Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

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The Hadar

The Hadar are a loose confederation of crime families whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights.

"The Hadar" is the collective name for a group of powerful families who are one of the supreme military forces on (Name of World). The Hadar are involved in society at many levels, and find themselves coming into conflict with the Church and the Guilds. Hadar enterprises are frequently street-level, but they are by no means "common crooks" or unsophisticated thugs.

Hadar Culture

Honor among the Hadar

There is a saying that there is no honor among thieves, but rest assured this quaint idiom would be entirely foreign to the Hadar.

The central pillars of Hadar belief is honor, known as ird (for women) and sharaf (for men). There are distinctions between these two, most notably the fact that a woman's ird, once lost, can never be regained. Since women own all property within Hadar society, as long as their ird is intact, the loss of ird can pitch an entire family group onto the street. By contrast, a man's sharaf can be lost and regained. In both cases, Hadar's honor is her unquestioned word and unimpeachable integrity, the promise that when she says a thing will be done, it is done.

Honor is so essential to the way of Hadar life that no insult is greater than impugning the honor of another Hadar. In a sense, the denigration of one's honor is worse than murder: a Hadar without honor is no Hadar, and when his flame goes out, he will be spat upon by his mother and sisters, and forgotten.

On the other hand, the Hadar rarely expect non-Hadar to understand, much less adhere to, their unique code. The word of an outsider is worth only as much as they can provide to back it up. It is the rare person who has earned the respect of a Hadar to the point that their word is good enough.

Conflicts of Honor

Since Hadar families are often in conflict with each other, it is inevitable that one Hadar will insult the honor of another. In most cases, questions of honor are settled in the old-fashioned way, by fists, feet, and blades. A savage beating, or even a murder, is by no means an unusual event among the Hadar.

The problem with such a rigid code of honor is that such exchanges, between two individuals, can quickly cascade into a blood feud between Families. The Hadar have, over the millennia, recognized that it was not always in the best interest of the Families to allow such endless feuding to continue to the detriment of the Hadar people. Avenging one's honor is one thing, but to act like blood-crazed savages is unbecoming. Thus, for those Hadar who seek it - or are forced to seek it by family - there exist a set of traditions and customs to resolve disputes and questions of honor among the Families.

Such arbitrations are handled by Family elders, and their word is law. If both parties accept the final ruling of the elders, then the conflict is over. However, it is the right of the parties to the dispute to singly or together refuse to accept a ruling from the elders. In such a case, the parties must undergo a trial. This trial may be an ordeal - usually painful, such as the bisha'a lie detection test - that both parties must undergo and be judged on; it may be a formal trial wherein witnesses and testimony are presented; or, in some cases, it is a simple duel. The most painful ordeals and duels are reserved for the most grievous conflicts.

Hadar Organization

Though individual Hadar may operate independently while engaging in their criminal enterprises, the structure of the Hadar society is as follows.

The Families

The true power behind the Hadar, and the feudal lords of all who serve them. Some Families are truly caring for their communities, while others seek only power and influence. The Families are interlinked by a byzantine web of contracts, marriages, and debts, and so rarely go to war against each other. It is not uncommon for Family members to hold ranks in the Guilds or in the Church, allowing Hadar influence a foothold in those organizations.

Families are organized into a hierarchy.

Bayt

The smallest family unit is the bayt, or "tent," harkening back to the Hadar's days as a nomadic culture. In the past, a Tent might be a few adults and children, but at this time, a Tent can be a rather large or extended family. In all cases, however, the Tent has a matriarch heading the family.

Goum

This is an extended grouping of bayts linked together by marriage or common ancestry.

Ibn amm

These are also known as "descent groups," and are formed by the 3 to 5 generations of cousins, nieces, and nephews of a goum.

Hadar Shadows

The Hadar Shadows are expertly-trained warriors who specialize in the use of smokecraft to accomplish their goals. They can bend smoke to their will, using it to create confusion, poison their enemies, and extinguish flame-based weaponry.

Hadar Ashwalkers

"You must be talking about the Ashwalkers, what they call their Hadarram. I don't really know how they do what they do, but they say that the Ashwalkers can somehow harness an inner flame. Even without brands or fireware, they can still manifest many similar abilities. Any blazer along the Wick or down in the Embers can score a set of flamebound knuckles or a firetongue, but Ashwalkers have been seen to catch blasts of flame with their bare hands and hurl it back at their attackers or mold the flame into a sort of lance or whip to lay waste to everyone around them. They can run across flying sparks. I've even heard rumors about real masters being able to sheath their whole bodies with a solid fiery aura that lets them stand toe to toe with an infernal engine."

The Hadar Ashwalkers are paragons of inner discipline, and have harnessed the very flame of their soul as a weapon and as a guardian. They can project searing heat from their bodies, see into the infrared, and guard themselves from the effects of fire. Together with the Shadows, they are the elite soldiers of the Hadar.

Life and Death among the Hadar

Benefits

• Family: everyone fears the Hadar; they are a family. Hurt one, and they are all after you. Join a Hadar family, and know they have your back. Also, respect; you have the flashy clothes, the hottest new mounts, and you move to the front of the line at restaurants and clubs.

Drawbacks

• The other families: it's a tough life, constantly getting blood revenge. After you're seen enough violence, it can be tough to remember the original reason why you're fighting; the flame Rage shades everything red. Also, loyalty only goes up the chain; you're expected to do what you're told. You steal what they tell you to steal, you threaten who they tell you to threaten, and you kill who they tell you to kill. And Flame forbid you get romantically involved with someone who's not family.

Powers

• The Hadar are masters of rune tattoo binding. No one else has your speed and reaction time with flame; bindstones and prayers deal with forces outside yourself, but your flame is a part of who you are, and you use it as instinctively as another walks.

Hadar Termination

• Blood in, blood out. You're in the Family for life ... literally. And sometimes you just Burnout.

Flamepunks

• They may copy Hadar rune tattoos as rune scars without fear of reprisals, but the secret of how to apply rune tattoos is kept among the highest ranks of the Families. Generally, rune scars aren't as powerful or versatile as rune tattoos, and much more painful to get, and much more prone to Rage and Burnout. The Hadar view 'punks as raw street trash, without their sense of belonging, history or family.