Warlord

Honorable, fearless experts in gun and blade, warlords roam the dried seabeds of time-worn Mars, warring in great tribes for supremacy over a dying planet. Capable of relentless brutality and quick to flare into open hostilities, warlords cloak their violent ways with paens to great noble houses or honored ancient traditions, bringing an air of respectability and etiquette to the butchery of brazen blades against bare skin. Warlords eschew armor as impractical to their harsh and often desert-like environment, preferring the free movement of near- nakedness. Warlords tend to specialize in the traditional weapons of Barsoom, leaving them ignorant of even simple Weapons common on other worlds. The same impulse that guides a warlord to stick to the traditional garb and gear of his culture can lead to a single-mindedness of purpose that can propel him far within his tribe or noble house. Even warlords of low status in Martian society claim a connection— no matter how ancient—with some great chieftain or emperor, seeing in the glorious past a path to a more hopeful future. Barsoom confers noble status upon its warlords through ritual combat in the case of green Martians or on merit and upon great achievement or heroics in the case of red Martians, so climbing the ladder ofstatus is an important part of a warlord’s journey through life.