[Rainbow Six]

How local strongmen evolve is something that I’ve been thinking a bit about lately (as you probably know I’ve been working on an Alternative Survivor’s Guide to the UK for some time and one of the challenges I have is how to make different strongmen more diverse rather than having them all be variations of the same theme), so a few thoughts that may or may not be of use.

In many areas the man (or woman – for brevity I will use male pronouns but no reason why it couldn’t be a she) who controls sources of food and water will probably have significant influence / power. He may have gotten control of that food through legitimate (or at least pseudo legitimate) means (one option I’ve used was a man who owned a trucking company that was contracted by the Government to deliver essential supplies) or illegitimate means. Sometimes someone may find themselves in the position almost by accident (I’m currently trying to flesh out a leader who comes to power after the 1997 nuclear exchange and subsequent food riots as a consequence of being an unwilling (at least initially) ringleader of the riots).

Much of that is tangential at best to the questions you’ve put forward, but the underlying theme of how / if Tokugawa takes control of much of the city’s food distribution may help answer the question of what happens if he becomes leader of the conglomerate as you’ve described. I’d endorse the idea that the remaining military elements recognise him as leader and delegate to him the task of distributing food / water. It’s one less thing for them to be worried about, particularly if he already has a proven and effective distribution system in place. Whether the City Government (or what’s left of it) recognise him or not may or may not matter dependent on what sort of state the City Government is in by then – is it still intact and providing the basic functions of Government? Or has it been superseded in that role by Tokugawa, who, perhaps crucially, is being supported by the military.

As to what Tokugawa is telling the survivors, if he is controlling food distribution there is a message, perhaps implied but unspoken, or perhaps subtly spread by his minions (I don’t like that word particularly but it serves a purpose here) namely that if they support him they will do OK going forward. Maybe not great, but OK, and OK is probably better than much of the country at that point. In time these supporters will then become the footsoldiers, camp followers, and specialists that may make up a significant portion of his Army.

Re: the drafting (or not) of the gangs into the Air Force, would the Air Force have the resources (not to mention the will) to attempt to draft every gang? Even if they tried how many gangs would simply ignore the instruction to report for duty? Alternatively, I note you do say you are certain which route you want to take, but rather than using an overtly criminal gang to bring down the larger gang could you use another group? Targan mentioned Casino security guards; perhaps these guards have been brought under the aegis of City government as some form of auxiliary police so are exempted from any Air Force draft on the grounds that they have already been effectively drafted by the City Government? Perhaps Tokugawa has covertly taken over the remnants of City Government by then (possibly he has the head of the Government in his pocket, either by means of blackmail, intimidation, or influence, making Tokugawa the puppet master pulling the strings) so these men end up doing his bidding, possibly without even knowing that they are doing so.

Just a few thoughts…hope they help