The Savage
They were travelers once. Lost in the vast emptiness of Deserter, survivors of failed settlements and abandoned caravans, they held on to their humanity as long as they could. Eventually the desert took it. What remains are the Savage: feral, cannibalistic predators who dress to blend with their environment and hunt passing travelers the way any animal hunts prey.
The Savage are not an organization. They are a phenomenon, a recognized category of human ruin found throughout Deserter and especially in Canvas. Some have been lost long enough that they no longer speak or understand language, responding only to body language, wind shifts, and environmental cues. They wear trophies of their kills and move through the terrain with an intimacy that only complete immersion can produce.
On the rare occasion that a Savage is recovered and returned to society, rehabilitation is painfully slow and may never fully succeed. The cannibalistic tendencies persist. The cruelty lingers. Whatever the desert stripped away does not grow back cleanly.
The Savage serve as a warning etched in human flesh: Deserter does not just kill people. It unmakes them. Every lost caravan, every failed trade post, every traveler who takes a wrong turn and does not come back feeds the population of the Savage. The desert is patient, and it is always hungry for new converts.
The Savage are not an organization. They are a phenomenon, a recognized category of human ruin found throughout Deserter and especially in Canvas. Some have been lost long enough that they no longer speak or understand language, responding only to body language, wind shifts, and environmental cues. They wear trophies of their kills and move through the terrain with an intimacy that only complete immersion can produce.
On the rare occasion that a Savage is recovered and returned to society, rehabilitation is painfully slow and may never fully succeed. The cannibalistic tendencies persist. The cruelty lingers. Whatever the desert stripped away does not grow back cleanly.
The Savage serve as a warning etched in human flesh: Deserter does not just kill people. It unmakes them. Every lost caravan, every failed trade post, every traveler who takes a wrong turn and does not come back feeds the population of the Savage. The desert is patient, and it is always hungry for new converts.
