I finally got around to watching the new(ish) Furiosa movie and I had to revamp a bunch of my headcanons, so I thought I'd share them again!
I thought about just editing my old posts, but thought this would be nicer for everyone as I also wanted to add some new stuff.
Ages
Cub
Cubs are referred to with They/Them pronouns.
Cubs stay with their Dami until they’re about 2100 days(roughly 5 or 6 years) old. Cubs taken in from the wastes and the wretched to be given a better life in the citadel are quickly adopted by a Dami.
Cubs are generally seen as ready to enter puphood when they start losing their milk-teeth and they’re potty trained.
The names Cubs are given by their Dami is their Milk-name.
Cubs stay in the Nursery, watched over by the Damgin if their Dami is busy.
The Nursery is a room filled with all the soft things a gnawing and falling cub could need.
The health of Cubs and Damis is seen to by the Medam.
Cubs: are unbranded, unshaved, don’t wear clay, and aren’t expected to attend any War-Lessons. (You will get the occasional cub wandering into a lesson, following after a littermate who became a pup before they did.)
Pup
Pups are referred to with He/They pronouns, interchangeably.
Pups are communally raised by the Warboys until they're about 5500 days(15ish years) old. Pups are assigned Minders, but if they latch onto a different Warboy their Minderhood will be transferred to that Warboy. Each Minder is responsible for his own pup(s), making sure they’re doing what they’re meant to be doing and not doing what they’re not.
As pups grow and lose more of their milk-teeth, they'll collect them, carefully bore holes through them, and gift them to their Dami. For her to add to her milk-bracelet.
Pups taken in from the wastes and the wretched that were too old to go in the Nursery and have no Dami, will sometimes choose to give their milk-teeth to their Minder instead. Some warboys will make them into the traditional milk-bracelets, but milk-belts are popular.
Pups tend to pick a new name as they get older, if they find one they like the sound of. Pups also wind up new names from other Pups and Warboys for something they've done or some distinguishing feature they have. Some pups choose to go by their milk-name for their entire lives.
Pups sleep in The Kennels at night, but are allowed to run around all they like during the day, as long as they're not skipping lessons or getting underfoot. The Kennels are the level below The Court and above The Shops.
The Kennels aren't as soft as the Nursery, instead filled with every curiosity, toy, and trinket a pup can carry away.
Pups get their first checkup by the Organic-Mechanic within the first 15 days of moving into the Kennels, a scar denoting their blood type is scarred high between their shoulder blades. It common for pups to be treated by the Medam rather than the Organic-Mechanic.
Pups aren't barred from visiting the Nursery, but must be in the Kennels by curfew and attend their lessons. Most pups age out of this want for the Nursery. Some pups remain so attached to their Dami they grow up to become Damis themselves.
War-Lessons are schoolings for Pups on how to become Warboys. Basic reading(to identify the labels on parts and suchlike, Damis have generally already taught pups letters and how to spell their milk-name), sparring, and maths are taught communally, but pups will usually independently find the niche they want to fill and find a Warboy in that trade to follow around and learn from. At this point the role of Minder will sometimes be transferred to better suit a pup’s needs.
Pups that have progressed well in their role are allowed to darken their eyesockets with soot-paint.
For a pup to become a Warboy there's a ceremony where they get their brand and, if needed, any extra bits removed in one last appointment with the Organic-mechanic.
Pups are: shaved, encouraged to experiment with clay and what patterns they like to wear, and expected at War-Lessons.
Pups aren't: branded, allowed any permanent mods(scarification, tattoos, piercings, embeds, etc), or allowed out of the citadel without permission and supervision.
Warboy
Warboys are referred to with He/Him pronouns.
Warboys are considered fully grown.
Warboys live in The Pit. The Pit being all the floors beneath The Lift. The lowest level of the second tower. Some habited floors of this level are subterranean, but most are not.
Unclaimed Warboys commonly bunk in nooks within the dorms that are unofficially separated by role, or in a personal nook/nest. Claimed Warboys commonly bunk in alcoves with their crew, in their Praetorian's Territory, or in an alcove with their friends allies. If they're in an Imperator's personal crew it's very rare, but sometimes they'll bunk in their Imperator's Grotto. Usually it's just the Imperator's Second and a few of their favourites from the crew that get to bunk in the Grotto.
Warboys: are branded and shaved, wear clay and soot-paint, can have permanent mods, have roles, and are allowed to leave the towers independently.
Warboys in higher ranks within their role may mark their heads/faces with soot-paint beyond the traditional eyesockets. Warboys of all ranks can use soot-paint to make patterns and designs on their body.
Roles
Dami
Damis are referred to with She/Her pronouns.
A Dami is anyone that’s raising a Cub, whether it’s a cub they birthed or one they adopted.
When not with her cub in the Nursery, a Dami stays in the Roost, within The Court.
The Court is an upper level of the second tower. The Court of the second tower encompasses: the cubs Nursery, the Damis' Roost, and the lower breeders' Abbey.
It's common for a breeder to be a Dami after birthing a cub, and return to be a breeder in the Abbey once their cub has grown into a pup. However, not every Dami was once a breeder, and not every breeder will become a Dami.
Every Warboy is told who birthed them, to prevent inbreeding.
Pups and Warboys always call their Dami 'Dami', even if she's not currently acting as a Dami.
Damis with many complete milk-bracelets are coveted and have more status, as it's recognized that more of their cubs have lived to become fully grown Warboys.
The Damgin is the Dami in charge of making sure everything in the Nursery is as it should be, a sort of den-mother. The Damgin is often the one with the most milk-bracelets.
The Medam is something of a midwife and a paediatrician. She sees to the health of the Cubs and Damis. The original Medam was a medicine woman brought in by the Hunters, who then trained a Dami to be her successor; this tradition is still continued.
It is believed that if a Dami dies whelping a cub, they get into Valhalla.
A person of any body type can be a Dami. The way this probably came about was that the warboys were trying to puzzle out what exactly a 'mother' is and concluded that it's a person that takes care of babies and uses she/her pronouns. Therefore, people that take care of babies, are mothers and use she/her pronouns.
Praetorian
Praetorians build a crew of unclaimed warboy teams(teams refer to the common pairings of Lancer & Driver, Polecat & Counterweight, etc) and individuals. If they want a warboy under another Praetorian they must ask that Praetorian for him, the polite way is trading for him, but the more common way is bribing and stealing.
Praetorians do not: wear clay, or use soot-paint.
Praetorians can: be half-lives, use grease-paint(darker than soot-paint and lasts longer), wear their hair unshaved, and raise others to the rank of Praetorian.
Imperators
Only Immortan Joe can raise someone to the rank of Imperator. Every Imperator must be a full-life.
Imperators have their own personal crew and are in charge of a number of Praetorians and the Praetorians’ crews.
Imperators can reassign the crews and teams of the Praetorians under them as they like without anyone's permission, but cannot alter another Imperator's crews. It's common for Imperators to trade for/steal other Imperator's Praetorians and crews.
Imperators do not: wear clay, or use soot-paint.
Imperators can: use grease-paint, wear the Imperator Black scarf/kerchief, wear their hair unshaved, raise others to the rank of Praetorian, claim their own rooms, enter any floor of the Citadel(barring the Vault and the Trove), have unlimited water, nominate others for the rank of Imperator.
Black-Thumb
Black-Thumbs are mechanics and repairboys and rev-heads that permanently stay in the shops. There's many sub-roles/specialties beneath the umbrella term of Black-Thumb.
There's one Imperator in charge of the Garage and the WorkShop with a couple Praetorians and Praetorian's crews under him.
Green-Thumb
Green-Thumbs take care of the Greenery and the hydroponics. There's many sub-roles/specialties beneath the umbrella term of Green-Thumb.
There's one Imperator and his crew that are in charge of the Greenery and all the Green-Thumbs.
Red-Thumb
Red-Thumbs work in the BloodShed beneath the Organic Mechanic, they are essentially the Organic Mechanic's crew.
There's many sub-roles/specialties beneath the umbrella term of Red-Thumb.
Hunter
Hunters are Warboys that go out into the wastelands to hunt down edibles and valuables for the Citadel. Things like bloodbags, meat, cars, scrap, beforeworld things. There's one Imperator and his crew in charge, with four Praetorians and their crews under him.
There is a separate specialty Imperator and crew that is in charge of finding Chrome full-life wives for the Immortan.
Gatekeeper
Full-lives that are in charge of operating and ensuring the maintenance of the Lift.
Sometimes also referred to as the Lift Guardians.
Doof Wagon Crew
The Warboys of the Doof Wagon. The Coma-Doof Warrior's crew.
Includes sub-roles of Drummers, Sparkers(hooking up the wires and electricity), Lancers, Driver, Outerguard(separate bikers/drivers to defend the wagon), etc.
Sentries
The lookouts and snipers responsible of warning and defending the Citadel for anyone approaching.
All Warboy Sentries are part of the Sentry Imperator's personal crew. Save for a few Wayboys and pups that are brought on to test their compatibility.
Gunsmith/Gun-Repairer
A full-life on loan from the Bullet Farm.
Their services are usually only available to people of Praetorian rank and higher.
Road Warrior
A nomadic wastelander who is self-reliant, skilled in combat, resourceful in finding fuel and supplies, an expert driver, and adept at navigating the desolate, lawless roads.
Warboys keep tabs on the Road Warriors that dare to regularly skirt the edges of the Citadel's territory (getting close to the Citadel wards off all but the boldest of the wasteland's scavs and vultures). Sometimes going out to hunt them down and sometimes following them to track down resources.
The Hunter Imperator has a few Road Warriors that he's built up a sort of alliance with. He'll trade with them, either for physical items or information. He gave his allies a marker to display, that tells the Citadel's Warboy patrollers to leave them alone. It mostly works.
Wayboys and Bedrooms
Warboys
In the early days, when there was less space, it was tradition for warboys to carve and dig out the walls, making their own alcove to claim. This has largely fallen out of practice, as the turn over rate of the warboys leads to there almost always being empty alcoves to claim. Infighting over alcoves that are considered 'the best’ remains rampant.
Warboys are also known to carve out personal nooks just about anywhere the wall depth allows, rules were quickly implemented about what walls can and cannot be carved into, to prevent the citadel from coming down around their ears. To circumvent uncarvable walls, Warboys will embed hooks into the walls or ceiling to securely suspend beds and platforms, building these nests absolutely everywhere.
Praetorians
Praetorians usually claim some small section of the Shops level as their own Territory and customise it as they like, but have been known to claim Territory in the Pit as well.
There was one bold Praetorian that befriended the GateKeepers and was allowed to claim Territory on the Lift level.
Imperators
Imperators get ‘Grottos’.
They’re one of the highest levels of the second tower, have windows(not glass), bedding, doors with locks, and direct access to aquacola.
Coma-Doof
The Coma-Doof Warrior was granted his own Den as a reward from Immortan for his singular talents, most of his rooms are open to the sky, with many hammocks of varying sizes in every room.
His rooms have the same amenities as an Imperator's Grotto and are connected to a smaller lower floor that he arranged to be given to his Drummers and crew.
The general opinions on the bunks goes(from least cushy chrome to most):
Nest, Nook, Alcove, Territory, Grotto, Den, Trove(Immortan & sons rooms), Vault(the Wives)
Towers
The levels (and floors) of the Citadel's Towers, Listed highest to lowest.
The First Tower
The Garden
The Crown(Vault, Trove(Immortan&Sons), Gallery/Balcony)
Immortan’s Court(Parlour(milkers), Aviary(high breeders))
The Second Tower
The Greenery
The Doof Den(Coma-Doof's rooms, Drummers Alcove)
The Grottos (Imperators Rooms)
The Court(Nursery(cubs), Roost(damis), Abbey(low breeders))
The Kennels
The Shops(Wheel Shrine, Blood Bank, Organic-Mechanic/Bloodshed, Garage and WorkShop, TradeHaul)
The Lift(The Mill, GateKeepers Rooms)
The Pit(Wreck(recreation), Mess(cafeteria), Clay Pools, Dorms, Alcoves)
The Third Tower
Staffed by and home to lifted wretched and a few Warboys to manage them, it has no named levels but contains:
The kitchens, the Mill-Rats housing, waste-workers, plumbers, tanners, etc.
The Ranks of Roles
Rankings within the Citadel According to Warboys(most important to least):
Immortan
Wife
Organic-Mechanic
Imperator
Imperator's Second
Praetorian
Imperator's Crew
Praetorian's Second
Praetorian's Crew
Cub
Pup
Coma-Doof
GateKeeper
Dami
Doof Wagon Crew
Hunters
Gunsmith/Gun-Repairer
Sentries
Red-Thumb
Black-Thumb
Green-Thumb(Very important job, but garners no inherent respect. Almost a non-entity really.)
Unclaimed Warboy
Road Warrior
BloodBag
Wretched/Wasteland Scavs
How Ranks are applied to the sub-roles of a Crew(also how Unclaimed Warboys without crews are ranked against each other):
First of any role (First Lancer, First Driver, First Polecat, etc)
Car Driver
Bike Driver
Polecat
Sniper
Lancer
Counterweight
Rev-head (Rev-Head refers to any Warboy that knows how to fix cars/bikes, but if they're not in a crew or an official Black-Thumb they're low ranked)
Pissboy
