The Cannibals

"Those butchers are worse than the coyotes ever were. They're shaped like us, but they don't talk, don't think straight, and sure don't act like us."-Rancher Paublo Araldez. Cannibals, the term as used by most people, refer to a semi-mutated divergence from conventional humans. They are furrier, shorter, have larger hands, sharper teeth, and eat the only source of meat in any reliable supply. Humans. This divergence of homo sapiens has let language slip a little, but have kept their learning and tool use abilities. Swapping society for pack survival skills, they have made their living in many environments for the last sixty years. There is very little discernable difference genetically from regular humans, most of it is behavioral. But just wait for another few generations, there will be.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Cannibals have the same basic body plan as humans, bilateral symmetry, four limbs, head and neck, but they have the beginnings of fur around their bodies. That and being generally thinner than humans, built for distance running, define the subtle differences between humans and the their more brutish cousins.

Genetics and Reproduction

Human means.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The Cannibals hunt humans and other large game with 'held claws'. Tools, weapons, sharp things, anything really. Then they rip the flesh from the bone, dry it, freeze it outside at night under guard, and store it underground wrapped in cloth. They hunt in packs and use advanced baiting tactics to lure bandit gangs into traps. They can't seem to figure out guns though. Yet.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Cannibals are essentially human, without most of the self-control that comes with...you know, overarching morals or civilization. They live in packs, and have designated roles in them. The bottom of the social ladder is the Pickers, scavengers that often forage for food. They also do any strength-agnostic manual labor like grooming higher members of the social ladder. Above them, more commonly seen around, the Slaughter-men. They are the soldiers, heavy lifters, slaughterers, butchers, and cooks of the Cannibal packs. Above them are the genetically feasible Breeders. The top of the Ladder is the strongest, toughest, nastiest Cannibal of the pack, the Alpha.

Domestication

Are you kidding me?

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Cannibals have spread throughout the edges of civilization, highest concentrated in central Canada, slowly reaching down to Mexico. Possibly as far south as Paraguay and as north as the Baffin Islands in old Nunavut. They live about ten to thirty in a group spread over about a thirty kilometer radius.

Average Intelligence

This is a weird one. Cannibals are technically as intelligent as humans, they just don't act like it. They have a loose language, tool use skills, and can certainly make complex plans. That said they can't seem to understand that guns are dangerous.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The Cannibals have all the senses of conventional humans, but are often sharper, having greater night vision and hearing, and crude echolocation. They can locate the origins of sounds to a far greater degree than humans, and can figure out echo origins really fast.

Civilization and Culture

History

Cannibals separated from conventional humans about 100 years ago when the diseases that caused the Apocalypse began to spread faster than it could be contained. They left urban centers and became nomadic hunter-gatherers. Through years of natural selection, competition with other nomads, and disease. Eventually, they got stronger, began recovering their human-like qualities.
One tribe took up in the rocky mountains and found a bunch of climbing equipment, they began to hunt the cliff-dwelling villages and each other. Mostly each other. One of these climbing Cannibals wound up in Alberta...somehow...armed with the spike of a climbing ax and began to hunt travelers in the old footpaths between towns. Towns secured by Shotgun Guy. Shotgun Guy hunted this Cannibal, or the reverse, through the prairie deserts. A violent encounter gave Shotgun Guy his scar and the Cannibal a new vacancy at the front of his skull.
Other stories exist of savages somewhere between beast and man, stalking the wilds. Brutal, smart, and absolutely ruthless, the Cannibals are a significant threat to Wanderers and settlements in this new world, though might be more dangerous to bandits and each other than to settled people.

Scientific Name

Homo Sapiens Malignus

Origin/Ancestry

The Cannibals are descended from old humans of mostly Caucasian and First Nations Heritage.

Lifespan

60 years

Average Height

1.2-2.0 meters

Average Weight

60-110 kilograms

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Often Cannibals have red or white tinted skin, often heavily tanned, with black, brown, or white hair. They may have birth marks or spots and freckles on the skin, and often are scared and covered with closed over wounds. Sometimes some Cannibal tribes even use tattoos as a marking.