old duchy. The man known as The Geriatric, having embraced the new Marshal presence in Blackout as a stabilising force, has brought the area under his control. Marshal patrols are allowed free passage (indeed they're welcomed) and any criminal activity is dealt with by a combination of Marshal action and The Geriatric's cybernetically enhanced 'community support officers'. In recognition of his new legitimate status, The Geriatric has revealed his name to be Tobias Black.
In similar news, Blackout personalities 'Six Fingered' Jack and Ace Black have also been seen working with the Marshals, apparently the 'law and order' bug is catching in Blackout!
Chief Marshal Samuel Red has started leading patrols through the parts of Blackout closest to Red. And some people seem to be quite taken with this new law and order thing, preferring it to the almost monthly changes in leadership under the previous regime.
Although accounts are confused, it is clear there was some sort of firefight at Acheron, and now they're using it as the new Harmony headquarters. Once the other dukes sort themselves out, expect a united push-back against this latest affront to our dignity.
The Council of Five is the grand term given to the meeting of the five “dukes” who lead the gangs. It is convened on an ad hoc basis as matters arise. While petty squabbles and even border skirmishes are common between their men, the Dukes are unfailing polite and congenial to each other. To do otherwise would be a great breach of etiquette and result in the other four dukes combining forces to punish the offender.
The five dukes and their gangs are:
It seems Crazy Dan was taken out in the “unfortunate” neurotoxin incident that took out Hades. Rocksalt is busy consolidating his control on Victoria's old territory, so has been unable to claim all the lands that once belonged to Hades. This leaves a number of factions vying for control of his old territory:
A pair of hackers (should be easy to recognise - one male, one female, both quite tall), apparently new to Blackout, have recently been wandering around offering their services to anyone who needs them. Apparently they are quite skilled.
Update: Apparently the hackers were seen entering Duke Alice's territory, intending to offer her a deal. They have not returned.
A mysterious masked figure known as the Geriatric has been sighted in Blackout this month solving crimes. Is this another face of Masked Blackout? Or someone new entirely?
Duke Chaos has been killed by a mystery assailant. By the traditions of the Chaos Dukedom, the strongest shall fight until there is a victor, and the strongest will claim the Duke's position over Chaos territory.
Reportedly many of the followers of the old Duke Chaos are willing to pay a pretty sum for the head of whoever killed the last one. Whoever it was, they were female, athletic, and were spotted fleeing the scene wearing a mask.
Chaos territory is now engaged in full-scale riots.
They've been at it like lizards in a pit, those two. Apparently Hades came out the better, but not by much. Duncan's dead, but Hades has lost a lot of manpower doing it and is going to have to consolidate his new territory. He's installed Crazy Dan as the new Duke, but it's clear to everyone who's really in charge. What's next for Hades? If he can pull this together he'll own half of Blackout within a year. Maybe all of it.
The teachings of a wise old woman passed down through a new and spectacular branch of Marshal Arts have been brought to an abrupt halt following a lethal attack by a group rumoured to consist of the skulls led by Masked Blackout himself, with none other than Piers Red for backup.
Several of the students seem to have died of wounds taken when they tried to defend their master from this attack. Of the master herself no sign has been seen: is she in hiding, or did she die of her wounds?
The news is all over Blackout. Hades and the Skulls have put to bed the rumours that they're working with the Marhsals by ambushing them and beating them unconscious. With cries of “pictures or it didn't happen”, vids are released that show Hades and the Skulls laying into a female form on the floor with assorted improvised weaponry. Another video of a known enforcement officer getting beaten up by Hades is also released.
Rumour has it that a guy who knows a guy who knows a marshal has confirmed that they've been attacked in Blackout.
Blackout was shocked when an explosion in a medical laboratory caused warning sirens to activate. This even seems to have brought some marshals to investigate, and they reportedly have one Dr de Aglaia in custody for questioning.
The sector is abuzz with the news that the Skulls went for a raid on Alice and her fabber. Seems that they dressed up as normal punters and managed to sneak into the shop, but someone got to a panic button in time to activate the defences.
Then one of the largest Marshal squads heard of in Blackout in recent times attacked the Skulls in the rear, they didn't stand a chance. Seems the Skull's leader escaped without injury though, makes you wonder if those rumours that he's turned mole for Computer are true, and he's setting his men up to be taken down by the enforcers.
News has travelled quickly throughout Blackout that some crazy Friend of Computer cultists came in the Red 29 entrance, and immediately started knocking over hackers, carving “Thou shalt not hack” into their chests with a knife and nailing them to the walls.
The fanatics were eventually seen off by a group of Duke Victoria's men, but not before they'd gotten 5 innocent traders with the rest now operating underground.
Upon stumbling drunkenly into a storage room one evening, one Blackout resident was quickly sobered up by the reek of two corpses, stripped of their possessions, dumped unceremoniously in a corner and starting to decompose. It was later revealed by those who knew them that the only thing they had in common was that they were both moderately accomplished hackers known for peddling their services to the highest bidder. This suggests one of the anti-hacker factions was behind it.
Blackout is carved up into five “dukedoms”, the domains of the five dominant gangs who offer what degree of law and order exists in Blackout.
The Marshals used to operate in Blackout under a “live and let live” policy with the Dukes, going in only for major criminals and the odd unlucky sod. However, since their all out assault on Duke Victoria in November (turn 5), a state of war now exists between them and the Council of Five. Rewards are offered for dead Marshals and Enforcement Officers, and assisting them is punishable by death.
By paying your dues to the local Duke, you can reasonably expect to claim a compartment for your own use and have the locks on the door respected — assuming they are substantial at any rate. Likewise, if you pay your dues you may operate your business without hassle from the local thugs, and are reasonably guaranteed that no large groups of bandits are going to try and mug you. The Dukes even operate an alternative form of currency, in the form of metal discs stamped with their personal symbols - though as always, Stolen IDs are taken everywhere.
They also operate a zero-tolerance scheme where murder is concerned. If you haven't gotten their permission before killing somebody, they see it as a challenge to their rule, and will end you as publicly and messily as possible. Severely crippling your opponent in self defence is however perfectly acceptable. Almost all Blackout locals carry some form of concealed weapon, so one-on-one harassment is rather directly discouraged. Theft on the other hand is common place, and if you are perceived as weak for whatever reason you will become a target — at least until you shoot the first one to try it.
While border skirmishes between the “Dukes” do occur, they are sporadic and typically only occur every few months with little ground gained or lost. Local residents typically barricade themselves inside their compartments and let the various thugs in the streets commit bloodletting until one side has won.
There are three well-known entrances — the ones on levels 4 and 29 to Red Sector, and the Ascent/Descent shaft on level 33. All are well guarded and well known.
For a small toll, one can pass through the Red Sector entrances to the more commercial districts (the gambling pits and other entertainments aimed at out-sector tourists). If you know where you're going and have the right passwords you can get into the real Blackout.
The A/D Shaft entrance is used almost exclusively by Marshals and Blackout locals. The shaft below level 33 has been physically blocked in several places and many exits are welded shut and/or barricaded.
It is whispered among the folk of Blackout that there are more private exits into the low gravity zone and the Oxygen Forest, but the exact location of these is a secret. Of course, like most secrets the location can be bought for the right sum if you know the right person.
The Cosa Nostra have made it very clear that they do not wish to be involved in the petty territorial disputes in Blackout. Instead they operate on a level above the usual riff-raff and operate across the entire district. This is not to say that they are without power in Blackout, just that they prefer to work through the local muscle where possible. As they view things, their territory is the rest of the ship, and Blackout is just a convenient outpost for some of their facilities and deals.
This convenient arrangement also makes it a lot easier to convince any representatives of Computer who come looking that Blackout isn't the home base of the Cosa Nostra. No need to have Marshals sticking their noses in any more than they already do.
The mutually agreed term for someone who has grown up in blackout is a “Blackout Rat”. The agreed symbol for those belonging to Blackout is to tap the right temple of their forehead with their hand.
Death is a part of life in Blackout, though one to be avoided wherever possible. The occasional person turning up dead is normal, if unfortunate. A string of murders, on the other hand, is enough to concern the most hardened of Blackout residents since it usually means there's a nutjob on the loose.
A number of people have started turning up throughout Blackout, mostly unknowns working at the bottom of the pecking order, and all killed by being garrotted. The trouble is, while normally the Dukes have people for taking care of this sort of thing they've all come up empty-handed or worse—dead. Word has been put out on the quiet to members of Harmony that this may need taking care of before it becomes more of a problem - a desperate measure indeed given our arrangement with them - and the rumours have it that the person who tracks down the killer will earn the favour of the Dukes.
Towards the end of June these murders abruptly stopped with no apparent cause.
A number of new gangs have increased their activity within Blackout recently, probably looking to take advantage of the confusion and upset caused by the Inversion and the ACTP. The Dukes are keeping an eye on things and have expressed hope that pointed reminders about Blackout's hierarchy can be avoided.
There’s a new girl on the BOB scene. She jumped into a pit with three of them, and just went mental! Well, yeah, she lost bigtime, but that’s not the point. She’s seriously hardcore. WTF is she doing in Blue? We need her here!
—Soren Black, street gossip.