Strayeds

Strayeds is a fictional demography used in speculative fiction and related media to describe a mobile, unanchored population that exists outside established social orders.

Individuals vary in age and background; common traits include practical clothing, improvised gear, and knowledge of terrain. Skills include scavenging, foraging, navigation, and basic survival technologies. They often travel in small caravans or solitary itinerants, using signals to communicate and avoid detection.

Social organization is informal and fluid. Leadership tends to be earned through experience, resourcefulness, or reputation. Economies are barter-based; resources are acquired through salvaging, trading, or scavenging. Encounters with settled communities range from cooperation to conflict, depending on resource pressures and cultural attitudes.

In storytelling, Strayeds explore themes of resilience, freedom vs. security, and the stigma attached to nomadism. The term carries varied connotations across works, from sympathetic portrayals of resourceful survivors to cautionary depictions of danger and lawlessness.