Ibia's countryside has been overrun by bandits, brigands, highwaymen, and whatever other words a thesaurus might furnish me with if I bothered to check. Local strongmen have succeeded in banding these outlaws together into gangs such as the Mad Dogs, Wild Cats, Bearmen, and Hellwings. Each gang has its own particular characteristics -- and, as their names suggest, eponymous animal companions -- and the individual bandits themselves range from mighty swordsmen to cunning magi. In better days, the Knights of Ibia would have ridden forth from the capital and rounded up (or simply massacred) such miscreants, but, alas, now it is far more likely for towns to pay tribute in hopes of being spared from pillaging.