Roaring Metal Spirits

Akan Ch'ichway (అకన ఛిఛయబ literally "Roaring Metallic Way") is a Mutulese motorcycle sub-culture associated with heavily customized motorcycles. The exact type of modifications favored by the Akan Ch'ichwayob changed thorough time, but an ubiquituous caracteristic of the sub-culture was its quest for speed leading to it being sometime dubbed the Speed Cult. They first appeared in the 40s, consequence of some conscripts returning from the Second Belfro-Mutulese War with difficulties to reconfirm to civilian life. By the 70s, the Akan Ch'ichwayob had already shifted from "veteran associations" to "youth gangs" patrolling the major highways of the Divine Kingdom. At their height, there was around 40,000 people in an unsanctioned motorcycle club associated to the sub-culture. Nowadays, numbers are much lower but still possibly higher than the official police estimate of 8000. Notably, the sub-culture structure evolved from small individual gangs with no fixed territory to more scattered Associations, with control over large, clearly defined, areas.

The "Roaring Metallic Spirit" prefer speed over comfort, which is demonstrated by the kind of motorcycles and customizations they tend to favour: light weight, ,a tuned engine and minimalist bodywork. The style itself evolved throughout the time of their popularity. Nowadays, Akan Ch'ichway gangs have returned to a more discret and minimalist style, indistinguishable from "normal" riders in all occasions but one: when engaged on a "war ride", a gang will wear their Jatz'ek b'uk (హఝెకె భుకు "Star War Clothes"). These generally involve leather military jackets with baggy pants, bandanas, and tall boots with extravagant adornments and paintjobs.

History

Origin and early days (1932-1940)

The Akan Ch'ichway began as groups of returning Second Belfro-Mutulese War veterans. Many had an hard time readjusting to society and the most extreme turned to alternative methods to fuel their excitement. Originally few in numbers, younger individuals began to see this style of life as very appealing, especially marginalized individuals looking for change.

Two Hundred Roaming Tribes (1940-1960)

Starting in the late 1940s, motorcycles became accessible to the Mutuleses lower classes. Trade deals with the Daitoa Republic turning the Divine Kingdom into a new export market for the Tsurushimeses motorcycles, as well as the apparition of Manich Ho Mawin first mass-produced motorcycle, which aimed to compete with these Ochranese imports. As a consequence, the Akan Ch'ichway lifestyle became more accessible and their numbers multiplied, leading to the nickname of "Lahunkal Malel Mach", "Two Hundreds Roaming Clans" (లహునెకల మలెలె మచ).

The 40s and the 50s were a period of great chaos and confusion in the Mutul, with many riots opposing the police and the Orientalists to various opposition and youth groups. The Two Hundred Roaming Tribes became more extreme in their lifestyle and their members began dropping out of mainstream society and to cultivate an aura of rebellion against the Orientalists and structured society. It's around this time that cult of the Wayeb, or shamanistic animal-spirit, became popular among the motorcycles as a form of opposition to the structured, mainstream, White Path clergy. It's then that the medias popularized the expression "Roaring Metal Way" to characterize these groups.

In the 50s, many gangs of Akan Ch'ichway would end up playing a minor role in the politics of the Divine Kingdom as agents and executioners of the Occidentalists and Traditionalists during the downfall of the Orientalist government as the police was either incapable of, or given the order to not, interfere with the Akan Ch'ichway if they entered cities from which they had been de-facto banned during the previous decade. During these episodes of brutal political violence, individuals part of, or tied to, Akan Ch'ichway gangs have been found guilty for at least 100 cases of murders, and were the main suspects of at least 250 unsolved deaths. They also commited many other acts of vandalism, arson, and various petty destruction. Gangs with ties to the Onyists circles were estimated to be especially dangerous, as they considered themselves animated by a "religious duty" to purge the Divine Kingdom of Occidentalism in all its forms.

In the 1950s and 1960s, in addition to the previously widely popular "fast runs", Akan Ch'ichwayeb would often embark on massed rides, in which up to 100 bikers would cruise together slowly en masse down an expressway or major highway. The motorcyclists would run toll booths without stopping and would ignore police attempts to detain them. The bikers would sometimes smash the cars and threaten or beat up any motorists or bystanders who got in the way or expressed disapproval of the bikers' behavior. Religious events were the occasion for these "Processions", which often went from one sanctuary to another.

Religious and criminal evolution (1960-1970)

During the Cohabitation, Akan Ch'ichway continue to grew in popularity among marginals in the rural areas of the Mutul where they profited from the expansion of the road network. Akan Ch'ichway chapters found themselves divided on political, religious, and racial lines. Oniyist gang kept their reputations for political violence, being often used by Traditionalist religious figures or politicians to intimidate their rivals and "win the ideas' war on the street". Their main ideological opponents were the gangs who retained more shamanistic beliefs and continued to maintain a lifestyle on the margins of society. The latter became especially notorious because of their ties with drug trades, while the most famous of Oniyist gangs, the "Jade Smilodons", were infamous because of their practice of procuring and racket.

Repression and Consolidation (1970-1991)

In 1966, purges began to target Traditionalists politicians and their close relations albeit on a lower scale than what had been done for the Orientalists both to avoid the same fallout and also because of the desorganized nature of the Traditionalist movement. At first spared by the repression, a revised road traffic law passed in 1973 gave the police more power to arrest bikers riding recklessly in groups. With increased arrests and prosecutions, Akan Ch'ichway participation rapidly went into decline.

To counter this evolution, and to take the place of the gangs that had been dismantled, stronger relations between gangs were tied, especially prison alliances. This led to the end of the Two Hundred Clans model and the apparition of the modern Leagues. The last spikes of large-scale violences happened between these newly created leagues to define the territories of each. These fighting, especially numerous in the Yajawil of Yokok'ab which was contested by four different major Leagues, led to dozen of causalities both among the Akan Ch'ichwayeb, the police, and even the civilians. A reinforcement of the anti-gang measures by the concerned Yajawils and the Divine Throne led to the end of these wars and the partition of the Mutulese road network among the Leagues in the 90s.

Leagues Golden Age

After the Asphalt Wars ended, the Akan Ch'ichway across the Mutul found themselves divided into only eight Leagues. Each League was capable of not only organizing meetings and races for its members, but also to serve as religious institutions for its members, many of its ceremonies and events taking strong religious connotations, including self-mutilation by their members, and animal sacrifices.

The Leagues depended on the contributions of its members for their survival. But to afford to continue their activities, they renewed with and expanded their past connections to the drug trade, illegal gambling,prostitution, Protection racket, Robbery. Two of the Leagues, those controlling the westernmost and easternmost peripheries of the Mutul, even became infamous for their kidnappings and ties to smuggling.

Police crackdown began once more against the Leagues, notably because of their de-facto contestation of the State' monopole on religious matters. Between 1997 and 2002, the Second Asphalt Wars would see the Mutul' police forces, especially its mobile task forces, and the Leagues come to blow. While each League proved to be too resilient to be entirely dismantled by law enforcement, they also had to make de-facto concessions to ensure their survival. Notably, their new generation of leaders that rose to power after the arrest and execution of its predecessors dropped all religious and pseudo cult-like activities, instead relying more and more on their local clergy and religious authorities for it. Following this "secularisation" of the Leagues, and despite never really stopping their illegal activities, the Divine Throne began abandoning its policy of crackdown against them, to the point that in 2004, no Akan Ch'ichway was arrested due to a police operation, only due to interventions following criminal activites like illegal racing or street fighting.

Traits

The average age of an Akan Ch'ichway is 28 years old. Many join at 16 or 17 years old their local chapter as

Most Akan Ch'ichway gangs do not allow women to become full-members. When they are associated with the organisation, they almost never have official rank in the gang and their only status come from their relationship with the members, either as blood-relative or partner.

The name "Roaring Metallic Spirit" as a subculture is reknown for its interest in motorcycle customizing, often illegal, and making noise by removing the mufflers on their vehicles so that more noise is produced. They engage in various activities involving their bikes, including meetings, group rides, street racing, or just plain speeding in highways or city streets for no other reason than the thrill of it.

Thourough their development, the Akan Ch'ichway have promoted a "way of life" close to Mutulese shamanism, including the cult of the Wayob, vision rituals, and various other practices associated to a form of popular White Path. Many of their group rides are done for pilgrimages, during which they are infamous for the potential violence that follow them as some gangs of Akan Ch'ichwayob are infamous for their search of a good fight or a quick race. These pilgrimages tend to be monitored by police units to avoid issues.