Scavver Caravans

Scavvers, Pickers, Rooks

"There’s wealth and opportunity anywhere you look and under that, if you’re smart enough”

Symbol

Each Scavver Caravan has their own symbol, but many use the side view of a four wheeled wagon as a general symbol for all of them. In simpler iconographies, they instead display three rectangles in a horizontal line, each connected to the one beside it. This represents the caravan trains that is universal for all Scavvers.

Aesthetic

Scavenged, mismatched, and self-made armor, tools, and weapons are often what people look for when they look for Scavvers. Certainly their own personal habits and love of incense do not make them smell like dumpster divers. But otherwise, the Scavvers themselves are rarely held to any other unifying markings, such is their open door policy to whoever wants to join them or avail of their services. To the Caravans themselves, there are specific things they look for that differentiate the members of one Clan to another. The Fomori like to wear hats, for example, while the Owls are known for their headbands and goggles.

Lore Level: Low

Scavver lore is primarily the basic knowledge of one specific Caravan. Straightforward and easy to absorb.

Outlook

Brave but Cunning: The heroes and explorers of the Scavver Caravans are daring enough to explore the dangerous places of the World, but they combine this bravery with wisdom and prudence. This manifests in having escape plans (including escape skills) and approaching each situation with caution (i.e. looking for traps or ambushes). 

The Hoard: Scavvers like to keep their persons light, although they do carry what they need in their patchwork/stitched backpacks, pouches, and bags. They place the majority of their goods with their Caravan or in a well-protected vault or safe -- otherwise, it would be all too easy for their valuables to be stolen from them. 

On the Move: Scavvers are a nomadic people, rarely staying in one place for too long even while resting. This also manifests in their movements: they pace when thinking, physically respond when listening, and are very evocative with their hands while talking. 

Scav Talk: Many Scavvers develop a demi-language based on their shared culture. This is much akin to the Thieves’ Cant of the World that Was and allows individuals to discuss their plans in the open while appearing to talk about something benign or speaking gibberish. 

Songs and Dance: The Scavvers are fond of song, music, story and dance. Even when not participating in these past-times, there is a certain poetic, musical quality to their movements and their speech that even “refined folk” find enchanting though rough. Songs and stories are entertaining ways to pass the time and conversations have a tendency of building bridges and revealing secrets.

The Laws of Picking: (1) Only the living can have possessions. Therefore, looting the dead is permissible. (2) Your family/Caravan have secondary ownership to your items when you die. A virtuous Scavver may do their best to bring recovered possessions to a dead person’s family. (3) You own something if you pick it up unless it belonged to someone else first - except for Components which belong to anyone that has them.

Names

Scavver names run the gamut of different cultures and communities, especially with the way that their caravans and convoys wind across the landscape. However, they tend toward short and distinct names, usually followed by an alliterative or rhyming nickname. Members of prominence, influence, or leadership may go with esteemed titles such as “Elder” or “Old Man” but these tend toward the informal rather than the formal. 

Example Names:

• Roz Rivets is a Metabionic Patch-Fixer that specializes in tinkering and strange gadgets. Whether Roz means Rosanna or Rosario, she does not say. 

• Yul the Mule was named Ulysses by his parents but his stubbornness and his signature backpack have won him this title from his friends. 

• Shallow Maeve is a nickname for a Bone-Picker who is also a Risen. She takes the nickname with grace, though she is usually the last to wake up in her warband.

Example Character Ideas:

The following are some character concepts that may be seen from this Free Tribe. If desired, feel free to use or alter one of these for your character.

Bone-Picker: Bone-Pickers and ruin-delvers are seen as the lowest of the low by most of the world, but it is a respected profession among the Scavvers. These folk brave irradiated ruins and shrouded battlefields for loot and reggies, selling their findings to magpies or scholars for better gear and better Elixirs beforegoing out for more. Many have taken insults against them as points of pride, referring to themselves and others in their profession as “Crows.”  

Suggested Classes: Arcanist, Ranger

Junk-Taker: When a Bone-picker comes back from a dangerous delve, they do not seek out their family or their kin,they seek out their Junk-Takers, or “Magpies.” These are individuals that buy the various baubles and loot that their clientele bring to them. Some of these items are sold, others are used to craft more useful items, while others are set aside for strange buyers. Some Magpies’ collections are so large that they hide them in caches rather than allow the burden to slow their wagons (and thus the entire Caravan Clan).

Suggested Classes: Builder, Counselor

Patch-Fixers: Despite their reputation for grave robbing and ruin-delving, the Scavvers prize the building arts most of all. These Patch-Fixers, or “Finches” in Scavver parlance, wreak tools and supplies out of the raw and rudimentary components of the World Beyond the Fall. Individual Finches are responsible for some of the greatest engineering and chemical advances in the Mid-Atlantic, their recipes proliferated and sold by Caravans across the continent.

Suggested Classes: Builder, Counselor

Scrap-Changers: Regarded as well as Patch-Fixers, Scrap-Changers (aka “Mockers”) are Arcanists and spell users that specialize in Transmutation and Infusion. Scrap-Changers do have some healing abilities, but they are best at the manipulation of materials. They are boons to those craft and those who do rituals. Scrap-Changers also have another talent that the Scavvers appreciate—the ability to duplicate an item using materials and magic, regardless of the spell user’s expertise. While some consider the act tantamount to stealing, Scavvers take their exception to this accusation while often taking their leave.

Suggested Classes: Arcanist, Builder

Wagon-Watcher: Few are the individuals that dare attack a Caravan head on due to the presence of Wagon-Watchers, sometimes called “Grackles” pejoratively. These Scavvers are the closest that a Caravan has to soldiers (though they are used primarily for defense), with the Ember War being the main exception. These individuals are trained and equipped with the best of Scavver tech. Amongst other things, this means the use of potent firearms and the siege weapons called “Casters.”

Suggested Classes: Builder, Warrior

Leadership

The Scavver Caravans do not hail one leader, though the Ratking’s Pilot (the Jack of Japes) claims this position for himself. Each Caravan is led by a Pilot who is advised by their people. 

That said, many of the smaller Caravans recognize the influence of the bigger or more significant ones (listed in the Power Groups section). This means that these more influential Caravans can coerce or employ their more mobile allies to specific actions or causes. 

To that end, while the Free Tribes recognize the Scavver Caravans as part of them, they need only to reach out to the major Caravans when calling for a meeting. Of these, only the Ratkings, the Rainbirds, and the Fomori are the prime responders when a meeting is called for by the other Tribes. The other Caravans respond only at their own whims.