We are the forgotten ones, the ignored, the unseen. We are everywhere. We are the powerless, the nothing people, the dregs. We are the people. We are Auxientia.
The Irregulars are the loose parts of society. Street rats, orphans, thieves, and the disenfranchised: the irregular. You come from all walks of life, though the main body of your population exists among the lower classes. You are society’s misfits, the mismatched cogs, the wrenches in the gears. You see imperfect laws more acutely than any, for injustice affects you more than most. For some of your kind, laws are mere obstacles to be overcome; other Irregulars hold no regard for laws whatsoever: after all, what have laws ever done for you?
Honor among Thieves
Irregulars are a loose association among many different gangs, syndicates, and cartels that run along the secret channels of the city. By day, the Gilded oversee the city’s roads, rails, air traffic, sewer systems, and water trade; by night, the Irregulars use those channels as networks to smuggle illicit goods and information in exchange for profit.
The Irregulars are the most fractious of Auxientia’s power groups, and the various competing factions that comprise the Irregulars vie for survival and supremacy in Auxientia’s harsh, sooty underworld—beneath the crumbling brick of factory walls; among the mounds of industrial trash and the stinking sludge swamps of Dunmeadow; within the opium dens and piano brothels clouded in fuchsia haze; down labyrinthine sewage tunnels; in the scratchy groove and hiss of phonograph music in the gambling halls; in the meat lockers, the dark alleys, down by the docks; even in some of the white walled towers of the aristocracy. In these places and others like them, the criminal underworld struggles for survival and business continues as usual . . . until an outside threat unites them. Then the underworld of disparate interests puts aside their differences and unites under the banner of the Irregulars, and woe to those that stand in their way.
When aligned as the Irregulars, Auxientia’s underworld forms staunch bonds of loyalty. As a unified shadow organization, they have the potential to be deadlier than any faction and more capable of seizing power, though they are incapable of holding onto it, for as soon as they eliminate the threat, the vast number of gangs that make up the Irregulars break down into their component parts, squabbling over turf, alliances, and so on.
Even in peacetime, the Irregulars come together annually at a private gathering called the Catspaw Compact, held at a secret location that changes from year to year. Strict rules govern the gathering—there is to be no bloodshed among the assembled; deals that are agreed upon are binding; truces are made; the rarest of black market prizes are bought and sold. The other Auxientian factions know better than to interfere with the Irregulars when they form, and some well-intentioned Auxientian officials have paid the ultimate price for meddling in the Irregulars’ affairs.
Irregulars among the Aristocracy
Though rare, Irregulars even exist among Auxientia’s upper classes. These tend to be wealthy crime bosses with their hands deep in the politics of Auxientia, as well as the owners of nefarious business, pirate fleets, saloons, and bordellos. In the Steam Age, a number of anarchists have surfaced among the upper classes and the student body of the university; some are brilliant thinkers and philosophers while others are dangerous lunatics, but both take the part of the Irregulars and identify with their united vision.
In Recent Times…
Terror and Extremism. An extremist sub-faction within the Irregulars launched a bombing campaign throughout the city of Auxientia. Calling themselves the “Men of Iron” in tribute to their hero, union labor organizer Robert Irons, the terrorists detonated several high profile targets. Robert Irons ultimately disavowed the sub-faction that had formed around his words and principles.
Rising Crime. After a century and a half dominating Auxientia’s criminal underworld, the brutal Hawkhurst Gang waxes in power once again.
Co-Leaders: Celìo D’Amore & Robert Irons
