Complex sentence: The Defenders did not have a centralised leadership but were organised in loosely connected local cells and the huge growth in membership was limited by their lack of weapons which they sought to rectify by launching raids on the big and small houses of the Ascendancy.
Split into simpler sentences: The Defenders did not have a centralised leadership but were organised in loosely connected local cells and the growth in membership was limited by their lack of firearms. They sought to rectify by launching raids on the big and small houses of the Ascendancy.