Steele Family
When the Iron Works shattered, the workers who had built the railways over generations claimed what they had created. They took the trains. They took the rails. They became the Steele family, and nothing has moved by track without their say since.
The family operates as a loose network of engineers, rail workers, and train owners who hold practical influence over the remains of the wasteland railway system. No formal deed grants them ownership. They simply occupy every position that matters: the switching stations, the repair depots, the locomotive cabs. They decide which trains run and which sit idle, and they intercept whatever the rails carry. High-value passengers, dangerous weapons shipments, valuable cargo. If it rides the tracks, the Steele family can reach it.
Their methods carry a theatrical cruelty. When the family handles a kill personally, members don full-body kill suits and draw out the moments before execution, ensuring the target understands exactly what is happening and why. For disposal, the preferred method is tying a body to the underside of a moving train and letting the tracks do the rest. The rails run red for a quarter mile, and nobody on board hears a thing.
The Steele demand proof of commitment from their recruits. During the initiate's first kill, they must drive a railroad spike through the target's skull as the final blow. It is crude, personal, and impossible to mistake for anything other than a declaration: the rails belong to them, and always will.
The family operates as a loose network of engineers, rail workers, and train owners who hold practical influence over the remains of the wasteland railway system. No formal deed grants them ownership. They simply occupy every position that matters: the switching stations, the repair depots, the locomotive cabs. They decide which trains run and which sit idle, and they intercept whatever the rails carry. High-value passengers, dangerous weapons shipments, valuable cargo. If it rides the tracks, the Steele family can reach it.
Their methods carry a theatrical cruelty. When the family handles a kill personally, members don full-body kill suits and draw out the moments before execution, ensuring the target understands exactly what is happening and why. For disposal, the preferred method is tying a body to the underside of a moving train and letting the tracks do the rest. The rails run red for a quarter mile, and nobody on board hears a thing.
The Steele demand proof of commitment from their recruits. During the initiate's first kill, they must drive a railroad spike through the target's skull as the final blow. It is crude, personal, and impossible to mistake for anything other than a declaration: the rails belong to them, and always will.
Structure
The Steele Family functions as a loose network of rail workers, engineers, and train owners who hold practical influence over the remains of the wasteland railway system. They do not own the railways on paper. Instead, they control which trains run, which do not, and what happens at the stations in between. This decentralized arrangement allows coordinated action without formal ownership, making them difficult to challenge through legal or political means.
Public Agenda
Control the wasteland's railway infrastructure and ensure that the family's interests dictate what moves by rail, what stops, and what never arrives at its destination.
History
The Steele family traces its origins to the shattering of the Iron Works. Workers who had built the railways over generations seized the trains and rails for themselves, claiming ownership of what their labor had created. That seizure became the foundation of the family's power.
From that foundation, the Steeles built a network of influence over the wasteland's remaining railway system. They target high-value individuals, dangerous weapon shipments, and valuable cargo traveling by rail. Their methods range from quiet interception to theatrical brutality: tying targets to the underside of a train and dragging them until nothing remains but a blood smear on the tracks. Full-body kill suits and drawn-out executions mark the Steeles' most personal operations, reserved for targets who have demonstrably earned the family's full attention.
From that foundation, the Steeles built a network of influence over the wasteland's remaining railway system. They target high-value individuals, dangerous weapon shipments, and valuable cargo traveling by rail. Their methods range from quiet interception to theatrical brutality: tying targets to the underside of a train and dragging them until nothing remains but a blood smear on the tracks. Full-body kill suits and drawn-out executions mark the Steeles' most personal operations, reserved for targets who have demonstrably earned the family's full attention.
Rail workers who seized the trains after shattering the Iron Works and now control what moves by track.
