Primary Location: @Desoleum
Notable Characters: @Gholsken Hresk (Smuggler/Trader), @Zax Holthane (Smuggler/Trader)
The Trade Sable is a major Criminal Cartel dominating the forbidden traffic of illegal and heretical goods, specifically the Faceless Trade in illicit xenos artefacts and proscribed materials throughout the Askellon Sector. This group has been smuggling blasphemous trinkets into Hive Desoleum for many years, possibly centuries, often ending up in the hands of Apex nobles. Their operations are highly sophisticated, utilizing ciphers, codes, and glyphs. They have intense and bloody rivalries with other groups dealing in the Faceless Trade, such as the Pale League. The Sable often works directly with heretical cults, most notably maintaining a lucrative business arrangement with the xenophilious Children of the Inheritance cult on Thaur, helping them retrieve artefacts from rivals like the Callers of Sorrow. They are ruthless criminals, willing to employ hired killers or sabotage to halt Inquisitorial inquiries. Their operation provides a central narrative thread connecting multiple high-profile heresies across the sector, often linking the Apex elite with the deepest underhive depravity.
Primary Location: @Desoleum (Underhive)
Notable Characters: @Vornas Crimson (Leader of the @The Red Walk splinter gang)
The Fleshcutters are one of the most notorious and historically significant hive gang affiliations in the Desoleum Underhive. They are characterized by their near-exclusive use of bladed weapons (knives and swords), avoiding firearms, and prioritizing speed and agility in combat. They are silent stalkers who favour ambush, though once fighting breaks out they are loud and wild. The gang places high value on inflicting severe, memorable wounds over outright killing, often coating their heavily serrated blades in pain-inducing toxins. Their members engage in extensive ritual scarring using slow, long cuts filled with blood and bone dust from dead members; unwavering scars are a sign of respect. Gang myth holds that they were founded three centuries ago by a unit of offworld warriors accused of looting who escaped execution and fled into the lower reaches of Desoleum. They are prone to hyper-violence, attracting members ejected from other gangs for being too vicious. Their extreme practices mean they can subtly fall to Chaos, with their scars eventually resembling the marks of Khorne or Slaanesh. The extremely violent Fleshmaulers splinter group arose from the Fleshcutters, prioritizing chain weapons. The Red Walk is a key Fleshcutters gang operating in the Gallowsway, actively fighting against the Chaos-worshipping Callers of Sorrow cult.
Primary Location: @Desoleum (Apex/Upper Reaches)
Notable Characters: @Eldric Havofast (Leader of the @Babyfaces gang)
The Cloudboys are a deadly and cruel gang affiliation whose members are drawn exclusively from noble families in the upper reaches of Hive Desoleum. They are typically young toughs who, often disgraced or not in the line of succession, pursue violence and criminal behaviour for thrills. Their name comes from the fact they have seen the sky, giving them a superior outlook toward all others in the hive. They maintain elaborate and colourful—yet lethal—styles, sporting stylish gear like quilted vests laced with carapace scales, ornate hats, and custom obsidian shades. They mask their deeply sadistic and psychopathic nature beneath overly genteel manners and advanced vocabulary used to taunt and belittle their foes. They serve as vital intermediaries for the Trade Sable, linking smugglers and heretical items to highborn buyers in the Apex. Cloudboy gangs like the Babyfaces are heavily involved in distributing proscribed goods and are more than willing to engage in violence, viewing confrontation as a game. Due to their shared class background, Acolytes of Highborn origins have a distinct social advantage when dealing with Cloudboys.
Primary Location: Nexum VIII (Penal Colony)
Notable Characters: None specific
Gang culture is the dominant social structure within the work camps and prisons of the penal colony Nexum VIII. Inmates band together for survival and protection, sacrificing their humanity to rise in the brutal veiled hierarchy. The proximity of Nexum’s Warp barrier leads to mutation in many gang members, who often wear their disfigurements (like Dark-sight, Deadly Natural Weapons, or Unnatural Strength) with pride. This gang culture is responsible for creating and distributing snake, a nightmarish, Warp-tainted drug that is sweeping through Askellon’s underhives. The gang violence is so intense that it is causing the breakdown of the traditional social cohesion of the hereditary prison guards known as the Turnkeys. Their existence and power are inextricably linked to the volatile Warp conditions and the exploitation of the inmates as the drug's source.