gnoll
Hyenas are vicious hunters that would tear you apart as soon as look at you, but that's their nature as animals. Gnolls don't have the excuse of being dumb beasts.
Gnolls are hulking, bestial humanoids that resemble bipedal hyenas. Their nomadic tribes are closely knit and fiercely matriarchal, with a strict caste system based on strength and fighting prowess. While their society may seen primitive and crude, they are among the most feared humanoids in the hills and grasslands of Khaphtela.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Gnolls are hulking, muscular bipeds, standing 7 feet tall on average. They have hyena-like heads with rounded ears, forward-facing eyes, and powerful jaws that can crush bones. Their bodies are covered in short, mottled fur that ranges in color from black to brown to gray, with stripes and spots that vary from pack to pack. They have broad shoulders, a short, hairy tail, and plantigrade feet. Both fingers and toes are tipped with blunt claws.
Female gnolls are larger and more muscular than the males, and possess small breasts that may not be visible to casual observation.
Ecology and Habitats
Gnolls live on the fringes of civilization, scratching out survival by any means necessary but preferring to hunt and raid whenever possible. The various tribes may be found in different environments throughout Khaphtela, their roving bands of marauders always on the lookout for an opportunity to strike. Gnolls frequently fashion their weapons out of bones or scavenged materials, favoring jagged, serrated blades, bolas and lassos, or barbed arrows that are difficult to remove cleanly and whose heads are frequently coated in toxins. Their habitations are simple and portable by design, allowing them to pick up and move to a new location fairly easily, leaving little behind for any but experienced trackers to find.
Dietary Needs and Habits
While gnolls are omnivorous, it is not unusual for them to subsist entirely on meat, as a result of their society's strong focus on the hunt and resulting slaughter. They will stalk their prey from cover, hiding in long grass or underbrush, or even setting cunning but brutal snares to wound their prey before attacking with spears, spiked clubs, or jagged swords. Even if their quarry should escape this initial assault, gnolls have been known to pursue their crippled prey for days, patiently waiting for it to die from blood loss or exhaustion.
In addition to animals, gnolls will just as enthusiastically kill and eat humanoids of all types, occasionally including members of other gnoll packs during border skirmishes.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Gnolls have keen hearing and an even keener sense of smell, allowing them to learn about and hunt their prey--humanoid and beast alike--over long distances.
Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
Shadowpelt Raiders
Ironjaw Warpack
Thunderclaw Nomads
Nightfur Stalkers
Ashenmane Clan
Swiftclaw Outriders
Stormsnarl Savages
Emberfang Raiders
Venomspine Marauders
Moonhowl Tribe
Razorback Marauders
Stonegrin Warband
Silentpelt Stalkers
Skyshard Marauders
Flameheart Warpack
Steelclaw Nomads
Swiftshadow Raiders
Thundermaw Outriders
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Gnolls speak their own language, Gnollish, and many can speak and understand Khaphtic. A few, primarily those who have pursued the favor of the demon-god Yeenoghu, can also speak Abyssal.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Gnolls usually have little use for other sapient species except as food, though they do respect the strength and cunning they bring to the table. Very rarely, gnolls may ally with another species against a common threat, but unless the other party shows great strength and viciousness to rival the gnolls' own, such an allegiance is likely to be short-lived.
Gnollish slavers have, however, found a foothold in Khaphtela, capturing humans, elves, and occasionally dwarves to work in quarries and mines or to build more permanent edifices at the edge of the Magestorm Desert.
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