Reavers
HISTORY
The Reaver Movement is a religious cult of humans dedicated to the worship of technology operating within the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel. It was founded in Kansas, sometime in the 22nd century. The Reavers began as a group of bandits who, upon finding a pre-war military computer cache, developed a religion dedicated to the worship of technology and everything around it. Soon after their founding, the Reavers established a headquarters in the former city of Newton, Kansas, where their technology priests began to examine and produce advanced weapons.
They first made contact with the Midwest Brotherhood in 2198, when they were launching probing attacks against the robotic swarm of The Calculator. The two forces battled at first, but the Reavers soon offered peace, bringing the Brotherhood news of the Calculator and its threat. The Reavers offered their new allies a pulse rifle prototype in exchange for the rescue of four of their leaders who had been captured by the Calculator.
A single squad of Brotherhood knights liberated all four Reaver leaders and the town of Newton. The Reavers were so impressed, they not only gave the Brotherhood the plans to build pulse rifles and pulse grenades, but many also enlisted in the Brotherhood army. While many Reavers were instrumental in the Calculator War, many others were placed in forced labour camps by the Brotherhood.
By April of 2198, the war was over. Newton and the majority of Kansas territory was ceded to the Reavers by the Brotherhood, the knights only keeping authority in military affairs. Many Reaver veterans remained in the Brotherhood, with some achieving high rank. A century of slow growth followed, the Reavers in a constant struggle to stabilize their communities from Raiders and natural threats.
In 2294, Caesar Aurelian Resitutor spotted weakness in the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel and struck. The multitudinous forces of Caesar's Legion advanced on the southern ranges of the Midwest. Surprised and outnumbered, the forces of the Brotherhood retreated, allowing a massive annexation. By 2297, Caesar held all of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as much of Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
Much of this captured territory was occupied by Reavers, including their capital at Newton. Offended by the cult's worship of technology, Caesar has sought to expunge Reaver beliefs from his nation. The vast majority of conquered Reavers were immediately enslaved and, in an act of ultimate humiliation, Newton and its sacred labs were completely destroyed. In a symbolic act of dominance, the land under the ruins of Newton was salted, Caesar Aurelian pouring the last bag of salt with his own hand.
Many Reavers still north of the Legion/Midwest border resent the Brotherhood of Steel for abandoning the defence of their territory. Midwest Reavers are painfully aware of the mistreatment of their community within Caesar's Legion. For over twenty years, the Legion has brutalized its Reaver population and the Midwest Brotherhood has done almost nothing. The Elders in Chicago have only offered symbolic objections to Legion abuses and continue to conduct trade and diplomacy with Caesar. Many Reavers find this situation infuriating and insulting.
Though Caesar Aurelian was replaced by Caesar Altus, Altus has made no apology for the atrocities committed against the Reavers, nor has he lifted the ban on Reaver worship within his lands. The Reavers find it angering that Aurelian was able to retire peacefully, apparently escaping their justice.
SOCIETY
Before the loss of Newton, the Reavers were lead by four priests, but the loss of their central authority has left them fragmented. Technology is the center of Reaver life, more in application than in the science behind it. Reavers view many natural processes such as electricity, magnetism and nuclear forces as animistic personalities with thoughts and feelings. As such, they treat the use of technology as a spiritual act of charismatic magic. Operating a laser gun, for example, is more than an interaction with an inanimate device. From the Reaver perspective, firing the weapon is to invoke the spirit of the Counter-Electric-Motor-Force to conjure its Current Flow and project its holy energy, a process that will only occur if it serves the Glory of the Transistor.
Gods
They keep and revere many gods, including:
- Electric Father of Creation: The creator of the universe. His purpose complete, he watches all creation from afar, lending only hope and love to his handiwork.
- Heavenly Ampere: the god of wisdom and foresight
- His Capacitance: a guide and motivator, he answers many prayers
- Holy Ohm: the god of resistance
- Panasonica: lady of the Eternal Assembly Lines, she accepts worthy Reaver souls after death, employing them for all eternity
- Saint Di Ode: a demigod who offers protection
- Saint Sony: a demigod who brings Reavers messages from the gods
- SatanSoft: the twisted god of evil technology and lord of the Underworld
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Type
Religious, Cult
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