Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Card of the Week: Scavenger Folk

It's such a strange-looking piece of art. For a long time, I wondered if Scavenger Folk were humans or a lineage unto themselves. When the card was reprinted with new (and inferior) art, I decided that they were human after all.
Scavenging to Survive

Few records exist from the first decades that followed the violent end of the Artificers' War, when the last mortal act of Urza broke Argoth into pieces and melted its sands to glass. It was not only disastrous for those unlucky enough to be on Argoth to die in the blast, but for the rest of the world. For the devastation was so immense as to kick dust and debris high into the air above. The larger objects fell back to the earth soon enough, but the dust remained there for years—and in large enough quantities to block out the sun. Across Dominaria the land cooled, the crops failed, and the people suffered and died.

Fear and famine crowded people into the cities, huddled for protection. Without anywhere else safe to go, those who seized power were free to ruthlessly use it to consolidate power further. Even those rulers who spoke words of a higher purpose were no more than tyrants jealously holding onto what was theirs. But things were just as bad outside of the cities. In the wilds it was a white-line nightmare, where only those mobile enough to scavenge or brutal enough to pillage survived.

Hundreds of years had passed since the destruction of Argoth before I was born, and though the world had healed of the immediate trauma it was still gravely wounded. The pillagers persisted, both as highwaymen in places like the Scarwood and the priests of Tal that ruled the cities in all but name. Much has been written of these folk, but less so of the scavengers. Yet these, too, survived, and perhaps better than did the pillagers.

To be fair, I (and Pappagallo) consider Max Rockatansky to be a scavenger—and there are four movies about him. I guess they do tell stories about scavengers after all.
Perhaps the most well-known of these much-ignored people persisted into the times of my youth. The very same Scarwood that became a hideout for bandits also became a refuge for the destitute and homeless. The woods offered them a shelter from the terrors of the outside world. But it was not safe even discounting the bandits, dangerous goblins, hags, and other dangers also stalked the woods. The refugees first banded together for safety in numbers, and eventually managed to cobble together a society for themselves in towns of hovels and caves.

Perhaps the greatest factor in the survival of the Scavenger Folk was their poverty. They were disadvantaged one and all—the homeless, the farmers driven from their lands by goblins and raiders, the believers in faiths persecuted by the Church of Tal, and the like. Living on the corpse of the old world, making use of the broken and discarded, they tended to have nothing worth stealing. Even the most bloodthirsty of the pillagers tended to leave them alone, as they could often sate their bloodlust on richer victims.

And yet, the skills that the Scavenger Folk developed to survive made them into great thieves. To most of them, it mattered not whether a find was broken or intact, claimed by another or abandoned—they could take it for themselves if it could be used for shelter, fuel, food, or other necessity. Tales abound of their duplicity, where they steal great riches or powerful magical artifacts. It is only after such thefts that others would take notice of Scavengers—in wrath over or greed for the stolen items, others inevitably found a reason to attack the Folk. But even then it was almost always too late: once in the hands of the Scavengers, their treasures were lost forever.

Written Out of History


As mentioned above, the Scavenger Folk are mentioned very rarely in histories and tales. Even then, they are incidental—lurking about the margins of stories. Their unsavory reputation is notable, and perhaps the only reason they’re mentioned. But other than being unwelcome in cities and being rumored to be grave robbers, little is said. Perhaps those who recorded the tales assumed that their readers would already be familiar with the Scavenger Folk and felt no need to tell more. In this, they follow a well-established pattern—the powerful and successful tend to write the histories, and show little interest in speaking of the weak and powerless.

Aside from the card itself, this book contains what little information there is about the Scavenger Folk. It's only an incidental mention or two, so you'll be disappointed if you read it for that. I didn't like the book—it doesn't fit the feel of The Dark expansion at all—and was disappointed in any case.
Offensive Scavenging

It is rare, but not unheard of, for great mages to ally with the Scavenger Folk. Their skills in plunder are just as effective against a rival mage’s artifice as against an unguarded refuse pit. And while there are more efficient ways to remove a rival’s artifacts, not all mages are able to use them. Those mages who rely solely on green magic, unable to Shatter or Disenchant threatening artifice, sometimes choose to employ the Scavengers. Granted, they can also Crumble, but the ability to also send the Scavengers into battle is not to be overlooked—especially if they’re magically enhanced in stature beforehand.

Scavenger Folk: a 1/1 for 1 with an upside? Perfect for a Green Weenie deck!

Danatoth of Alsoor

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