Nomad

"The only difference between most people and us Nomads is that Nomads have better cars ..."

- Nomad Santiago (Cyberpunk 2020)

Nomads were once corporate wage-slaves, who got fired and blackballed from employment, and now they roam the highways as Gypsies and motor-gangs like something out of a Mad Max movie. As life on the road is hard, they maintain strong family bonds. If a Nomad is in trouble, he can count on members of his family to watch his back.

Who Are They?
They drove your family off the Farm ten years ago. The Corporations rolled in, took over the land, and put rent-a-cops all over the place. It wasn't the first time it'd happened and it wouldn't be the last. Gradually, your family fell in with a bunch of other homeless families, and they met another group... until you'd create a Nomad pack of nearly two hundred members.

Now, crammed into a huge, ragtag fleet of cars, vans, busses and RV's, your Nomad pack roams the freeways. You look for supplies, odd jobs and spare parts in the world where society has fragmented. The pack is your home - it has teachers, Med Techs, leaders, and mechanics - it's virtually a town on wheels in which everyone is related by marriage or kinship. Sometimes the Pack pulls into a town just to fuel up or get grub. Other times, it swings south to follow the harvest; you pick crops in trade for cash or food. Less terrorizing cities and hiring out as muscle in Corporate wars. For obvious reasons, the cops don't like Nomads. But it doesn't matter - your vehicle are usually well armored and bristling with stolen weapons; mini guns, rocket launchers and the like. Every kid knows how to use rifle, and everyone packs a knife. Being homeless in the 2000's isn't easy.

The most visible members of the Pack are the Scouts - leather armored riders on bikes or in fast muscle cars, who protect the convoy from attacks and hunt up safe campsites. As a Scout, you're on the lookout for trouble, and you usually can find enough of it, with rival Nomad Packs, the Law, and the cowboy, you ride the hard trail. You've got a gun, a bike and that's all you need. You're a Nomad.

Special Ability
Family is a two-way street. A Nomad can call on his group for hospitality, protection, and assistance but has to give back that aid or lose status or suffer penalties as a result. Their score in this Special Ability is also their rank within the group. A Nomad group can be a biker gang, an extended family, a nomadic cultural group, itinerant laborers, or panhandlers. A Nomad group can really be anyone who cannot stay put and grow roots - whatever the reason.

Work Gang is the Orbital equivalent. Orbital workers are clannish and help each other out.