New BASH-SF Datafile - A Warband of Marauders for Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth!
Continuing to post some bad guys for the Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth setting, here is a band of ten Marauders - pirates, slavers and raider from beyond the Edge of Commonspace.
Marauders are an ever-present threat in certain areas on the Edge. At times, when led by a particularly vicious or charismatic Zhar, they can form into huge raiding fleets of dozens of ships, the proceeds of raids and salvage gleaned over decades. Such was the case when Ahgu Zhar hurled over a hundred ships at the outlying worlds of Sagati space a century and a half ago. It was only the abrupt assassination of the Zhar that caused his invasion to fail. With Aghu's death, the lesser commanders fell to infighting, and the alliance collapsed. Even so, it took two decades to expel Marauders from a number of the planets they captured.
As Marauders operate on or beyond the Edge, their attacks fall under Marshal Law. Knights-Marshal are able to issue summary justice to any marauder, even one who is mere suspected of being such. This can, and has, led to severe abuses of the Law, which thus far, have been deemed an acceptable cost of keeping the Edge safe. Needless to say, Knights-Marshal are rarely received well by those who sympathize with, or profit from, the Marauders.
The Attached Datafile is for a 'generic' warband of ten Marauders - one leader and nine squaddies. The leader has a few more things going for her, which are designated in Red on the Sheet. The squaddies are intended to be very similar, with a single set of advantages and disadvantages, perhaps with different weapon loadouts. But you can personalize them as much as you like. The list of Advantages and Disadvantages on page two are common and may be considered as suggestions if you have other ideas. But all Marauders are Outlaws by definition, so that one should probably be kept.
I will post a Marauder Warlord in future. In a 'society' where might makes right, warlords are generally the toughest, smartest, Marauders around. In the meantime, Satha could easily be re-purposed as a Marauder mistress just by re-writing her background a bit. You could also use the Elohir Exile in this way, but it would take a bit more work, swapping out Bound to the Order for Outlaw.
If you want to increase the warband's capability, give one or two a blaster rifle, rotary blaster or flamer, depending on your needs. You could also upgrade their entire squad as outlined for the leader, and then buff the leader with another Stat point or two, an extra power and a couple more career ranks in things like Pirate or Assassin.
The image, by the epically talented Darylmandryk, shows a human Marauder chieftain. But if you want to make some alien marauders, go for it. They can be 'reskinned' aliens without altering their Datafile, if they have no real racial powers, advantages, etc. Or give them an Alien template as an advantage and add the appropriate bonuses.
