The Sacred Blades were a gang operating in Night City.
Overview[]
The Sacred Blades were a combat gang organized on a stereotype of Native American culture. They were extremely diverse in nature and open to all ethnicities, however, the gang was mostly made up of males, though tolerated female members as long as they did domestic chores.
Most Sacred Blade members had long hair, and each individual had unique face paint markings. They all wore large feathers tied into their hair, though these had to be either from an eagle or hawk. In reality, most members bought them from con artists that took seagull feathers and modified them to look like the real thing. The Sacred Blades symbol was a red hand-print.
Someone who wished to join them had to prove their bravery, strength, quickness and personal will. To do this, any newcomers had to publicly defeat a member of a rival gang only with their hands and blades, held or thrown. The Blades existed purely for individuals that wanted to show-off physical prowess and had no socially redeeming qualities. Only a few members carried cybernetic weaponry and guns, as it was deemed dishonorable to use them unless it was absolutely necessary. Sacred Blade members favored large bowie and machete-style blades, and much like Heidelburg sabre scars, no member was seen without at least multiple battle marks all over the body. Any open slashes won in honorable combat were rubbed with "ceremonial" substances to cause scarring. To the NCPD and other security forces in Night City, it was better to have a gang organized to show-off than one organized to do incredible cyber-up violence for no reason.
A common way of combat form for the Sacred Blades was known as the "counting coup;" a member painted their hands in red, then attempted to leave a red hand-print on a rival gang individual or NCPD officer without being stopped or caught (the idea being that if they wanted to, they would be in a position to kill that person). They also had to wear their unique traditional face paint while doing this. Sacred Blades used mind-altering drugs for rituals to purify the heart and mind, and it was not uncommon for these to be accompanied by mild self-inflicted injuries in order to numb the body to pain. Peyote was the preferred drug for this, but since it was very hard to get, it was often replaced by any obtainable hallucinogen.
The Blades were headquartered in an old general store east of Burleson Tower in the City Center. Their territory overlapped with that of the Black Queens, whom the Blades didn't consider fit for competition, but instead were good to have access to drug connections. The Sacred Blades rivals were the Slaughterhouse and the Steel Slaughter Slammers, both also present in the northern portions of Night City. The Blades often times journeyed off to Slammer turf for contest, though they preferred to hang out in the Totentanz to pick up fights without any restrictions.[1]
Stats & Equipment[]
These are the stats and equipment of an average Sacred Blade member in 2020's Night City Sourcebook.
| Stats | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 5 | REF | 9 | DEX | — | TECH | 4 | COOL | 8 |
| ATTR | 6 | LUCK | 7 | MA | 7 | BODY | 5 | EMP | 6 |
| Skills | Melee weapon 8, Rifle 4, Handgun 4, Brawl 7, Intimidate 4, Resist torture 7, Streetwise 5, Awareness 6, Athletics 6, Dodge 4, Endurance 4[1] | ||||||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 PONDSMITH, M. Night City Sourcebook. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1991. (pp.43,45,51–52,71)