Though the @Green Republic maintains official diplomacy and trade with the desert tribes, a darker truth lingers along the endless frontier. The @Green Republic’s merchants covet the desert’s wealth—beast hides, rare herbs, and sunstone—and while the state publicly condemns poaching, in practice it turns a blind eye. The profits are too great, and the border far too vast to police.
Most poachers are poor @Grassborne, recruited by unscrupulous merchants operating from distant trade cities. Many die quickly, swallowed by storms or slain by tribal patrols. But some survive long enough to become hardened desert predators—expert hunters whose cruelty grows alongside their survival skills.
Desert Poachers wear tattered leathers dyed to blend into the dunes. Their faces are hidden behind rough masks, both for anonymity and protection from the scorching winds. They travel light but deadly: daggers, shortbows, and quivers packed tight with arrows, their worn backpacks filled with stolen herbs, hides, or contraband sunstone.
The @Khenan Raiders sometimes guide or even fight alongside them, selling knowledge of hidden paths in exchange for plunder. Every such raid deepens the distrust between the tribes and the @Green Republic, for poaching is more than mere theft—it is a betrayal wrapped in diplomacy’s smile, a wound on the desert that never truly heals.
They stalk the desert for profit—slaying rare beasts, looting sacred lands, and preying on caravans and frontier patrols. Where tribes hunt to endure, the Poachers hunt to exploit.
At their head stands the Poacher Lord, a hardened survivor who rules through cold authority and brutal pragmatism. To their followers, the Poacher Lord is both tyrant and savior—the one who always finds water, always escapes death, and demands absolute obedience in return. Every raid is calculated, every risk measured, driven by greed and a personal war against the desert and those who claim it.
Poaching bands are reinforced by mercenaries, deserters, and outcasts who value coin over loyalty. Enforcers form the armored core of each raid, holding the line against beasts and tribal retaliation, while Trackers read the sands with unnerving precision, capable of following prey across miles of empty desert. From afar, Sharpshooters serve as silent executioners, felling beasts or sentries with a single, well-placed shot.
Among the most dangerous allies of the Poachers are the Arcane Drifters—rogue mages cast out from the Green Republic’s academies for forbidden studies or unforgivable debts. They sell their magic without ethics or restraint, treating spells as tools of profit. To the Poachers, they are both a blessing and a looming threat, feared for the power they barely control.
Together, these bands leave nothing but stripped carcasses, empty lands, and silent dunes in their wake.
Common Poacher Roles (examples include):
@Poacher Lord – Ruthless leader of the poaching network
@Poacher Enforcer – Veteran mercenaries and frontline muscle
@Poacher Tracker – Expert hunters and desert scouts
@Poacher Sharpshooter – Long-range executioners and beast-slayers
@Poacher Arcane Drifter – Rogue mages-for-hire wielding forbidden magic