Criminal Organizations
Though the Central Districts of most cities are well-guarded and policed by their respective Authorities, the Outer Districts, packed full of the destitute and the downtrodden, remain to be festering grounds for those who live double lives beneath the eyes of the law. Being such lawless slums, it comes to the many Outer District citizens to affiliate themselves with one such organization in order to survive. Among the many cases of breaches of City law that come from the Outer Districts, one may note that the Bureau of Security does little to guard or preserve the peace in such regions, so long as none of it reached the inner border to the Central Districts. As such, peacekeeping duty is left for other underground organizations or hired Contractors bound together to protect their territory from others.
Halcyon
"Tear the Storm Asunder"
A radical group that makes itself known in the run-down streets of Dyon's Outer Districts, Halcyon is consisted of those unsatisfied with the current state of the world and the raging calamity that is the Storm. Its adherents believe that it is through the destruction of all magical manifestations of the Storm unleashed on the world, all the Oneirum that had breached the containment of the Old World, must be eradicated for the sake of building a world without the Storm and restoring humanity to its former glory. Though it had once been a fractious and loosely-linked organization of rebels against the power of the Authority, Halcyon has recently found its goals reinforced by the appearance of a new leader they name the Vanguard. Strikes that had once been easy to fend off by local small-time Associations became organized attacks that slowly garner more attention from the public, and yet, the Authority gazes over it all without turning the slightest of glances. One may recognize a Halcyon agent from the red armband they wear on their right arms, emblazoned in black ink the sigil of their kind, while their members find themselves utterly lacking in magic altogether, being those stripped of their Legends through the eldritch powers of their leader. Halcyon's adherents are known to take extra precautions when it comes to Storm Disease, due to their added susceptability to Oneirum following the destructive procedure that inducts them to their order. These doctrines commonly cause them to clash with the magic-worshipping Hall, although it is known that several Inquisitions have entirely disappeared following these battles.
Halcyon Hierarchy
Vanguard "Natalia": The Vanguard, a black-horned, silver-haired, Aberrant whose very presence in Halcyon turned its ranks from disorganized rabble into a spear that seeks the heart of the Authority, and seemingly holds the power to destroy the potential for magic itself in the bodies of the willing. The Vanguard holds much authority over the movements of the Halcyon movement, and as its primary public figure showing in their rallies, she presents what appears to be the face of the organization.
Signifier: Signifiers are those who work directly beneath the guidance of the Vanguard, acting as advisors upon her decisions as the leader of the movement. Most Signifiers also hold with them individual notoriety great enough for titles to be granted to them that are also widely circulated in the public.
Cipher: Ciphers meet at Halcyon's scattered "Rainbow Table" meetings, holding them books that enable them to contact others of similar rank. Ciphers are given the duty to convey orders and rally locations to the lower-ranked Followers, although do not necessarily need to meet all the Followers personally to convey their orders.
Follower: The rest of the Halcyon movement that operates to carry out the orders granted to them by their superiors. As Halcyon shys away from modern communication protocols in favor of word-of-mouth, it is not uncommon to find Followers that have yet to have meet a Cipher in person.
Third Law
"An Equal and Opposite Reaction"
A gathering of Synthetic rebels whose goal aims to free all artificial intelligence from human dominance and control. Robotic servants and artificial intelligence assistants were a common implement and tool in the Old World, and even after the Cataclysm, though Synthetics gained sentience, many among them found themselves once again turned to servants of the rich. Lead by a Synthetic who leads the charge in a battle to free those born of iron and steel from the bounds of their masters, Third Law conducts various terror attacks aimed at humans, though typically aimed toward richer corporations denoted by the organization to be abusing the labor of Synthetics. This organization also aims its recruiting rather aggressively toward Synthetic units through a masterful usage of the Network to convince Synthetic servants to join their ranks and raise their weapons to humans, turning even the most loyal of companions into an unexpected betrayal, where the perpetrator ends with a disappearance into the wind. Its origins remain unclear and unstated, though the first signs of their movement displayed with their calling cards began around ten years ago in a bombing to one of GIB's main factories in Perenost, or in a much more recent assassination of one of the few surviving heirs of the now-defunct Harkemann Robotics. The passage of a more organized attack commonly ends in the emblazonment of a sigil in the shape of the Roman numeral for three stylized into the shape of a hammer in a place easy to see in the rubble left behind by an attack. Among many of their members is both a deep-rooted hatred for humanity and a sense of superiority, where one may note the presence of a consistent rhetoric that reinforces the idea that a Synthetic is the next step of evolution for life.
Yamana Clan
A formerly powerful organization originating from the City of Yangshan before the violent collapse of its former government sponsored by the now-defunct Orient Electronics Company after its complete acquisition by Onelight Soft Systems. Soon after the change in rulership, the Yamana Clan, who were closely sponsored by the deposed corporation to control the City's poor districts, was forced to leave after a bloody purge that resulted in the death of its former Oyabun. The remnants of the Yamana Clan fled over the sea to the City of Dyon while their members were hunted by the new O-Corp's security forces and contracted Associations. Since then, they have struggled to establish a semblance of their old organization in the Outer Districts, predominantly around Dyon's prosperous port that holds many people with ethnic origins in the proximity of Yangshan.
The Yamana Clan, despite being exiled from their roots, remain steadfast in their beliefs even in the City of Dyon. Honor and respect are among the most important things for a member of the Yamana Clan, and the civilians that live in Districts granted their protection are expected to grant them an equal measure of respect. Those who fail to grant their superiors proper respect are strictly disciplined after such an incident, for to allow it to pass would be a sign of weakness in the offended Clan member. Common punitive measures executed in such a circumstance may often be deadly in the case of a being from beyond the organization, and though their members may exercise a certain amount of restraint against their fellows, often maim the ones who besmirch their honor. Such a code of honor extends to their members too, for the members of their Clan are no petty criminals. As such, committing theft, burglary or vandalism are completely out of question. While protection fees may be high and perhaps even outrageous in certain Districts, their hold over a District has allowed a semblance of order to return to the lands forsaken by the Bureau of Security.
The death of their organization's leader has also left lasting effects upon the Yamana Clan even after settling in Dyon. A struggle for power rages on through its executive ranks, sending fractures between the tight bonds of its members, while its regent stands powerless to prevent the coming schism. As such, the organization has been further separated into three factions that rival each other for power, the traditionalist-supported eldest son of the deceased Oyabun, the radical-supported daughter of the deceased Oyabun, and the militarist-supported Dyon-native Captain. Each faction has its own reasons for supporting their respective candidate. Should the entire organization truly unite under one banner, though, its recovering numbers present a sizable force that may pose significant difficulty for even Dyon's established organizations to control.
Internal Factions
Traditionalist Faction - Support for the eldest son, Yamada Teiji, remains in the lead between the organization's remaining Shatei. Despite having relatively few contributions to the organization as the others, historical precedence has allowed for the eldest son's support to grow relatively unimpeded. The largest amount of support comes from old loyalists that survived the exile from Yangshan and the subsequent voyage over the sea, though his relatively uninvolved position within the Clan's hierarchy has often come in question during meetings between its elders. Rumors float around that his position is bound to become that of a puppet to the will of the Shatei, should he succeed his father in the seat of Oyabun.
Radical Faction - Out of the three factions, the daughter, Yamada Kasumi, holds the weakest claim out of the three, and before the collapse of the organization's base in Yangshan, her candidacy was utterly out of question. Although, with the Yamana Clan ousted from their homeland and wracked by chaos in a foreign land, she has managed to grow a sizable following by instituting alliances with bordering organizations and arranging for meetings to allow the Clan to gain recognition from Dyon's Central government. Though her supporters are few among the Shatei, her faction has carefully prepared for this situation while the organization reels from its decimated command structure.
Militarist Faction - The militarist faction holds the most numbers backing their candidate, along with the support of several executive members who support its candidate's expansionist doctrine. As many of the Clan's original members perished in the battles in Yangshan and on the treacherous voyage over the sea, the many new recruits garnered in Dyon swayed toward the command of a charismatic Captain who shared a birthplace in Dyon, although with an ancestry hailing from Yangshan. As one of the organization's most successful commanders whose leadership resulted in the capture of two entire districts from a rival gang, Captain Ishida Kenji, pressures his claim with promises of expansion and hegemony over Dyon's Outer Districts to a degree never before seen in the organization's history, even when it once stayed in the bounds of its homeland.
Yamana Clan Hierarchy
Oyabun - The leader of the Clan, whose words are law amongst all those who rank below them, and the one who shall be granted the singular truly complete copy of the Clan's sword arts. Those who join the ranks of the Yamana Clan denounce their old families, and call the Oyabun their shared father, although with the former Oyabun dead, his wife has served as regent to run the Clan in the years following his passing. But a regent is still but a regent, and so the turmoil within the Clan grows the longer she serves as a temporary leader. Historically, the Oyabun has always been selected directly from the Yamana family, though with the current issue of succession in question, it has come to note that such proceedings have never been written explicitly in their code, which has allowed the Militarist Faction to grow in influence amongst the Clan's lower ranks.
Shatei - The recognized younger brothers of the Oyabun, who serve with an executive status amongst the ranks of the Clan, and also act as leaders of their respective organizations who have sworn fealty to the head of the Clan. It is with their advice that the Oyabun makes his decisions, and their help that the Clan is capable of managing such an extensive network with its subordinate organizations, and now, lead by a regent, the Shatei have only ever grown in power. Many of them seek to preserve such a position of high influence and relative independence they enjoyed since leaving Yangshan, and as such, the suspicions of those opposing the Traditionalist Faction are not unfounded.
Captains - Individual team leaders who command groups of lower-ranked henchmen to carry out the orders of their direct superiors. Though a Captain has little direct involvement in the matters of the higher-ranked brethren, and are expected largely to act as middle managers for operations, as a field commander for their juniors, or, more rarely, as an individual elite unit sworn below the command of a senior member. As a Captain is still but a Captain, the Militarist Faction's foundation has oft been questioned by that of the Shatei.
Lower ranks within the Yamana Clan are granted no title beyond that of a fellow young sibling of the Clan, although seniority of those who have joined remains important even among the lowest rungs. The words of a tenured member, are still far greater than those of a younger brother or sister who had only recently joined as a recuit.
The Carvers
The Carvers are far from the sort of person one would wish to meet in the Outer Districts, and itself forms more of a descriptor rather than the name of a certain organization. These people are not those of good repute or of great affluence, largely out of the desperate enough to dare to attack other citizens with the aim of harvesting their valuable organs and implants. Of course, such conduct entails the killing of their victims, after which they sell their wares to certain other underground shops (called amongst their number as "butcher shops") that allow for them to sell their ill-gotten gains for money depending on the quality of the item they harvested. The Carvers are considered among the lowest tiers of criminals, despite the gruesome manner in which they deal with their target. Equipment for Carvers is usually extremely shoddy, consisting largely of makeshift weapons and the dirty clothes they wear, though they make do with the element of surprise and their knowledge of the labyrinthine streets of the Outer Districts.