Hoods

Hood (possibly of the same etymology as the Terran "hoodlum") is a term used to describe a peasant or serf who has fallen under the sway of evil and taken to attacking wayfarers in the lands outside of major settlements.

Description
In early Sosaria, Mondain's sway was strong enough to drive many once good folk to wickedness, and hoods, along with ravening thieves and the occasional dark knight were not uncommon sights in the wildernesses of the realm. Being men of practical trades before their lives as brigands, hoods had little by the way of martial training and hence proved an easy opponent for the well-equipped adventurer. Nevertheless, these vagabonds could prove quite the harrying force if met in sufficient numbers.

In later ages, the peasantry of Sosaria and later Britannia were, as all men, free to choose lives of  virtue or sin by their own will, and it cannot be said that no further commoners turned to banditry after the Mondain's demise. However, after this first Age of Darkness, the term "hood" fell into disuse, and such rogues were seldom seem in numbers similar to those encountered during the wizard's days.