The Red Chrome Legion is an organization in Night City that blurs the lines between booster gang, hate group, "punk" scene and neo-fascist revolutionaries.
HISTORY & BELIEFS
With roots dating back to an early 2000s poser gang made up of edgy teenagers, R.C.L has long since stopped being a joke by a bunch of bored kids and become something far darker and much more serious than ever intended by its naive founders. Since its inception, R.C.L has gone through several iterations and restructurings as the organization's messaging changed to tap into the fears, angers and desperations of Night City's various eras.
Most recently the group was seized by Harper Graham, a mysterious figure with alleged ties to city officials, in 2078 after orchestrating the deaths of the old R.C.L leadership with the help of Cyrus "Risers" Mahon. Graham has since shifted R.C.L's focus towards violent retribution against "corporatist poison", something he claims has been spread by Japanese influence.
While not always overtly racist in its propaganda, "corporatism" is spoken about as an invention of the Japanese - who in turn used it to corrupt "foreign cultures" and eventually led to the downfall of "Old America". Red Chrome's hate doesn't stop there though, with the gang routinely calling exotics "the pinnacle of corporatism robbing us of humanity" and advocating for violence against corpos, badges, celebrities and leftist activists (the latter finding them as strange bedfellows with Night City authorities more often than not).
This rabid hate is used as an indoctrination tool against the young, lonely, deprived and desperate - people whose souls have been rotted by their oppressive world and believe they have nowhere else to turn.
The Legion also breeds a sub-culture of superiority based not only on the idea of "fighting back" but on "earning your chrome" aka "earning your blood". To a full-member of The Legion, you earn your chrome by killing, being wounded and going to jail for "The Cause" at which point you are seen as having earned the right to chip-in new chrome.
Especially "good" behavior might even earn a member a new piece of hardware paid for by Red Chrome itself - such as being a great earner, throwing a majorly successful recruitment drive or making a senior member particularly happy. Chipping-in without earning your chrome or perpetuating the "corporatist poison" by buying from a legal source can see your new hardware ripped out by your own "friends".
STRUCTURE & OPERATION
The Red Chrome Legion, unlike most booster gangs, has a strict hierarchy separated into three distinct "divisions" of the overall organization. A majority of the gang's members exist in the bottom two rungs of the hierarchy - which serve as the foundation for the three divisions, but aren't themselves separated into them.
Instead, the two bottom rungs serve as a general pool of manpower for all three divisions to pull from as needed. The divisions (From left to right on the pyramid) are "The Political Wing", "The Militant Wing", and "The Cultural Wing".
From the outside looking in, the only aspect that is obviously distinguishable would be the C.D.S at the top of the militant wing because of their heavier arms, equipment, military tactics and unique tattoos. The rest of the divisions would be meaningless to anyone outside the gang or not studying R.C.L, as they'd likely have trouble distinguishing most activity from the usual gangland fair.
You can learn more about R.C.Ls ranks, structure and other info under our resources tab!
