Burner Raider
When the horizon glows orange and the air carries the sweet chemical stink of accelerant, the calculation is over. You are either far enough away to survive, or you are not.
Burner Raiders are scorched-earth fanatics among the Natural Born, driven by a conviction that sits somewhere between ideology and madness: the world is broken beyond redemption, and fire is the only honest response. They do not fight for territory. They do not raid for resources and move on. They advance methodically through the wasteland, burning everything they encounter, and they leave nothing behind but ash and irradiated ground.
The bodies beneath the fire masks and scorched metal armor are pure human. Homo insurrectus ferox, no Infection, no mutations, no symbiotic payload. What they possess is generations of environmental adaptation to fire and toxic exposure: skin scarred and toughened by constant proximity to flame, discolored patches from chemical and radiation contact, and a physical resilience that comes from a lifetime of walking through the consequences of their own destruction. They are the closest living relatives of pre-Fall humanity, and they have decided that everything their ancestors built deserves to burn.
They attack in organized packs: a minimum of five soldiers and two support units, advancing in formation with fire-bearing soldiers in front and sustained-capability elements behind. The coordination is military. The discipline is purposeful. There is no frenzy, no screaming charge, no berserker abandon. Burner Raiders advance with the disturbing calm of people performing a religious duty, because that is exactly what they believe they are doing.
Classified Apocalypse Grade, Burner Raiders require coordinated network-level response. A single settlement cannot mount an adequate defense. When Burner Raiders join a Salted Earth Warband, they serve as the rearguard purification force: the element that follows behind the Warpath main body and systematically reduces everything already overrun to burned, irradiated nothing. There is no reconquest after Burners pass through. There is nothing left to reconquer.
Burner Raiders are scorched-earth fanatics among the Natural Born, driven by a conviction that sits somewhere between ideology and madness: the world is broken beyond redemption, and fire is the only honest response. They do not fight for territory. They do not raid for resources and move on. They advance methodically through the wasteland, burning everything they encounter, and they leave nothing behind but ash and irradiated ground.
The bodies beneath the fire masks and scorched metal armor are pure human. Homo insurrectus ferox, no Infection, no mutations, no symbiotic payload. What they possess is generations of environmental adaptation to fire and toxic exposure: skin scarred and toughened by constant proximity to flame, discolored patches from chemical and radiation contact, and a physical resilience that comes from a lifetime of walking through the consequences of their own destruction. They are the closest living relatives of pre-Fall humanity, and they have decided that everything their ancestors built deserves to burn.
They attack in organized packs: a minimum of five soldiers and two support units, advancing in formation with fire-bearing soldiers in front and sustained-capability elements behind. The coordination is military. The discipline is purposeful. There is no frenzy, no screaming charge, no berserker abandon. Burner Raiders advance with the disturbing calm of people performing a religious duty, because that is exactly what they believe they are doing.
Classified Apocalypse Grade, Burner Raiders require coordinated network-level response. A single settlement cannot mount an adequate defense. When Burner Raiders join a Salted Earth Warband, they serve as the rearguard purification force: the element that follows behind the Warpath main body and systematically reduces everything already overrun to burned, irradiated nothing. There is no reconquest after Burners pass through. There is nothing left to reconquer.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The burn scars come first, and they cover everything. Exposed skin is a landscape of healed-over burns, chemical discoloration, and mottled pigmentation from prolonged radiation and toxin exposure. The body beneath is tough in the way that leather gets tough: cured by heat, hardened by constant environmental damage, and carrying the memory of every fire the Raider has walked through in the texture of its skin.
No Infection. No mutations. This is what unaltered human biology looks like after generations of selective pressure for survival in environments that kill everything else. The frame is hardened rather than enhanced, shaped by a life lived at the edge of what flesh can endure.
The fire masks are the signature. Crafted to resemble fire gods or demons, they are worn the way a priest wears vestments: not as protection or intimidation, but as articles of faith. Scorched metal armor covers the body in plates that have been through as many fires as their wearer. Weapons are built for their purpose: torches, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers that extend the Burner's reach from personal combat to area destruction.
No Infection. No mutations. This is what unaltered human biology looks like after generations of selective pressure for survival in environments that kill everything else. The frame is hardened rather than enhanced, shaped by a life lived at the edge of what flesh can endure.
The fire masks are the signature. Crafted to resemble fire gods or demons, they are worn the way a priest wears vestments: not as protection or intimidation, but as articles of faith. Scorched metal armor covers the body in plates that have been through as many fires as their wearer. Weapons are built for their purpose: torches, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers that extend the Burner's reach from personal combat to area destruction.
Biological Traits
Fire-based weaponry defines the Burner loadout. Torches for close quarters, incendiary grenades for area denial, and flamethrowers for systematic destruction of structures and fortifications. The weapons are not improvised; they are purpose-built tools of a doctrine that has been refined across generations of scorched-earth campaigns.
Both Soldier and Support variants carry 40 Armor, reflecting bodies hardened by constant proximity to their own fire. The Soldier variant fields 120 Body, making individual Burners among the most durable combatants in the Raider threat spectrum. Support variants carry 80 Body with sustained-capability roles that keep the pack's fire output consistent over extended engagements.
Passive Raider Rage activates when Lineages are sensed nearby, serving as a biological defense against Infection corruption. Unlike the Aberrant and Infected subtypes, Natural Born Raider Rage is not a conscious tactical decision. It is an involuntary immune response that happens to also produce a combat-capable fury state.
The pack structure is the real force multiplier. Minimum deployment is five soldiers and two support units. This is not a suggestion; it is the smallest unit that fights as Burner Raiders. The coordination between fire-bearing soldiers and sustained-capability support creates a combined-arms assault that individual defenders cannot answer. When multiple packs converge, the result is an advancing wall of fire that leaves nothing behind it.
Burner Raiders face permanent death. Natural Born Raiders lack sufficient Infection to access the Mortis Amaranthine. Every engagement is final.
Both Soldier and Support variants carry 40 Armor, reflecting bodies hardened by constant proximity to their own fire. The Soldier variant fields 120 Body, making individual Burners among the most durable combatants in the Raider threat spectrum. Support variants carry 80 Body with sustained-capability roles that keep the pack's fire output consistent over extended engagements.
Passive Raider Rage activates when Lineages are sensed nearby, serving as a biological defense against Infection corruption. Unlike the Aberrant and Infected subtypes, Natural Born Raider Rage is not a conscious tactical decision. It is an involuntary immune response that happens to also produce a combat-capable fury state.
The pack structure is the real force multiplier. Minimum deployment is five soldiers and two support units. This is not a suggestion; it is the smallest unit that fights as Burner Raiders. The coordination between fire-bearing soldiers and sustained-capability support creates a combined-arms assault that individual defenders cannot answer. When multiple packs converge, the result is an advancing wall of fire that leaves nothing behind it.
Burner Raiders face permanent death. Natural Born Raiders lack sufficient Infection to access the Mortis Amaranthine. Every engagement is final.
Behaviour
Fanatical and purposeful in a way that distinguishes them from every other Raider type. Berserkers fight from rage. Pitstop Raiders fight from opportunism. Warpath Raiders fight because war is their culture. Burner Raiders fight because they believe the world must be purified, and fire is the instrument of that purification. Every battle is a ceremony. Every burned settlement is a step toward the cleansing they believe the world requires.
The conviction gives them a disturbing calm compared to the aggression of other Raiders. There is no frenzy in a Burner advance. The formation moves at a deliberate pace, soldiers maintaining discipline while support elements ensure sustained fire capability. The destruction is systematic rather than chaotic: structures are set alight in sequence, escape routes are cut off with fire, and anything that survives the initial assault is caught by the follow-up.
Natural Born Raiders enter Raider Rage passively when sensing Lineages nearby. For Burner Raiders, this biological response functions as a form of Infection resistance layered on top of their ideological drive. They are pure human, and their bodies defend that purity at a level below conscious thought.
The conviction gives them a disturbing calm compared to the aggression of other Raiders. There is no frenzy in a Burner advance. The formation moves at a deliberate pace, soldiers maintaining discipline while support elements ensure sustained fire capability. The destruction is systematic rather than chaotic: structures are set alight in sequence, escape routes are cut off with fire, and anything that survives the initial assault is caught by the follow-up.
Natural Born Raiders enter Raider Rage passively when sensing Lineages nearby. For Burner Raiders, this biological response functions as a form of Infection resistance layered on top of their ideological drive. They are pure human, and their bodies defend that purity at a level below conscious thought.
Scientific Name
Homo insurrectus ferox
Lifespan
Permanent death (no Mortis passage)
Conservation Status
Apocalypse Grade threat
Average Physique
Fire-hardened; burn-scarred
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Extensive burn scarring; mottled discoloration
