Murderous Marauder (Basic Lore)

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Murderous Marauder (CR 27)

Murderous Marauder
Pure Evil - Medium - Humanoid
Bandits are monsters, whose awfulness is made all the worse by the fact that they are usually drawn from the 'civilized' races. Humans, Barani, Ifrit, Oreads, Vanx, Dwarves, all these races and more, born and raised in the gentle refinement of the 'Civil', can fall until they are little more than beasts wearing a skin. Yes, you will often find Orcs, Gnolls, Goblins, even Ogres and some Giants among bandits, but usually, always, the majority are drawn from races with the Spark.

Bandits can be found in the wilds and hinterlands, preying upon all others, but they especially delight in falling upon their former brethren and attack outposts of civilization, such as farms, trading posts, and the like.

Even worse, since many Bandits come from the civilized races, it is discouragingly common to find bandits operating right in the heart of Civilization, as humanoid Bandits can 'clean up' and pass for respectable people for at least a while. It is sadly common for settlements to find their gates thrown wide open in the middle of the night as infiltrating bandits kill the gate guards and allow in their entire band of monsters. Such nights of bloody murder, vile rapine, and wanton looting and burning are too terrible to describe, and are the reason that bandits are usually hunted by the Guard, and often adventurers, without falter, hesitation, or remorse.

Many Bandits have short, violent careers, and are expunged from the world promptly and thoroughly. Unfortunately, Bandits, since they come from the Civil Races, still have the ability to advance and learn, even if their craft is as a horrible thief and murderer. After a band of Bandits have gained a good amount of notoriety, fled a pogrom or two, and escaped from a few bands of adventurers, they eventually get better at their vile trade.

Indeed, after a few years of surviving and excelling at the terrible craft of reaving, some Bandits even start to get ambitions to political power, and set up bandit fiefdoms, examples of the rudest sort of feudal strong-arming. The most powerful and skilled of these awful brigands actually can get Bandit Kingdoms up and running in a terribly dysfunctional and brutal fashion, but one that makes a lot of money and causes a lot of suffering. From these wretched feudal nightmare states they set out with skulking cruelty, and these highly-skilled and deadly bandits are collectively called Murderous Marauders.

But no matter their title, all Bandits are irredeemable monsters. If they ever had the Spark, they lost it, or sold it, or killed it. They have to be killed in order to stop them.