The Skullers

Official Name: N/A
Organization Type: Mutant Gang
Sphere of Control: Drug running, random havoc, being a bunch of dangerous maniacs
Sub-Groups: Every Skuller's crazy enough to be a group entirely by himself

The Skullers are one of the biggest gangs in the Urban underground, and one of the biggest pains in the ass for Control to deal with. It encompasses thousands, if not tens of thousands, of individuals. Most of them are from the same section of the Brown Zone, born with a mutation which leaves their faces skull-like, skin practically clinging to the bone, no nose(just a hole), very deep-set eyes and lips pulled back so their teeth are almost constantly revealed.

Those who join the gang without that mutation tend to ritually mutilate and tattoo themselves to more closely resemble the rest of the Skullers. Large masks and hats made out of the skulls of some of the bigger mutant animals are also popular.

They're said to have a leader, referred to only as "Old Skull" who's been in charge for a decade now, if not longer, and they've been behind some of the greatest threats to the stability of the Urban, attempts to bring down whole spires and similar, though to date all of their efforts have been foiled by Control, Convictors or groups of mutants less crazy than the Skullers.

Once they actually managed to take over a Red Zone near the heart of their territory, and their screwing around with the geothermal plant there almost managed to blow several hundred square miles of Urban sky high and bury even more under tons of magma and ash. Fortunately they were stopped at the last moment, but the plant's still a bit less stable than the less, and it's not unusual for large plumes of ash and similar to rise from its shaft.

The Skullers have access to any kind of gear they can jury rig together, steal or buy with stolen stuff.

There are also a few non-Skullers who have the same mutation as them, though they can always be recognized by the fact that they don't try to brain you and aren't hanging out with fifty similar-looking buddies.

Contact Intel

Varney, scrap trader: "Skullers are on the warpath lately, and for once it's nothing to do with Control. Sounds like it's just a couple of lone mutants who've been pissing them off. Why, the other day I heard they even arranged an entire UnderSLAM! match just to get revenge on three interlopers! Still no smarter than usual, though, so whoever's pissing them off probably just has to lie low for a while, not start any trouble.

Hm, one thing I heard, though, is that they're not happy with the Yellow Hats, apparently the Hats have found a new drug source down in the Brown, and the Skullers think they're moving in on their territory. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some shots fired sometime soon. Just hope it's not going to be another invasion of the Yellow by the Skullers…"

Montaz, ex-Control officer: "You're not the first person to ask that, and yeah, it is a damn good question. Officially they're just sneaky bastards, you know, using old, disused passageways and shit like that. But that's not true, I checked some of the security footage once and… they just walk in. It's like no one notices them until they start shooting, and they're smart enough to keep their fingers off the trigger until they're well inside the Yellow. Only thing that regularly spots them is automated stuff, but a program can't tell the difference between a Skuller and some other lumpy-headed freak.

And the people watching the monitors? They don't notice them either. They're not just a bunch of violent idiots, they've got some tricks up their sleeves."

Varney, scrap trader: "Skullers holding grudges? Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's like once you piss off one Skuller, you piss off all of them. Don't ask me how they do it, but it works. Usually people just pack it up and move away once it gets too much, if they live that long. I've made some decent money that way, picking up whatever they couldn't be bothered to take with them.

The worst part is that you can't hide anywhere Skullers are, they'll pretty much always sniff you out, find their way to where you are. Just about the only way to hide would be to sneak up into the Blue or Green, those are about the only places you'll never see them. Why're you asking something like this, anyway? Did YOU piss them off?"

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