Bonepicker

*"There’s a lovely bit of rubbish over here..."*

## Basic

(Core) Bone Pickers are scavengers, scraping a living together off the refuse of others. They lead their carts through villages and towns, collecting old bones, rags, and other junk and disposing of it in return for a few pennies or a small item in trade. Sometimes known as rag and bone men or rag pickers, they are a common sight in the Empire’s cities, which generate large amounts of waste. Since many goods pass through their hands, Bone Pickers are also petty traders. What is trash to a wealthy Burgher is treasure to a poor Peasant.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Animal Care, Charm or Gossip, Drive, Common Knowledge (the Empire), Evaluate, Haggle, Perception, Search

**Talents:** Coolheaded or Streetwise, Hardy or Resistance to Disease

**Trappings:** Cart, 3 Sacks

### **Career Exits**

Camp Follower, Cat Burglar, Fence, Grave Robber, Smuggler

## Little Known Facts

Bonepickers are an excellent source of news and rumours. Going through people’s trash daily as they do, they often have surprisingly thorough knowledge regarding the goings on of people in their community. Bonepickers can often be found waiting nearby for the result of a battle, as such conflicts hold relatively fine pickings, and the dead certainly have no need of their finery any longer.

There’s always a market for used weapons and armour, and what’s a little bloodstain if the price is right? There is a short window of opportunity for such gain, however, as the local constabulary or the surviving troops drive them away from such finds with vicious efficiency.

A bonepicker’s life is filled with long toil for little gain, and rag and bone men – as they sometimes call themselves – typically scratch a living (as well as more than a few meals – bonepickers cannot afford the luxury of discerning tastes) from other people’s trash.

Clever bonepickers know to offer the occasional small bribe to members of the City Watch, as they can often provide information as to the location of tasty pickings. For these reasons most citizens of the Old World view bonepickers with no small amount of suspicion. They are considered to be no better than vultures, feasting off the dead and the refuse of their betters with equal relish. In the social hierarchy, there are very few people a bonepicker can look down upon.

## Affiliations

Savvy bonepickers will develop relationships with anyone and everyone, and will keep a mental list of things to look for that someone wants.

Bonepickers tend to carry their finds with them wherever they go, in large sacks or leather satchels strapped about their person; a truly successful bonepicker will own a cart and some unfortunate animal to pull it along, such as a donkey or a goat.

Extremely fortunate bonepickers may become modest merchants of the lowest class. Eventually, through patience, hard work, and a great deal of luck, they may even be able to build the sort of relationships necessary to leave behind the life of a bonepicker and move into a more traditional – and cleaner – line of work.

In fact, several successful merchants started out as bonepickers, though having grown used to the comforts their new lifestyles allow them, few would ever admit it.