Reaver
Civilization and Culture
History
Holopedia Galactica entry:
Among the many old spacers' tales of the galaxy are the legendary Reavers. In the societies of more civilized worlds (such as the Core Worlds) the term and its associated stories are considered myths, if they are known of at all. To spacers that work along the Outer and Mid-Rim, the Reavers are said to be former explorers, traders, or pirates who reached the edge of the galaxy and went mad at the sight of the void beyond galaxies.
Whatever the mythological "Reavers" were ... they exist now!
Now they prey upon lone colonies and isolated ships, or ships fresh from conflict. One marauder crew can easily overwhelm a freighter or pirate vessel of equal or slightly larger size. No one knows how many Reavers there are, but it's rumored that their numbers grow year by year. There have been rumors of survivors of a Reaver attack, but while everyone has heard the rumors, no one has ever actually seen a survivor.
Reavers are said to be from any species -- human, Wookiee, Rodian, etc.
They are cannibals, brutalizing and consuming the crews and ships or settlers in a colony. The corpses are then either skinned for clothes or bolted to the outside of their ships as a horrific decoration. Settlements and ships that have not been cannibalized are often thought of as haunted by the memories of the victims.
Their ships are a patchwork, having parts from starships they've attacked bolted on the outside of a Reaver vessel along with skeletons from raids. Their ships are always in poor repair, leaking radiation and other toxins. Despite that, they seem to know all too well how to use the natural debris in the space lanes to conceal their location until they attack.
Only sketchy descriptions exist of a Reaver. Typically they are horribly altered and disfigured. Supposedly a Reaver can be identified by the violent body modifications done to themselves in some sort of self-mutilation. They communicate, but no one has been able to identify how. The few that have tried to study their behavior "in the wild" (or even to capture some for live study in controlled conditions) were never heard from again.
8 / 03
23 AFE
VNY's notes:
- Like with most zombie stories, the survivors of a Reaver attack are probably infected.
- Reavers first appeared in the Shards of Honor campaign in the middle of 12724 during an adventure called "The Long Night". Until the last month of 12729 ((and over the next 2 years of real-time gaming)), Reaver infection was terminal, irreversible, and agonizing.
- Dr. Simon Tam got on the path of a possible cure once he had the data on how Palpatine first created (and spread) the modern Reaver virus.
- Vanya once charged past a line of Galactic Empire-loyal Stormtroopers to personally hold off an encroaching front of Reavers, because the fact that the two factions are at war is completely unimportant in the presence of the Dark Side personified. The Stormtroopers followed the Jedi's orders; they accepted assistance and direction from Tapani Alliance key figures, including Yeager Lexics and Danar Vorpadaran, on how to efficiently evacuate. They were not found to be at fault by their superior officers afterward because: Reavers.
- Dr. Tam and his collaborating geneticist expert Eleni Benacor eventually did find a treatment that can halt the Reaver virus. It must be applied within a narrow time window of infection.
- The cure, and the infecting agent, were promptly weaponized.
- No government in the Galaxy considers these weapons to be justifiable. Possession of the infecting agent is grounds for instant disintegration.
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