Black Hand (Volosia)

The Black Hand is a fictional private military company in the Just Cause universe. This page is about the non-canon version featured in Just Cause: Volosia.

* For the original Black Hand from the games, see the Just Cause wiki's Black Hand page.
* For any other fan fiction Black Hand, see Black Hand (disambiguation).

## Overview

The Black Hand is an international private military corporation that has had contracts in San Esperito, Medici, and of course, Volosia. While they are antagonists in Just Cause and Just Cause 3 and always hostile to the player, Volosia changed this pattern by creating a neutral Black Hand that can be hired by any faction and aren't necessarily loyal to one or the other.

## Description

The Black Hand have watched the conflict arise in Volosia and after identifying potential buyers of their services, they sent a small force there to create a base from which to make their operations and acquire contracts from the indigenous factions. As such, the Black Hand can be spotted all over Volosia doing the bidding of the highest bidder, and a few of their full-fledged bases can also be found on the island.

The United Volosian Republic is reluctant to work with the Black Hand as they are already supported by both the Russian Federation as well as NATO, but this does not mean the Black Hand cannot be employed in a pinch. The other factions are much more enthusiastic about acquiring Black Hand support, with plenty of contracts coming in from the Volosian People's Republic, Republican Army of Volosia, and Islamic Republic of Karradan.

More often than not the Black Hand will be found on the wrong side, but their allegiance is not indefinite this time around.

## Gameplay

From a gameplay point of view the Black Hand is a mercenary faction that is mostly neutral to all factions in the game besides the Aleskivich Mafia, and the player can work with them and hire their services if they so wish. With enough of a reputation, the player can hire Black Hand forces to assist any faction they would like against any other faction, and also to purchase and acquire Black Hand weapons and vehicles, powerful enough to rival some of the UVR's imports or maybe even the Russian Armed Forces. They are available to the player at all times as long as the Reputation level is not in the negative, and if done correctly, the Black Hand can end up being part of the team with the United Volosian Republic and their allies.

## Diplomacy

The Black Hand are formally neutral to every faction in the Third Volosian Civil War, but the factions of Volosia are unwilling to grant Black Hand troops access to their bases and intelligence, as the Black Hand follow the payroll and there is no way of knowing which side they are loyal to at a given time. The Republican Army of Volosia has been known to hire the Black Hand more often than the others, but they are not the only ones employing their services.

The Aleskivich Mafia is an enemy to the Black Hand as the two are competing for the favor of the indigenous factions, with the Mafia primarily supplying the factions using arms dealing, while the Black Hand is practically winning the war for them. The Black Hand are superior to the Mafia in terms of training and equipment, but they continue to be a thorn in the Black Hand's side.

NATO and the Russian Federation are neutral to the Black Hand for now as they recognize them as neutral mercenaries not necessarily loyal to one faction or the other. However, the two are on cold relations and the Black Hand know that there may come a moment when NATO finally tells them to get lost.

## Equipment

### Vehicles

B-6 Cobra - Lightly armored patrol car.

B-8 Pitbull - Lightly armored fast attack/reconnaissance vehicle.

Cougar Armored Car - Infantry mobility vehicle.

Coyote LRV - Light reconnaissance vehicle.

B-19 Grizzly - MRAP.

Marauder Series Armored Vehicles - Light tank series.

Scorpion Series Armored Vehicles - Main battle tank series.

B-76 Self-Propelled Gun - Self-propelled artillery vehicle.

HB-84 Orca - Light transport/attack helicopter.

HB-86 Hunter - Lightly-armed Reconnaissance helicopter.

HB-92 Hammerhead - Heavy assault helicopter.

## Trivia

* The black/red/grey color scheme is designed to combine the color scheme of the Just Cause 1 iteration of the canon Black Hand, and the Just Cause 3 iteration.
* The Black Hand have several references to the Command & Conquer series, such as:
	+ Their name itself is shared between them and a Brotherhood of Nod subfaction,
	+ Several of their vehicles are named after units from the Command & Conquer series, Tiberium series or otherwise,
	+ Their B-76 Self-Propelled Gun is based on the Denel G6 self-propelled howitzer, which has appeared in Command & Conquer Renegade as the Nod Artillery unit,
	+ Their color scheme of black and red is very similar to the Brotherhood of Nod's color scheme in Tiberian Sun and onwards.
* For any other Black Hand organizations, see Black Hand (disambiguation).