Marauders

"We are Marauders! We take what we see!"

A confident Marauder in the making.

All brigands active within the Verdant Steppes are referred to as "Marauders" by Imperial citizens. They are gangs of various sizes engaging in illicit actions against Imperial citizens and occasionally against outsiders. Marauder gangs attract bloodthirsty warriors and criminals wishing to escape the law or driven by circumstances.
Some Marauders are also active Legionnaries in one of the Empire's Legions, who secretly participate in banditry in their free time. Marauders often hide their faces and body so as not to be recognised when they return to the army, or to imply that they do belong to an army for that matter. Whatever the case, they commit attrocities and are wanted fugitives of the Ortho Legion.
Independent and sizeable groups of Marauders are usually led by one Archdemon in order to have the strength to survive outside the safety of City-States and the main roads. They travel between city-states, ambushing caravans after monsters softened them up, Their prey of preference are isolated walkers and the occasionnal Traveler if they are fast enough.
One can find gangs hidden within forest, into dank caves, or within abandonned settlements like dried up farms or broken fortresses. If their size permits it, some Marauders gangs do not hesitate to rape and pillage unprotected settlements. Some of them go back to their units when a war is underway, so leaving witnesses is not what they want.

Structure

There are three major Marauder groups:

• The Black Reapers
• The Corrugated
• The Blood Walkers

History

The act of looting and pillaging has been a constant throughout recorded history, as well as the fabled First World's history. But the specific designation of marauders came upon once an organized society managed to established itself in the Steppes during the early first imperial century. The first Marauders so to speak were corrupt guards or thugs who rallied together to survive using violence and crime in the outside world rather than try to fend off within the ever-encroaching walls of the slowly developping City-States.
Despite an overall uneventful early history, it is rumored that some Marauders were hired, if not at the head of the revolt to topple the first Republic. They were at the least recorded to be very involved in the violences inherent to that era of civil strife. Some well-known Archdemon pack-leaders becoming part of the culture in the process and inspiring future stories, exagerrated or not. After the instauration of the Empire however, it is speculated those who hadn't been "reformed" or "pardonned" simply went back to being a bane to travelers and unsupported villages of the Steppes.
During the Eternal Conquest most Marauders groups became unheard of due to the stability of the realm and an extremely influencial military within and without the Empire. Many "practice campaigns occured to clean their presence throughout the Steppes, making the formation or the maintaining of any large sized groups unattainable for a time. However, once the Conquest lost momentum, stronger Marauders formed from the dissatisfied ranks or the changing life conditions within the cities. It is then that some groups began welcoming slaves from other races into their folds more regularly. It is speculated that Marauders overall were at their strongest around this period.
The slowly recovering Empire reduced the presence of such groups bit by bit. Deserters make the bulk of the Marauder forces and as such most of them are found in the western and northern territories in numbers. With a few exceptions.

Type

Illicit, Rebel

Alternative Names

Betrayers, Bandits, Bastards

Demonym

Marauder

Subsidiary Organizations

• Blood Walkers

Location

Verdant Steppes

Related Species

• Demons

Related Ethnicities

• Imperial