The Houses

House Gangs

The major Necromunda Houses became aligned to various guilds and corporate houses over the millenia, and the gang culture has led to nearly all work being overseen by gangs from different houses. Corporate police forces patrol the more affluent regions of the settlements, but the gangs control industry and trade at the lowest level, supported by their patrons.

The alignment between commercial houses and gangs is not fixed, but there are some traditional alliances dating back millenia.

House Orlock: Traditionally aligned to Magna and Kotu, House Orlock are usually found as the main source of labour for the Manufactoria. Magna is a stronger alliance as Kotu are more likely to be in the manufacture of high technology products and have a necessary alliance with the Mechanicus.

House Orlock primary household are based within the massive “Breakers Yard” to the North western area of the city within Zone 5 and owns the contracts of most the Manufactorum within Zone 5 and 6.

The Breakers Yard

Farpoint runs on a hub nexus between the Eastern Fringe, the Aleph Sector and Segmentum Solar and Necromunda. As such it serves as an ideal drop off point for salvage for the many wars raging in the Aleph sector, turning broken down scrap into useable ore. House Orlock own exclusive rights over the Breakers Yard. Much of this is melted down and ends up back in the Manufactora of the Orlock, fulfilling their many contracts to the Corporate Houses.

House Goliath: Traditional dock workers, the Goliaths are usually aligned to Athena. They are most prevalent in maintaining control of the docks and gangs often squabble with the gangs aligned to both trading and manufactorium corporations, as both would dearly love to control the means of supply.

The Freight Port

The Freight Port in the eastern zones of Dirtside have always been a hotly contested area of competition between the Houses. For the last century House Goliath have kept a ruthless stranglehold over the port following the massacre of End town in early 900M41. Since then every house has rankled under the strain the “taxes” House Goliath layers upon any imports. Their continued strangle hold has meant ultimately risen the stock of the Athena Corporation. There remains accusations that the Goliaths are playing with fire.

House Escher: Escher have the least alliances historically, and the house vehemently opposes the extended imperial guard levy, making them a natural enemy of the controller of that levy - currently Veritas. This currently makes them natural allies of Haden and Hydra.

The Farport House Escher keep stronger ties with their parent House on Necromunda. While they have lost considerable political clout in the day to day since the order of the levy they have the occasional haymaker when the Sector Corporations “push it too far”. More than once a pharmaceutical order from Segmentum Solar has inexplicably been delayed. Notably during the Levy crisis supplies of Slaught reached critical levels. Escher of Farport are particularly known for their adversarial streak and are known to collect debts on behalf of regional offices of Hydra. This is a source of glee for Escher and anger of the other Houses as they would not dare attack an official representative of one of the Corporations.

The primary stronghold of Escher are the newly completed arcologies to the south just outside Stockdale. Here they produce numerous local variants of well known drugs and narcotics, which are traded both on Farport and offworld.

All those of House Escher, following the Levy crisis, are technically married to the House, and all children born within that wedlock. This has led many to refer to the Migrant House Escher's citizens as "The Wives of Escher", or after T’Yah Wiir Karvar who came up with the novel marriage proposal "The Wives of Kavar"

T’Yah Wiir Karvar is effectively the Leader of House Escher

House Van Saar: Van Saar are usually aligned to the high tech production associated with Kotu, however of late a number of Van Saar members and their associated gangs.

The Migrant House of Van Saar has managed to obtain some copies of the datacores of the Van Saar STC unit on Necromunda, and so continue to supply weapons contracts to Kotu. Homestead is an inhospitable territory on Portside and also the majority of the population originate from House Van Saar leading to rumours that this is where they house their data core copies. Indeed much of that southern city is given over to Van Saar Manufactora and considering the weapons of Van Saar are primarily exported offworld this leads credence to the rumour. Within Dirtside, Van Saar, with the blessing of Kotu control much of the Mag-Lev rail infrastructure within the city and leading south to Homestead. In addition to this, Van Saar with their high tech suits and equipment have become popular bodyguards and personal protection of dignitaries visiting from off world. This have given them access to many private meetings and “off the books” meetings with off world dignitaries. There has been at least one instance where a Van Saar bodyguard detail were executed wholesale by the Adeptus Arbites when it was revealed their charge was not a Ministorum inspector but in fact a Federacy agent. Further investigations cleared the Migrant House of any involvement and it was concluded this was a rogue element however the rumours persist that the Van Saar are entreating with heretics to acquire yet more technology.

House Delaque: Delaque are usually involved in the running of Veritas and Haden, and can be found working for the two most important trading houses. Both houses use Delaque gangs to enforce their policies, so it is not rare to find Delaque gangs at each others throats. The Delaque house actually prefers it this way, not wishing to be associated with one side or another.

The Migrant House Delaque have maintained their pre-eminence as informations brokers and spies from their parent House, however their first major contracts on Farport was construction. It is no coincidence that most buildings have numerous secret entrances and conveniently left construction equipment that has now formed part of the landscape and the plates themselves.

Of all the Migrant Houses, House Delaque is at once one of the most fractious and the most upwardly mobile. While most Corporations are keen to keep their bloodlines pure many senior managers and some minor partners in House Veritas and Haden hail from House Delaque. Even on Plate 3 House Delaque agents are not uncommon - so much so there has been a notable shift in the varying fashions of the 6 spires to prefer longer cut coats over other regalia, especially after the Imperial Governor, herself of the native bloodline of Vertitas has been seen in the latest fashion - a heavily embroidered and overlayed long coat with complex weave with illusory electric panels and electoos. At the same time, the House has become a victim of its own success, having rumoured to have had a succession crisis 5 years ago in its upper echelons that led to several breakdowns in services on Plate 2 which has lost them several contracts, most notably pipe maintenance contracts have been lost to House Cawdor, and maintenance contracts in Ecclesiachal structures.

House Cawdor: Deeply religious, the Cawdor House generally have a distaste for the corporations and are nominally aligned to the Ecclesiarchy and Administratum. While members of the house can be found in the Corporations, these are normally in very low paid positions. In the galactic crisis of early M42 overt piety has gone along way and House Cawdor, while not the richest is certainly a rising star in Dirtside.

More than any other Migrant House, House Cawdor can declare itself united unlike any other. On Farport this has been so for as long as anyone can remember. For a long time they were effectively a House of Pilgrims and beggars, doomed by their own belligerent religious fervour. Even now the Cawdor population is referred to as “the Cawdor problem”. Throughout its history, Cawdor have been the source of more civil unrest than any other, however they have always escaped serious censor as the Ecclesiarchy on Farport recognised their actions was in piety not anarchy. Most notable was a riot 25 years ago when the Governor wished to reduce the observation of Emperor day by 5 hours in order to prioritise reconstruction following the invasion of Moonface. The pilgrims of the Cawdor often flood the Ecclesiarchy and since the coming of the Cicatrix Maledictum many have been ordained formally into the faith as several prominent Priests have began arguing the virtues of Redemptionism. Of course this terrifies the Corporations who fear the religious fervour would destabilise their own priorities.

Cawdor have come the dominate the religious quarters and the sewerage works of Plate 2. They are still poor but they are also formidable, many gangs having wrestled territory from other gangs while hunting down the last of the followers of Moonface and Lorek. Some consider it an inevitability that the House gains a prominent position in the Ecclesiarchy on Farport and start to exert real power.

The Natives: While much of Farport of culture and even the Corporations are dominated by the immigrant populations of Necromunda, there still persisted a population of Farport that insisted they were "native" to the planet. Furthermore to their wild claims are that Farport was once a verdant and fertile world before the rampant destruction that has been met upon it by the uncaring populations. This is all just laughable to any of the main citizenry and these individuals and groups live on the fringes of society away from those they believe squatting on what is "their" planet. These come in many forms, from those who believe they can "tap" into the spirit of Farport and claim it speaks to them, to those that have mutated from millennia of working in the very worst conditions. There still persists a 3rd group of techno barbarians that are said to live in the mountains and even rebuffed the attacks of Chaos 30 years ago, however that is an drunken idiots tale of the most squalid drinking hole