Vexillum Belli [VEX]

Vexillum Belli "War Banner" is the only surviving gang from the ship The Shepard's grace. They are made up mostly of "engineers by necessity" that struggled to keep the ship alive in a culture of extreme violence.

Background:
The Shepard's Grace was launched from earth when a super-church got together and saved enough money to build and launch an escape vessel of their own.
It was one of the earlier ships to leave earth and at the time it was the largest vessel to have done so. The crossing was going to take over a hundred years so everyone who left on the ship knew they would never live long enough to see Epsilon Terra.

The first few years passed smoothly, Reverend Timothy Powell leading his flock across the expanse towards a hopeful new beginning. But then a water tank burst and a fair amount of their water vented into space, it didn't seem like a serious issue, there was plenty of water in use throughout the ship, they would just need to be careful with rationing so the recyclers could keep up.

Reverend Timothy did not want to ration his flock, not even simple things like using less shower water. He was always seeking to keep morale and obedience high amongst his flock, so he carelessly cut 50% water usage from all other systems against the advice of his scientists. Many systems failed in the following year but the worst of them, their food.

When the crisis hit, the reverend decided, instead of rationing his most faithful, there should be sacrifices, and called upon his followers to voluntarily be ejected into space for the survival of the group. A few even did, but not nearly enough, so he started a lottery to choose who would be sacrificed. This prompted the first riot that would be the catalyst to over a century of violence.

The Reverend was killed in the first week of fighting, people were starving, trying to form groups to prevent being murdered by others. Violence, murder and cannibalism became part of everyday life. These groups were hardly better than street gangs, ruled by the strongest among them.

Eventually an equilibrium was reached when there was only three gangs left and each had firm control over different vital systems for the ship to sustain life. Violence still permeated society, gladiator style games and violent skirmishes were the normal.

When the ship arrived in Epsilon Eridani, and the vital systems that prevented the gangs from finishing each other off were no longer vital, a final bloody and genocidal war broke out between the three remaining gangs. Only Vexillum Belli survived.