The Jack Tars

Type
Factions: Secondary Faction

Description
If there is a phrase the Jack Tars take seriously, it is “Britannia Rules the Waves.” If there is one thing to define the Jack Tars gang, it is spite. If there is one thing the Jack Tars are spiteful about, it is that they do not rule London, let alone the waves. Their entire current Modus Operandi is based around spite cloaked in ambition. From their headquarters in the National Maritime Museum, they lash out bitterly at a city they feel should rightfully be their domain. And rage the loudest against an authority they desperately wish they were part of.

Location
Greenwich

History/Background
Despite the gang’s claims that their origins trace back to 1548 to the Royal Navyfounded by Henry VIII, the actual gang is far younger. Sometime in 2201, a small gang of Hooligans would come across the National Maritime Museum, and finding it relatively clear of hazards, set up camp within. Until recently, the place had been inhabited by hordes of commuters, but with recent upheavals across the city, the horde had moved on, traveling south and west, leaving the museum relatively clear for the first time in quite a while.

The gang, headed by an ambitious young woman named Jacqueline Suckling soon settled in and began turning the museum into a fortress to serve their needs. The gang had until this point been named “The Jacks” for their leader, but said leader had begun to become enraptured by new notions. Surrounded by the naval history of the United Kingdom, ideas had begun to roost within Suckling’s head. It would not be long before she declared a new direction for the gang. She promoted herself to Admiral and began to distribute the uniforms that had been found in the basement of the Museum and surrounding area. At the same time she began to properly train her followers, whipping them from a loose amalgam of assorted toughs and nutters into something resembling a drilled and trained unit. She likewise began to enforce new rules upon them, banning chems and enforcing unified punishments for infractions (all drawn from the naval history she had come to love so much.)

This newfound cohesion and strong fortress in the museum began to attract new recruits and various Londoners seeking safety in South Eastern London. While the gang did not have access to the same weapons caches that other militaristic based gangs (such as the Tommies) had, the admiral began standardizing her men’s equipment to match their training. Their influence began to spread across South Eastern London, butting up against IODS and Vagabond territory.

But even as the gang began to achieve success, this same growing relevance would ultimately unseat the gang. Admiral Suckling had begun to see her gang of hooligans as far more than just another gang, but rather as a true successor to the Royal Navy and as peers to the Tommies on the opposite side of the city. The gang openly swore loyalty to the Monarchy and made grand shows of said loyalty—acts that would become deeply ironic later.

The young admiral approached the Gentry with grand designs in mind and dreams of helping them rule the waves, with her at the prow of a brand new navy. What the Gentry and Tommies saw, on the other hand, was a somewhat more organized gang of hooligans well outside their own territory that would be both a pain to support and had very little to offer them for the potential investment they would need to be a viable ally. To the Gentry’s credit, they tried to let the Admiral down lightly, explaining the logistical issues behind supporting her gang, but not actually turning her away as they didn’t see any use in alienating a potential ally.

They needn't have bothered. Jacqueline interpreted the Gentry’s polite dismissal as a refusal to see her grand vision. Swearing vengeance and personal enmity, the admiral returned to her corner of London. All oaths to the Monarchy were renounced and new ones, straight to the admiral, were made instead. As the years have gone on, the Admiral’s list of enemies has only gotten longer as she grows increasingly paranoid, attacking anyone she views as an enemy, which means anyone her paranoid mind has decided to label today.

This newfound policy of violent paranoia would culminate in the attack on the Thamesfolk Town of [Old Thameshaven] at Beacon Point. The Jack Tars took advantage of the Thamesfolk’s trust and committed a massacre, scattering the Thamesfolk to the winds before burning what was left and taking what supplies they wanted. The gang, once fairly open to outsiders and to diplomacy, has become hostile and reflexively violent. And so it stands, the Admiral’s personal fiefdom—a bitter monument to petty smallness and half-realized fantasies.

Prominent NPCs
Admiral Jacqueline Suckling

Captain Gilbert Williams

First Mate Seymour Sullivan

Assorted Information

 * [Ranger, I saw a reference to something called the Cutty Sark in Sullivan's profile? What is this?]

Soldier Types

 * Smokey Tars
 * Weaponry: Pistols, clubs
 * Sharp Tars
 * Weaponry: Rifles
 * Smiling Tars
 * Weaponry: Knives / throwables

Associated Quests

 * Quests associated with the faction. Hyperlink the quests to appropriate articles, if applicable (use the button that looks like chain links in your toolbar). [Ranger, fill in later]