In the world of Cyberpunk, where society is always on the verge of collapse, the rich
get richer, and when local communities are abandoned without any real social support,
gangs sprout up in the vacuum.
There are 50 plus gangs mentioned in various Cyberpunk books. Some are major players, while
others exist just as a punchline, like the gang that role plays Star Trek characters,
for example. Exploring all of them would take forever, so we'll save the older and weirder
stuff for a future video, but let's take a look at 10 key gangs that will be in the upcoming
video game.
Let’s start with one of the first gangs we got to see back during Cyberpunk 2077’s
gameplay reveal, the Maelstrom gang.
They are one of Night City’s older gangs, having been around since 2020. It actually
formed from the ashes of the Metal Warriors, which was wiped out by a gang called the Inquisitors.
Naturally, the Maelstrom's main goal was to build themselves up and destroy the Inquisitors,
which they did by drafting members of other gangs that held personal beef against the
Inquisitors.
The trademark look of an old school Maelstrom member was black leather and chrome, and a
good third of them were Cyberpsychos, which is someone whose mental state is affected
by the use of too many cybernetic augmentations. Despite being dangerous, they mostly kept
to smaller crimes like simple robberies.
But by 2077 Maelstrom has evolved into one of the most dangerous groups in Night City.
Their need to improve themselves with cybertech has become a core part of their personalities,
developing into an obsession, with nearly all members suffering from cyberpsychosis.
The gang is over 1,000 members strong, having set up shop in the industrial part of the
watson district. It mainly deals in the smuggling of illegal drugs, as well as the occasional
hit on corporate transports.
Where the Maelstrom members worship the tech they use to enhance themselves, the Animals
are the polar opposite. They are interested in the raw power of the flesh and embracing
the primal savage nature of man and beast. Instead of electronic tech, members boost
themselves with genetic supplements, vat-grown muscle implants, and something called ultratestosterone.
Animals consider themselves the next dominant step in the evolution of humanity. Often they
will pit themselves against worthy foes in brutal tests of combat, whether it be traditional
sporting competitions, or more illegal altercations against other gangs or the police. They also
model themselves after supposed animal behavior, with the gang made up of individual packs,
run by the strongest member, known as the alpha. As such the Animals lack any real home
turf and its 3,000 members are spread throughout Night City.
Shortly after the 4th Corporate War, many of its veterans returned home to Night City
only to be met with crime-ridden neighborhoods and an ineffective police force. So a bunch
of them got together to form 6th Street, a civilian militia that went out into the streets
to bring about the justice they felt was missing and provide protection and training to local
neighborhoods and businesses. Members of the 6th Street want you to know they are just
some good old American boys, rocking military uniforms, baseball caps and lots of American
flags.
That hits different in 2020.
The 6th Street of 2077 is still primarily made up of veterans who think of themselves
as bringers of justice, but that justice has been warped into a self-serving abuse of power.
Now its members demand money for protection, smuggle guns, and run chop shops. They still
patrol their local turf and primarily pick fights with other gangs, and because of this
the police and corporations tend to leave them alone.
Night City’s largest organized gang is the Valentinos. The majority of the members are
of Mexican heritage, however they do accept other races and ethnic groups. As such the
Valentinos bond over a shared sense of culture and traditions, and celebrate many Mexican
holidays. The communities of Heywood they protect are fiercely loyal to Valentinos,
making the gang nearly untouchable by the police.
The Valentinos have been around since 2020, however, in such a vastly different form it's
hard to say if it even shares a connection outside of the name in 2077. In the old days,
the Valentinos were a non-threatening poser gang of men that engaged in the art of seduction,
attempting to pick up attractive women off the streets. Members would then meet up once
every three months to compare scorecards. Basically the Valentinos were like if a group
of pickup artists all decided to start a cyberpunk street gang.
Today I’m here at Venice Beach and it’s mommy makeout day. I’m gonna find some moms
and play a really quick game for a really really really quick kiss.
Another gang that’s been around since 2020 is the Tyger Claws. Originally a small group,
the now 5000-member organization is a fearsome gang that models itself after the Japanese
yakuza. It likes to put on the face of being a business with an emphasis on honor and principles.
It's even said it has close ties to the upper management of the Arasaka corporation.
But this attitude really only sticks with those in high ranking positions, as many of
the Tyger Claws low ranking members are violent sadists who abuse their power. The Tyger Claws
make their home in Night City’s Japantown and largely make money from human trafficking
and prositution. You can spot a member of Tyger Claws by their neon tattoos.
The Tyger Claws are inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of Night City’s
most recent gangs, The Mox. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Borden was a well known strip club owner who
had a reputation for treating her workers with respect, good pay, and protection. So
in 2067, when one of Lizzie’s girls was assaulted and murdered by members of the Tyger
Claws, Lizzie took matters into her own hands, killing the men and hanging their bodies outside
her club as a warning that she was not to be trifled with. This did little to dissuade
the Tyger Claws, however, which retaliated in kind by destroying Lizzie’s club and
killing her.
This caused massive protests and riots throughout Night City and turned Elizabeth Borden into
a martyr in the movement against gang violence. Looking to keep the spirit of Elizabeth intact,
her followers rebuilt her club, naming it Lizzie’s Bar, and made it the headquarters
of The Mox, a gang created to protect sex workers and sexual minorties. The term sexual
minorities isn't defined specifically, but it's probably fair to assume that this encompasses
LGBTQ+, among other groups. They are the least hostile of the major gangs in Night City and
primarily stick to their business as long as you don’t mess with them.
Another small gang that likes to keep to itself is the Voodoo Boys. Like the Valentinos, there
appear to be two very different incarnations of the gang. The original Voodoo Boys of 2020
were a nihilisit terrorist group that would torture, rape, and kill its victims, seemingly
for no reason. Members would use bones as nose piercings, implant feathers on their
scalps, and leave chicken blood on doors, all part of some ritual magic theme. Here's
the thing, all of that was just an act as the majority of the members of the Voodoo
Boys were all white boys, dressing up in nonsensical racist cosplay and then committing violent
crimes for fun. Not cool.
Despite bearing the same name, the Voodoo Boys of 2077 share no resemblance to the original
gang. It is made up entirely of Haitian immigrants living in Night City who banded together.
After climate change completely destroyed Haiti in 2062, the Voodoo Boys made its main
focus the protection and support of Haitian refugees. It is an incredibly small and secretive
group and you won’t find them on the streets. Instead most Voodoo Boys are netrunners and
they spend their time hacking corporate databases or acting as mercenaries for hire.
The last of the in-city gangs is the Scavengers, although it's actually hard to say how much
it even counts as an organized group. Scavs prey on anyone with nice cyberware and body
augmentations, harvesting them for parts to sell on the black market. Scavs have no code
or banner to rally behind and zero regard for the people they kill.
It's unclear how many Scavengers there actually are. Scavs have no terf, operating in small
groups throughout the city with very little structure. All you should know is if you see
a Scav tag marked on a street corner, you should stay very far away.
And finally we have the two major nomad groups that have set up shop outside of Night City
in the Badlands. Nomads are roaming caravans of refugees that have banded together and
travel from city to city. They make up their own society of families and clans and have
a tight-knit bond. The first group is the Aldecaldos, one of
the original nomad families to form back in the 1990s. It was started by Juan Aldecaldo
and his family as they escaped a war-torn Los Angeles and made their way to Mexico City.
There’s a fair amount of history to the Aldecaldos that we’ll maybe touch on in
a separate video, including their relationship to Johnny Silverhand.
The second Nomad group is the Wraiths. It is your quintessential Mad Max-inspired group
of outlaws. Members aggressively raid small towns, weaker nomad groups, and anyone else
who happens to be in their path. It has a long rivalry with the Aldecaldos and expands
numbers by taking in exiles from other nomad clans.
And that was a look at the 10 groups that you’ll be facing, or perhaps allying with
in Cyberpunk 2077. As I mentioned there's a ton of smaller, stranger gangs in the history
of Cyberpunk so look forward to that in an upcoming video. However our next video will
be about the many districts of Night City that these gangs inhabit. If you enjoyed this
video and want to get more involved make sure to check out our community tab where we run
polls asking what lore you’d like us to cover, such as last week when you all picked
this very topic. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time!