Hellhounds

The Hellhounds were a vigilante group that operated in The Downs between C.S.Y. -25 and C.S.Y. -18, serving as a stand-in for the lacking police presence in the neighborhood. They were disbanded following an even known as New Year's Rumble, a large street fight that resulted in a police raid.

## History

A group of misfit friends formed the group while in high school. West End High was notorious for bullying, and they united in order to have a fighting chance against the bullies. The founding members were Sylvester Mills, Buddy Bopper, Valencio Belmonte and May Belle Woodchuck.

Sylvester would become the boss, making May Belle the underboss and Buddy and Valencio the lieutenants. Together they went around looking for recruits among nerds and other bullied kids, and soon their ranks were soaring. Training together and looking out for each other, they became a force to be reckoned with, and decided to bring the fight to the bullies directly. One of the first kids they managed to save from being bullied was Peggy Duisithe, who would design the gang's imagery and even become their in-house tattoo artist later.

After most of the members graduated high school, they decided to join other vigilante groups in upkeeping at least a semblance of order in the ganglands of West End. Thanks to their perseverance, they worked their way to become the strongest among the vigilantes, and enemy number one of all the local gangs. The neighborhood where their home base was established became one of the safest in The Downs, allowing for a soup kitchen to be opened there, serving the most desperate of denizens while relatively unbothered by local gangs.

But their downfall would eventually come, on New Year's Eve of C.S.Y. -18 when three major gangs – The Rust Hustlers, West End Fiends and The Dedhartz decided to bury the war hatchet and temporarily forget the grudges they held against each other in favor of taking Hellhounds down together. Their combined forces descended upon Club Styx, which served as headquarters for the Hellhounds. Despite being seriously outnumbered, they fought back valiantly and managed to push the attackers out, and the fight spilled into about half of the neighborhood. Other militias and gangs soon joined in as well, and the street fight turned into an actual riot that swept through most of The Downs. This even became known as New Year's Rumble. But the City government had already started an effort to clean up the crime in Downs, and such bravado didn't escape their attention...

Detective Blink of the City Constabulary was watching the activities in West End while undercover and learned of the three gangs' plans before the Rumble happened. Since the fight showed no sign of dying down, members of the constabulary descended upon the rioters, catching them all off guard and breaking up the fight swiftly. Countless arrests were made, but the Hellhounds and other militias were let go but vigilante activities were outlawed immediately afterwards, and a permanent police presence was established in The Downs at last.

After disbanding, members of the Hellhounds went their separate ways, though the core members remained in touch.

## Appearance

Their colors were black and blaze orange, and their logo was a snarling hell hound with burning orange eyes, a tuft of combed-back hair on top of its head, and a spiked collar.

The members would wear clothing in the group's colors, with the logo usually on their backs, but sometimes on upper sleeves or chest too. Their preferred choices for clothing were bomber jackets, hoodies and leather jackets, all reinforced with scrap metal and/or protectors ripped from sporting gear. They would also wear various articles of sporting gear on patrol or during fights, like batting helmets, hockey masks and other protective equipment.

They used melee weapons such as baseball bats, brass knuckles, batons, staves, shovels etc., with some members like Peggy Duisithe carrying slingshots for ranged attacks.

## Members

The following is a list of known members along with their nicknames and ranks:

* Sylvester Mills a.k.a. Hound Dog (boss)
* May Belle Woochuck a.k.a. Packmother (underboss)
* Buddy Bopper (lieutenant)
* Valencio Belmonte a.k.a. Wanderer (lieutenant)
* Zed (inner circle member)
* Shirley Spadí a.k.a. Shovel Shirley (inner circle member)
* Larry Rondell a.k.a. Razorhands (inner circle member and resident barber)
* Peggy Duisithe a.k.a. Needles (inner circle member and resident tattoo artist)
* Bob Kaplan a.k.a. Bobcat (member)
* Daria Burke (member)
* Rodney and Ronnie Darko a.k.a. the Quarterstaff Twins (members)

## Trivia

* *There is no real world inspiration behind the Hellhounds, but their appearance and style takes influence from movies like The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause and The Wanderers. There is also some inspiration from 'The Kings' from the videogame Fallout: New Vegas, who are the de-facto militia of the Freeside neighborhood.*