Reaver (Firefly)
Reavers are a fictional group of humans in the television series Firefly and subsequent film Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic.
Within most of the timeline of the series and movie, the existence of Reavers is officially denied by the Alliance, the ruling government of humanity in the Firefly franchise, but they are a harsh reality around the outer planets.
[2] Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing, contributed Reaver concept designs for the film Serenity.
Whether ritually or in fits of rage, they are portrayed as self-mutilating creatures, peeling off parts of their own skins and shoving pieces of metal into the flesh.
This suggests that Reavers have retained some level of higher intelligence and social structure, though they are guided solely by their impulse to capture and consume any humans they come in contact with.
The Reavers live on the edge of the human-controlled binary solar systems, rarely venturing deep into occupied space.
"They occasionally leave intentional survivors of their raids, apparently subjecting them to a form of brainwashing – forcing them to witness the torture of other Reaver victims – that may drive them into the same state of cannibalistic depravity.
Their craft possess a wide variety of exotic weaponry, many of which are designed to snare and capture other ships including EMP cannons, grappling lines, and energy nets.
Even with its greater size, the Reavers used the same tactics as with smaller ships, ramming an Alliance flagship and splitting it in half due to the vast difference in mass.
The original theory within the series is that Reavers are men who traveled to the edge of the star system and were driven mad by the open vastness of space.
The crew of Serenity find evidence, in the form of an Alliance scientist's holographic message, that Reavers were originally humans from the planet Miranda.
The Alliance government used Miranda as a testing ground for the chemical agent G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate, or simply "Pax" (Latin for "peace").
The remaining 0.1% of the planet's 30 million people (approximately 30,000 total) had the opposite reaction to the Pax, becoming mindlessly violent and extremely aggressive.
