If you like you can look at the (sketchy, incomplete) GM notes as well.

Mob Relations

The Family: Relations with other groups are driven by the Family's authoritarian outlook and (somewhat dubious) pro-working class ideals. Their obvious disdain for the nominal government of Horizon and open domination of the Slums makes them obvious targets for the Watchdogs, and in return the Family views the Watchdogs as an ineffectual gang of misfits sent to do the dirty work of the Upper City. The two are also grappling for control of the Steam (where the Watchdogs are being bribed by the Merchant's Arm to repress the increasingly confident workers, and the Family are backing the Steam Union and, after their own fashion, the workers). This situation also makes firm foes of the Family and the Merchants' Arm. Conversely, the situation in the Steam gives the Family some common ground with the HPLF; however, the Family is not fully comfortable with the idea of armed revolution, and certainly not with the majority of the HPLF's various versions of it. This limits the degree to which relations can develop.

The emphasis of both mobs on tradition and a well ordered underworld should make the Family natural allies of the Dockyard Rats. However, the Family have a powerful dislike of drugs which they claim (not entirely frivolously) are responsible for wrecking lives, encouraging petty crime and social disorder, and breaking up families. They will not deal in narcotics themselves and try to prevent others doing so. The Rats, on the other hand, are the main suppliers of drugs to the city. This is the basis of a bitter feud between the two. Conversely, there is competition between the two in the prostitution business, and the Rats claim to dislike the Family because of the (comparatively) poor care they take of their brothels. It is true that the family women who dominate the Kellor tend to have less sympathy with prostitutes than the pimps of the Rats (especially post-Madam Velvet). Finally, perhaps more surprisingly, the Family gets on well with Inmack's Boys, possibly because that group are mostly interested in crime directed at the upper city (in the form of robberies) and in defending the Craftsman's Quarter, and in fighting the Rats for the Trading District.

Dockyard Rats: Relations with the Family have become distinctly hostile in recent times; the Family's emphasis on stamping out the drugs trade is in direct opposition to the Rats' new position as preeminent traders in the city. In return, the Rats accuse the Family of mistreating the working girls in their service. It is also true that the two gangs are competing in a variety of markets, but the main cause of the considerable emnity between the two is the Family attitude to the Rats' main commodity, drugs. The dispute between the Rats and Inmack's Boys, on the other hand, is entirely down to turf and competition; the Boys have their own trade in drugs and both gangs covet the profitable trading district. In addition, the Boys have proven annoyingly adept at making hauls of loot and smuggled goods disappear. The two gangs are in open conflict over the Trading District.

On the other hand, the Rats get on rather well with the Watchdogs, given that they don't set themselves up as the alternate government in a district the Dogs themselves can't control (like the Family) or go around stealing the property of the great and important (like the Boys). It also doesn't hurt that the Rats bribe generously. This chumminess, combined with a (somewhat unfair) perception that the Rats are basically exploiting the poor of the Docks to cater to the tastes of the Upper City, means that the Rats are not in favour with the HPLF, although this is not a particularly rabid emnity.

Inmack's Boys: Historically, the Boys and the Watchdogs have fought like weasels in a sack, and nothing's happened to change that. For a long time, the Boys were a relatively low-muscle, low-influence association of professional thieves; for that reason, the Dogs victimised them whenever a really public crackdown was necessary. In recent years the Boys have grown in stature, influence and manpower; but in this case, old emnities die hard. The quarrel with the Dockyard Rats is of much more recent origins, but no less vicious; the turf war in the Trading District that began with the downfall of the Cartel was escalated by the Rats' heavy-handed tactics and the Boys' habit of getting retribution by stealing vast hauls of goods from the Rats. As a result, the two groups are in open conflict.

In the face of their mutual enemies, the Rats and the Dogs, Inmack's Boys made a number of mutually profitable agreements with the Family, and the alliance worked better than either side expected. The Boys ply their profitable trade stealing from and defrauding the Upper City (and the Rats), then dispose of their ill-gotten goods in the discreet and safe markets to be found in the Slums. Meanwhile, the Family gain the services of what is still essentially a group of highly skilled professionals. In addition, the HPLF and the Boys have a longstanding understanding based on a mutual contempt for the Upper City and a dislike of the Watchdogs. This friendliness, and the Boys' understandable insistence in stealing from rich people, means that the Merchant's Arm is forever lobbying for the destruction of the Boys.

The Watchdogs: For obvious reasons, relations can be rather prickly. However, an understanding with the Rats has sprung up in recent years based on a recognition of that gang as the least of three evils (and in the case of the corrupt Watchdogs, excellent business partners). It's something of an alliance of convenience, and the Rats can't do just anything, but the two seem to be partners for the moment. Many rank-and-file Watchdogs despise the Merchant's Arm, but they are an excellent source of funding for corrupt Dogs, the upper ranks approve wholeheartedly of this "concerned citizens' group", and to be honest the Arm aren't carrying out any crimes that a beat cop can really deal with. So the two groups seem to be in alliance for the moment; indeed, the Dogs are mostly fighting on the Arm's behalf when they battle the Family in the Steam.

The basis of the Dogs' ongoing battles against Inmack's Boys and the HPLF is simple; these are the people the Dogs are paid to crush. They can hardly ignore either group and still keep up even the pretence of being a police force. The Family are in some ways even more threatening to the Dogs; they sit in the Slums and openly flout not only the Dogs but also the whole government of Horizon. Nevertheless, many Dogs would be happy to let the Family fester along with the rest of the Slums, out of sight and out of mind. However, the bribes of the Merchants' Arm and the Family's interest in Union politics in the Steam has made conflict inevitable, and the two groups are in open battle.

The Diagram: Arrows represent relations; if there is no arrow between two mobs they are neutral or even apathetic towrds each other. Double headed arrows mean that the feelings are mutual; single headed arrows indicate feelings that are stronger one way than the other. A red line indicates suspicion or tensions; a green line represents a working relationship or other agreements. A heavy green line represents good relations; a heavy red line means ongoing, possibly escalating tensions.

We've also included on the diagram the identifying symbols used by the organisations in question. The various criminal gangs (as well as the HPLF) use fairly simple logos which are easy for members to paint on walls or chalk on pavements quickly. The main use for these symbols is to denote the limits of a particular gang's territory, but each mob also has its own secret language of chalkmarks on alley walls and other signs - these codes aren't especially complicated, and can't get complex ideas across, but they are good for leaving simple messages like "this house is no longer secure, go to the alternate meeting place" or "the man who lives here is a Watchdog informant, don't trust him".

The Watchdogs' symbol, of course, is their coat of arms and has been around for centuries - based on the city's own coat of arms, it depicts the Sun rising from behind the Wall. The symbol for the Merchant's Arm is based on a satirical cartoon that appeared in the Liberator when the Arm was exposed, depicting the organisation reaching to grab the city's wealth for itself. The members of the Arm were so taken with the image they took to using the Arm themselves; if you poke your head in one of the better gentlemen's clubs in the Noble District, you can tell the Arm members by their cufflinks, which show this symbol.