Sacred Blades

The Sacred Blades are one of the many gangs in Night City.

Details
The Sacred Blades are a combat gang based on American Indian culture. They are highly diverse however, and open to all ethnicities and races. While some members are equipped with cyberweapons, it is considered dishonorable to use them except in emergencies. They rely entirely on bladed weapons, especially Machetes and Bowie knives.

Scars are a mark of pride, and deliberate scarification is common. Wounds received in combat are typically rubbed with ceremonial substances that will encourage the wound to scar. Self inflicted torture is commonly practiced to desensitize them to pain. The gang is mostly male...female members are tolerated, but subordinate to the men.

The Sacred blades make extensive use of mind altering drugs. Peyote is preferred, but difficult to get. So they will substitute any hallucinogen they can acquire.

Membership requires the prospect to publicly defeat a member of a rival gang using only hand to hand skills and their bladed weapons. They will often pick frights with the Slaughterhouse and Steel Slaughter Slammers, who have turf nearby.

They also practice a variation of counting coup...their hands are painted red, and they try to leave a hand print on a rival gang member or cop without being stopped or caught (the idea being that if they wanted to, they would be in a position to kill that person). They are required to wear war paint (the design of which is unique to each member) while doing this.

The gang is exclusively social, and has no goals beyond showing off for each other. However their antics often put innocents in harm's way. For this reason they are still a target for the NCPD, although a lower priority than the more violent and psychopathic gangs.

They share turf with the Black Queens. They consider the Black Queens to be too weak to deserve notice, so they leave them alone. They will sometimes engage with them to get access to hallucinogenic drugs, and the Queens have connections. They can often be found challenging rival gangs at the Slammer or Totentanz. The latter is preferred because the combat there has no restrictions.

Reference
FISK, C. Night City Sourcebook. 1st ed. Berkeley CA: R.Talsorian Games, 1991