INTRODUCTION

Many Spines originated forth from the Jumper era, born out of the death of the original gang during the Night of Lead and Steel. These Spines were among the most coveted and skilled mercenaries of the Isles. They were fiercely loyal to Karson, many of them having stuck by his side since the Chromeskulls' inception— chosen from the ranks of the Jumpers for their skills and merit.

Needless to say, any slab, cog or mutant were not recommended to stray far from the paths of these "Streetwalkers"; their vehement loyalty towards Karson and his cause could potentially incur a fatal response, even if it was a minor disagreement.

PRE-DEATH ERA

As the Jumpers transformed into the Chromeskulls, the infamous and elite Spines found themselves pushing Karson's warpath forward as they were sent to fight the RELISTAR corporation; a child company of an NEU conglomerate known for their ruthless acts outside of NEU borders and borderline PMC nature.

These events became known as the elusive "Spine Wars", as the vast majority of these gangsters were sent to assail the company. During this era, Spines were the best the gang had to offer, wielding jailbroken RELISTAR and NEAF gear, RELISTAR HUMVEES, and expensive weapons. Though as eagerly and as quickly as the war began, the Spines sent to fight RELISTAR soon met devastating defeats over and over again— soon leading Karson to disband the now dwindling numbers of the Spines.

In 2163, Karson turned his sights on a new target, and his warpath continued. Spines were reintroduced into the gang as the Chromeskulls marched to fight Sigil Carne. Karson gathered the few survivors of the previous wars and new members that showed just as much promise to become his personal enforcers once more as Spines.

The Spines found themselves acting as Karson's eyes to quell infighting, and his hands to enact his will throughout Sunrise, rapidly evolving as the 'peacekeepers' within the gang to keep stability. This, however earned them a largely negative reputation; corruption in their policing festered, turning many Skulls against them.

POST-DEATH ERA

The war with Sigil Carne had grown tiresome and dull, lives lost in an endless feud with people no one had seen or cared about before. The Spines had wasted manpower and effort on a war of ideology with nothing to gain.

In an attempt to gain morale, a tired Karson, looking less like a warlord and more so an exhausted old man, would give (unbeknownst to him), his final speech. The speech itself was unremarkable, the Fuse repeating what had already been said in the past, and behind him stood the two Hands— Ines and Vic.

In the middle of his speech, Karson "Fuse" Blines was shot dead for all to see; Ines riddling his torso with bullets, and Vic sending the killing shot shuttling through his head, killing him. Karson's body then unceremoniously slumped off over a railing and onto the Squares floor. Ines would make her way towards the podium where The Fuse once stood, to deliver a speech which instated Eve "Bloodflow" Patel as the new Chromeskulls' warlord.

In the Coup's wake, there were two major splits; a schism. There were Spines who welcomed the coup with open-arms, most of which were new-age Spines— and then those who despised the coup, most of which being Spine veterans from the Jumper days. The latter of the two saw Ines, Vic and Bloodflow as traitors to the cause of the Chromeskulls, and people unworthy of their respect.

Following the divide between Spines, a substantial chunk of the veterans left en-masse. The remainder would willingly accept their new leader, with full knowledge that the future of the gang remained uncertain; and that they may not live to see the end of it.

Things would settle down after a while. The Spines who remained would continue business as usual, doing their day-to-day duties and continuing operations despite the assassination of their previous leader. Over this period, Spines would become more aligned to their clique rather than to the loyalty of their leader; becoming figureheads for the ideologies they chose to follow, operating in the grey-area between complete loyalty to the Chromeskulls, or specific loyalty to one of the cliques.

SPINE ROLEPLAY

• The ascension to the Spine rank within the gang means you've entered the middle-ground between what loyalty and pride you hold in your own Clique and your loyalty to the gang itself. The Spines are the major enforcers of the Chromeskulls, embracing the gang's culture and way of life.

  • Distinguished by their much stronger will to fight, and their stronger will to lead, these well-respected individuals are permitted to commandeer posses of Skulls unsupervised; acting as a sort of squad leader.
    
    

• Their primary mission is to ensure unity amongst their clique, and to keep all Chromeskulls in check. Above all, they act as figureheads to carry the word of their clique and safeguard the integrity of those individuals who populate them.

  • Some Spines may choose loyalty to the gang itself (e.g. Bloodflow Vic, and the Hands) if they so please, but this is not required or enforced in any way.

• Spines are encouraged to stray from being unfeeling, cookie-cutter, ruthless types and instead show diversity, empathy, as well as character.

  • There is no strict enforcement on how the Spines should act, look, or what they believe in. You are given as much freedom with your Spine characters as you would be given an LR character, with the obvious addition of the clauses in the paragraph above.

GENERAL REMINDERS

• • Spines are respected enough to lead groups or "posses" of Chromeskulls outside of the city to all of the Southern Island.

    • Booster Spines act as pseudo squad leaders, managing groups of Thumpers and Bulwarks. They can carry out small operations on their own, be it in benefit for the gang overarching or their specific clique, and engage in dealing surplus firearms to wasters.

    • Cybre Spines operate as overseers for the criminal-underbelly aspect of the Chromeskulls, and may opt to handle under-the-table dealings involving narcotics, side-gigz and bounties, or robberies and dechromings.

    • Drifter Spines are rare, but when they do surface they often work for the whole of the gang, and not under one clique. They often fill both roles that Booster and Cybres roles fill, acting as a "voice of reason"; not bound to one clique but instead the gang.

  • All Spines answer to their clique leaders, but are unable to refuse an order from another clique leader unless specified by their own clique leader. Conflicts of interests such as this rarely arise, however.