View of @City of New Hope
To the Gutter Saints, New Hope City is not something to be saved or reclaimed—it is a proving ground. The Fall stripped away illusions of freedom, and the Saints believe what remains are people desperate to belong to something stronger than themselves. The Animaphage and the infected are not enemies to be eradicated, but forces that break the weak and prepare the rest for ownership. Suffering, to the Saints, is not tragedy—it is refinement.
They see other factions as either competitors for human stock or hypocrites pretending they are better than slavers while relying on them all the same.
View of @The Shard Coalition
The Saints are members of the Shard Coalition, but only just. They play by its rules because open war would disrupt supply, not because they respect the alliance. To the Saints, the Coalition is useful chaos: raiders soften targets, break enclaves, and destabilize districts—after which the Saints arrive to “offer shelter.”
They consider most warlords short-sighted. Violence creates bodies. The Saints prefer survivors. Still, they tolerate the Coalition because it provides cover for their operations and ensures no single power turns its full attention on them.
View of the @Iron Dogs
The Saints despise the Iron Dogs—but do business with them anyway.
To the Saints, the Dogs are animals: loud, wasteful, and obsessed with breaking what could be owned. Every Iron Dog raid creates bodies that could have been laborers, and every burned block is a lost investment. Still, the Dogs are useful when brute force is required. The Saints sell prisoners to Dog packs as disposable labor or entertainment, and occasionally buy captured survivors back at a discount.
They do not trust the Dogs. They assume betrayal is inevitable. When the time comes, they intend to be ready.
View of the @Neon Knives
The Neon Knives are the Saints’ greatest fear.
The Saints cannot break what they cannot see, and the Knives kill leadership quietly—Confessors vanish, Shepherds are found dead without witnesses, records erased mid-transaction. The Saints call them heretics, demons, or ghosts, but privately they understand the truth: the Knives are the only faction that hunts them deliberately.
Saint operations are designed around avoiding Knife attention. Leaders rotate locations constantly. Rituals are moved or abandoned if surveillance is suspected. No Saint sleeps easily knowing the roofs are quiet.
View of @The Ledger Syndicate
The Saints and the Ledger maintain a cold, transactional relationship.
The Ledger despises the Saints’ brutality but profits from it. The Saints provide labor, bodies, and “assets” that keep Ledger infrastructure running cheaply. The Ledger provides logistics, routes, and buyers that allow the Saints to move people efficiently and quietly.
Neither side trusts the other. The Saints believe the Ledger sees them as expendable. The Ledger believes the Saints are a liability that will one day need to be erased. Until then, both pretend this arrangement is temporary.
View of @The Streetweight Collective
Streetweight is competition—and opportunity.
Streetweight controls movement and space, which makes capturing people harder but not impossible. The Saints view Streetweight’s open markets as fertile hunting grounds: desperate civilians, debt-ridden workers, and wounded fighters are all candidates for “salvation.”
Streetweight openly hates the Saints, but their visibility makes subtle action difficult. The Saints avoid direct confrontation, preferring infiltration, debt manipulation, and slow conversion. Where Streetweight uses force, the Saints use patience.
View of @The Breakwater Confederacy
The Saints treat the Breakwater Confederacy with caution.
The Docklands represent export. The Saints sell human stock through intermediaries to maritime buyers—labor crews, off-city enclaves, or worse. However, the Breakwater’s code is strict, and overt slavery risks retaliation that would cut off vital routes.
As a result, Saints dealings with the Breakwater are indirect, masked as “indentured transport” or “work contracts.” The Saints respect the Confederacy’s willingness to burn anyone who threatens the bay—but they never forget that fire can spread.
View of @The Cinder Faith
The relationship between the Saints and the Cinder Faith is hostile and ideological.
The Saints believe suffering must be controlled and owned. The Faith believes suffering must be burned away. The Faith’s fires destroy stock, erase debt, and turn labor into ash. Worse, the Faith sees enslavement as a false mercy—an offense against judgment.
Clashes between the two are rare but catastrophic. Saints avoid the Ashworks entirely. Faith patrols execute Saints on sight. There is no reconciliation possible.
View of @The Keepers of Haven
The Saints are obsessed with Greenhaven.
To them, it represents untouched wealth and unclaimed people. The idea that a pocket of the city exists without chains offends their doctrine. They believe the Keepers are hoarders who deny others the “salvation” of structure and ownership.
However, Greenhaven is quiet, hidden, and difficult to penetrate. Saints who go missing there are never recovered. For now, the Saints watch, probe, and wait.
View of @The Reclaimers
The Saints hate the Reclaimers—but fear them.
The Bastion represents everything the Saints reject: order without ownership, protection without debt, authority without ritual submission. Worse, the Reclaimers do not buy slaves, do not tolerate trafficking, and execute Saints without negotiation.
Saint doctrine frames the Reclaimers as false shepherds—liars who promise safety without cost. Still, no Saint willingly approaches the Bastion. Chains mean nothing to soldiers who already believe in law.
View of @The Outriders
The Saints consider the Outriders cursed.
Outriders don’t negotiate, don’t ransom, and don’t recruit. They burn infestations and kill infected where Saints prefer to harvest survivors. Worse, Outriders sometimes free captives during hunts—not out of mercy, but because leaving witnesses risks infection spread.
Saints tell their Flock that Outriders bring death wherever they go. In truth, Saints avoid them because Outriders do not break, bargain, or convert. They simply end problems.