The Bloody Reaver

The Bloody Reaver is the most feared raiding fleet ever to sail from the frozen coasts of Norsca, a horde of dragon-prowed longships crewed by the savage marauders who worship the Warriors of Chaos and the Dark Gods they serve. Its name is spoken in dread from the Empire's northern ports to the shores of Bretonnia, for wherever its blood-red sails crest the horizon, fire and slaughter follow as surely as night follows day.

Each longship is a lean predator of the waves, its shallow keel letting it slip up rivers and beach upon undefended shores where deeper-draughted vessels dare not go. Their crews are hulking Norscans clad in furs and iron, reavers who reckon their worth in skulls taken and offerings made, and who sail south each season not merely for plunder but to earn the favour of gods that hunger for blood and glory.

When the fleet gathers as one, whole coastlines are stripped bare. Villages burn, temples are cast down, and captives are dragged aboard to meet grim fates upon the altars of the north. The armies of the Empire of Man muster in dread to meet these landings, yet the reavers rarely stay to give battle they cannot win, melting back to the sea with their spoils. The Bloody Reaver is the wrath of the frozen north made manifest, and the tide always brings it back.