​Battlefield Role: Raider Warband
Weapons: Swords, axes, maces, shields. Any weapons they are able to put their filthy hands on at the black market.
Outfit: Leather corsets and linen armour. Probably stolen too.
Skill level: Not bad, for a bunch of raiders with no formal training.
Affiliation: The Edgelands
Doctrine: Eris' Way of the Wicked
Strengths: Setting ambushes on trade caravans, raiding camps and villages, threatening the weak and kidnapping important folk.
Weaknesses: Brigands are no more than armed bullies and ruffians. When outnumbered, they'll flee and leave their own comrades behind to save their own necks.
Edgelander Brigands
Throughout the ages, the outcast arandolian region known as the Edgelands became such a barren, inhospitable and dangerous place, that its already wicked heretic population began to look for riches and valuable resources elsewhere. And yeah, when I say "elsewhere", I actually mean on other people's pockets!
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After all, why the hell should they work their lazy asses off at cultivating, mining or manufactoring anything, if it is so much easier to just take it by brute force? That's the main line of thought of the unscrupulous edgelanders, and as such, they have no remorse on getting their hands dirty to put food on their tables, rum down their throats, and fine stolen luxuries adorning their hideouts.
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While Westmarsh acts as a port for Pirates, the rest of the montainous and swampy inland part of the Edgelands relies on walking their way towards their targets, crossing the borders, the forests and the mountains of other arandolian regions in order to track down and ambush trade caravans, kidnap travelling noblewomen, or simply rob any passer-by whose backpack carries anything valuable.
Such varied and numerous warbands of raiders and highwaywomen are known as Edgelander Brigands by all the people they prey upon, just as well as by all the valiant dames and by all the deadly headhuntresses who so dutyfully hunt them down for the prize on their heads. However, they aren't an easy bunch to catch! The Edgelander Brigands are always hiding deep within the dense woods or high onto the mountains, striking from out of the blue, taking everything (and everyone) they can carry over their shoulders and disppearing before anyone else shows up. It takes a hell of an expert tracker to find these slick criminals, and an even greater mind to outwit them in their own game.
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As they have no honour, they also have no prejudice in preying upon any unfortunate soul to cross their path. Sometimes they even attack other gangs of rival Edgelander Brigands to steal the stolen loot from other looters, and they are present in almost any rich region were important trade routes pass by. Amongst their line of work, they also extort small villages for "protection money", smuggle illegal goods into towns through sewage systems, and even demand ramson for any important person they manage to capture while on the road.
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From time to time, they grow in numbers and experience till getting strong and bold enough to actually raid a minor settlement, risking their necks a little bit too much and possibly getting their asses surrounded by local authorities. When that occurs, they will fight only as long as they have numerical and tactical superiority. They surelly know how to fight and have good weapons they stole or bought from the black market, but they are no match to real soldiers.
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If a gang of Edgelander Brigands ever loses the upper hand in any controntation, they are very likely to abandon their weapons, their loot and even their very own mothers behind in order to run away and save their own hides! But the actual hard part of the job of any law enforcer is to catch those unscrupulous and witty women red-handed.