RWBYFanon v5
RPG Creations => Worldbuilding => Topic started by: willow_lark on February 16, 2017, 06:23:20 PM
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Cavalcade Bandits
Location: The Cavalcade region is located in the northwestern region of Vacuo's sprawling deserts. The stretch of desert is known for sandstorms and rough terrain. The saving grace in the sandstorms are the many rock formations through out the region. They provide shelter in bad storms and places to hide. Cavalcade's region has few oasis's, and much of the water needed by the tribes is stolen. The desert between civilized Vacuo and Cavalcade is a hotspot for ruins and treasure, but is also considered by Cavalcade to be territory it occupies. The area is often encroached on by Cavalcade for a period of time before a particularly successful mission against them forces them back a bit. This happens frequently enough that no line in the sand can be drawn on safe territory in the area. The upper level tribes prefer to only temporarily push in. They have the force required to do so, complete whatever their objective is, and retreat back to the familiar Cavalcade region.
Tribes: The Cavalcade region contains no cities, only roving tribes. The tribes are difficult to track in the region, as they know many shortcuts, caverns and ways to disappear in the sands. Their mastery of traversing the sands contributes to their continued existence. Some notable tribes:
- Cavall: The Cavall are the oldest and most powerful tribe in the Cavalcade region. Universally respected and universally feared, they are said to have inspired the name of the region. The tribe itself is small, barely numbering 25 people in their roving camp. The demographic among the tribe is almost exclusively male, both for adults and children. Any women found in their camp are likely slaves and/or concubines. The tribe's attitude towards the slaves it keeps is 'disposable'. No one in the tribe has and ever will marry, the children of the tribe are born to slaves. The fighting force of the Cavall is only a third of the tribe (on average this around 7 warriors), though they can each fight at the level of a decorated huntsman.
The Cavall are ruthless, cruel beings. The tribesmen raise the youth as a tribe, to be even more ruthless than the future generations. The entire tribe is the father to each child. If one makes it to adulthood, the tribe becomes one's brothers. While tight nit, no one would be jealous of the dysfunctional family parody presented. It is not an easy childhood. Between the Cavall's activities, the 'survival of the fittest' mentality, and the harsh combat training many do not make it. The adults of the Cavall are trained to be both soulless and phenomenal fighters. All of them have aura unlocked and have survived thus far on their skill with a variety of weapons. The Cavall has access to anything they may need either through other tribes or by taking it themselves. They are well equipped with military vehicles and technology, though some build custom weapons made for inflicting more pain on victims.
They are regarded as the exclusive head of the Cavalcade region out of fear more than anything. The Cavall are clever and sly. Their combined force is something that could provoke a military response, yet they've managed to avoid making enough of a splash to attract that attention. They are practiced in appearing and disappearing in the course of hours, not appear again for weeks as to prevent tracking. Scouting parties sent to find their camps come back with nothing or don't come back at all. The Cavall choose their targets well. While no Robin hoods, the tribe's connections with the black market allow them to raid rich individuals who have criminal secrets. These secrets are brought to light in the attack, diverting some of the heat from the attack to their victim. Other options are a no survivors policy, particularly for border towns. A newly cropped up border town disappearing will quickly be attributed to Grimm. The Cavall have even used weapons modelled to look like a Grimm attack to encourage the comparison. Their raids, however they are designed, net the tribe more than enough supplies and valuables to last them until their next. The Cavall are not a constant presence in the deserts, but rather surface like the boogieman.
- Scelerat: The Scelerat are a tribe of primarily slavers. They are not particularly violent but rather greedy. They do not prefer killings, as that cuts into the bottom line. While they occasionally deal in other trade their consistent focus is slaving. They number in the hundreds and travel together in one large caravan. The caravan also includes the 'wares' they have captured. Smaller groups will branch out to actually capture slaves and eventually return to the main caravan. Smaller groups rarely do the trading, the Scelerat prefer business being done in their own home. Scelerat provide slaves within the tribes of Cavalcade as well as to unsavory individuals in other kingdoms as well as their own.
Scelerat operations tend to run in a similar manner. The group will slip into town unnoticed and linger before deciding how things should run. They'll either target a high profile target (possibly for ransom), kidnap opportunity targets and get out of town, or plan a snatch of a group of people in the dead of night. The Scelerat are not the type to raze a town to capture the whole town. Too risky.
- Grogneur: Grogneur are the grunts of the Cavalcade region. They are pickpockets, thugs, thieves, murderers and arsonists to name a few. If it's illegal, you can find someone in a Grogneur tribe that has done it. Grogneur is actually a blanket title for any tribe that yet to define itself as its own. They make up the majority of the banditry. Being a Grogneur is a simple life. The tribe steals, murders and pillages freely. Often they will harass a town until someone arrives to help it, only to move on to the next. Grogneur is a loosely attached group. You can kill a fellow in the middle of camp and be cheered for, and the next day run through yourself. There is no law and no standard. Infighting is common in the tribe as well as tribe to tribe. Grogneur tribes will often fight each other over petty squabbles. Most Grogneur lack aura and make do with raw strength or weapon force. The biggest threat of Grogneur is the size of the tribe, as they have large war parties. Tribes are led by whoever takes the role up, and they continue to lead until someone else kills them for the job. Grogneur know the chain of command to the Cavalcade region and actively avoid the Cavall. If the Cavall are looking for grunts, Grogneur are recruited into it. They have no choice in that matter.
Symbol: A blade with no hilt, chain wrapped at the base. The whole thing is dripping blood.
Colors: Red and Black
Government:- Political Structure: Tribes are internally managed. When a large enough threat surfaces to the bandits way of life or encroaches on their territory, tribes gather in the center of the desert for a 'Counsel'. This counsel considers of the leadership of mostly Grogneur tribes. When Grogneur only tribes convene nothing tends to be the result. Every leader goes in looking to come out ahead of the others while still fighting the threat. This attitude does not make for good teamwork, and infighting quickly ensues and the Counsel breaks apart. (Leaders never come to blows when meeting under these circumstances. It's one of the few rules most respect.) When a named tribe comes to a Counsel, the Grogneur tend to fall under that tribe's command. If multiple arrive, these leaders work out some form of plan together they can agree on. Operations made under a Counsel's direction tend to work very well due to numbers and execution being organized. If the Cavall come to a Counsel, all fall under the Cavall's banner. These operations (though only one has been recorded to have occurred) are highly dangerous focusing on destruction, damage, and death. Human lives are not considered valuable in the planning stage and even less so during execution.
- Trade: Any trade done is on a tribal basis. Most don't trade as a unit, but as individuals. The Scelerat trade as a tribe, and contacting them is as dangerous as slave ownership in a free remnant.
- Huntsman: Most tribes avoid Huntsman, even in training students. While a handful of Grogneur might be difficult for an Oasis student, it would take twice that to a full raiding party to stand up to a team of Shade students and over half the tribe for a true Huntsman. Grogneur can be individually skilled, but common sense dictates avoiding the best trained combatants in the world. Grogneur confidence does go up with numbers, on joint tribe missions they can be more aggressive.
The Cavall treat Huntsman like prey, or a rare chance at a good fight. Each adult is on the level of a decorated huntsman in the tribe, and encountering a graduated Huntsman is among few things that challenge the tribe. When dealing with a lone Huntsman, like many operate, they use their full force (7ish adult tribesman) to overwhelm the target. They'll scalp the Huntsman and add it to their tribal decorations. Against an operating team of full Huntsman, the fights tend to be 50/50. If the Cavall are ever outnumbered against Huntsman, they'll retreat and leave their injured for dead.
A team of Shade students have a chance of surviving against a single Cavall adult. The challenge is not recommended, as the odds are at best 50/50. The Cavall tend to play with students more than they murder them however, for better or worse. Defeated students tend to be tortured in the field until reinforcements arrive that can cause the Cavall member to retreat. Over half those victims were unable to continue as Huntsman, and a fourth were unable to move past that trama. Students are warned when heading into an area the Cavall are known to travel and told to retreat at first sign of the bandits.
(From a meta perspective, Cavall are not to be treated as standard, or even second tier enemies. Cavall should be treated as the top tier of Vacuo bandit enemies; akin to Boss Grimm standing at the top of Grimm.)
- Political Relations: While the tribes are criminals, they are a fairly stable existence. This is attributed to a few features. The first is the location they travel though. With the sandstorms aerial engagement is out of the question unless a serious military move is made against them. Tracking is difficult in the dunes as well which keeps their roving paths a secret to those outside the region. The lack of military in Vacuo also contributes to the region's build up. Huntsman are excellent for quelling individual uprisings but can't be asked to serve as police force and search and destroy teams all the time. Shade is the only organization with enough military power in the region to organize against the tribes, but students are not soldiers and very few people would support action by Shade to change that (let alone Shade itself). The numbers of the region also secure its place in Vacuo. The sheer amount of tribes in the region that can unite against a threat is enough to keep a threat from ever mounting. The tribes are large enough that almost any military effort would be met with at least as many men on the other side of the battlefield. The government of Vacuo and Shade organize Huntsman missions to keep the status quo, but are unable to change the status quo with the way things have evolved. It’s a well-known sore spot to many people.
Resources: Cavalcade tribes vary on equipment. The smaller the tribe, the better the gear is a safe trend. Grogneur use borrowed blades and jammed rifles, while the Cavall build custom shifting weaponry designed for optimal pain. Cavall sit on military surplus that would make a general envious, while Grogneur are hard pressed to maintain a few sandcrawlers. The Cavalcade tribes all encourage slavery, and many keep slaves. The tribes are not above using slaves as hostages or bullet shields.
History: The bandit tribes are not the literary sort and have no written history of their own past. The tribes have been around as long as Vacuo itself has, as far as anyone can tell. No one knows who founded the bandits proper, though the popular theory to their formation is below. It is generally accepted that each tribe formed on its own, much like how current Grogneur tribes form. People's knee jerk reaction was to blanket all criminals from the desert under the term Cavalcade. Why Cavalcade is a common debate, some subscribe to the idea that the Cavall have been operating that long and the name came from them, while others say it was an early tribe that no longer operates. This caused the bandits themselves to feel a form of unity, and it snowballed from there. The tribes evolved as different tribes surfaced (the Cavall and Scelerat are such examples) but continues to be the chaotic mass of negativity and destruction people assumed it to be.
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Reserved for Character details~
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DrGustave agreed to my defining of the vaguely defined Cavalcade bandits mentioned in passing in a few places. Tried to put together a template that describes the tribes well, but I'm open to any new section suggestions.