Razzia
Razzia, the collective name given to raids conducted by forces associated with the Raspur Pact or the Honourable Company into the ungoverned spaces beyond the bounds of civilised nations, usually for the purpose of exacting tribute, typically in the form of plunder or corvée labour, from populations lacking the protection of a functioning and internationally recognised government. Targeted communities can be either found amongst failed states (Barbary, Helderbourgh) or else within tribal confederations where the conditions for recognised statehood were not met (Central Euran Republic, Mbasana).
Following the Ricardian maxim that "the Green must be conquered", conducting a Razzia is considered to be an inherently virtuous and meritorious act on the part of those who participate, accruing prestige for the raid's commander and subordinates and greatly enhancing their future promotion prospects. The recovery and auction of artefacts and the recruitment of persons rescued from the ungoverned spaces has played a significant part in the economic growth of some of the Raspur Pact's frontier nations such as Constancia and Whales, while similar tactics allowed Natopia to pacify portions of western Tapfer that had previously been under Vanic rule.
In contrast to the practitioners of Bassarid piracy, forces conducting a razzia will typically avoid the assets, settlements, and vessels of established and recognised powers, even when those are aligned to rival alliance systems. That said, failed states and abandoned settlements no longer enjoying the protection any such alliance system are considered fair game, as in the case of Baicha and its unfortunate mayor.
On Eura the recurring cycle of raiding into the ungoverned spaces gave rise to a corps of slave-soldiers known as the ghilman which may be found in the service of the private armies of notables in Constancia, Raspur, the Suren, and Zeed.
In contrast, the 1707 Relacul Expedition was more an armed exploratory mission undertaken to the Antarctic ice cap by the Industrial Archaeology Programme of the Honourable Company, with the emphasis being heavily upon the recovery of Caradian technological artefacts and religious reliquaries that had been hidden from the world in some of the most inhospitable locations on all of Micras.
The tradition of reaving, practiced in Keltia and the Great Western Sea by the Einhorn, is also recognised as a form of razzia.
