Death And Taxes

Necromunda is not one place, but many.

At the very top lies the Hive City — spires of wealth, law, and distance from consequence. Beneath that sits the Underhive, a vast industrial labyrinth of factories, hab-blocks, tunnels, and forgotten infrastructure where gangs rule what the law cannot. Beyond the hive walls stretch the Outlands and Ash Wastes: poisoned deserts, ancient roadways, and half-buried ruins where survival depends on knowing the land and respecting old, brutal balances.

Most people never move between these worlds.

But Guilder’s Ford is where they collide.

Guilder’s Ford is a heavily trafficked trade choke-point on the edge of Hive Primus, where ash waste routes descend into the Underhive via cargo lifts, transit rails, slag bridges, and sump ferries. It is a place of tariffs and tolls, where Guilders tax everything that moves — weapons, water, information, even people. If something must pass between the wastes and the hive, it passes through Guilder’s Ford… and someone always gets paid.

Recently, that payment has become a problem.

Beyond Hive Primus — even beyond Necromunda itself — rebellion has ignited. On the fringes of the Imperium, in Sector 14 near the Outer Rim, an alliance of Ork-infested worlds has stopped paying Imperial tithes. The Emperor has responded as he always does: with force.

Imperial Marines were dispatched to “negotiate”.

Negotiations, however, do not come cheap.

To fund the war, the Imperial War Tax has been raised to 10% across the galaxy. Necromunda is no exception. Precinct 19 has been ordered to collect, and the Guilders have been instructed to ensure the tithe flows upward — no excuses, no delays.

Suddenly, every shipment matters. Every credit is counted. Every gang is on the ledger.

This has drawn all factions to Guilder’s Ford.

• Underhive gangs move to protect their territory, seize taxable assets, or resist Guild enforcement.
• Guild-aligned forces seek to secure trade routes, collect arrears, and make examples of defiance.
• Outcasts gather where systems strain — hired guns, debt-runners, smugglers, and deserters exploiting the chaos or fleeing Imperial notice.
• Ash Waste Nomads, rarely seen beneath the hive, descend because the tax has disrupted ancient routes and violated old understandings. Convoys now move without permission, landmarks have been destroyed, and the balance of the wastes has been broken. The Nomads have come to confront whoever is responsible — and to remind the hive that the wastes are not theirs to exploit without consequence.

Guilder’s Ford now sits at the fault line between Imperial authority and local survival.

Precinct 19 will collect the War Tax.
The Guilders will take their cut.
The gangs must decide where they stand.

Will your gang pay the Imperial War Tax and remain aligned with the rule of Precinct 19?
Or will they refuse — and suffer the consequences?

In Necromunda, there are only two certainties:

Death. And taxes.