Raiders in ARC Raiders: Who They Are and Why They Go Topside

Who are the Raiders in ARC Raiders?

The official world overview defines a Raider plainly: someone who accepts danger to go to the surface and gather valuable resources. Speranza has little of its own, conflict over what it does have is constant, and the overview says true survival means taking the risk of going up. The Steam page adds the attitude: Speranza runs on boldness and bravado, and every Raider has to stake a claim.

Your character starts at the bottom. Tian Wen checks whether you are one of the newcomers before handing over an upgraded Ferro to test on ARC (The Right Tool), and after a storm Shani tells you that anyone hoping to stay will need to pull their weight in the repairs. You earn your place in Speranza by being useful to it.

The first Raiders: resistance in the First Wave

Raiders are older than the current crisis. When ARC first fell from the sky, the Rust Belt fought them for a decade before the machines were held off. Tian Wen reveals that her mother fought in the Raider resistance, and her quest line sends you to old First Wave sites in the hope of finding something her mother left behind (The Major's Footlocker).

Celeste was there too. She tells you that she and her squad overloaded a generator by the Dam and turned it into a makeshift ARC trap, and she admits the First Wave is still a raw wound because so many people were lost. A Frozen Trail quest titled Celeste's Teenage Rebellion hints she was young at the time: its giver says the Frigates bring back a shiver not felt since girlhood, and that the lessons learned back then matter more than ever. The Celeste lore page follows her story, and the timeline puts the First Wave in order.

Some old habits are coming back. Celeste remembers that her people once had a flag, more a scrap of cloth than anything, and seeing it meant allies were nearby and you were on home turf. She wants one again (A Symbol of Unification).

Why do Raiders go Topside?

Because the city needs things only the surface has. Embark's trader introductions say the traders send you Topside on missions in exchange for rewards, and almost every quest is a request from someone keeping Speranza alive. Raiders also go for themselves: the overview says they craft and upgrade gear with what they collect and sell the rest to traders to pay for the next trip.

There is a bigger reason too. After a recon job against Bombardiers, Shani spells it out: if Raiders can learn to counter those machines up there, everyone is safer down here. Every Raider who works out a machine's habits makes the next push on the surface a little easier for the rest.

What Raiders bring back to Speranza

The quest log reads like a list of everything the city is missing. Raiders have been sent out for:

• ARC parts, from the internals of First Wave Baron husks to Surveyor data, for research and for Apollo's experiments with repurposed ARC parts.
• Food sources, such as seed samples a lead researcher sealed away when an old agricultural project shut down, and live bees for the greenhouse crew.
• Fixes for water and power, including solar panels in Buried City and a way to route water from the reservoir under the Spaceport.
• Medical gear for Lance, who can weave bandages from Fabric but admits an x-ray machine is beyond him.
• Books for the library, and the missing parts of a coffee machine a Raider found in Buried City.
• Records and relics from the past, which Celeste hopes are waiting inside Stella Montis.

Sometimes the cargo is people

Not every job is salvage. In A Warm Place to Rest, Apollo offers to pay any Raider who can find a family sheltering in an old encampment in Buried City and escort them back to safety. People still live, or hide, up there.

The risks: ARC, rival Raiders and the weather

The first risk is the machines. The overview says ARC patrol the surface with lethal force, and the Steam page says their danger is felt with every step. Raiders run into everything from a Snitch calling in backup to a Queen guarding a Harvester. The ARC lore page covers them as a force in the story, and the ARC machines database covers how to fight them.

The second risk is other Raiders. Embark's own site warns about Raiders preying on others, and the overview admits that Raiders sometimes take each other's share by force. The quests do not pretend otherwise. Celeste's old First Wave trap at the Dam is now used by Raiders to cut comms and ambush each other, and she wants it gone (Straight Record). Tian Wen sets a trap of her own when someone keeps lifting supplies from her drop-off point in Buried City.

Then there is everything else. Storms tear up antennas and infrastructure, Pendola Pass adds flash freezes that cut through the valley, and Lance jokes that half the Raiders in Speranza have serious hearing damage. Some Raiders stop coming back. Tian Wen asks you to find the stash of a Raider called Dodger who went quiet before a deal for a Bastion Cell could close.

The overview presents two ways to survive it: fight head-on, or stay in the shadows and slip away. Becoming a Raider, it says, means accepting danger and making hard choices.

Raiders, traders and the city

Celeste leads the Raiders, and Embark's trader introductions make Shani, the head of security, her main ARC expert when planning skirmishes Topside. Tian Wen builds and tests their guns, Apollo fixes whatever Raiders need fixed, and Lance, the android medic, patches up the Raiders themselves. Embark is clear that everyone in Speranza has an agenda, traders included, so the jobs do not always pull in the same direction.

Raiders have their own corners of the city. They keep Raider Dens in Speranza, which Lance calls raggedy, and quests mention Raider Hatches out on the surface that Shani's scouts keep an eye on. The Speranza page covers the city Raiders come home to, and the trader guide lists what each trader sells.

Frozen Trail: Raiders beyond the Rust Belt

Frozen Trail, which launched October 8, 2026, changes the job. Embark's launch post tells players they are part of a pioneering group of Raiders, the first to go beyond the Rust Belt and explore Pendola Pass. Celeste offers the Raiders who answer her call an Outpost on the surface, and the targets are a fallen Emperor with rare technology inside and the Frigate that ARC sent to patrol it.

Shani sees the shift clearly. Nothing used to contest ARC's hold on the surface, and now Speranza is building outposts, gathering intel and adding firepower (Into the Fray). Not everyone up there welcomes that. In Taking Stock, a quest for the Nomadic Envoy, the speaker explains that the nomads avoid crossing paths with Raiders on purpose, because Raiders draw more eyes than the nomads can afford.

Why are they called Raiders in ARC Raiders?

The game does not explain the word itself, but the role is clear: Raiders raid the surface for resources and bring them back to Speranza. The name is older than the present day. Tian Wen says her mother fought in the Raider resistance during the First Wave.

What do Raiders do in ARC Raiders?

They leave Speranza for the surface, scavenge the Rust Belt, take jobs from the traders, fight or avoid ARC and other Raiders, and come back with materials to craft, upgrade or sell. In Frozen Trail they also push beyond the Rust Belt into Pendola Pass.

Do Raiders fight each other in the ARC Raiders story?

Yes. The official world overview says Raiders sometimes take each other's share by force, and quests like Straight Record have Raiders setting ambushes for one another. Raiders can also choose to stay hidden and avoid fights.

Who leads the Raiders in ARC Raiders?

Celeste. Embark describes her as the charismatic leader of the Raiders in Speranza and a symbol of hope underground. She fought in the First Wave and offers Raiders the Outpost in Frozen Trail.