Hive Scum
You see, you've won again. I told you I was no good at cards. I'll play one more round, but only because you insist.
Hive Scum, or Scummers, are masterless or itinerant Imperial hivers who will fight for anyone who offers them coin.[1] Scum is a catch-all term for any and all manner of criminals and unsavoury characters. Whether they're petty thieves, Imperial Guard deserters, escaped penal convicts, scam artists, fallen nobles, gangers, desperados, murderers, smugglers, hab-rats and more.[4]
Some are mercenaries who travel from zone to zone, earning whatever easy money is around before moving on. Many though are drunkards and down-and-outs who, despite their appearances, are more than capable of holding their own in a fight. Regardless of their background, hive scum are too wild and independent to submit to the leadership of anyone for very long and will only work when they feel like it — as their services are always in demand.[1]
In the underhives of Necromunda, most hive scum end up working for the Merchant Guilds, though a few are always willing to aid one of the Hive World's numerous gangs. They are especially valuable to newly-created gangs, who hire hive scum to supplement their low numbers or inexperienced gang members. For the more established gangs, however, hive scum are either seen as not worth hiring or nothing more than cannon fodder to use against the gang's enemies.[1]
The Inquisition is known to make use of hive scum for their wide range of practical skills. Breaking into a property, charming or intimidating or tricking a target, utilising a local black market, opening fire on a crowd of innocents without a second-thought, all this and more could fall under the skill set of hive scum.[4]
Scum have little or no honour and will seek an advantage wherever they can, whether it be in combat, economically, or elsewhere.[5]
Images
See also
Sources
- 1: Necromunda: Gangs of the Underhive, pg. 61 — Hired Guns
- 2: White Dwarf 192 (UK), pg. 13
- 3: Warhammer Webstore: Hive Scum (archived from the original 06 February 2025, last accessed 06 February 2025)
- 4: Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, pg. 82
- 5: Wrath & Glory: Dark Tides, pg. 27
