marauders

Marauders is a term used to describe raiding groups that operate outside regular military structures. The word derives from the French marauder, via English, and has been used since the early modern era to describe bands that pursue plunder through surprise attacks, mobility, and rapid withdrawal rather than siege warfare. These bands are typically itinerant, form temporarily for campaigns, and rely on ambush, raiding, and local support rather than occupation.

Historically, marauding bands appeared in many settings: borderlands and frontier regions where law was weak, during wars of disruption, and along coasts or rivers where cross-border raids were feasible. States sometimes responded with proclamations, border patrols, fortifications, and legal penalties. The term can carry a pejorative sense, used to describe both irregular martial groups and criminal gangs.

In contemporary usage, marauder describes any raider or predatory group, including criminal networks, irregular militias, or insurgent factions, and it is sometimes used in political rhetoric to cast opponents’ tactics as maraud. In popular culture, Marauders is used as the name of fictional groups in various media, typically depicted as mercenary or villainous organizations. In Marvel Comics, the Marauders are a team of mutant mercenaries associated with Mister Sinister, appearing across multiple titles.