The Beastmarked

The blood of the wilds still flows.

A mysterious affliction has plagued mankind for its entire existence. Tales of those cursed by its touch are echoed in folktales and legends worldwide. Seemingly incurable and incomprehensible, its study has been abandoned by all but the most dedicated researchers. Most cultures speak of the Beastmark in hushed tones, and expectant parents pray desperately to their gods to spare their coming child.

Occasionally, two otherwise healthy human parents produce a child with deformities that manifest as bestial characteristics: fangs, fur, claws, and horns among others. The extremity of the affliction varies widely: some may maintain more humanity than beast, while others appear as animals upon two legs. Parents of these Beastmarked tend to relieve themselves of the children in some way, be that infanticide or abandonment. Many Archivists theorize that old tales of Lycanthropes from the Age of Legend stemmed from such unfortunate souls.

Curiously, the affliction seems to exhibit differently in different parts of the world: lionmen on the plains of Korrath, goatmen in the Craglands, even strange fish-like people in the Riverlands and Braveria. Likewise, the dispositions of these variants differ widely. Most are outwardly hostile toward humans when they cross paths, although some have been known to form crude tribal societies, and even trade with isolated pockets of humans near them.