Motordeath

Motordeath (Or Krassvall as the trandoshan's called it) was a Telosian swoop gang that started 10 years before the beginning of the Jedi Civil war, and fell apart a few years prior to the Tarisian civil war. Originally known as Motordeath, it was known to be a rival of the Black Vulkars and Hidden Beks in power and wealth until Zaria Base (called Zaria by the gang members themselves), its primary hideout, was destroyed by a group of Black Vulkars and hired mercenaries. Though it lost much of its power after the attack, it still persisted, attempting to revitalize itself. This failed, however, as Araya was killed in a cantina one night when an assassin plunged a shock stick directly into his spine. After his death, the gang fragmented into several tiny and comparatively pathetic factions, never once reuniting until the Tarisian civil war.

Origins
Red Zone was started by a young, intelligent bounty hunter by the name of Thoemza Araya in 3969 BBY. Araya was having little luck as a hunter, finding it hard to get to a target first when there were already far too many other inexperienced hunters hoping to collect on the exact same person. Instead, Araya began gathering fed-up mercenaries and bounty hunters like himself, persuading them that they would become richer if they took up life as a gangster under his command. Initially, he only found about 20 people willing to join him. Never one to back down, he continued anyway, calling the gang "Motorbreath".

Expansion
For nearly a year, Motorbreath grew very little, unable to make a large profit from most of its criminal activities. Then, almost an entire Tarisian year after its founding, a swoop racing prodigy by the name of Eddale Vora Halon (or EVH for short) joined the tiny gang. Halon competed in every race in the gang's general area, winning nearly every time and sharing his profits with the gang. After this, things quikcly began to change. Over the course of a few months, scum and villainy from all around the lower city began joining the gang, swelling its size to over 100 people in three months.

Araya realised that he now had to develop a system to keep the ever-growing gang in check, and he created a chain of command similar to that of most large-scale militaries, with himself obviously at the top.

Merge with the Black Claw

 * By mid 3967 BBY, the gang had grown to nearly 200 members strong, the majority being swoop-racers of the criminal underworld. They drew the attention of a smaller gang, the Black Claw, after winning a decisive swoop race. The leader of the Black Claw, a trandoshan named Sslikosh, proposed that the two gangs merge together under the Motordeath name. Araya agreed, and made Sslikosh his second in command. The Black Claw, made up primarily of trandoshans and Weequay, brought enough power to the gang that it eventually came to the attention of the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars

Zaria Base

 * Araya knew that his rapidly expanding gang needed a central headquarters if it wanted to stay organised, so in late 3967 BBY, he took over a long abandoned factory in the lower city. With the help of the half-crazy mechanic and engineer, Hydrospanner, he transformed it into a fully operational headquarters for Motordeath. He used a large portion of the gang's profits to upgrade the base with new technology and a fully working securtiy system, complete with turrets and standard defense droids. The base became known simply as "Zaria" by the gangsters of Motordeath.

Gang War
In 3966 BBY, the Black Vulkars and the Hidden Beks, already intense rivals, went to war with one another. Araya, whose gang was now nearly as strong as the two rivals, saw his opportunity. Motordeath became actively involved in the rapidly ecalating conflict, and the lower city was plunged into a bloody three-way war.

Spice storage raid
"Hoo yeah! That stuff blow up good!"

- Motordeath gangster, watching the spice warehouse explode


 * Motordeath was hardly involved in the fighting at first, getting into only minor scuffles and skirmishes with the Beks and the Vulkars. This all changed when Sslikosh, with permission from Araya, took around 20 of Motordeath's best fighters and attacked a Vulkar spice warehouse that was previously unknown, being discovered only by chance by a few curious Motordeath gangsters. In only a few minutes, Sslikosh and his men were able to kill the small amount of guards and gain full access to the little warehouse. They were further able to load 20,000 credits worth of spice onto large speeders, and then destroy the rest with well placed charges. Only two Motordeath gangsters were hurt, and neither wound was fatal.


 * Though nobody could prove it, the Vulkars rightly blamed Motordeath for the burglary and destruction of the spice warehouse. This caused them to focus on Motordeath almost as much as they did the Hidden Beks. The Beks, on the other hand, were forced to fight Motordeath after the gang pulled a series of raids on Bek-owned swoop garages.

The War Escalates

 * In 3965, the war was at one of its most intense points. All three gangs were rushing to outdo the other in every way possible, from money gain to weapon production to, obviously, enemies killed. This was also when each gang experienced a sudden influx of people, who had probably heard that there were riches to be had for the victorious gang.


 * The Tarisian auothorities became involved after several incidents where there had been large civilian casualties. However, they were at a disadvantage in the almost alien territoy of the Lower City, and could do very little to stop the fighting. This resulted in a falling public opinion and a large loss of life for the securtiy force.

Bloody Stalemate
"We've been fighting for 6 years now, countless people have died, and so far we've gained very little. Why do you refuse to stop?"

- Gadon Thek, meeting with Araya to discuss a truce


 * In 3963, as the Mandalorian wars were starting, the three gangs fell into a bloody stalemate. Nobody seemed to have any outstanding advantage over the other, and even the rise of a new leader for the Vulkars -a man named Brejik- did little to change the situation. For seven long, hard years the gangs fought, causing the deaths of over 1,500 people and over 400,000 credits worth of damage. When the Mandalorians took the planet, all three gangs fought against the new overlords, though only the Beks joined with the official resistance.

Attack on Zaria
In 3957 BBY, a year before the sith takeover of Taris, the Black Vulkars led a direct attack on Zaria base. Throwing subtlety out the window, a large group of Vulkars and hired mercenaries blew opent he main door and assaulted the base head on, fighting through Motordeath gangsters, defense turrets, and security droids. Many casualties were suffered on both sides, though Motordeath definetley got it worse. Losing most of their bikes and weapons as well as half of their members including Hydrospanner and EVH, Motordeath seemed to disappear over night. Not long after, they declared a truce with the Beks, but the Vulkars refused to relent. Both Araya and Sslikosh survived the attack, and immediatley they began working on rebuilding all that was lost. They may very well have succeeded, had Araya not been killed by a bounty hunter the following year.

Assassination of Araya
Brejik soon realised that Araya was still alive, despite the attack. He knew that Araya was intelligent and charismatic, and that it wouldn't take long for him to start rebuilding Motordeath. He issued a bounty on the gangleader, promising 20,000 credits to the being who killed him. In response, Araya vanished from view of all but those who he trusted the most, and those were few.

In mid 3956, at the beginning of the sith occupation of Taris, Araya went on a rare outing to a local cantina with some of Motordeath's higher-ranking members. A Nikko bounty hunter by the name of Radra was just on his way to the exit when he saw the valuable bounty walking to a table on the other side of the muggy place.With nothing but a shock-stick, he approached the unexpecting Araya as he was taking a seat. With a swift swing of his arm, he brought the short weapon down into Araya's spine, hitting a major nerve center. The sudden electric shock killed the ganglord instantly, sending him sprawling to the floor and jerking all about with sudden, involuntary muscle spasms.

Fracture
Although Sslikosh was technically designated to be the next leader of Motordeath, several of the other major commanders wanted it differently. In late 3956 BBY, Motordeath fractured into several smaller gangs. Sslikosh took back a large portion of the Black Claw, as well as a large number of gangsters who trusted in his leadership. The two Majors each created their own factions, one calling itself Red Zone and the other simply referring to itself as Raz. Many other people left the gang altogether, seeking work as bounty hunters and mercenaries. They were never once reunited until they seperately joined the uprisers in the Tarisian civil war.

Appearance and Equipment
The Motordeath symbol was a simple human skull flanked by swoop bike fins. Though members were allowed to wear whatever they wanted, it was required that this symbol was shown on all of their clothes.

They used mostly standardized factory-built weapons like blaster carbines, heavy pistols, and vibroblades, but they also created a few of their own. These included the Motordeath Plasma Thrower, which was a short range rifle that emitted a single powerful slug of plasma that could melt through most metals and the scorch bar, a small, knife sized weapon that basically heated itself to extreme temperatures. It was used mainly for torture.

Ideology and Culture
When they first began, Motordeath was just another rowdy swoop gang. However, when they began expanding and mostly when they merged with the Black Claw, they adopted a more warrior-like culture that differed from that of the Vulkars and Beks and paralelled that of the Mandalorians. They also felt very close ties to their fellow gang members, creating a bond that was uncommon in most other street gangs. They confused the Beks with their refusal to end the fighting, firmly believing taht they should achieve victory or achieve death.

Behind the Scenes

 * The Black Vulkars and Hidden Beks are both canonical gangs. Brejik, Gadon Thek, and Benno are canonical figures.
 * This is going with a fanonical storyline, where the Sith fleet abandons Taris instead of blowing everything up.
 * The name Thoemza Araya is based off of Tom Araya, the frontman for the metal band Slayer.
 * The name Motordeath is derived from the title of the song Motorbreath by Metallica.
 * Eddale Vorah Halon's initials, EVH, are the same as the initials of the famous guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.