GrayflayersReport
English：Grayflayers · Factions
The smallest of the Swamp's five gangs, and the only one said to steal exclusively from the "bad". They take raids, heists and covert work for well-paying clients, and they keep their smuggling outlet far outside the Swamp.
The Grayflayers tend to keep to themselves. They mainly do raids, heists, and covert missions for big payin' customers. Apparently they only steal from the 'bad', so I hear, but no one knows too much about their activities. — a Swamper Barman
The Grayflayers — also called the Grayflayer Clan in Letters From A Swamper V — are one of the five gangs of The Swamp. They are run by Big Gray and, like the other gangs, they deal in hashish. Relative to the Hounds and the Blackshifters, they are the smallest of the five.
Where they sit
The pecking order in the Swamp is explicit: the Hounds first, the Blackshifters second, the Grayflayers behind them.
The world states spell it out — Shark only passes to the Grayflayers once both Big Grim and Big Darkbrow are out of the picture. They are third in line of succession.
Bases and business
Grayflayer Village is their home ground. On paper the village belongs to the Swampers, but as the name suggests the Grayflayers really run it, and both their headquarters and Big Gray himself are here. Inside are a Swamp Store selling fish and drugs, a makeshift gate, two hemp farms and three riceweed farms, plus a Swamp House and three Swamp Shacks for sale.
Smugglers Bar is the only settlement they directly control, and it is not in the Swamp — it stands out in Shem. That detail is worth noting: a Swamp gang keeping its fencing window outside the Swamp entirely, priced by Swamper trade culture, buying stolen goods around the clock and never closing.
Their smuggler squads also spawn in Grey Desert and around Smugglers Bar.
"They only steal from the bad"
The Wiki's trivia section offers a quietly interesting piece of supporting evidence: most Grayflayer characters are given the "Honorable" personality.
In a wetland where all five gangs sell drugs, that is not a throwaway setting. It backs up the barman's rumour that this lot only rob the deserving — even if the way they enforce that code is through raids and heists.
Members
- Big Gray — the leader. He has no Diplomatic Status, meaning there is no talk-first option; you can simply attack. His personality is Honorable.
- Grayflayer — the rank and file.
- Skeleton Grayflayer — the Skeleton members.
- Smuggler — eight of them are stationed at Smugglers Bar. As long as you do not go after Big Gray, they will not turn hostile; each has roughly a 5% chance of carrying a United Cities bounty of a little over two thousand.
- Smuggler Barman — the proprietor.
Relations with everyone else
The Grayflayers have no special relations toward any other faction. That is very characteristic of the Swamp: they are neither allied with the Hounds nor at war with the Blackshifters or Twinblades. What holds the five gangs apart is the territorial understanding brokered by the Swampers, which keeps Shark neutral for everybody.
Nothing institutional guarantees that understanding. One bar brawl is enough to break it — and the player is often the brawl.
What it means for the player
- Smugglers Bar is a fixed landmark in Shem, and it buys regardless of the hour or where your goods came from. For anyone running a stolen-goods route, it is the most convenient outlet to the northeast.
- They will not start trouble with you. Unlike the Red Sabres, who attack on sight, Grayflayer members are neutral toward the player under normal conditions.
- Big Gray is the second-easiest of the five gang bosses to remove (the easiest being Big Al of the Stone Rats) — no Diplomatic Status, and he sits in a lightly defended village. But killing him also deletes one rung of the Swamp's succession ladder.