One of the most prominent forces in The Wanderer Trilogy are the Gangs. And in the same way that many other writers create their worlds, I pull examples from real-world scenarios. Power corrupts. But that power is a multi-faceted creature that manifests within the groups that I’ve created for this trilogy and beyond. I wanted to make it realistic. Believable. And, in a way, a sort of mirror to our own world.

Today, I want to delve into a few question I asked myself when I first began writing this story.

What would the aftermath look like in a world decimated by war?

Would peace fill the void?

Or would humans continue the cyclical nature of rising to power only to be dismantled again and again?

Throughout history (past and current), we can find many examples of powerful governments and ideologies rising and falling, only to disappear or fragment into other things. When civilizations fall, someone steps in. In the trilogy’s land, it’s the Gangs. In the real world, it’s warlords, drug cartels, corporations, or political strongmen. Whether it’s in the ruins of a fictional Midwestern United States or the real-life instability of failed states and exploited regions, the lesson is the same: power is never idle.

The Gangs of The Wanderer Trilogy are more than violent mobs. They are organized, tactful, and purposeful in their rule over the region. In their minds, they are creating order through their own lens of comfortability. Each one of them represent a type of power we can recognize in modern society, so let’s dive in.

The Serpents: Power Through Fear and Ruthlessness

The Serpents are brutal, expansive, and dominant among the region. Their form of trade? People. Their method? Fear. They maintain control through violence and psychological warfare. Sound familiar? Human trafficking networks, authoritarian regimes, and criminal empires in our world operate the same way. When law collapses, exploitation thrives.

The Tigers: Industrialized Violence

The Tigers trade bullets for power. They melt scrap into weapons, making industry their backbone for the other Gangs while simultaneously creating the same type of fear that the Serpents use towards their workers and the free peoples of the region. They don’t just survive off violence—they profit from it. Like military-industrial complexes and corporate-backed militias, they turn chaos into commerce. Money fuels their fire.

The Wolves: Strength in Numbers

The Wolves dominate the western region through sheer size and force. They’re organized, expansive, and feared. Think multinational corporations or regional powers with military might. They don’t need to be the smartest or most innovative—they just overwhelm everything in their path.

The Foxes: Strategic and Seductive Power

An all-female gang, the Foxes wield influence through precision, allure, and tactical mastery. They prove that power can be elegant, psychological, and lethal all at once. Much like intelligence agencies, social manipulators, or media moguls, their control is quieter—but just as deadly.

Other Gangs: Niche Power and Identity Survival

The Badgers, Leopards, Rats—each represents smaller power bases that rely on loyalty, tradition, and survivalism. They echo tribal power structures, resistance groups, or isolated communities. They don’t dominate through size or wealth, but through resilience and purpose. Brainwashing their followers and gaslighting is their preferred form of control.

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Given that these Gangs control much of the trade in and out of the region, the scraps are all that remains for the free peoples, who simply try to exist. Modern powers control much of the world’s resources like oil, labor, food, and even media. All that power from the Gangs solidifies through stories, threats, attacks, or other symbols of strength. Consider that their own personal flavor of propaganda.

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In the end, the Gangs aren’t just the post-apocalyptic villains of The Wanderer Trilogy, they’re reflections. They show us what power looks like when the system collapses, and how familiar those faces can be.

I wanted my trilogy to be realistic, not just a complete fantasy with no real-world application. Because relating pieces of our own world to this fictional one, the story hits harder. It becomes relatable. Only then do I weave in bits of science fiction to make the story much more believable.

The theme of this trilogy and beyond is one word: survival. Every faction, every region, and every character (good and bad) has their own unique idea as to what that means. And that definition shapes everything.

So, how does that play out in Eva’s story? Well… you’ll just have to see for yourself.

Because, at the heart of the trilogy is the question that transcends fiction:

In a broken world, who would you follow — and why?