Red Reavers

The Red Reavers are a decentralized mercenary-order based along the Ka'bira Archipelago. Reavers fulfill a protectionary role in the societies found along the Great Chain. Although the many different Reaver groups have varying goals and motivations, all of them are intended to hunt down monsters that are causing strife.

History
Much of the origins of the Red Reavers is mired in myth. Oral histories of the reaving crews speak of Iver the Red as the founder of the Red Reavers. He traveled the world, protecting island nations and ships from the sea serpents that ravaged them. However, sea serpents rarely travel from their natural habitat in the Ka'bira sea. This has led to various theories of about the truth surrounding Iver the Red, ranging from involvement in the War between Dark and Light, to the Diaspora of Alkhafia, to even being a disgrace patrician of the Merian Empire. Ultimately, even the Red Reavers are unaware of the first instances of their order.

In recorded history Reavers have always been a disparate group. C.a. 600 BV, the Red Reavers were able to work together long enough to settle the City of Entoross. However, this remains the most unified action of the Red Reavers. With the various traditions, as well as the decentralized nature of the Great Chain, the Red Reavers never truly unified into a single organization, instead retaining a confederation of sorts. This has resulted in various factions of Red Reavers aligning themselves with or against the Teifling Kings of Udin (and then the Empire of Ecoqunia). Raiding wars have occured multiple times between Reaver factions.

Now, the Reavers still retain their order like duties. Ships either take in family members of successful Reavers, who can vouch for them, or they pick up promising warriors along their journey. Whether a ship demands tribute or slaves, they maintain a level of safety throughout the Ka'bira Archipelago.

Old Guard
The Old Guard are a general grouping of traditionalist Red Reavers. Though "Old" is in reference to their tradition focus, they are the most aging of the Reaver factions. Their traditionalism has found hard purchase in the current era of Udin, due to the small amount of majnin focused regimes. Ecoqunian expansion and Genasi migrations have caused pressures on the old ways of the Red Reavers, with few stable governments to give them a place for foundation. The final place they've found reprieve is the city of Enteross.

This has resulted in many disparate Old Guard groups scattered across the north and central Chain. From here, these small fleets of Reavers often carry out raids and slave freeing on Ecoqunia, when they are not hunting the few monsters left around the Great Chain.

Famous Old Guard

 * Captain Whiteclaw Morgan
 * Captain Emrys

Ceannai
Increasing Red Reaver numbers along with rising state control of monster populations have caused these Reavers to turn to slavery in order to supplement their hunting work. Those slavers may be from anywhere on the Great Chain, but the most common customers are Ecoqunian Nobles. Because of this, these Red Reavers often find themselves at odds with those against Ecoqunian influence. Their seat of power is in the city of Thurhan.

Ecoqunian influence has caused large portions of the Ceannai to adopt Writyephic beliefs. This often takes the form of including the Seasonal Energies as Majnin. Fewer Ceannai follow the writyephic caste system on their ships. The smallest part of the Ceannai have taken Oaths to Ecoqunia and its emperor.

Famous Ceannai

 * Captain Leitis

New Bloods
The New Bloods are a younger generation of Red Reavers who have turned to colonization in the southern Great Chain. A small group of the New Bloods have begun designing governments with the principles of freedom and equality in mind, but much of the populace under their rule care little for these efforts.

These are the most diverse of the Red Reavers due in part to Reavers spreading and creating communities further across the Great Chain than in the past. The other part of this is the presence of Red Reaver influence in the growing settlements in the southern Great Chain. Their seat of power is from the city of Vandagat.

Famous New Bloods

 * Captain Anokh
 * Councilor Sikander
 * Admiral Dev

The Serpent Tradition
The first tradition of the Red Reavers. The Serpent Tradition are those crews who specialize in hunting sea serpents. As Reavers are often ship bound, the sea serpents of the Ka'bira Sea have always been the foremost enemy of the Reavers. This relationship has created a culture, even among other traditions, of respect and fear for the sea serpents that created the need for the Red Reavers.

These Reavers often utilize the skills of clerics and mages with influence over the sea and weather. The ability to better control the motions of the ocean is considered one of the most useful in combating sea serpents. After this, Serpent Tradition Red Reavers will adopted long range weaponry and the occasional brute force combat in order to cover all types of interaction with sea serpents.

The Griffin Tradition
The migration of griffins from southern Oboris to the Great Chain, in 501 BV, left many inhabitant of the Ka'bira Archipelago terrorized. At this point, dutiful enthusiasm still characterized Reaver culture, so the griffin Tradition was quick to form and combat the infestation.

Griffins are still a problem in the southern portions of the Great Chain. Here, griffins utilize their great speed and stamina to ravage settlements and traders. Reavers follow the griffins as they migrate from island to island. These Reavers rely on divination to track the griffins, and then ranged weaponry and evocation magic to devastate the creatures.

The Darkling Tradition
The Darkling Tradition, while fairly new, is a sizable tradition of Red Reavers. Although darklings have always been an issue for inhabitants in the Great Chain, their numbers were so few that a dedicated tradition was initially unnecessary to protect against the creatures. With the recent increases in numbers, Reavers have been training in the tradition, hoping to earn more money and influence.

Due to it being a more modern tradition, the Darkling Tradition utilizes Reavers with many different skills. Combat against other hominids allows more focus on close quarters combat. The unique characteristics of darklings also leads to many in the Darkling Tradition to learn a handful of light and dark spells to better control combat with the creatures.

Other Traditions
Reavers are not bound to only the three most popular traditions. Various crews are unspecialized, searching instead for any opportunity to hunt monsters, and other crews are incredibly specialized, searching for threats that they are uniquely equipped to handle. Because of this, there are many small crews with many different traditions. Some of the more common ones are listed below.
 * Chimera Tradition
 * Elemental Traditions
 * Gorgon Tradition
 * Troll Tradition
 * Golem Tradition