The Kings Road Highwaymen are a powerful bandit group operating on the Kings Road led by Ria The Silent Axe.
History[]
Started by two penniless brothers from Davenport. Who had previously been employed as mercenaries during the Kandor Expedition only to return home and find the mercenary company they worked for had disbanded leaving them without payment for their service, they began their bandit careers with only a handful of men, but their ruthlessness and keen eye for opportunity earned them great success. The Kings Road Highwaymen, as they were called, gained some measure of fame, and small time criminals flocked to join them.
With the addition of a special tax for trading companies who use airships under the orders of The Lord Regent in 549 CY this led to a subsequent increase in land trade, which led to the Highwaymen seeing an even greater increase both to their income and to their ranks.
After the Empire put a bounty or their heads, the two brothers who founded the group disappeared and rumors began that they had been killed, despite no one claiming their bounty.
After the disappearance of the groups founders, Ria The Silent Axe, a former bandit leader in her own right whom had recently been named head of the groups 2nd division after a partnership between her group, The Forest Marauders and The Kings Road Highwaymen took charge of the bandits bringing drastic changes to the group.
This lead to a swift decrease in membership and along with infighting caused the groups membership to decrease from 250 members with several camps, outposts and even a stronghold, to just 120 members split up over 4 divisions. They soon lost control of their stronghold and were left with just a few smaller camps. Though despite them being a shadow of what they were at their height the group still is notably powerful along the Kings Road.
Structure[]
The group is divided into divisions of around 30 each who patrol different sections of the Kings Road waiting for travelers or caravans to ambush. Each one of these divisions are lead by a Division Head who reports back directly to Ria, often sending runners disguised as civilians to bring messages to her fortified encampment.
Description[]
Consisting of mostly humans with a few elves or half-elves among their ranks. Since Ria was named leader of the group victims have often reported the bandits to be dressed in signature dark green cloaks and armed with throwing axes. Similar to the descriptions reported of The Forest Marauders. Due to the fact throwing axes are a common weapon among Forest Trolls, These reports have resulted in rumors from townspeople that the bandits may be the adult versions of children kidnapped by forest trolls who the trolls decided to not eat and instead raised into starting a life of crime.