Poaching and poachers

Though the Green Republic maintains official diplomacy and trade with the desert tribes, a darker truth lingers along the endless frontier. The 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 Humans, 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 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.