Editing Sigil:Yan Doro (section)

== The Red Reavers ==

The '''[[Sigil:Red Reavers|Red Reavers]]''' are inseparable from the popular image of the Crimson Coast but should not be confused with Yan Doro or its people. They are not a Doran military order, guild, nationality, or secret brotherhood, and no council possesses authority to determine who may use the name.

A Red Reaver is fundamentally someone who says that he or she is one.

The name is claimed by independent captains and crews throughout the Crimson Coast: Dorans, Sarrivellans, Calaeli, Angharans, Mazirines, foreigners, islanders of no recognized realm, and people who prefer not to discuss their place of origin. Some are pirates in the strictest sense, attacking merchant vessels for plunder; others are smugglers, privateers, raiders, mercenaries, fugitives, or free captains who cross the line between lawful and unlawful activity so often that the distinction has ceased to interest them.

They commonly call themselves '''Kingless''' or '''Free Folk''', though even those terms describe an attitude more than an organization. Two Red Reaver crews may cooperate for years, fight one another over a captured ship, and drink together again once the matter has been settled. Customs concerning shares, captaincy, hospitality, and shipboard justice circulate widely among them, yet no universal Reaver code exists that every self-declared captain must obey.

This loose identity is precisely why rulers have never succeeded in destroying the Red Reavers as though they were an enemy state. A fleet may burn a pirate haven, hang several notorious captains, and congratulate itself upon victory, only to discover a year later that new crews are flying red streamers from entirely different islands. The idea survives because nobody owns it.