Sons of Scorpions

The Sons of Scorpions

The Sons of Scorpions are an older Biker Gang that originated in the deserts of the American continental Southwest. That region of the continent was left forgotten as the world powers were restored. Vegas and points west joined into the Republic of California while to the East the Republic of Texas consolidated as did the Rocky Mountain Republic to the north. The former states of Arizona, New Mexico, large swaths of northern Mexico were all left as forgotten badlands. No one was interested in reclaming those forgotten and ruined cities or claiming the small pockets of population that survived. 

During the Second Dark age, biker gangs started riding old petrol bikes that were modified to run on alternate fuels and ruled that part of the country. As the new powers rose, the domains of the bikers slowly contracted. The first thing that started upsetting their grip on power were the transport trucks that started crossing the deserts. The weaker gangs folded or were absorbed by the stronger gangs. The stronger gangs consolidated their power and upgraded their vehicles and firepower. By the advent of the treaty that cemented the borders of the Atlantic Federation and the Pacific Rim Coalition, the southwest was a shared demilitarized zone, leaving large sections untouched by either power.

The gangs limped along for a few years until a new source of recruits was found. The militaries of the two continental powers produced a steady stream of disgruntled veterans, as well as quite a number of damaged personnel. The pursuit of superior and super soldiers was littered with broken down cyborgs, half deranged bio-mods, mentally unstable genetic mods, and just plain broken people. Many of these were unable to cope with the return to the civilian life, or the rigid discipline of the Arcologies. They were exiled, imprisoned, or self deported themselves to the frontier regions of the states.

Barton 'Big Z' Zardoz

Big Z was an officer in the Federation military, Military Intel. He was a spy, the sort of soldier who jumped out of a stealthed helocraft to impersonate enemy officers, gain access to enemy computers, and perform general mayhem behind enemy lines. He was a large man, of Native American/Russian descent, and with his cybernetic and biologic modifications was very good at it. He worked for several years before he started losing his cool. His augmentations were not without cost, and his sanity slowly eroded until he was no longer able to work in the field and he was demobilized by the military. He was to be shipped back to Chicago Metroplex where he was going to be de-modified and returned to civilian life. He escaped and fled to the west, where he found a small time biker gang. He fell in with them, and in less than a year was their leader. Z started using his contacts to bring veterans he knew to the gang fold. They embraced the freedom and violence endemic to the frontier state and thrived.

Zardoz was then contacted by a mysterious benefactor who started supplying the cyborg commando with a slow but steady supply of gear. By doing favors, the violent shooty kind of favors, for the ghost, they were rewarded. The old wheeled motorbikes were replaced with first stock hoverbikes, and then in greater number by military grade hoverbikes. Weapons, food, medical supplies and entertainment flowed as well. Big Z secured his place and expanded the gang from the original small cell into a regional franchise. There are multiple cells of the Sons of Scorpions who ride under the 'Stinger'.

The Other Sons

Bottomless Simon Slant

Simon is a beast of a man, not quite as tall as Z but almost twice the mass. He is massively strong and where Z can sling a machine gun one handed, Simon can use a heavy machine gun in each hand, or can use an infantry support weapon like a tripod mounted assault machine gun, or automatic heavy grenade launcher like a regular rifle. Simon has a heavy hover bike with a sidecar to carry his heavy guns. He is called bottomless as his metabolism has been accelerated to fuel his increased muscle mass and he eats three times as much as a typical person does. He is cybernetically augmented with sub-dermal armor plating, enhanced strength, and enhanced sense of smell. 

Buzzsaw Cummings

Few seethe with hostility and hatred quite like Buzzsaw William Cummings. A man who enjoys killing above all things, Buzzsaw is a walking collection of weapons. He favors knives, daggers, and other sharp pointy things, but also carries a large number of pistols, SMGs and other small guns. Buzzsaw will kill anything if he gets bored, animals on the side of the road, birds overhead, random people he might get close to, and if anyone needs to be kept away from the hostages, it's him. He has accelerated synaptic systems, enhanced reflexes, augmented sight, and a variety of other bio and cyber mods that were intended to make him an exceptional bounty hunter that instead just left him a sociopathic murderer. If he didnt has a sense of camaraderie with the Sons of Scorpions, or a fear of their own abilities he would probably turn on his brother bikers.

Shitter St. James

Shitter is a very smelly person with hideous lack of personal hygiene. He has no sense of smell, and a muted sense of touch, an unfortunate side effect of faulty cybernetic modifications. He has enhanced strength, and impressive amounts of sub-dermal armor and the Rhino skin genetic modification. Shitter is also a less than intelligent human being, but is fine with following Z's commands. He also is dim enough that he doesn't know that his team mates dislike him, and are condescending to him. He has a twin hoverbike, it has two repulsors and three engine clusters to carry his weight and his heavy assault cannon.

Wildman David Doubleyou

The Wildman is the typical psycho that most HoloVids conjure up as the badass biker. He shoots things for fun, beats up unarmed people for shits and giggles, and the Wildman loves the ladies. Whether they like it not. The Wildman has a pair of double barreled auto pistols, and a flame squirting pistol. He has no special augmentations, but is one of the few Scorpions who can walk through a bioscanner and not set off the red lights.

Bloodlust Brock

Brock has been deeply damaged by years of warfare across the Federation. Another former soldier, Brock is suffering from twin afflictions, PTSD from his combat experiences, and psychotic feedback from his uploaded combat training. Brock has an artificial brain implant, and it's not functioning like it should. When the fighting starts Bloodlust Brock is in the thick of it, and will smear himself with the blood of people he has killed, or will take an extensive amount of time to fully and completely dissemble a victim, or vehicle.

Black Angel

One of the very few women to ride with the Sons of Scorpions, Beatrice 'Black' Angel is about as tough as a human being can be. She is a parapsychic mercenary who can short out electronics with her control of electrokinesis. She is a capable fighter, and a decent shot with a rifle. She was treated as a mutant freak and rather than take para-suppression pills or be a lab rat she fled and joined the gang. 

Jones, the Tracker

Jones was an Army Ranger for the Republic of California and spent years being passed over for promotion, the scapegoat for anything that went wrong, and was eventually locked up for a crime he didn't commit. Jones was liberated by Z along with a cell full of other 'new recruits'. Jones survived the brutal regime and rose to some prominence as he was able to start exacting revenge on the people who had spent their careers screwing him. Jones is an excellent tracker and scout, and is a solid shot with a heavy missile, laser spotter, or sneaking into an enemy stronghold.

Korno the Laughing Skull

Korno is a Seibertronian android who has been damaged a few times. He was once stable but disgruntled. A near hit by a high energy particle cannon caused his brain to be disrupted and scrambled. He spent several days rebooting and attempting a few repairs to his own psyche. He is dangerously unstable and his robot shell is typically in ghoulish disrepair. His face is in particularly poor condition, with the gleaming metal of his cranium and face structure showing. He is an energy weapons expert, and while the other Scorpions carry heavy machine guns and the like, he sports a laser, or on occasion, an infantry ManPak Portable PPC. Each pull of the trigger washes him in high energy particle blow back that causes his brain to haze, much like a junkie taking a hit of methamphetamine. 

Contacts and Allies

The Sons of Scorpions are not just some run of the mill biker gang with a few big guns, odd skills and bad attitudes. They have strong connections to the terrorist organization Amerikka Command. Amerikka Command funnels money and equipment to the gang, hiring them to do jobs for them. Many of the targets the Sons hit are enemies of the Command, and the people abducted are not always taken for fun or money. Many are taken as political targets, the wives or daughters of staunch anti-Amerikka Command officials. 

Amerikka Command also supplies most of the military hover bikes and heavy weapons the Sons use in the field. The Sons also typically have a friendly welcome at any of the Amerikka Command bases they roll up to. The Sons can be won over quickly by the offer of a hot meal and a comfortable place to sleep for a few nights. Access to drugs, black market media, and sex-bots also go a long way.

Symbol

The Sons of Scorpions, rather obviously, have a scorpion as their logo. The original gang wears a standard scorpion, claws down and stinger curved above it. Each member has a scorpion emblazoned jacket, and almost all have scorpion tattoos. The other gangs retain the scorpion, but have their own interpretation of the animal. The largest cell has nothing more than just the curved stinger against a clipped triangle in black and orange. This cell is the only immobile group and works as a Bandit Castle, training camp, and motor pool.

Plot Hooks

Have Bike, Will Travel - The PCs have been contacted to find a person of interest, a veteran who witnessed a certain event or has certain knowledge, such as the access points to an enemy base or other suitable mcguffin. Said veteran now rides with the Sons of Scorpions and has little to no interest to returning the civilized world, preferring his new life of freedom and barbarity.

Assassination Job - Big Z has made enough people in the cities mad that they have contracted bounty hunters to bring Z down and take as large a chunk out of the Sons as possible.