Scavengers, what are they?

[CHIPS]

After clearing the Shing Jea Island of Afflicted, the island became filled with this new group of enemies call Scavengers. Very little info is given about them. I am wondering if anyone has any clue of what they are. And I wonder if they will play a large role in the up coming story line.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Scavenger

Fact 1) They are very well trained and powerful.

So it is unlikely that they are just peasants from the nearby villages. If the villagers were so strong, they would have removed the Afflicted themselves. They might also be backed by a powerful group and leader. However these are all speculations.

Fact 2) They dress like peasants and villagers.

Does this mean they are actually peasants, or just pretending to be? We will find out.

Fact 3) The Crimson Skulls are no longer on the island.

Does that mean that these Scavengers were the Crimson Skulls? Or did they killed off all the Crimson Skulls and taken over the island?

Fact 4) The Scavengers have 3 randomized skill bars for each class.

Anet spent more time designing their skill bars than the Am Fah and Jade Brotherhood. Does this mean that they will play an important role later on?

What do you guys think?

[Konig Des Todes]

I think point 1 is irrelevant to lore. Winds of Change is done for players who've beaten the game, so naturally all foes must be hard to fight.

On point 3: The Crimson Skull appear to have been taken out when their leader was killed in a side-quest-chain ending with Quimang's Last Stand. I doubt they are Crimson Skulls, but they could be the remnants.

Overall, I think they are just... scavengers. Nothing more, nothing less. Their power comes from the fact that it's end-game content. The fact that they are completely ignored appears to me that they're just filler enemies since the Crimson Skull are (supposedly) no more.

[raspberry jam]

I agree with Osiris, they are just scavengers as in people scavenging the countryside for uh, things to scavenge.

[BrettM]

It seems rather natural that scavengers would arise under the circumstances. On one hand you have the abandoned, unguarded estate of a wealthy minister that has been cleared of foes -- ripe for looting and for squatting. On the other hand you have a poverty-stricken population that has been through years of plague and other problems. You have adults that have lost their families and farms to plague and war. You have kids that grew up as street rats after losing the adult members of their families. A number of these people are sure to be desperate enough to grasp at any means of continued survival, taking advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.

[CHIPS]

Also, Anet gave these Scavengers 3 randomized skill bars for each class. So they putted in more effort on them than the Am Fah and Jade Brotherhood. This indicates that they will play a big role in the game later on. We will see.

[Konig Des Todes]

I don't think scavengers will have any role tbh. Do note that both Am Fah and Jade Brotherhood are replaced by the Ministry of Purity with the exact same builds. Unless they were to give the MoP six build variations, it only makes sense that the Am Fah and JB get fewer build sets.

And they might have ran short on time.