Outlaw is a term for people who live outside the law and commit criminal actions. Raiders, bandits, bikers and punks are also commonly used.
An uncountable amount of survivors became outlaws after the Nuclear Apocalypse made resources scarce, resulting in many people throwing away their pre-war morality for a chance to prey on other survivors for food and water.
The stereotypical outlaw wears outrageous punk fashion, the mohawk being a famously popular hairstyle. Motorcycles are the transportation of choice for the majority of outlaws.
Outlaws usually fight with scrounged weapons such as axes, maces, and crossbows. It isn't uncommon for Outlaws to be martial artists, the Taizanji and Kazan-ha Kenpo in particular are widely used by punks.
While many punks work in small gangs, they are commonly used by warlords such as Raoh or Souther .
Outlaw Gangs are at times very sadistic, sometimes even without any reason such as Abida having wastelander men thrown at buildings.
Despite the heartlessness of many outlaws, there are occasional examples of outlaws with humanity such as Akashachi's pirates or Juza's punk gang in the anime. Additionally they are capable of genuine loyalty, much of Raoh's army were fanatically faithful to him.
In Hokuto Muso and Shin Hokuto Muso, a playable character simply known as Outlaw, sometimes known as the nameless Outlaw, is introduced. The nameless outlaw has techniques taken from the various biker and other small fry enemies in the series like Spade and Flamethrower Man.
Many of the Outlaw gangs in the series draw inspiration from the criminal biker gangs in MadMax such as the Marauders who also wore mohawks.
In the Japanese fandom, Outlaws are widely known as Zako (ザコ) literally translated as "Small Fish"), a term used to describe many small fry enemies in fiction.
In Toki Gaiden, a Zeed Gang member captured by Juza claimed a member's mohawk and motorcycle are symbols of the pride for the gang.