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| The Spirit Riders | |
| Continuity: | Defiance |
| Type: | Gang |
| Status: | Active |
| Leaders: | Sukar |
| Members: | Nizar; Rathus Parabba; Rynn Grisu |
| Enemies: | Castithans; Humans; Volge |
| 1st appearance: | "Pilot (Part 1)" |
The Spirit Riders are a fictional gang of outlaws featured in the science fiction multimedia franchise Defiance. They have been represented in both the television series on Syfy as well as the Defiance video game by Trion Worlds. On the TV series, the Spirit Riders made their first appearance in the beginning of the first part of the two-part pilot episode.
Description[]
The Spirit Riders is the name of an outlaw gang of bikers comprised of Irathient raiders who live in the Badlands - several miles outside of the city-state of Defiance, Missouri. In addition to riding rollers and scavenging, the Spirit Riders hunt down arkfall, taking whatever remnants they deem worthy from it and scrapping the rest. These exploits often bring them into conflict with other scavengers. The Spirit Riders are a tight-knit insular group, and like most Irathients, care little for other races. They have a longstanding enmity with both humans and Castithans and they nurse and intense hatred of the Volge. By the year 2046, the Spirit Riders were led by a spirtualist warrior named Sukar. Other members of the group included Rynn Grisu, Nizar and his brother, Rathus.
History[]
In 2046, the Spirit Riders rode out to investigate a large piece of arkfall that had come down in the Badlands. At this time, they encountered two rival scavengers, Joshua Nolan and his Irathient foster daughter, Irisa Nyira. They scuttled Nolan's roller, but let them go, though Rynn Grisu held a deep contempt for Irisa for choosing to side with a human over her own kind. Sukar however, recognized the strong spirit that resided within Irisa and dubbed her, "Little Wolf".
The Spirit Riders later came to Defiance, where they were met with wary eyes and very little welcome. Interim mayor Amanda Rosewater attempted to maintain the peace by negotiating a tenuous non-aggression pact with Sukar.
Rynn Grisu proved to be a problem at this time when she found the men responsible for killing her parents, Boyd Bowen and Dalton Taggert. She used Hellbug pheromones to lure the dangerous Hellbugs to Bowen and Taggert's location, where they were then killed.
When the Irathient Plague struck Defiance, all known Irathients, including the Spirit Riders, were quarantined at the McCawley Mines. This led to a brief uprising and tensions between Irathients and humans grew even more volotile. Rathus was killed at this time. Shortly after a cure was discovered, Datak Tarr murdered Nizar so that he could bring the cure to Defiance and serve as the town's "hero".