A collective group of thieves and raiders who do whatever it takes to survive as a rag-tag family of the outcasts of Grimnest.
The ones who fell through
Grimnest is a land about family over law and government, which is a system that works for some, but not all. In any society, there are those who fall through the cracks of the system. However, there is often a safety net in other nations to catch the ones who slip through. But in Grimnest, with no government, central authority, or deities, there is no safety net, only the cold stone of the bottom.
The dirty secret of Grimnest is that the ones who hit the bottom the fastest are the children. Either through families that die out in remote places, villages lost to drought or raided by bandits, kids can be left with nowhere to go and no help. This is the earliest beginnings of the Crimson Hyenas. A place for the orphaned children and the lost to call home.
Four thieves in the market
The origins of the Crimson Hyenas were organic and random. One day in Port Royal, four different orphan thieves encountered each other in the market as they worked: Grish, Riva, Ox, and Didor. Running into other thieves at a place like the market wasn’t unusual. The streets had their own unspoken code — you either work together with another fence or spread out.
But on this day, these four saw something in each other that they weren’t used to seeing. Skill and poise. Riva spied Grish pulling off a masterful two-finger lift while Didor witnessed Riva do a wallet lift like a ghost. By the time Ox came up the road, the trio had already decided they needed to be a group.
“Finally.” — Riva, waiting for them at the north road