The Iron Jokers House Orlock Gang of Ashkabar Reach “You either laugh at the Reach… or the Reach laughs at you.” — The Iron Jokers Origins The Iron Jokers began life not as a gang, but as Tunnel Maintenance Crew 77-B, a House Orlock contract crew responsible for maintaining the freight rails and ore conveyors beneath Ashkabar Reach. Their job was simple: keep the lifeblood of the district moving. It was dangerous work. Every shift meant collapsed tunnels, chemical leaks, mutant scavengers, sump predators and raids by hive scum looking for supplies. The workers developed a peculiar coping mechanism—laughing. Every near miss, every accident and every death was met with dark humour and merciless jokes. If someone survived an explosion that should have killed them, they bought the drinks. If someone lost an arm, someone else would already be carving them a new nickname before the blood had dried. The joke was never that life was easy. The joke was surviving it. The Fall The turning point came during what locals still call The Black Shift. A Guild convoy carrying refined promethium vanished somewhere beneath Ashkabar Reach. House officials blamed Crew 77-B for negligence. The truth was rather different. Unknown to the Guild, a coalition of hive raiders had ambushed the convoy after being tipped off by a corrupt factor. Crew 77-B fought beside the convoy guards for nearly six hours using nothing more than industrial tools, mining explosives and maintenance servitors. When reinforcements finally arrived, the Guild declared the entire crew expendable to conceal its own corruption. Wages were withheld. Families were evicted. The survivors were blacklisted. Only one man laughed. Jack Vargo. His laughter echoed through the ruined tunnel as he picked up a discarded plasma pistol from one of the dead Guild enforcers. “Guess we’re self-employed now.” The Iron Jokers were born. Reputation in Ashkabar Reach Today the Iron Jokers occupy abandoned maintenance stations throughout the Reach’s forgotten transport network. Unlike many gangs, they don’t seek domination. They seek control of movement. They know every forgotten freight tunnel. Every emergency bulkhead. Every ventilation shaft. Every abandoned rail spur. If something valuable is travelling beneath Ashkabar Reach, chances are the Iron Jokers know about it before its owner does. Other gangs often hire them as guides through the underhive. Some never arrive. Their Philosophy Unlike the brutality of the Goliaths or the fanaticism of the Cawdor, the Iron Jokers possess an almost unsettling sense of humour. They joke during firefights. They laugh while reloading. They gamble over who will score the next kill. Even funerals involve drinking contests and storytelling. To outsiders it appears madness. Among themselves it is survival. The day an Iron Joker stops laughing is the day the gang knows something has gone terribly wrong. The Iron Jokers’ Code Every member is expected to live by five simple rules: Never leave a Joker behind. The routes belong to us. Share the haul. Always repay a favour—or a betrayal. Whatever happens… have the last laugh. Among the countless gangs prowling the tunnels of Ashkabar Reach, the Iron Jokers are known less for cruelty than for resilience. They are smugglers, tunnel-runners, salvage experts and ambushers who know the forgotten arteries of the hive better than almost anyone. Many dismiss their laughter as bravado. Those who have faced them in the dark understand the truth: by the time you hear the joke, the punchline has already found you.

“Laughing” Jack Vargo Leader Nobody knows whether Jack was always insane or whether Ashkabar Reach made him that way. Jack never raises his voice. He smiles. He laughs. Then someone dies. His plasma pistol, nicknamed Punchline, has ended countless disputes before they properly began, while the industrial servo claw bolted to his arm is a relic from his maintenance days. He claims it is still under warranty. Few find that funny.

Brick Donnelly Arms Master Brick earned his name because nobody has ever seen him move quickly. Nobody has ever needed to. Standing well over two metres tall and wielding an Arc Hammer salvaged from a collapsed plasma reactor, Brick simply walks through gunfire until he reaches his target. His calm nature makes him the gang’s anchor. His patience makes him terrifying. He was Jack’s closest friend long before either became outlaws.

Gunnar Pike Road Sergeant The eldest of the Pike brothers. Gunnar understands logistics better than warfare. To him they’re the same thing. Every ambush begins with ammunition. Every escape begins with knowing which tunnel collapses first. His heavy stubber, ‘Old Betty’, has been rebuilt so many times that nobody remembers which parts are original.

Owen Pike Specialist The youngest Pike possesses an engineer’s curiosity and a pyromaniac’s imagination. His grenade launcher rarely fires standard ammunition. Smoke. Incendiaries. Scrap-filled frag rounds. Chemical canisters. If Owen can fit it inside a shell, he’ll fire it. Jack frequently reminds him that not every problem requires an explosion. Owen disagrees.

Ash Kincaid Ganger Ash keeps the gang’s weapons operational using stolen Guild components and improvised machine parts. His autogun is immaculate. Everything else he owns looks like it was assembled from scrap, and probably was.

Hux Calder Ganger Nobody remembers Hux joining the gang. He simply appeared one day carrying a shotgun and never left. He speaks little. When he does, people tend to listen.

Rowan Pike Ganger The middle Pike brother acts as the gang’s scout. Reliable. Quiet. Observant. His combat shotgun is rarely fired twice at the same target.

“Smiler” Sid Juve The youngest Iron Joker laughs louder than anyone. Mostly because he’s terrified. Jack insists that courage isn’t the absence of fear. “It’s laughing anyway.” Sid hopes one day he’ll believe it.