The Vargr Race

The Vargr are a race of intelligent beings, generally classed as a Major Race. For many years the Vargr were a puzzle to Imperial xenologists. Their biochemistry and genetic make-up is almost identical with a number of terrestrial animals, but differs radically from most flora and fauna indigenous to Lair, the purported Vargr homeworld. Researchers during the early years of the Third Imperium concluded them to be the result of genetic manipulation of a transplanted species, undoubtedly of Terran origin, and most closely related to Terran Canines. A tremendous body of data indicates that the race known as the Ancients were probably responsible. This background makes the Vargr unique among the major races, and indeed among the majority of sophont races of all kinds, in that they are not the product of natural selection, but rather represent, seemingly, an "experiment" in artificial evolution for purposes unknown to contemporary science.

Physiology

The Vargr are descended from carnivore/chaser stock transplanted from Terra to Lair/Grnouf in the Provence Sector during the heyday of the Ancients, approximately 300,000 years ago. These transplanted carnivores were of the family Canidae, and almost certainly of the genus Canis. The development of intelligence and of manipulation was thus artificially introduced, and not the result of natural mutations or other environmental factors. Considerable adaptation took place (although exact knowledge of the nature of this manipulation is scant, and thus the evidence for this information is somewhat unreliable). Certainly the Vargr were never fully fitted for the environment of Lair. This has produced rigorous conditions which have made the natural selection and adaptation essential to the survival of the race, and may have resulted in developments not introduced by the Ancients in their original genetic experimentation on Vargr ancestral stock.

Physically, contemporary Vargr are not very impressive. The typical Vargr is about 1.6 meters in height and weighs approximately 60 kilograms. They are upright bipedal carnivores, rear limbs digitgrade, and still bear a considerable resemblance to their ancestral canine stock externally, though internally there are many important differences.

Vargr hands are very similar in size and appearance to human hands, though with significant internal dissimilarities. They have approximately the same physical parameters as humans, and are able to use the same equipment without modification or additional instruction. The hands tend to be somewhat more slender and dexterous than human hands (on the average; there is still considerable variation among individual Vargr). Their fingers retain sharp pointed, non-retractable nails which can function as claws in some close combat situations.

The Vargr retain many of the characteristics of their canine ancestors, for more so than humans and their primate forefathers. They are covered with short fur, generally brown, black or rust colors. Their tails are fairly long and generally end in a flaring brush. The muzzle is much shorter and less pronounced than in Terran canines, but still is quite evident.

On the average, Vargr reactions are somewhat faster than those of the typical human, but there are still wide variations between individuals. Vargr eyesight is much sharper than human sight, but responds somewhat differently to colors; by human standards, Vargr color patterns frequently seem extremely unusual, sometimes rather muddy, at other times garish and clashing. Hearing is excellent, but again slightly out of phase with human standards. Sounds which are generally too high-pitched for human ears can be detected, but the lower ranges are often inaudible or only vaguely sensed, rather than heard. The Vargr also possess keen noses, as befits their ancestry, but their sense of smell cannot in any respect be considered the equal of the K'kree, the acknowledged masters of olfactory stimuli.

Psychology

Just as they physically continue to exhibit many of the feature which are derived from their ancestral stock, so, too, do Vargr show a number of mental and behavioral traits which bear a fairly obvious relationship to the instinctive behavior of the social carnivores of Earth. Although sentient, the Vargr are still verymuch like the pack-oriented canines who are their Terrestrial cousins.

Vargr are frequently characterized as "inconsistent" by outsiders, who see many of their behavior patterns as contradictory and strange. In actual fact, this seeming inconsistency is no more pervasive than in human cultures, but because these "contradictory" actions and ways of thought crop up in areas where humans are accustomed to a greater degree of uniformity of thought and behavior, the label has stuck. In many parts of the Imperium, humor based on the perceived Vargr traits of inconsistency, confusion, mercurial temperament, and disloyalty is common, and has often led to bad feelings on both sides when this humor becomes a symptom of prejudice (as is all too often the case).

These contradictions are, in fact, based upon the most basic instincts of the Vargr race. For example, the Vargr are a rather gregarious people, taking joy in the company of one another and seeking the security and comfort of fellowship with others of their own kind. This is a natural offshoot of the instincts which kept the hunting packs of pre-sentient Vargr canines together. Yet as the same time, Vargr within a group are engaged in nearly constant struggles to achieve prestige and dominance, which frequently gives the appearance of a quarrelsome, sometimes even treacherous nature. Indeed, Vargr move from one group or association to another with great regularity, and seemingly have no loyalty to any specific institution or purpose.

This, too, is a function of the pack mentality. Dominance and prestige play important parts in Vargr society, and a Vargr is rarely content with the status quo for long. His chief driving motivation is generally to achieve a higher place in the structure of the social group, or to find a group in which such a higher position can be achieved. Much of this is tied win with the concept of charisma, a general, human-applied term often used to characterize the individual Vargr's ability to dominate others of his kind. The social group is generally united in respect for a single individual whose charisma is higher than theirs. Such an individual means much, much more to Vargr than does a distant, impersonal government or similar institution. Thus, though gregarious, Vargr tend to be united on a low level, in bands or small groups (the equivalent of packs in the society of sentient Vargr).
For the same reasons, these groups tend to be unstable. Though a Vargr may give his loyalty to a charismatic leader, and be willing to follow that leader over the dictates of higher authority if necessary, each Vargr in the group will seek to improve his own position within the group, or will be susceptible to the attractions of some other group where advancement looks faster or the charisma of the leader is superior. It is this aspect of Vargr psychology which has given rise to the notion of disloyalty and indecision as characteristics of the race. To a Vargr, loyalties are temporary, but no less strong for all of that. A Vargr will do his best for the group as long as he remains with that group, but does not expect to remain in that group forever…nor do others expect him to do so. In time, that Vargr may move on to join another group, possibly with diametrically opposed objectives and ideals; or the Vargr might become a loner for a time. Always, however, he is seeking to improve his own lot by moving on to a position which enhances his own charisma and dominance.

History

There is little in the way of accurately established history known on the development of the Vargr from the time of their original transplantation to the point when they first began to make their presence known to other spacefaring cultures. As with so many elements of Vargr society and background, the truth is frequently obscured in a welter of contradictory claims and historical interpretations among Vargr writers; few human scholars have ever been able to sift through the contradictory material of rival Vargr historians to arrive at any concrete determination of what actually happened. Nor have the Vargr been particularly cooperative in permitting first-hand research by non-Vargr groups. Their normally touchy racial pride has been compounded by a vested interest in keeping information obscure, for many Vargr governments and organizations have founded major portions of their ideology or philosophy on various "accepted" interpretations of history and archeology which they are reluctant to see examined by outsiders.

It is known that the development of civilization among the Vargr was turbulent and chaotic. Their foster homeworld (generally called "Lair" by Imperials, in preference to any of the four most widely accepted names used by the Vargr for the planet, al of which, according to one humorist, can only be pronounced "by an asthmatic dog with severe bronchitis"), the third planet of a G5 star in the Provence sector, was and is a cool world with broad, shallow seas and a number of small continents. No one is sure which continent marked the original home of the first Vargr transplantees (evidence has been advanced for all of them, and some theories have even held that settlements were made on more than one).

It is certain that the first Vargr bore only distant resemblance to the contemporary Vargr - possibly even less so than the ancestral human stock of the same era (300,000 years ago) does to any of the modern branches of Humaniti. The manipulation performed by the Ancients would appear to have been directed at developing the potential of the race, as opposed to directly producing a desired result. This has convinced several scholars who specialize in Ancients' studies to speculate that the enigmatic race took an incredibly long view of things. They could actually contemplate watching the evolution of a species like the Vargr over countless millenia, as early Terran geneticists could experiment with generations of fruit flies. It is not known with any degree of certainty whether the ancients meddled only once with the proto-Vargr stock, or made return visits to guide the continuing evolution of the developing race in the direction they most desired to see taken. Most evidence suggests that only a single intervention was made, though the Church of the Chosen Ones (a rather influential Vargr movement of two centuries ago) postulated - and proceeded to prove, albeit not very convincingly - that the Vargr were carefully brought along a particular course, as they were "intended" to take their place as the leaders of all sophont societies in the Ancient's sphere of influence. The Church of the chosen Ones has enjoyed periodic revivals and declines, but is currently not a particularly viable movement, and its findings are now usually discredited.

Vargr society seems to have evolved fairly readily from the social groupings of the pre-civilized Vargr hunting packs. The pack or group seems always to have remained the central focus of Vargr society; the Vargr as a rule seem incapable of accepting authority more remote than the number of people a single charismatic individual can personally sway and command. As the Vargr come to dominate Lair, governments rose and fell, but on the whole, Vargr governments were even smaller in scope than even the most divisive periods of Terran history could give rise to. Much of early Vargr history has been likened to the Classical Greek period on Earth - numerous small enclaves, each fiercely independent, rarely unified for more than the most urgent of common causes, were the rule rather than the exception. Periodically a charismatic and talented leader would unite a number of these mutually hostile groups by persuasiveness or by force, but such a union would last no longer than the individual's own lifetime (and usually not that long) before disintegrating again.

As technology and civilization advanced, the number of individuals who could be directly exposed to a leader's dominion increased, and thus larger states could form. Even these states, however, were far from the human concept of a "nation," for groups supposedly within the sphere of that "nation's" territory could and did act completely without the sanction of the "established government." To a human, most of Vargr history tends to look like uninterrupted anarchy, though of course to the Vargr these problems were accepted as perfectly normal and reasonable.

The period following the discovery of the jump drive in -3810 has also been likened by human historians to certain events in terrestrial history - specifically, to the barbarian migrations which destroyed the Roman Empire and to the heyday of the Viking raiders. These similarities are apt. Jump drive was first discovered by Vargr researchers looking for a method of winning an edge in the colonial Rebellion of -3815 to -3790. The colonies set up on two of Lair's sister worlds declared independence from the nation which had originally established them, leading to a three-way struggle (as other nations stepped in) for dominance in the system. Jump drive was quickly acquired by every major government on the planet and Vargr began spreading to the stars.

The Diaspora of the Vargr race was incredibly swift; the natural Vargr tendency to move on when things weren't to their liking (if a fight were impractical, that is) led them to spread quickly, though in the early days colonies were small and spread thin. On most colony worlds, the history of Lair tended to replay itself time after time. In all their time in space, the Vargr never have (and perhaps never will) come to terms with the concept of a true interstellar state. Time and distance reinforce the basic lack of acceptance accorded to remote authority. Interstellar states have been established, some of them quite large, but the degree of control exercised by the central government is far more tenuous even than that of the Imperium (which exercises minimal control in local affairs, anyway). Then, too, half or more of the worlds which may be within the "boundaries" of a given interstellar state may in fact be not only independent, but actively hostile to that state, while, as always, bands functioning quite independently of any government operate in complete autonomy even on planets nominally answerable to that government. It has always been a confusing state of affairs, to say the least.

Vargr expansion was stopped in the trailing direction by the Windhorn Rift, a region where stellar density is insufficient to permit easy travel. This was probably a lucky thing for the Vargr, for, beyond the Windhorn, the Vilani Imperium held sway at this time. Dedicated to maintaining the status quo of the Pax Vilanica, the Vilani emperors would most likely have attempted to subdue the Vargr had they been aware of their existence, for it was accepted Imperial policy at that time that no race possessing the secret of the jump drive should be allowed to exist independently.

As the First Imperium declined, various provincial governors with ambitions of personal advancement took to arming and outfitting "barbarian" mercenaries from beyond the boundaries. One such governor, who controlled the area now comprising portions of Deneb, Corridor, and Provence sectors, is believed to have been the first human to have had dealings with the Vargr, probably after Vargr corsairs raided a world at the edge of his province. This governor supplied arms and equipment to a large corsair group who were employed in his bid for power. Though he was defeated, he had set a precedent; the Vargr knew about the First Imperium and were interested in the wealth of that decadent civilization; by this point in time, Vilani troubles were such that there was no question of imposing the Pax Vilanica over these "barbarians" from beyond the Windhorn.

It will never be known just how much impact the Vargr had on the decline and fall of the First Imperium; the more obvious military victories of the Terran Confederation are generally considered to be the main force in bringing down the Vilani empire, but inroads by the Vargr surely accounted for much of the collapse. It was during this period, in the era of -2400 through -1700, when Vargr migrations around either end of the Windhorn became common. Bands following some charismatic leader would set off to raid and plunder, settle on some inviting world, and found a new colony. Dissidents would inevitably spin-off new groups and travel onward. When the Second Imperium, that outgrowth of the victorious Terran Confederation which filled the vacuum left by the Vilani collapse, tottered to its own end with the fall of the Long Night (-1776), much of human space was no better organized than the Vargr had ever been, and Vargr raids and colonization around the Windhorn became even more common.

It was at this time that Vargr corsairs became a byword for pillage and violence, as the Sack of Gashikan (-1658) demonstrated. Those Vargr who reached into the human-dominated reaches of Gashikan and Mendan moved onward, and ultimately settled in areas to trailing of these human worlds - in the Vargr enclaves near K'kree space. These enclaves have continued to exist in isolation to this day, though few Vargr are left in the Second Empire of Gashikan, after the fierce wars which accompanied the unification of the region several hundred years ago.

Unfortunately, few specifics can be given on Vargr history, even comparatively recent history, since in fact, it is impossible to talk of "Vargr" history and speak of any single group or body. For instance, Imperials often speak of the Vargr who joined in the Outworld Coalitions against the Imperium, and of "the Vargr" as Zhodani allies or clients. In actual fact, of course, some Vargr have done just that. Other Vargr states and groups have worked with the Imperium…still others are completely neutral, or opposed to both states, or hostile to one without necessarily feeling any friendship for the other. In discussing Vargr history, it is evident that no generalizations can be characterized as true…a statement which, in fact, sums up the Vargr as a race rather well.

Society

As with other facets of the Vargr, it is very difficult to characterize any one social order as "typical". Knowledge of Vargr social institutions is limited, based solely on intercourse with the Vargr states and groups found along the Imperial frontiers, but it can generally be said that the Vargr have a society, or more properly a group of societies, characterized by endemic and rapid social change.

The key elements in shaping Vargr societies are very strong centrifugal forces resulting from an emphasis on consensus and informal lines of authority, and an equally strong centripetal force resulting from ingrained family-clan-tribe-nation loyalty. Centralized authority is extremely limited at the upper levels of Vargr society, and actions are based on broad coalitional concerns, with a constant splitting and rejoining of dissident factions. Traditionally, this has made it very difficult for more centralized and organized societies (such as the Imperium) to deal on a meaningful basis with what passes for Vargr states.

The Vargr have little respect for formal authority, decreasing as that authority becomes more remote. Vargr generally have more respect for more informal authority figures, and are more likely to obey superiors who are better known to them.

Although they are gregarious, the group behavior of Vargr is characterized by a constant struggle for dominance within the group. The ability to exert personal authority over others derives from an individual's prestige and force of personality. The Vargr have various words to describe this important personal characteristic, but humans call it charisma. Individuals with high charisma are likely to become leaders in groups, even if they do not have the talent or skill to lead properly. The result is often a charismatic leader who is not truly suited to lead, and a constant splintering of groups as rivals exert their influence over parts of the group and draw them away from the larger whole.

Charisma and the struggle for dominance play an important, indeed a crucial, role in Vargr society. Although charisma is in part an integral characteristic of individual Vargr - some have it, some don't - this native talent for exerting dominance over others does fluctuate. Success and failure in various endeavors will add or subtract from an individual's charisma, not only as a leader's reputation waxes or wanes, but also in that leader's whole bearing. A successful Vargr radiates confidence and ability, and naturally attracts others. Failure has a profound negative impact on the individual's bearing and conduct, and so tells others that he has failed.

Because of this, the Vargr are never content to rest upon their laurels. Much of Vargr behavior is based on a need to continually reaffirm one's abilities, to win the approval and support of others, to prove, over and over, that one is indeed the dominant member of the group. Those with lower abilities, aware of their own lack of the qualities they see in charismatic leaders, attach themselves to such a leader in the hopes that a little bit of his or her reflected glory will help them. By extension from the basic struggle to prove that he is better than everyone around him, the Vargr follower tends to transfer his attention to proving that his group is better than other groups. This is one of the strongest forces in Vargr society; it has allowed what little social cooperation that exists among Vargr.

But the transference of individual- to group-dominance is inherently unstable of course. Individuals within the group are each seeking their own niche, and will always be striving to achieve more and better things to improve their own charisma. As leaders make mistakes or go off in a direction others disagree with, factions emerge and cause considerable upheaval as members of the original group are drawn in different directions. Often factions are just individuals who want to go a different way; without enough charisma to sway others of the group, they end up on their own, either by deserting their erstwhile comrades, or by being driven out for refusing to recognize the group's accepted leader's authority.

Social interactions are understandably complex as a result of these many factors. In fact, the problems of obtaining a consensus of opinion between disparate groups has given rise to a vast body of Vargr - known as Emissaries - whose whole function is to mediate between various parties and help groups come to terms enough to permit mutual action for mutual benefit. Emissaries bear a resemblance not only to the diplomatic services of other races, but also, most vividly, to the Heralds of medieval Earth; they are go-betweens who arrange all manner of agreements, in politics, business, and other areas of life, thus enabling the society to function despite the inherent instability of the system.

Another important characteristic which binds the Vargr together is a fierce racial pride. Vargr are easily insulted, and are prone to enter into fights without regard for possible consequences. This strong feeling of pride finds many outlets; for many Vargr, there is an outspoken attitude that they alone, of the sophont races in known space, have been chosen for a special place in the scheme of things. They see the genetic manipulation of the Ancients as being an essentially selective attempt to develop a special, superior breed - the Vargr.

Some xenologists, however, tend to discount this feeling as stemming from the massive racial inferiority complex - an apologia aimed at disarming those who might say that they are somewhat less worthy of their sentience and their civilization because of their unique origins. Like so many aspects of Vargr culture, this question is one which evokes no consensus of opinion whatsoever; attitudes and opinions vary widely among individual Vargr.

Vargr social organization is not easily comprehended by human minds. Analogies from terrestrial history are prone to be easily misinterpreted. Perhaps the closest Earth culture which might provide a good model for Vargr social structures is that of the Dakota Sioux of North America in the 19th century, but it is unwise to press the comparison too far.

Government

There is no central Vargr government; indeed, there is no governmental type that can be said to by "typically Vargr." Every conceivable form of governmental organization can be found somewhere in the Vargr Extents; oftentimes several radically different governments can be found on the same world. The only cohesive force in the Extents is the fierce feeling of racial pride, which, on occasion, does bring about a slight tendency towards racial cooperation. Such tendencies, however, usually break down quickly in the wake of struggles for dominance among the cooperating groups.

The higher the level of government, the more unstable it usually becomes, because of the impossibility of gaining consent from all Vargr involved. Since there is little respect given to formal authority figures who do not derive their authority from a high charisma, respect decreases rapidly as authority becomes more remote. It can basically be said that Vargr attach little importance to a title, office, or position, and a great deal of importance to the essential character of the individual occupying that position. A distant leader, no matter how personally able or charismatic, cannot exercise his charisma to win others to his standard, and thus is considered less worthy of respect than someone on the spot who has the charisma to influence his neighbors directly.

Of course, some governments and institutions are more stable than others, within the overall limits of what Vargr consider to be governments. Governments, to the Vargr, are institutions which provide services and protection to a large number of people who accept that government's assistance, and follow, to some degree, the leaders appointed by that government - when those leaders have the necessary charisma to retain government support. Those governments which are capable of appointing individuals who can retain the confidence of the governed are successful; those which cannot forfeit that confidence and are unstable in the subsequent struggles for dominance. Yet governments can be somewhat unlikely from the human standpoint; there are numerous cases of several governments co-existing in the same physical territory. Land has little meaning to Vargr - only group consensus and personal prestige.

Even the most stable Vargr governments exercise little effective control over the common citizen. Laws are followed only in proportion to the government's ability to enforce them. A highly charismatic leader can attract followers for almost anything - "legal" or "illegal". The neighbors of the Vargr are constantly the subject of impromptu raids and scattered piracy by bands of Vargr (totally without government sanction, of course) who have been talked into a raid, battle, or war by a charismatic leader. The inability of Vargr governments to deal with these situations (or even to comprehend the concept of dealing with them) led to many frequent misunderstandings with neighboring human cultures throughout the history of Vargr-human contact.

Lair

The Vargr "homeworld" and "capital" is a planet called Lair (Grnouf 0802 A8859B9-F). The world has never been accorded any particular status in the hearts and minds of the Vargr race, unlike such worlds as Terra, Vland, Zhodani, Kuzu or Kirur. Of the 12 empires which have included Lair (or parts thereof) over the last eight hundred years, seven of them have been ruled from a different world entirely, and Lair was given no special privileges because of its place in the history of the race. Indeed, Lair was only recently united; several sections of the planet boasted independence until only a few years ago (this is another unique and noteworthy distinction, for most worlds are united long before their citizens spread out to the stars).

The planet is currently capital of a large interstellar empire, having been united and placed at the head of a coalition of worlds by a popular and charismatic Vargr leader. That individual's death has left a series of successors of considerably less popularity; these individuals have attempted to maintain power through the military and through the enactment of stringent laws. Inevitably, the instability of this government has increased rapidly, and most observers predict a break-up of the empire, and possibly of the planetary government, with a decade at most.

The name Lair is a human one, applied in the absence of any single recognized Vargr name for the world. Use of the name, or any other word indicative of the relationship of the Vargr to non-sentient Terrestrial carnivores, is an insult which frequently provokes Vargr to violence. (A human who wishes to avoid an incident is wise to learn proper terminology in the language or dialect of whatever Vargr he happens to be speaking with, and use such terms in preference to the often sarcastic human label most frequently applied.)

Military

Once again, it is extraordinarily difficult to discuss Vargr military institutions in any but the broadest terms, since there is so much room for variation from one Vargr organization to another. Few, if any, "standard" conventions exist governing the composition, use, or organization of Vargr military units; even among the Gvegh cultures of the Imperial frontiers (which are generally the standard upon which Imperial discussions of typical Vargr groups are based) there is a wide variation in the military aspects of Vargr culture.

Most Vargr governments maintain planetary armies in one form or another. There is a certain degree of instability in the structure of most armies; since the characteristic Vargr emphasis on charisma over formal authority causes individuals to rise to officer positions based more on their ability to sway a crowd than on their ability to plan a battle. Vargr officers tend to rise and fall in the ranks according to their success or failure in the field, with new officers coming up from the ranks often completely unprepared for the needs of military leadership.

The result is a general tendency among the Vargr to have a higher but rather more brittle morale than comparable human units. A unit may go into battle with enormous confidence and determination, inspired by a charismatic leader, but, if that leader proves less capable in battle than he appeared off the field (or if the leader is killed), morale tends to fall apart quickly. Some groups of soldiers may fight quite tenaciously in defeat, should they include among them another charismatic individual capable of swaying the soldiers to fight on. Others will break quickly in the absence of direct inspiration.

Vargr military units are, like any Vargr institution, prone to divisive and disruptive influences at even the best of times. There is a disturbing tendency for individual, charismatic soldiers to become the centers of movements that resist higher authority for one reason or another, giving rise to conditions that humans would describe as mutinies, and on occasion to outright treachery on or off the battlefield.

Actually, Vargr mutinies are frequently more in the nature of strikes or protest meetings. Good parallels in Terran history would include such incidents as the various army mutinies in the late Republic/early Empire period of Rome, or the Great Mutiny of the British Navy in 1798 AD. In both cases, these mutinies were characterized by a refusal to continue duty until certain demands were met (often including requests for the replacement of unpopular officer), but no real change in the basic loyalties of the personnel involved. This is generally the case with Vargr army units, as well… though incidents in which leaders have acted entirely on their own initiative in mounting a raid or starting a battle, contrary to the plans and instructions of higher military authority are also quite common. And, on occasion, desertions (even in the midst of a major battle) have been organized by charismatic individuals who sense an opportunity to gain status by joining the opposition. The worst of these offenses are generally discouraged by severe penalties exacted against such traitors, though application is, of course, somewhat uneven.

Military organization varies enormously from one group of Vargr to the next. Imperial observers tend to "humanize" Vargr military organizations by applying familiar names to ranks and units, though often the correspondence is stretched rather thin in the process.

Vargr space navies are generally equivalent to the armies as described above. Again, they are generally organized on a strictly local level, led by popular rather than trained officers, and subject to frequent disciplinary problems. There are no specific Marine units in most Vargr states (though a few do maintain them); units of the army are often assigned to shipboard duty directly, with little distinction made for special training or organization.
In addition to the government-employed armed forces, corsair bands continue to flourish throughout the Vargr Extents. Corsairs can grow to wield considerable power (sometimes more than the government), depending on the charisma and prestige of their leadership. By and large, Vargr corsair bands contain integral space transport and skilled combat forces, with experience in all aspects of fighting. They carry out piratical raids on neighbors (both governments and one another), and can also be found hiring out as mercenaries either in whole or in part to raise additional money. Corsair mercenaries frequently hire out at much more reasonable prices than an equivalent human unit would establish, with the stipulation that they be permitted to loot, and retain a certain percentage of the booty thus gained, in the course of the campaign. Vargr mercenary bands sometimes operate within the Imperium, but under rather close scrutiny by Imperial authorities, who prefer not to encourage the kinds of major economic dislocations that result from a policy of widespread, indiscriminant pillage of this sort.

Corsair bands are somewhat less unstable than comparable governmental military forces, since the loyalty of such bands is given to the leader, instead of to a more abstract authority. This is not to say that the corsairs do not have their share of divisive influences; but a corsair band's leader must necessarily begin enjoying a wide degree op popularity among his followers, and is in a better position to maintain the level of his charisma than are government-sanctioned forces. Of course, the unlucky or unskilled corsair leaders are quickly lost in the tide of shifting dominance, and replaced by those who can command greater respect and loyalty.