Yogangs: Children of Generation X

2027. Over 50% of the children born on the Street don't know both of their biological parents. The nuclear family is a rare breed as the dangers and stresses of poverty have pushed it to the edge of extinction. In the CorpZones, juves are being either brainwashed or ignored, cramed into cookie-cutter personalities, while their parents have sold out and left them at the mercy of the corporate system. On the Outside, streetkids are fighting for a meads to live while trying to find someplace to call home, even for a little while.

Out of a basic need for identity and rebellion, and (most importantly) to have fun, comes a new version of an old theme: the yogang. Yogangs, while not strictly families in the standard sense of the word, have taken on that role for many since the decline of the more typical forms. The broad term applies to just about any youth group actually put together and maintained by the kids themselves, and is far more like a group than a gang. They are usually exclusively for teens or pre-teens, with little or no adult leadership, and almost every teener belongs to one even if you don't call yourself a 'ganger. Most kids only participate part-time, but that doesn't make you any less a member. Yogangs provide ways to relate to (and find status among) your peers beyond what the adults spell out for you. At the same time, they allow you to break out and make some rules of your own.

And America in 2027 could definitely use some new rules.

On the Outside, yogangs are sometimes the only means for survival - you need a group to back you up or you're fair game. Your group could be all the kids from a single neighborhood that decide they share an image and want to present a united front. One common factor of Yogangs on the Outside, though: They're designed to help the member survive and gain a reputation first - fun comes a distant second.

Surprisingly, yogangs are as common in the Corpzones as in the Outside. Some Corpzone youngsters like the BeaverBrats turn to vandalism (what's life without a little graffiti?) and corporate harassment. Most are simply kides that share a major interest, like the ArcoRunners, and the Vidiots. For others, like the Goths, it's deadly serious. Whatever the group is into, the point is to thumb you nose at the system and to do something important for yourself and your fellows. Many still love their parents (if they have any), but to the yogangers, most adults have become part of the ISA Machine - the corporate megastate which now dominates their lives.

The Carbon Plague has hit the Yogangs hard, since they represent the prime age range from the Changed emerge. Even more destructive than the Plague itself is the hunt which has followed. Any tolerance the authorities may have had for yogang activities has evaporated in the paranoia of the pursuit for CyberEvolved teens. Police, CorpSec, and a lot of other people most of these kids have never even heard of before are chasing down the yogangs, looking for infection, advantage, or just plain cheap thrills.

The Code

One thing does work in these kids' favor, though, and they built it themselves:The Code. Born in response to all the selling out and scrambling for survival that's marked the third decade of the 21st Century, the Code is a set of ethical guidelines which the yogangs have informally drawn up for dealing with each other and the rest of humanity. These guidelines reflect a state of feeling among a good portion of the juves of 2027. Honor must be reborn. Tired of watching the rest of the world lie, cheat, steal, and bribe its way down the long slide to Hell, these people have discovered that honor is needed for a cohesive society, and that if the Machine won't supply it, then they will have to do themselves. Drawing from a variety of sources including the code of bushido, a lot of old John Wayne movies, and superohero comic literature, the Code establishes certain basic rules of conduct between the 'gangers themselves and even with the outside world, since honor cannot have two standards.

The Code has the following basic principles:

1. Your word is you bond, in whatever form it is given.

2. Never betray a fellow 'ganger to the Machine.

3. Money isn't worth blood.

4. You never take from another 'ganger without giving something back.

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