A Borrible primer

Borribles start out as ordinary children who for one reason or another, wind up having to fend for themselves. After awhile their ears begin to grow into points, and from then on they don't age or grow up. They retain the mentality of childhood, but it is tempered by the intelligence gleaned from years of living on the streets. A Borrible is functionally immortal unless they are killed, or die from illness or starvation. At least two have lasted for over a hundred years; there are probably others. However, if they are caught and the tips of their ears clipped off, they will cease to be Borribles and start to grow up, often forgetting much of their life of freedom and going slightly mad.

life as a borrible...

Borribles lives wherever they can, preferring abandoned houses, but living in empty schools, basements, warehouses and sewers if they have too. They survive by stealing food from outdoor markets and grocery storerooms, and picking up anything else they need from stuff that falls out of lorries or is left in the trash. They basically exist as scavengers, and scorn the use of money as being unBorrible. Most of them have very little in the way of personal possessions, but are content with that.

Borrible Tech:

Borribles have good engineers among them, who help keep their lives more comfortable. They usually have electric lights and running water in their homes, simply from tapping into the nearest power supply. Their weapon of choice, the catapult, was partly chosen because any of them can make one and arm it from materials readily available.

boroughs and tribes:

Borribles are divided up into tribes that roughly correspond to each borough of London (or wherever). They take their names from the borough name: The Wandsworth Wendles, the Hoxton Humpers, the Brixton Bumpers, and so on. Each tribe follows the same basic lifestyle, with local variations that depend on environment and custom. For the most part, the tribes are suspicious of each other, afraid that another tribe is trying to move in on their territory. Warfare between tribes is rare, but not unknown.

Borribles generally have little organization- tribal unity and personal preference binds them together. A Borrible household will usually elect a house-steward to oversee things and serve as a spokesman, and in emergencies a whole borough may work together. On occasion a charismatic leader will rise to prominence and 'take over' his or her tribe, but this is very unusual and will be scorned by other tribes as unBorrible. The Rumble Hunt was odd in that eight different boroughs had to work together. There are rules governing Borrible behavior that have been amassed over the years; they are written down in the Borrible Book of Rules.

Since Borribles have no formal hierarchy, the only way to gain status among them is by winning names. When a kid is Borribled, he loses the name he or she was born with and must earn another. This is gone by going on an adventure of some kind or doing something very memorable. It does not even really matter if they fail or succeed, so long as a good story comes out of it. However, the rules are set up in such a way as to make it very difficult for someone to earn more than one name.

Stories, songs and proverbs:

A major Borrible social activity is storytelling; mainly name-adventure stories, but others as well. The greatest of these stories are kept in The Borrible Book. Songs are composed often and passed by word of mouth, but not written down. Some are very ancient and have survived by years on oral culture alone. The last of the three famous Borrible texts is the Borrible Book of Proverbs, which contains saying and advice for living as a Borrible.

Hazards of living:

Borribles are always being hounded by the police simply for being Borribles. Partly this is because they are thieves, but more because they are children living outside the bounds of any kind of authority. Their aim is to capture and clip them rather than kill them, however, since that would cause public outcry.

Another threat to Borribles is Borrible-Snatchers, who capture them in groups of at least two and then force them to steal for money. A Snatcher will keep one Borrible caged while taking the other out on stealing raids; if the one they take out escapes, they will kill the other one. No Borrible would risk sacrificing their friends, so Snatching is very profitable. Thankfully, Snatchers are rare, although they used to be more common in the 1800's.