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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Warfare and raids
===Warfare and raids===
Nomads indulge in continual warfare and inter-tribal feuding for amusement and gain. Nomad [[gang]]s ambush convoys from the hives and other nomads when they can. They frequently attack [[travel tube]]s and disrupt trade between the hives. Raids on [[Merchants GuildsGuild|merchant]] convoys crossing the wastes are commonplace, but some nomad bands are audacious enough to make slave-raids on shanties and even hives, if they can get in through damaged tubes or breaches in a hive’s shell. Any storm that breaches the shell of a hive will give rise to anxiety in expectations of an imminent nomad raid. Nomads have also been known to occasionally raid the hives by infiltrating into a hive and then retreating into the ash waste before any resistance could be organised, {{Fn|2}} or just blowing a hole in the wall with missiles.{{Fn|3a}} Sometime they get into the underhive via derelict tunnels uncovered in the ash wastes. Seen as dangerous undesirables by hivers, the nomads are attacked on sight by [[Helmawr]]’s soldiers and [merchant gang]s because of the danger they pose to road tunnels and convoys.{{Fn|2}}
In the toxic ash wastes is ammunition often hard to come by, especially rare ammo, and some weapons are completely worthless: for example are flamers of little use in high wind. For these reasons nomads tend to use laser weapons and those which fire at a slower rate with more effect, so there is as little waste as possible.{{Fn|3b}} A favoured weapon for nomads is the [[Long Rifle]], it’s long range being valuable in the wide open waste. The [[House_Catallus#Double-Bladed_Knife|double-bladed knife]] has become a common weapon of the nomads and a symbol of the Nomads' struggles.{{Fn|4d}}
===Origins===
Different origins to the nomads have been given: that they are descendants of rural settlers who were long ago reduced to nomadic scavenging existence due to the pollution of their lands;{{Fn|2}} that their ancestors committed a crime and were expelled from the hive to die, with their descendants, the nomads, still being punished for that crime;{{Fn|3a}} they are exiles living with the shame that their ancestors cast them from the safety of the hive;{{Fn|4a}} the surviving descendants of the losing members of the [[House Cattalus]] civil war, exiled into the wasteland.{{Fn|4c}} It is possible that different nomad groups have different origins. But whatever the case have it been stated that they accept the hardship of the waste and see them as the punishment for the wrongs their ancestors committed.{{Fn|4b}}
