Gnoll

Gnolls are a humanoid race that most closely resembles human-hyena hybrids. They are carnivorous humanoids, known for their savage culture and warlike ways.
The gnolls are responsible for a spreading devastation across Ilarium. They killed Senlin's family and slaughtered those he grew up with in his home hamlet and The Howling Slayers now spread like a plague through the Arux Valley. The blight which struck the homeland of Carric Liadon is but a foreshadowing of the destruction which Yeenoghu, the gnoll deity, will bring upon the land. Further war bands are springing up over the Lefrynian peninsula and througout the Foothills of @Delg.

Physical Description

Gnolls are extremely tall, with the average member of the race standing on average between 7' and 7'6". Though gnolls are relatively lean for their height, weighing in usually between 140 to 160 kg, they cut an impressive visage.
It is believed by some that gnolls have traces of demonic blood, which may be evidenced by unusual features found among some of the gnoll bloodlines. These may have included talons, gleaming red eyes, or black fur with fiery orange spots. Female gnolls are indistinguishable from males by size, in spite of a reputation for being shorter. In fact, so similar are male and female gnolls in appearance that they are often mistaken for one another.
Gnolls have very short lifespans, living only 30 or so years on average and maturing to adulthood at a remarkable speed. Gnolls do not, however, age particularly dramatically except at the end of their lifespans, at which point the decline quickly ends in their death. When a gnoll dies, its bones are occasionally harvested by the other gnolls and animated by rituals into a witherling, a type of skeletal gnoll.

Psychology

Moreso than many other humanoid races, primal instinct is a strong part of the gnoll psyche. Gnolls are natural predators and savor the thrills of the hunt. Gnolls prefer the wilderness to the civilized enclaves favoured by humans, dwarves, or other similar races.
Many other races find the gnoll psyche feral and aggressive, male and female equally, and the behavioural tendencies of the race have certainly given this impression. Gnolls start fighting among one another at a very early age and as soon as they can walk, many crawl into places away from the eyes of adults where they engage in vicious, often lethal battles. A gnoll is more likely to demand answers than it is to actually ask a question. Gnolls, however, do not see this as an act of hostility, but rather a basic demonstration of strength. The craving of the hunt and primal bloodlust that inhabits the gnoll mind have made many of the race lean towards a chaotic evil alignment by reflex.
Gnolls have a propensity for scavenging. At its most basic level, this tendency leads many gnolls to collect trophies that remind them of past victories, items sometimes grisly though just as often simple and mundane. Gnoll trackers have used this to their benefit, keeping scraps of clothing or other objects with the scent of their prey on them, which they have used to point them in the direction of their quarry.
This tendency has lead to the gnoll practice of carrion eating - gnolls have no qualms about eating the dead of other races. When gnolls strike a village they do not only leave no survivors but no corpses, eating most of those whom they don't take as slaves. There are indications that some gnolls take this practice a step further, raiding graveyards for fresh corpses on which to feed.

Culture

Gnolls place a very strong value on family, respecting blood ties more than any other aspect of a relationship. Though gnolls within a pack commonly fight with each other for dominance, gnolls of the same bloodline are loyal friends and allies to one another. These bloodlines have almost always traced maternally.
This loyalty to family is particularly obvious during combat, either with rival gnoll packs or other races. Gnolls who fight side-by-side regularly throw away personal glory in order to help their brethren.
The scavenging of wild gnolls rises to entirely new levels. While all gnolls have an innate tendency for collecting souvenirs and trophies, nomadic packs, particularly the savage ones who have had little contact with other races except during wartime, have found few other ways to acquire technology, having crafted few tools of their own. The result of this is that most gnolls rely on other races as their source of wealth and technology. This extends to arms and weaponry, giving gnoll armour a unique aesthetic where each suit is typically made from scavenged pieces of armour found either on victims or abandoned.
Gnolls of all kinds have found an affinity for hyenas, who many see as their brethren and whom they have kept as pets or for hunting.

Mainstream Gnoll Culture

Though gnolls of all kinds have a strong loyalty towards family, they have not extended such courtesies to those outside their pack however and mainstream gnoll culture has had a much deserved reputation for brutality. Most gnolls are nomadic, wandering from land to land and living off of raids on the local populations. Victims of these attacks can expect no mercy from their attackers and those who are not killed are taken as slaves to be brutalised and abused both physically and mentally. Gnolls detest physical labour and so to ensure utter loyalty from slaves have taken their brutalisation and maltreatment to an art form. For this purpose most packs have specialized slavers known as tantekurash, or "spirit breakers", who have made it their business to break the will of a slave through repetitive torture.
The process wreaked on a slave's mind by the tantekurash is brutal and often irrevocable. Those captives who do not submit are eaten, often in front of other slaves as yet another form of torment. Slaves who accept their fate live short and brutal lives, which are ended by them being devoured. Few victims are lucky enough to be rescued and those that are may take years to shake the scars from their psyche and recover.
An even less fortunate few find their minds so broken that they actually embrace the brutality of their captors, becoming the kryshantel, or "savage souls", who follow their masters into battle as thralls. Most of these individuals are broken creatures, no more conscious than the hyenas that gnolls favour as pets, but a handful retain their intellect, effectively becoming gnolls in all but form. These kryshantel are the most dangerous since they, unlike regular gnolls, are able to as infiltrators, performing sabotage and laying the ground for gnoll raids, too often undetected until it is already too late.

Religion

Gnolls most often worship the demon lord Yeenoghu, who they claim created them. Though some pay only nominal reverence, many gnolls are fanatically devoted to their dark overlord, his influence being the primary cause of their savagery. Some gnolls believe it is their purpose as Yeenoghu's servants to cleanse the weak from the world, serving a higher purpose through the slaughter they spread.
In spite of their devotion to Yeenoghu, few gnolls have any interest in ritual and there are few clerics or shamans to be found among the savage packs. Typically, gnolls see their very brutality as a sign of their devotion to the demon lord, painting the eye of Yeenoghu onto their weapons and armour and howling his name as a war cry in battle.
Gnolls venerate Yeenoghu by celebrating their victories with demonic rituals and blood offerings. Occasionally, Yeenoghu rewards such a celebrant by allowing the gnoll to be possessed by a demonic spirit, marking them as one of his chosen. Such gnolls are known as Fangs of Yeenoghu. Hyenas that feast upon the slain foe of one of the Fangs are transformed into full-grown gnolls, allowing fangs to quickly increase their war band's population.
A few gnolls are led, however, by warlocks who make powerful pacts with the demonic servants of Yeenoghu and guide the packs they lead through frightful visions paid for with even more horrific rituals. The most terrible of these are the Corruption of the Soul Consumed, where living victims are eaten alive by female hyenas who are then swiftly impregnated with evistros or barlguras formed from the tormented souls of the dead, a conception followed by an even swifter birth.
Those gnolls who turn away from the worship of Yeenoghu often embrace no deity, seeing no clear difference between demons and gods. Sometimes these gnolls seek the patronage of fey spirits of the natural world, embracing the primal essence of nature, unless they remain godless.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Thick bodies covered in fur. Short fur lies flat on two powerful arms tipped with long-nailed hands able to grip weapons and manipulate tools. Skin is greenish-gray, and their furry hide a light or dark brown hue, sometimes marked with spots or stripes. Many gnolls also have a dirty yellow to reddish-gray crest-like mane that stood on end when they were angry.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Eat all forms of meet and have an insatiable hunger to feed.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Short snouts and snarling teeth. Dark eyes often glow red with abyssal chaos.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Spread across the hilly and mountainous regions of Illarium, particularly Delg, the Mountains of Razdún, and the Pandesh, Mouth of the World" href="/w/ilarium-Hardiman12/a/threadspine-mountains-article">Threadspine Mountains.

Average Intelligence

Low intelligence. The gnoll language, a rudimentary form of Abyssal, consists mostly of whines, cackles and howls which can communicate basic concepts.

Lifespan

30 years

Average Height

7' to 7'6"

Average Weight

140kg - 160kg

Average Physique

Hulking beasts, lean for their height. Broad shouldered and strong, able to wield melee and ranged weapons with ease. Powerful legs allow the gnolls to spring forward powerfully and dislodge grapplers.