Gear Rats

Origins and Beliefs of the Gear Rats

The Gear Rats formed in the first years after the Collapse, when the Rust Belt was only broken factories, dead assembly lines, and wrecked cargo yards. Small survivor gangs hid there to escape shamblers and raiders. Over time, several of these gangs merged around one clear idea: machines had kept people alive once, and could do it again if treated as more than tools.

Old workers, mechanics, and scavengers started talking about “the Machine” as a single, greater thing. Not a god in the holy sense, but a living sum of every engine, gear, conveyor, and bolt that still worked. They taught that metal responds to respect and effort. If you maintain it, it runs. If you neglect it, it fails and kills you. This belief became the core of Gear Rat culture.

From that base, they built an identity as a war-tribe. You do not simply join them. You are broken down and rebuilt. Recruits must prove they can fight, repair a piece of machinery, and stand in heat and smoke without fleeing. They swear loyalty in rites where they coat their hands in hot oil and press them to steel. Blood, oil, and rust mark them as part of the tribe.

They do not follow written doctrine or detailed scripture. Their belief is practical. If a machine runs well, it has accepted you. If it fails and kills you, you were not worthy or not careful enough. This harsh view shapes how they treat both outsiders and each other. Weakness, in their eyes, is not a problem to heal. It is a threat to the tribe’s survival.

Territory and Daily Life in the Rust Belt

The Gear Rats rule the Rust Belt, a wide industrial strip of refineries, foundries, rail spurs, and collapsed warehouses around New Vance. Many of these plants once fed the city’s factories and docks. Now they feed the Rats. They strip every line, crane, and yard for material. Where possible, they restore old machines and bring them to life. Where that fails, they melt the wreckage and forge new tools and weapons.

Within the Rust Belt, they maintain several strongholds. The largest is Cog’s Forge, a fortified complex built around an old foundry. Slag pits, casting bays, and overhead cranes still operate there, powered by patched generators and improvised fuel. Nearby sit barracks made from stacked containers and welded vehicle shells. Smaller camps sit at key rail crossings, scrapyards, and road choke points.

Life in these places is loud, hot, and dangerous. Furnaces burn almost without pause. Sparks and smoke fill the air. Children learn basic repair skills before they learn to read. Everyone has a role: welders, drivers, rig crews, raiders, scouts, and “keepers” who maintain engines, generators, and armatures. Even food and water work is organized around machine needs. Fuel storage sits beside grain storage. Water is filtered through salvaged industrial systems.

The Rust Belt is not only a war-zone. It is also a production zone. The Gear Rats press gangs of captives, debtors, and desperate volunteers into work shifts. Some stay and rise in status. Others break and are discarded or traded away. The Rats justify this by saying that idle hands waste energy, and wasted energy is a crime against the Machine.

Leadership, Ranks, and Rites

At the top of the Gear Rats stands Cog. He is a towering figure in soot-caked power armor, reinforced over the years with scavenged plates, pistons, and servo-bracing. His armor never comes off in public. His voice comes through a cracked speaker system that distorts every word. To the tribe, this makes him more than a single man. He is the living “voice of the Machine.”

Cog’s authority rests on three things: his personal combat strength, his deep technical knowledge, and his ability to keep the Rust Belt supplied. He chooses his lieutenants, called Foremen and Forewomen, from those who show both aggression and skill with machinery. A Foreman who cannot keep rigs running or bring back loot does not stay in the role for long.

Ranks among the Rats are not based on age or bloodline. They are based on proven output. You rise by leading successful raids, keeping war rigs in working order, and delivering scrap and fuel back to the forges. Titles like Driver, Sawyer, Smelter, Rigger, and Breaker mark a person’s specialty and status. When two Rats compete for the same role, they settle it through trials: rig races, sparring, or repair contests under time pressure.

Rites bind the tribe together. The Rite of Ignition marks entrance into full membership. The recruit must repair a damaged engine under watch, then stand near it as it redlines. If it holds, they are accepted. If it fails due to their error and injures them, they are often discarded or set to menial labor. Other rites mark new war rigs, new forges, and major victories. These involve oil, blood, roaring engines, and offerings of scrap.

Cowardice, sabotage of tribe assets, or refusal to fight when ordered are the worst crimes. Punishment is public and harsh. Sometimes it means exile to the wastelands. Sometimes it means being chained to a failing machine as a warning. These actions send a clear message: the tribe’s survival always comes first.

War Rigs, Weapons, and Trade

The Gear Rats are known across New Vance for their war rigs. These are heavily modified vehicles built from old trucks, industrial haulers, rail engines, and even small construction mechs. They weld on armor, ramming plates, rotating gun mounts, and crude stabilizers. Some rigs carry flamethrower arrays fed by chemical tanks. Others mount scrap cannons, harpoon launchers, or crude railguns built from repurposed plant equipment.

Their infantry gear follows the same pattern. Armor is made from layered scrap plates, chain, and welded frames. It is heavy, but it holds up against shrapnel and light gunfire. Many Rats carry cutting tools that double as weapons: saw-blades, impact hammers, welding torches, and plasma cutters. Their favorite weapons are those that serve both in battle and on the line. If a tool can shape steel and break bone, they value it.

Despite their savage reputation, the Gear Rats are not mindless. They run a rough but real trade network. They sell forged armor, weapons, machine parts, and maintenance work. In return, they take fuel, food, medical supplies, and key components they cannot easily produce, such as advanced circuitry or high-grade capacitors.

Deals with other factions are always tense. The Hydro Hegemony trades water tanks and purifiers in exchange for rig repairs and industrial muscle. The Shadow Syndicate hires Rat crews for high-risk extraction or demolition work, sometimes paying in custom augments or rare electronics. Even the Citadel Council has quietly bought parts and repairs from Rat engineers when no other source could deliver.

At the same time, the Rats raid those same partners when they see weakness or insult. A convoy that underpays them might be hit on its next run. A faction that breaks a deal might find a key bridge or pipeline cut apart overnight. To the Gear Rats, trade and war are not opposite acts. Both are tools to keep their engines running.

Relations, Threats, and Role in New Vance

In the wider balance of New Vance, the Gear Rats are both a danger and a resource. Their control of the Rust Belt gives them access to metal, tools, and transport. Their rigs can strike far and fast. Their forges produce weapons on a scale few groups can match. Any faction that needs heavy industry has to think about them.

The Citadel Council sees them as a serious threat to controlled order. A raid into Council-aligned districts can undo months of careful rationing and planning. At the same time, the Council knows that wiping them out would cripple key industrial zones and create a power vacuum that Raiders or shamblers might fill. This leads to an uneasy pattern: crackdowns on Rat raids, followed by quiet deals for parts and labor when no one else can do the job.

The Solar Guardians have clashed with Gear Rat convoys over fuel caches and mobile generators. Each side claims the other steals vital assets. Still, there are moments of cooperation. When a shambler surge threatens key roads, Guardians and Rat crews sometimes fight along the same lines, if only to keep routes open for both groups.

The Hydro Hegemony does not like their chaos, but values their strength. Gear Rat gangs are sometimes hired to guard water convoys through hostile zones or to smash rival wells. In return, the Rats get clean water in bulk, which supports heavy labor in the Rust Belt.

The Shadow Syndicate sees the Gear Rats as useful blunt tools. They broker mercenary work and pass on information about weak targets, in exchange for cuts of loot and access to Rat-made hardware. But the Syndicate also knows the Rats are hard to control. A deal can shift the moment Cog decides a different course brings more scrap or glory.

Finally, the generic Raiders of the wastes both fear and copy the Gear Rats. Some Raider bands worship them and try to imitate their style, rig layouts, or rites. Others avoid the Rust Belt entirely, because they know a direct fight will end badly.

In the end, the Gear Rats fill a clear role in New Vance. They are the keepers of heavy industry and mobile war power outside the Citadel. They are brutal, but they hold the Rust Belt together in their own way. As long as factories stand, metal rusts, and engines turn in New Vance, the Gear Rats will have a place in the city’s struggle to survive.