Body Snatchers

Creeping through the night, about the city streets, in the woods, through graveyards and stalking the roads. The hooded figures, known nowadays as Body Snatchers, have been at their morbid work for over a decade now, snatching the living and the dead alike to meet their mysterious criteria. At first they were simply believed to be overly organized grave robbers, but disappearances among the living would also follow in their wake, leading to the moniker of Body Snatchers.

While they are obviously out for profit, charging great sums for their services, it’s difficult to shake the feeling they might have some greater agenda behind their formation and continued operations.

## History

It is a rather open secret that The Body Snatchers emerged originally in the Scarlet Kingdom during its infancy, a small but organized faction of questionably motivated individuals in the service to the then independent and in-hiding necromancers of Bittermarch. Their group expanded over time, eventually offering services to other powerful figures within the then flourishing kingdom.

Their operations expanded to Siacros as a whole  just over a decade ago. It was there that they mostly began by making the deceased vanish in a targeted manner, taking very specific bodies where possible and vanishing into the night. It wouldn’t be until a further two years later that their re-appearances were marked by the vanishing of several individuals, often late at night or in the very early mornings. Initially this was still in service to shady figures within Scarlet, but grave robbing and kidnapping are sought after services in many a dark circle beyond and so they came to receive employment from pretty much anyone willing to pay.

Since then they’ve been intermittently active across the continent, in Etera and even in the Setlaar Wildlands, preying on those communities beyond Court, and now MiCo, protection. Those times of dormancy were suspiciously marked by strife within the Scarlet Kingdom, most notably at the time of its fall. Reports from within Old Scarlet at the time were sketchy, but were enough to confirm the rumours with activity at home, ironically preying on the communities abandoned by their protectors.

This didn’t last though and it would barely be a year again before they were sighted across the planet, plying their trade.

## Organization

How exactly the organization functions and who runs it have never been ascertained. Members make extensive use of codenames, phrases and silent communication to keep information scarce. What has been noted is that members can be of the living or the undead, favouring the more standard humanoid races in either case. This and the types of Snatcher one might have the misfortune to come across.

### Grave Robbers

It is often of little solace knowing these more corpse favouring Snatchers aren’t after the living. They are of the least commonly spotted, mostly because their work requires so little interaction with the living.

They prefer lighter robes of rough, dark tan and grey material with basic cloth coverings over their faces. Their tools of trade are, unsurprisingly, shovels they can use to shift dirt and defend themselves if need be, various embalming tools, preservative materials, and bandages. Otherwise they travel pretty light, not needing the seemingly vast coils of thick rope favoured by their far more well known associates.

### Kidnappers

The most commonly seen by far, alarmingly so, identified by their thick hooded clothing, metal caged face plates and coils of strong, hempen rope. Known to stalk the streets on dark, foggy nights, these intimidating Snatchers subdue and drag off whoever it is they’re either looking for or just people unfortunate enough to see them.

Despite their primitive, Eteran age attire they have adopted some technology, namely tasers and other stun-charged equipment. The most they might visibly carry, weapon wise, is a truncheon or a sap. Otherwise they rely on drugs, poisons, magic and ambush tactics to get a hold of their prey with as little of a struggle as possible. While not interested in an open fight, they certainly can hold their own well enough to deter most city guards from even wanting to engage with them, should they stumble across a kidnapping in progress.

### Soulthieves

Times change, and so do the clientele. The Body Snatchers realized this early and quickly adapted to meet the needs of new, more demanding customers interested in a less corporeal product. Soulthieves are that response, trained in the art of soul extraction and capture. They are, thankfully, not a common sight and often work in conjunction with Kidnappers to safely extract a soul away from potentially prying eyes. Sometimes moving a body is just too much work when you don’t need it, leading to the harrowing discovery of the still living, soulless bodies of their victims in the street or their homes come the morning.

Soulthieves travel light, distinguished by their various soul vessels hanging from ropes and catches on their hooded clothing, draped in cloth to keep their eerie light to a minimum. Otherwise they mostly carry ritual material and other magical components, not suited to conflict with arms. They are, otherwise, said to be skilled necromancers and learned in teleportation for those quick getaways.

## Relations

Unsurprisingly pretty much all nations despise them, with the notable exception of Old Scarlet who merely deny their ties to the organization. In reality they are in good standing with the necromancers of Bittermarch and of a more mixed relation with Greater Morley, owing to a confusing history of transgressions against their people and services rendered to the nobility.

Of course they are well liked by those of the darker arts the world over with a considerable body of work behind them. To that end, while no official ruling or consensus has ever been spoken, let alone reached, it is considered bad practice to interfere with their work, lest you find them unwilling to meet your own requests in a later time of need.