Life on the Outside

Life on the Outside:

In general, most supplies are stolen from the System because the Outsiders have no other means to fully support themselves. The most common items they find on a raid are those that are used for the common Suits and Factory workers on the Inside. If they're lucky, they may come across some rare finds that were intended for the upper class Insiders. It is also possible for Outsiders to forage for, salvage and repair useful items from the crumbling infrastructure of the Undercity, but most of it has degraded too much to use.

Food on the Outside

Clothing and Textiles

Fighting: Fighting with fists and makeshift weapons such as rocks and rubble is a basic skill in the Undercity, and so is learning to run really fast if the need calls for it. Most Outsiders will carry a knife around at all times. These are much easier to come by than working firearms, but Outsiders are often armed with guns as well, especially if they are affiliated with a large gang who has enough time on their hands to fix them. It is unlikely that they would be able to find a gun and ammunition that can be fixed up enough to use if these came from the society that used to be in the Undercity; the weapons would be too old. It is more likely that they would be able to salvage guns and ammunition from broken robots, steal weapons and ammunition from the System, or find a way to make something themselves. Either way, Outsiders would save their guns and ammunition for absolute emergencies. They may bluff with an unloaded gun.

Tank: The gangs have figured out how to make booze, known as tank. Due to the availability and ease of storage of grains, the most common types of tank would be made from them. That includes very simple types of beer, and whiskey/bourbon/moonshine type liquors. The first type of tank we actually see in the story is a strong, very dark beer without much carbonation. The Outsiders can make vodka, since that comes from potatoes, and potatoes grow in the worst of conditions so they're probably farmed pretty heavily where there is farming. They could also make sake since they have easy access to rice, and rum since they have relatively easy access to sugar.

Wine or something similar would require grown or stolen fruit. That isn't to say that alcohol derived from fruits isn't completely unheard of in the Undercity- it's just rare and used as a special gift or for a special occasion. Outsiders also do mixed drinks and spike their punch or coffee. Someone has to stay sober and on watch while the gang has a party with booze, or else they would be very vulnerable.

Wildlife: Insects, rats and mice, cats and dogs survive where there is enough food to support them. Gangs can follow them to find out if there's a new food supply in the area, but more often than not these animals are stealing food from the gangs. Rats, mice and insects often infiltrate the factories and women's quarters and are sometimes a problem in the upper city as well. They are eradicated with poisons in the upper city if found in either place. However, pest problems tend to get overlooked or are dealt with much more slowly in the factories. Cats and dogs come up to the upper city to hunt for squirrels, rats and mice at night if the pickings are slim in the undercity, but if the robots see them they catch and kill them. Pigeons, sparrows, and squirrels still survive in both the undercity and the upper city, living off of crumbs and scraps left behind by people.

Communication: News usually spreads by one person from one gang talking to another person from another gang, but I'm sure someone from York Mills must have figured out how to fix a telephone by now. I'll bet they have a line set up to call 401. They might have also fixed up radios to talk to each other but there's a chance the System could use that to spy on them and/or find them. On a somewhat unrelated note, gang members can use whistles as an alarm signal when on watch.

Gangs in the public eye: There have been so many incidents of street gang break-ins, thefts and turf wars, that the government has given up trying to deny the existence of street gangs and instead plays any news about them toward their own side. E.g. they'll take news of a break in and say all suspects were found, captured and killed even if they didn't catch anyone or they used a scapegoat or they only caught one person. The men and the children of the Upper City might occasionally catch a glimpse of street gang members and think about them. There have probably been some -much fewer- break ins underground as well, allowing the women to see or speculate about them. Gangs are portrayed as violent thieves who plot to destroy the System as we know it. Some members of upper management in the city see gangs as an amusing aberration of society, others see them as a threat. In reality they only steal to survive and avoid it as much as they possibly can. Some gangs may take the risk of rescuing Insiders who are condemned to die, or they may kidnap someone from the street, break into a factory or break into an office tower. They almost never take anyone with them who doesn't want to come- it's sure to cause trouble.

Holidays and Celebrations

Outsiders might have some sort of small celebration for New Year's, or the anniversary of the foundation of their gang. Even if they have a reason to celebrate though, gangs aren't likely to throw a party if their resources are limited. They're few and far between so people squeeze as much fun as they can into them. Tank (booze) is especially hard to come by. Some gangs make trouble in the System as a form of celebration by blowing something up or rescuing a batch of tweeners.

An Outsider couple can publicly declare their devotion for each other by asking their gang leader to hold a Bonding ceremony for them. This can be a solemn ceremony, a lavish feast with lots of friends, or both. Typically the gang leader(s) will say a few words to honor the couple. A couple who is Bonded in one gang is recognized as being Bonded in other gangs.

On the Outside, birthdays aren't particularly important but they're a great excuse to party or do something special for someone if the gang has enough resources to do so. Often a gang will have a group birthday celebration for all the birthdays in the same month or the same season, if there aren't that many gang members. Gangs might have read about exchanging presents on birthdays and decided it was a good idea. It makes sense for birthdays to be more important in gangs than on the Inside because they're a celebration of individuality.

Rites of Passage {C}Gangs will often have rites of passage for tweeners, new members, or children that have grown to adulthood in the gang. Such traditions would be different for each gang but they tend to have a common theme of showing that you now fit in as a fully contributing member.

Initiation in East Don it would likely involve some awful hazing behind Bayview's back. In Armour Heights, initiation is even more extreme in some cases, with new gang members having to prove themselves by killing someone. In other gangs the flavor could range from ceremonial to an initiation full of pranks ans scaring tweeners half to death to celebration, ceremonies and tests of skill. New gang members typically have to prove their skills by spending an entire night on watch alone, completing a training exercise, living on their own for a while, or going on their first raid, for example. There may be a trust building exercise for new tweeners such as being led across treacherous terrain by one's gang mates while blindfolded.

Usually gang members would only have to spend a whole night on watch alone if they're part of a small gang in insecure, tough times, but it's still an essential Outsider skill. Most of the time watch duty is shared in shifts, or you take a risk by hiding yourself and sleeping without someone on watch, because sleep is important too.

Gangless Outsiders

As an Outsider, living without a gang is not really a desirable situation for anyone and most of the unaffiliated people/groupings would like to become part of one of the larger gangs. The gangs would need to have the threat of expulsion as a disiplinary action to keep members in line, so living outside the gangs as a vagabond or loner is considered dangerous and perhaps a little bit uncivilized. Nevertheless, some people still prefer to live alone or in small groups rather than a gang. They may enjoy the freedom to do as they like and explore the entire Undercity, they may have had a bad experience with a gang before, or they may simply be loners by nature.