Loners

"Leave me alone."
"One day this will all catch up with you."

You once thought that people were a group including you; now you know better. The years of resentment and bitterness built up inside you, but somehow you managed to contain the anger. Your revenge was a figment of your imagination, but for all intents and purposes it was a bloody enactment in the truest sense. When a moronic GoBoy taunted you for malling alone, you didn't slam his face with an iron bar - you made a mental note, added him to your list.

As a Loner, you don't act out what you want to say - you think it, and hope one day you'll have the means to make it happen. The more unstable Loners cannot control the resentment that the rest of society causes in them, so eventually they lash out, usually in spectacular fashion. The rest of you control yourself better - you're always in control.

That's what being a Loner is all about. You're not prone to emotions like all the other YoGangers. You're calm, calculated and in control. The rest think you're just soft, that you pose no threat, but that's just an illusion you cast upon their weak minds. One day, they'll realise how wrong they are.

What You Look Like

You don't really care too much.

Sure, you don't want to look daft, because that'd just attract more attention your way. Neither do you particularly bother if your jacket is spotted with mud - you're not as egocentric as the GlitterKids. Sometimes you go to the Mall in your old trainers and jeans, because they make you feel more alone. The old tapes of 1980's American films inspire you, as if the teenage stars are your Gods. You love Matthew Broderick, because he summed you up perfectly. His super-cool, rebellious but homey attitude is what you strive to be.

You like cool clothes - but not fashionable clothes. You wear long trenchcoats, maybe a duffel coat - either is usual. Jeans, some kind of College jumper, and a comfy pair of trainers are the norm. Exceptions to these rules are seen as the real Loners - they seek solitude even among their own.

SubCulture

You like to hang out somewhere cool, but never the coolest spots. To do that would be to say that you aren't alone in spirit - you'd see part of yourself in other YoGangers. Typical places are video arcades, seedy cafes and anywhere on the Net.

The Net is the haunt for Loners. Some have their own spots in Virtuality where thay sit, running up huge bills, but being alone. The Net is the best place for this - if you can't get away from everyone in real space, you just hop onto the Net and build your own virtual retreat. It's accepted as part of Loner culture that you don't intrude on anothers personal space - to do so would be to betray what you seek yourself.

While Loners seek solitude by nature, they take comfort in the company of other Loners. They feel they are among their true family, among people they can trust. Everyone else does not understand. For this reason, Loner gangs are usually informal groups, meeting only when a common urge is felt.

Think the outcasts of the MTV generation. The seedy porn kids who sit alone, eating pizza, not outside with their 'friends'.

Belonging

To become a member of a Loner gang, you must exhibit, inn your own way, how you feel alone. Most Loners simply don't leave their homes when they don't have to, and soon word passes to the right circles that you're different. A self-elected leader Loner will approach you, and ask in as cool a way as possible if you are doing anything, maybe you'd like to hang out with us.

Most Loner gangs are collections of rejects, that no other YoGang could, or would, accept. The MegaViolents just kicked your head in; the BoardPunks thought your duffel coat was too peddy; and the Tribals couldn't be doing with your lack of commitment. That was when the Loners approached you, and they had no real requirements. You just had to be different, and you were.

Allies & Enemies

The TinkerTots usually come up with the goods when your V-term is broken, or when your mother removed your Net access because you couldn't find $400. Also, they're usually too wrapped up in their work to make jokes at your expense - so you like them. Similarly, Vidiots pull you the occassional favour, in exchange for information you overheard from your father when you went to work at the Phone Exchange with him. Apart from these, the only other YoGangs you feel any affinity for are the Squats - because you sometimes run into them while in your retreats. Like the TinkerTots, they either respect your desire for solitude, or are just scared by you, but either way they leave you alone.

You usually experience the worst problems with the MallBrats and the BoardPunks, both of whom think they're way too cool to exist on the same plane as you. They take every opportunity to tease you, and those chances are often, because you run into each other a lot. Boy, do you hate them.

Slang

Downer : the bad feeling you usually get
The Family : your fellow Loners
Crashers : anti-depressants
Anne Robinson : anyone who has nothing better to do
Joke : the way all Loners think
Chump : Loner who is caught halfway

YoGang Skill: Secrecy (INT)

When you don't live around people, you see things differently. You look at buildings and the urban landscape as what they are - shelters. You know all the great places to be alone, and where you can lay low for a while if need be. Sometimes you sell this information - that's a perk of the job.

Secrecy also puts you in supreme control of yourself - your actions, your words, your body language, the lot. You're so suspicious of everyone, you're always on the ball. This puts you in demand as couriers, because your employers know you won't let slip, whatever happens. You might be a complete spaz, but you're just about with it enough to avoid messing up big time.

If You're a Loner

Pick four things...

Direct to brain Net access trodes
Full set of 80's style clothes
Stun Gun
Portable Net transmitter
Kitted-out Loners bedroom - PC, TV, old video, dark music, holo-vids
V-card of favourite model / actress, 30 mins.
Collection of Real War magazines and subscription.

"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Please, please, just stop now. I don't care."