Predator

The life of the Jackal Tribe on the cold plains above the Dorsang Danar is not easy. It is frigid, barren ground most of the year, yielding little to any sort of agriculture and far more suited to the hunting, herding, and gathering that the Jackal Tribe has grown accustomed to after being pushed from their ancestral lands in the deserts of modern-day Kandor.
The environment, as well as the Jackal Tribe’s Totem god, have grown a fierce people with a penchant for wanton violence, a death cult, and even ritualistic cannibalism. They take their lead from the jackals they brought north with them, animals that they consider sacred and have become a significant part of their Tribe’s culture and life.
While all members of the Tribe pattern behaviors and culture after the Jackal to some extent, some members of the Tribe take it to the extreme, living life with the jackals, bonding with them, and leading them into war. They call themselves Tordai - Predators - and they are as violent, unpredictable, and dangerous as the War Jackals that they pattern their lives after.
Outside of war, the Predators look after the sacred War Jackals kept by each Clan. Besides the Clan’s Mystics, no person is closer physically or spiritually to the War Jackals than the Predator.
Because of this, the Predator is given high respect among the Clans of the Jackal Tribe. They are called Yara’an ker Ta’an - friends of Ta’an, or Giratan - Smiling Ones.
On Okanars - Long Night - when the Clan goes to their Place of Bones to release the yearly sacrifices to Ta’an from among the spirits of the dead that the Soul Scriber has captured, Predators are among the most likely to be released. Their spirits are exceptional warriors, so it is a loss to the Clan’s fighting power, but the Soul Scriber knows that little pleases Ta’an more than to welcome home his Giratan.
Predators share a bond with the dangerous War Jackals that the rest of the Clan do not enjoy. Jackals are surly, ill-tempered, and belligerent even among people they spend their entire lives with. Getting too close to a hungry War Jackal is not a mistake a Clan member will make twice.
The Predators do not have to worry about the War Jackals taking a hunk out of them if they get too close; they live, hunt, and eat with them. The War Jackals consider them kin and even Alpha among their packs if they prove themselves so.
In war, experienced Predators often drive the War Jackals forward into battle. Predators that aren’t leading a pack will often look like a pack of War Jackals themselves. They move and attack almost precisely like a pack of War Jackals, even singling out specific enemies they perceive as weak and ganging up on them in an orgy of violence before moving on to their next target.
Predators would fight with their teeth and their claws if they could. However, they settle for a war axe with serrated edges to look like teeth - and leave gruesome wounds on their enemies. To ensure they meet the enemy face to face, they also carry shields, much like the bone armor of the War Jackals, that offer some protection as they close the distance with their victims.