D
Deleted member 191824
Guest
One thing that always stood out to me, is the lore and ideals behind the gangs in Saints Row...
Throughout updates, I'm going to show you the real life inspiration and historical myths bleeding
through some of your favorite group of antagonists.
(Keep in mind there may be a lot of mistakes so take everything with a grain of salt)
Special thanks to MLVNRT for asking about the sources. (Hindsight is 20/20 right?)
Let's start with one group that wears their roots on their sleeves:
The Sons of Samedi
.........................................
Gaining infamy and ill gotten wealth throughout the Caribbean underworld, this organization
struck fear in the hearts of man, and used that fear as a commodity.
What I call fear is voodoo, an ancient practice spreading from the aforementioned Caribbean, (Guyana and Suriname) to the U.S. (Miami and Louisiana). But this particular type of creepiness is more inclined in Haitian territory. They get their name from the myth of Baron Samedi, a Loa or spirit... Sprits have many different levels in the belief of voodoo, too much to explain here.
They get their "designer drug's" name from Loa. They've made a profit of it and without getting into spoilers they have also garnered some attention that might be unwanted. What struck me about this gang is the name...
If you remember, Samedi is a Loa which means the Sons must think that they are spirits, but not just any kind of spirits, they think there royal. I believe they think they're the next heir to the throne of the voodoo underworld... Creeps me right the *dolphin noise* out. It explains their behavior and how they carry themselves, that's for sure. The veteran child goes as far to call the General Papa Shango, another element in the Son's lore that makes me lose sleep
I think I've learned something from this though...: Stay away from the supernatural!!!
I hope you liked this or learned something you didn't already know (You smart person you).
As of now I'm almost done with the lore of a certain cut alpha/beta gang.
See ya!
(Note: I had to and probably still need to edit this, so you will probably see changes like fact checking, fixing grammatical errors, typos, or me crediting different sources. As you might likely know even in this age legit information is freaking hard to come by, so thank you for your patience.)
Source I: Saints Row 2 2008 (dialogues between a handful of NPCs like Veteran Child and Shaundi, the Son's leaders, Sunshine and the General, and random pedestrians)
Source II: Baron Samedi and Loa Wiki (keep in mind I chose the Wiki because most of the documentaries I analyzed were either biased (totally not like me, I just like sleeping) or sensationalized, so the Wikipedia seemed like the safest source for the time being.
Vice Kings
.......................
Loosely based on the real life gang the "Vice Lords", their base of operations are in Chicago.
Fear tactics, like strong arming are their bread in butter just like their real life counterparts.
They use old high-rise buildings built for the wealthy back in the 50s, again just like the Vice Lords... It's funny because the original Stilwater is based on Chicago (Where Volition Inc. is located). In the behind the scenes video you can hear one or more of the developers boasting about how they got real gang members to give them pointers on how the characters in the game should walk, talk, how to dress, and how their attitude should be (I wonder if their atmospheric mentors were local) I mentioned earlier that they use high rise condos, but how they use them is morbidly interesting. The Vice Lords have informants, enforcers, and dealers that are spread all throughout the complex, and this makes an "economy" for the different tiers of leaders that oversee the operation. Long story short, this makes the police very vulnerable, and sadly has resulted in many unfortunate events. It's worth mentioning that I don't condone or find this information entertaining, but I find it interesting that Volition would go so far to have such a subtle, but cartoonish-ley accurate representation of a real life dangerous group of individuals in a video game, let alone a new IP at that time. On the other hand I have to commend them for having the type writing that blends comedic and serious tones so well with the subject matter they either took or were given. Researching this taught me that Saints Row wasn't over the top, fun with friends, purple *NOPE* skull basher the media said it was... It was once a look inside a world of ambition and power, and WHY people used those "tools"... Maybe it was for the cars, for the new Ultor shoes, or maybe it was because people were just angry at the world, and the world had it coming. If you have the original Saints row I encourage you to play it and pay close attention to the setting and how the events unfold around it... It may change you perspective on SRIV.
Source I: Saints Row 2006 (The Strongholds were vital in contrasting and bringing together how similar the Vice kings and the Vice Lords were, via studying the architecture of the buildings. the Name of the gangs (duh), and looking deeper at how the Kings operate)
Source II: Spike TV's Documentary "Gangland" (This documentary series was so helpful bringing a light, to again, the similarities between the video game and real life. If you have a chance to watch this then please do. I don't condone the actions of the information given to them, but I can't judge those people at all, no... after all maybe in another life, and some different circumstances I would have been flying flags around too. But I'm grateful I had a mother that was determined not to let her kids be around all of that hurt and pain, and so again, I'm so thankful and happy. She was always a fighter, and she still is.)
Source III (Wikipedia... A bit taboo, I know, but where am I going to find a book about the Vice Lor--- Wait...)
Throughout updates, I'm going to show you the real life inspiration and historical myths bleeding
through some of your favorite group of antagonists.
(Keep in mind there may be a lot of mistakes so take everything with a grain of salt)
Special thanks to MLVNRT for asking about the sources. (Hindsight is 20/20 right?)
Let's start with one group that wears their roots on their sleeves:
The Sons of Samedi
.........................................
Gaining infamy and ill gotten wealth throughout the Caribbean underworld, this organization
struck fear in the hearts of man, and used that fear as a commodity.
What I call fear is voodoo, an ancient practice spreading from the aforementioned Caribbean, (Guyana and Suriname) to the U.S. (Miami and Louisiana). But this particular type of creepiness is more inclined in Haitian territory. They get their name from the myth of Baron Samedi, a Loa or spirit... Sprits have many different levels in the belief of voodoo, too much to explain here.
They get their "designer drug's" name from Loa. They've made a profit of it and without getting into spoilers they have also garnered some attention that might be unwanted. What struck me about this gang is the name...
If you remember, Samedi is a Loa which means the Sons must think that they are spirits, but not just any kind of spirits, they think there royal. I believe they think they're the next heir to the throne of the voodoo underworld... Creeps me right the *dolphin noise* out. It explains their behavior and how they carry themselves, that's for sure. The veteran child goes as far to call the General Papa Shango, another element in the Son's lore that makes me lose sleep
I think I've learned something from this though...: Stay away from the supernatural!!!
I hope you liked this or learned something you didn't already know (You smart person you).
As of now I'm almost done with the lore of a certain cut alpha/beta gang.
See ya!
(Note: I had to and probably still need to edit this, so you will probably see changes like fact checking, fixing grammatical errors, typos, or me crediting different sources. As you might likely know even in this age legit information is freaking hard to come by, so thank you for your patience.)
Source I: Saints Row 2 2008 (dialogues between a handful of NPCs like Veteran Child and Shaundi, the Son's leaders, Sunshine and the General, and random pedestrians)
Source II: Baron Samedi and Loa Wiki (keep in mind I chose the Wiki because most of the documentaries I analyzed were either biased (totally not like me, I just like sleeping) or sensationalized, so the Wikipedia seemed like the safest source for the time being.
Vice Kings
.......................
Loosely based on the real life gang the "Vice Lords", their base of operations are in Chicago.
Fear tactics, like strong arming are their bread in butter just like their real life counterparts.
They use old high-rise buildings built for the wealthy back in the 50s, again just like the Vice Lords... It's funny because the original Stilwater is based on Chicago (Where Volition Inc. is located). In the behind the scenes video you can hear one or more of the developers boasting about how they got real gang members to give them pointers on how the characters in the game should walk, talk, how to dress, and how their attitude should be (I wonder if their atmospheric mentors were local) I mentioned earlier that they use high rise condos, but how they use them is morbidly interesting. The Vice Lords have informants, enforcers, and dealers that are spread all throughout the complex, and this makes an "economy" for the different tiers of leaders that oversee the operation. Long story short, this makes the police very vulnerable, and sadly has resulted in many unfortunate events. It's worth mentioning that I don't condone or find this information entertaining, but I find it interesting that Volition would go so far to have such a subtle, but cartoonish-ley accurate representation of a real life dangerous group of individuals in a video game, let alone a new IP at that time. On the other hand I have to commend them for having the type writing that blends comedic and serious tones so well with the subject matter they either took or were given. Researching this taught me that Saints Row wasn't over the top, fun with friends, purple *NOPE* skull basher the media said it was... It was once a look inside a world of ambition and power, and WHY people used those "tools"... Maybe it was for the cars, for the new Ultor shoes, or maybe it was because people were just angry at the world, and the world had it coming. If you have the original Saints row I encourage you to play it and pay close attention to the setting and how the events unfold around it... It may change you perspective on SRIV.
Source I: Saints Row 2006 (The Strongholds were vital in contrasting and bringing together how similar the Vice kings and the Vice Lords were, via studying the architecture of the buildings. the Name of the gangs (duh), and looking deeper at how the Kings operate)
Source II: Spike TV's Documentary "Gangland" (This documentary series was so helpful bringing a light, to again, the similarities between the video game and real life. If you have a chance to watch this then please do. I don't condone the actions of the information given to them, but I can't judge those people at all, no... after all maybe in another life, and some different circumstances I would have been flying flags around too. But I'm grateful I had a mother that was determined not to let her kids be around all of that hurt and pain, and so again, I'm so thankful and happy. She was always a fighter, and she still is.)
Source III (Wikipedia... A bit taboo, I know, but where am I going to find a book about the Vice Lor--- Wait...)
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