Investigation: The Reeved and Lost

[kenneth_wright]

Immediately after we were attacked by a wave of maddened refugees of the East, we looked into their motivations and tactics to see what we could gather about them. Here's what we found thus far:

• They are the Reeved and Lost, a hodgepodge of cultures and people with a variety of skills deriving from their madness and backgrounds. They have been running from the disaster in the East far longer than the rest, to the point where they have lost all hope of being saved.
• They are unified only by their madness and a shared forced nomadic existence. They have no unifying battle tactics, their magical power seems to be derived from chaos, and they are too far gone to make any attempt to save.
• There are some among them who can act as normally as other refugees, and they may attempt to infiltrate refugee camps set up by us and our allies in order to empower their forces of chaos while de-powering us.
• Most of them are suffering from self-inflicted physical mutations and illnesses that give them some ability to attack with strikes of Sickness and Withering. Please note this is not the blood disease other refugees are catching, but it very well may be sourced from the same place.
• Any Powers they demonstrate come from pure chaos magic and raw Artificial power; it is nearly impossible to determine, at the time we investigated them, whether this power was given to them or is a result of being so struck with madness that they can see and affect the (what was it the MCP folk called it? Oh, yeah) Slide Transversal.
• While not directly in our wheelhouse of skills, it was determined that the bodies of the Reeved and Lost we fought could be used in Necromantic rituals or with Powers to raise dead, soulless flesh. (Yes, I checked into this, as the last thing I want is for some Principality or Wraithwall priest/cultist to accidentally bring about faster destruction.)

With the collective shared vision and discoveries that came from investigating that, there may be more insights to add to this initial framework, so if you have something, please add it here.

Lapis, Dietrich, if I missed anything or interpreted a fact uncovered incorrectly, please let us know.

[Abby Peterson]

The psychos who attacked us when we got here and are sick in the head/blood? For those new to this problem, they're called the Reaved and the Lost.
They've been increasing in number from the East and will continue to do so, as an army of them comes towards the barricades at the Limelight Cafe (according the scouts of the Dawnroad Travelers). That army will likely arrive next gather or just after. Check the Battle Plans for more information.

**It is confirmed that if a Visionary suffers enough of the Endings' visions to break their sanity, this is what happens to them.**

There's two types (with names I just came up with), the Gibbering and the Subtle.

Gibbering:

• Their abilities aren't increasing, but the increased numbers of them are making a huge impact (which those of you who got your teeth kicked in like me can attest to).
• We've seen the yelling ones and the cajoling ones and the sick ones - There may be types that are worse types of crazy deeper in that oncoming army pile-up. They will be more focused in ability to a particular Ending each, such as Berserkers or
• Plague-Bearers.
• Fighting the ones at the Limelight Cafe barricades will need ranged fighters and people skilled with alchemicals.
• They don't have any sort of organized plan or tactics and no ritual they're building up to. In fact, the Dawnroad Traveler scouts reported sometimes seeing them attacking each other.
• They did not kill all of the Children of Hope that used to be at this sitem only the defenders that stood to fight while the rest evacuated - HOWEVER, we should study Reverend Caleb, the guy who was glued to the floor because Lucy Sweeting reports something is wrong with him.
  Blushing Swan, you talked to the guy - what did he say?
• Professor Spark asked for samples of the blood of those with the blood sickness. She things she can either help weaken those by curing the disease or actually fuck up Rot directly by doing so.
  Of course...there are Subtle ones in her refugee group at the Clockworken Conservatory, so that might need a Diplomat or protectors to ensure.

Subtle:

• They are much more able to keep their shit together and that now heavily intertwined with the refugee populations.
• They will act on the eve of the Endings fight and during the battles to sabotage our ally groups. Groups who are naive and kind will be damaged much more than those who are suspicious.
• Their efforts will be along the lines of bombings, attack raids and sacrifices to dark entities
• Martial control and isolation of the refugees is the most effective method of handling this
  *******We can have Diplomats go to various groups to encourage self-policing and a See Something, Say Something mentality if they suspect a Reaved and Lost, but those efforts would only affect the one group that was visited (such as the Black Flag ships, Sisters of Lyria, Clockworken Conservatory or Children of Hope camp).
  *******Groups to police the refugees will work, but that removes ally resources from the fight and less severe groups, such as the War Dogs and the Republic, will be less effective than those with more brutal control tactics (such as the Black Ravens). The basic equation of efficient oppression makes for better control of a situation, but that plan is second on the list (unless it looks like the Subtle will manage to fuck up this whole plan for all of us).
  *******Misleading The Reaved and the Lost with lies about our plans is also possible, but we don't have the kind of time and dedication needed to do it. This would require an ally skilled in Deception, of which 4 are possible. The Corps can do it, but they hate us and would charge us an arm and leg for equal parts war profiteering and spite, Med-R could do it with we don't know their price, the Serpent Assassins could do it, but they are probably literally evil, and same problem with the Cult of Atuk. So this option is 3rd.

FOR BOTH GROUPS: After the Endings are gone, The Reaved and Lost are going to riot and all of them are going to head back East, leaving a burned and salted earth trail behind them.

There you go. That's the rundown on these guys, and why we have to not only organize the forces against the Endings, but against these as well. If they call for backup at the barricades at the Limelight or Battery City, we may have to go there to help.