Years ago, when Paragon City was the indisputably the largest, richest city in the United States,

the serene grounds of Perez Park were emblematic of the city’s prosperity. Tucked away from
the hustle and bustle of city life, its tree-lined pathways saw early morning joggers and Sunday
afternoon strolls. The well-maintained meadows in the Gaiman Woods played host to family
picnics and yoga classes. The famous Paragon City Players often performed Shakespeare and
Greek tragedies at the open air Gaiman Amphitheatre. The Bendis Lake House, overlooking
placid Everett Lake, was famous for its mouthwatering burgers, and the lakeside docks were the
city’s most popular makeout spot among local teens.

The park was important in the city’s history as well. It was here that, on September 12th, 1937,
the hero Dark Watcher interrupted demon worshippers attempting a human sacrifice and
arrested the perpetrators. It was Paragon City’s first legally-sanctioned arrest; the Citizen Crime
Fighting Act had been passed just two days earlier. Later events, however, would be less
positive. A deep economic recession struck the city in the 1970’s, and drugs and gangs flooded
in. In Perez Park, the dominant gang was known as the Shadows, who harassed the residents
living in Hollow Oaks Lane at the park’s edge. The valiant efforts of Paragon City’s heroes kept
their activities limited, and the park remained popular, but darkness had begun to descend.

In the mid nineties, that darkness fell. Large groups of Eastern European immigrants had settled
in Hollow Oaks Lane, and were mercilessly harassed by the Shadows. Among the immigrants
were two brothers, Radoslav and Emil Petrovic. Veterans of brutal street warfare in the old
country, the Petrovic brothers scoffed at the Shadows and their petty extortion rings. They
would show the locals what a real war was like. From the moment of that fateful decision,
Shadows who set foot in Hollow Oaks Lane could expect to be gunned down. When that wasn’t
enough to scare them off, their families and girlfriends were targeted and treated brutally. This
provoked the Shadows into striking back at the Petrovic family… just as the brothers had
planned.

Late one night, the Shadows broke into the apartment where the Petrovics lived. Their parents
were home - the brothers were not. Emil and Radoslav were waiting outside the building, steel
chains and kerosene in hand. Blocking all the exits, they burned the place to the ground, with
both the Shadows and their own parents inside. Calmly, coldly, they watched the fires rage, until
the police arrived to arrest them. But something had changed inside the brothers with this latest,
most heinous crime - or perhaps it had been within them all along, waiting to awaken. The dark
energies of the netherworld reached out from within them, tendrils of cold and evil that wrapped
around the arresting officers and drained the life from them. Emil and Radoslav escaped.

Weeks later, they returned to the apartment, and from the ruins they claimed grisly prizes: the
skulls of their victims, perhaps even their own parents. Cutting into each skull, they made them
into masks, creating new faces to go with the new names they had chosen: Marrow Snap and
Marrow Drinker. Their dark and brutal reputations spread quickly. The remnants of the Shadows
fell under their sway, and other malcontents soon flocked to their banner as well. The ruins of
Hollow Oaks Lane became known as The Boneyard, and the violent new gang that the Petrovic
brothers had gathered became known as The Skulls.
In the chaos following the Rikti Invasion, the Skulls spread their influence. Their operations
expanded from simple robbery and extortion to peddling stolen magical items and heavy
involvement in the drug trade, especially superandine, which they produced themselves in
hidden labs that soon flooded the streets. From Perez Park they branched out, establishing
chapters in Galaxy City, Atlas Park, and King’s Row. Recruitment of new gang members is a
macabre process. A death is required of each initiate, usually a rival gang member. The initiate
then picks out his own casket, acknowledging his inevitable death in order to gain power over it.
Finally, he goes through his “black wake”, digging up a body to claim its skull as his new face.

At this point, the initiate has become a Gravedigger, as the footsoldiers of the Skulls are called.
Armed with handguns, knives, sledgehammers, axes, and bats, they form the bulk of the gang’s
street presence. Gravediggers that survive long enough and inflict enough damage on their
enemies are considered to have earned their bones, and are promoted to become Death
Heads. These gang lieutenants are better armed, wielding shotguns and assault rifles. Only the
most ruthless and effective of them catch the eye of the Petrovic brothers, and when they do,
they undergo the final ritual of advancement: a secret dark magic rite performed by the brothers
themselves. They emerge transformed, able to wield the powers of darkness as Bone Daddies.

With a winning combination of street-smart viciousness and evil magic, the Skulls might have
become the dominant gang in the neighborhoods around Perez Park. But their control was
recently challenged by an upstart new gang with dark powers of their own: the Hellions.
Founded by a two-bit con named Nick Pocker, who took the name Tempter, the Hellions
declared themselves satanists who gained power through acts of sin. For the lower ranks of the
gang, this is edgy posturing. For the upper echelons, however, the demon worship is very real,
and so is the power it grants them. Although Pocker himself was soon incarcerated in the Zig,
the gang continued to grow, both in Paragon City neighborhoods and in the prison itself.

Much like the Skulls, the Hellions have their own intricate initiation rituals. Initiates are required
to spill the blood of an enemy of the gang, or sometimes just someone in the wrong place at the
wrong time. They must then ritually scar themselves in satanic patterns to show that they can
master pain and unlock the potential within their flesh. Those who manage to get through the
process are initiated as Blood Brothers, the gang’s basic street soldiers. In order to hold their
ground against the more established Skulls, the Hellions have fully embraced the trade in black
market magical artifacts, using them to bolster their footsoldiers. Those who are most able to
take in that power are promoted to Fallen as hellfire begins to burn within them.

Those Fallen who make it into the top ranks tend to have an edge, usually one gained through a
direct pact with a demon. Most of these become the Damned, able to conjure the hellfire that
has been growing within them and throw it at their enemies. Three of the Damned form the
gang’s current ruling trinity: Decimator, Destroyer, and Destructor. The demons themselves are
an occasional presence at Hellion hideouts or major operations, particularly the seductive but
deadly being the Hellions call the Girlfriend from Hell. Other leaders, like the deal-making Duke
Mordragar and the mutant mercenary 3K Kelvin, have carved out their own spheres of
influence.
Originating and based in Atlas Park and Galaxy City, where they commonly engage in petty
muggings, robbery, and small-time dealing of magic items, the Hellions have begun to move in
on the Skulls’ turf in Perez Park. The attempt has sparked a brutal gang war that has already
dragged on for years, bringing the park down with it. The boat house has been abandoned, the
amphitheatre has fallen silent, and the forest paths are now haunted by those who would prey
on the now-absent picnickers. While the gang war rages between Hellions and Skulls, even
more sinister forces lurk in the shadows: the Vazhilok, the Circle of Thorns, the Clockwork, and
a huge mutant sewer beast the locals have taken to calling The Kraken.

Both gangs have brought in allies, escalating their deadly conflict. The Skulls have used their
drug dealing to form close connections with the superandine-abusing Trolls, while the Hellions
have brought the elemental mutant Outcasts in on the magic item trade. Many explanations
have been offered for the intensity of the gang war. It is rumored that another gang, the
Warriors, has been dealing magic items to both sides, using the fighting to distract the Paragon
Police Department from their operations. Some say that the truth is even stranger: that psychic
residue from an attempt to mind control the city into tearing itself apart still lingers in Perez Park,
driving those who spend too long there to commit frenzied violence.

As the conflict continues to spread, with new chapters of the Skulls and Hellions established as
far away as the Rogue Isles to continue their battle, Perez Park has been declared a Hazard
Zones by the Paragon Police Department. Sealed off with heavy gates patrolled by PPD SWAT
officers and drones, it is no longer a place where young lovers or happy families would dare to
venture. And unless someone finally defeats the Skulls and the Hellions, it will never again be a
symbol of Paragon City’s peace, progress, and prosperity.