More credible Reavers

[Scarecrow]

I was watching a documentary on Custer's last stand last night and I thought, wouldn't it be great to have 'Indians' in my game. Now this has allready been done as Reavers in Firefly/Serenity and I like the way that, whilst Native Americans were portrayed as violent, psychopathic and vicious by the press, Whedon made his 'Injuns' genuinely feral.
I like the idea of a race in my setting like the Reavers - but my problem is that they are too feral. I've never really bought the fact that beings so utterly deranged and agressive could even pilot let alone maintain a starship.
So it set me thinking of a race still intelligent enough to have interstellar travel but with a culture based around violence like the 2300 Kafer. Maybe an extremist secular government with issues against the other races (that might be a bit too topical, not to mention dodgy politically). Maybe (and currently my favourite) a once great stellar Empire now reduced to scavenging and raiding in tribes. Of course, they don't have to be utterly irredeemable. Much like the Native Americans they could be simply reacting to being persecuted, demonised by the popular media.

Whichever way, I want an area of space that is dangerous to travel through for fear of raids from vicious and merciless attackers.

Any thoughts?

 

[zanwot]

Vargr?

 

[Valarian]

The Reavers Deep is an area that has the potential to be the area you are looking for, with small pockets of order in a chaotic environment. The area lies between the borders of the Aslan Hierate and the 3rd Imperium. Plenty of room for getting in to trouble.

Have a look online about the Border Reivers of the 14th to 16th Century. They are a society living on the borders and an example of the society you are looking for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Reivers
http://www.sorbie.net/border_reivers.htm

 

[MrUkpyr]

Beyond and Vanguard Reaches sectors

Both are outside the Imperium but not so far as to be unworkable.
Both are outside the Zhodani and Alsan, but again not so far as to not have any of them.

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Vanguard_Reaches_Sector
http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Beyond_Sector

 

[mhensley]

Just insert the Kafers and go with that.

 

[kristof65]

IIRC, in Serenity, the Reaver's were the way they were because something in the atmosphere amped up their agressiveness. That doesn't mean they're stupid.

Take a look at some of the psychotic serial killers out there - these are guys who are aggressive, violent, and usually smart.

If you're going with an alien race for your Reavers, I would probably look at the dynamics of pack predators, like wolves as an example. To their prey, wolves can be very relentless and violent, while within their pack, that only cmes out when dominance is being challenged.

If you're going with more humans/ragtag type of reavers, I'd probably have it be a society that started off as outcast Aslan/Vargr/Humans - maybe a prison planet originally, or something like that.

 

[RojBlake]

How about some religious oddballs who see it as their purpose to purge the universe of sentient beings?

 

[Gaidheal]

Roj - that has been done rather a lot... although it does remind me of a setting I would love to see done for Traveller; the Mass Effect universe. I'd actually be prepared to pay a premium on the product(s) too, if it were what's required to see it done by Mongoose or similar.

 

[hdan]

although it does remind me of a setting I would love to see done for Traveller; the Mass Effect universe.

Oh man, I'd LOVE to see a Mass Effect Traveller setting.

 

[Gaidheal]

I'm quite likely to homebrew it but an official and well done setting book would be Awesome.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

You could also go with the Barbarians with starships angle.

Imagine a hunter/gatherer society given access to starships. They are tought just enough to make them run, but not design or repair.

They fly around raiding other planets like they used to raid other villages back home. To them, it is part of life. They expect you to raid them back, so they don't understand why you get so upset when they steal a few women and grab a few guns and cattle.

 

[GypsyComet]

You could also go with the Barbarians with starships angle.

Imagine a hunter/gatherer society given access to starships. They are tought just enough to make them run, but not design or repair.

They fly around raiding other planets like they used to raid other villages back home. To them, it is part of life. They expect you to raid them back, so they don't understand why you get so upset when they steal a few women and grab a few guns and cattle.

Klingons?

 

[AndrewW]

The Reavers Deep is an area that has the potential to be the area you are looking for, with small pockets of order in a chaotic environment. The area lies between the borders of the Aslan Hierate and the 3rd Imperium. Plenty of room for getting in to trouble.

The Trojan Reaches is covered in Alien Module 1: Aslan.

 

[Gaidheal]

If what you're looking for is real 'reavers' as it were, then you want a region which is politically unstable but relies on a lucrative trade route, which the reavers can potentially disrupt or even outright control, when they are not squabbling amongst themselves.

 

[Leo Knight]

The Honor Harrington books had a region called the Silesian Confederacy. The weak government led to chaotic conditions, piracy was rampant, etc. Here's a Wikipedia on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_Confederacy

 

[Walker]

The Honor Harrington books had a region called the Silesian Confederacy. The weak government led to chaotic conditions, piracy was rampant, etc. Here's a Wikipedia on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_Confederacy

Yeah, the Silesian Confederacy is a nasty place to go if you are an unarmed merchant, but largely due to graft and corruption in the government. The pirates there are pretty good analogues of your average 18th century Carribean variety - scary - but not nearly as scary as the Reavers from Firefly though.

I think what makes the Firefly Reavers so terrifying is that they WERE and ARE human, and most of us could never imagine being that way. That makes them work really well. Otherwise they would just become Orcs in Space.

 

[Jeff Hopper]

If you want to draw from canon, you could use the crew from Death Station as a template. IIRC, the affected crew only became fully 'Whedon Reaver' under conditions of great stress which caused their adreneline to get pumping.

 

[Sturn]

Oh man, I'd LOVE to see a Mass Effect Traveller setting.

I always wondered if the Mass Effect game had begun as a project that was originally intended to be in the Traveller universe. So many similarities. Like they started thinking of Traveller, then went off on a tangent for some reason (couldn't get permission, decided against it, etc).

 

[captainjack23]

Let's not forget rapacious banana republics - or up and coming expansionist and speciesist Fascist polities. Even a few planet "pocket empire" can be a major problem for players or anyone on a frontier. Organized reavers can be really mean.

Plus, kicking Nazi butt is always an acceptable exercise in an RPG.

 

[GypsyComet]

Interrupting some lonesome planet's equivalent of Weird War II sounds like a lot of pulpy fun.

"An easy profit, he said. No problems with the locals, he said. Nothing illeg... Captain, is that guy growing hair while we watch!?!"