War Boar
"The Boars, they are alive, they are clever, and they don't see you as a threat. Remember this Son, to earn their fury is to show them weakness. Do not let your fear show. Stand your ground, brace for impact and grab them by the tusks. Show them you are the only threat they should worry about." -Former Second King of Dwarves, Skald. Skald teaching his son Halgier The Second King of Dwarves how to tame wild War Boar.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The Boars are a quadra-ped, stout bodied omnivorous carnivore that are covered in a medium length fur covering their entire bodies. The fur face is a different composition designed to break when in contact with anything touching its face, urticating hairs embedding themselves in the skin. They have two functional hooves that can move independently on their legs, allowing them a more maneuverable charge. They have large serrated tusks in place of their back molars, that grow till approximately four feet long, until broken. At which time a hormone in their jaw will signal the Tusk to regrow.
Growth Rate & Stages
Piglets
In the early stages of their lives, the piglets are the size of a large dog. Their fur is much softer, more akin to cashmere wool than fur. The thick layer protects them, the only predator in the region capable of being a challenge for the piglets. Wyverns have a difficult time getting their teeth and claws into the hide as their much thicker fur binds their efforts. Often making enough noise for an entire herd to descend of the winged beast. Wyvern attacks are rare, yet they are picky about taking a boar, targeting only the sick and weak. However, a Wyvern would find itself on the better end of a Dwarf who found it hunting the Valley, a Dwarf would at least try to tame a Wyvern, while a boar would rip it to shreds. Piglets don't typically grow tusks until three to four years after birth.A trial of Youth
The piglets enter adolescence when their tusks begin to grow in. Males begin to fight with one another, typically while a Champion boar watches over them, ensuring that no blood is drawn. Should the males actually harm each other, the Champion will punish the offending piglet. Females' tusks grow just as long as the males, yet the difference between them is that their hindlegs musculature grow much stronger and their tails begin to curl at the tips. Both males and females as they grow larger lose much of their dense wooly fur in lieu of their adult coat. That fur shed by the teens is collected by the Dwarves for textile use. The Boars typically reach adulthood in their late twenties.The Adults
Fully grown Boar are an entirely different beast than their younger selves. It is here that their urticating hair grows in, that their tusks begin to become true weapons. Their neck muscles have tripled in size, their legs have become proverbial trunks, their minds have finally fully developed. A very simple language forms between the adults consistent types of squeals and grunts meaning specific things. The males tusks to grow thicker and more resilient to impact, and the females are finally ready to breed.Ecology and Habitats
The Boars live in a vast flood plain called the Valley of Mjona, the Valley is actually named after the First War Boar Champion to best a Dwarf, named Mjona. Mjona himself was a monstrously large specimen even by War Boar standards, his tusks long and proud, his fur immaculate, and cunning eyes. The floodplain is itself a strange place, the walls of the mountains actually extend far deeper into the earth, while an inexplicitly tall submerged forest exists poking just a few feet below the current surface of the plain.
The braided stream occasionally reveals the tops of these petrified trees. These trees in the bottom few dozen feet grow an odd mushroom that seem to be all but indigestible to the War Boars. Making them superb mushroom hunters. Though, the Boars being much larger and faster than the other game on the plain, do hunt them as well. The Boars will graze the plains with their back molars favoring the flowers while they are in season. They are also fond of eating the trees that attempt to make their home on the plain, thus making them the only factor keeping the Vale from becoming forested again.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Champions/Gang
The boars are structured in herds with a Champion at the top. The Champion has what is called a gang; of his subordinates that he or she allows to breed. Though the Champion can be either male or female, it is earned by might and conquest. A boar must be able defend their position at any time. A female who is champion only pairs with the strongest she chooses, while a male chooses whoever he wishes. The Gang is always composed entirely of males.
Bulwarks
Below the Upper Echelons are called Bulwarks, these boars are of a higher standing and typically not challenged during the mating season by anyone but themselves. The Bulwarks act as the eyes and ears of the herds, eternal watchers and protectors of the herd. They typically appear onsite to disputes and attacks immediately.
General Herd
Below them, are the rest of the herd. Making up the largest portion of them all. These boars obey the Bulwarks, Gang, and Champion, so long as they don't cause trouble, they are protected. Only during mating season do these roles change, and only inside the Valley. When under the care of Dwarves outside the Valley, they unquestioningly obey the Master Herder.
Exception
Should a Dwarf or anything else for that matter best a Boar in combat, that boar and everything it controls will become subservient to that being. Master Dwarven Herders will challenge the Champion to take control of an entire herd. Though will often need to prove their worth to subordinates to gain control of dissonates.
A Dwarf is considerably stronger than any other Sapient species on the Great Tree, yet these behemoths require more than brute strength to tame. Yes a Dwarf can stop a Boar with strength alone, yet often the technique for throwing a boar to it's side and subdue it. Master Herders are also usually the best wrestlers and grapplers in the Dwarven Clans.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Though, it should be noted that while these are intelligent creatures, they don't appear to care about being eaten at the ends of their lives by the Dwarves, nor do they appear to care about their bodies being used for various products after death. They seem to only value the strength of their Champion, and security. Their fur is annually harvested through brushing, and leather is only obtained after death, as well as their meat and bones.
They are also constantly bred to produce fresher meat, and milk. When Master Herders have asked the Champions of these practices, the Champions in their limited speech as well as the mothers effectively say. "Earned, a life not yet lived. Earned." The boars do not seem to mind domestication or even harvesting. This has not stopped the Herders from treating their boars with an extremely high amount of respect, for to show them weakness would be open themselves to being challenged.
Their Bulwarks and Gangs are treated as warriors by the Dwarves and are taught to fight alongside them. A certain trust is made while these fighters train and battle, a long standing tradition of the Dwarves has made these beasts into a monstrosity on the battlefield. This all being said, the herds are as important to the Dwarves and the Dwarves are as important to the Boars.
Average Intelligence
Very intelligent, they have formed a cognitive social structure as well as a consistent language. Though to call them truly sapience is arguable, they are capable of reasoning, yet understand very little in the way of higher functions like empathy.
Scientific Name
Bestia Rex
Origin/Ancestry
Unknown
Lifespan
120 years
Average Height
From floor to Shoulders: 10ft
From floor to head: 6ft
Average Weight
Fully grown: ~13000lbs
Average Length
From Nose to hindquarters: ~11ft
Geographic Distribution
Sovereign Herds
There are herds that are entirely ungoverned by the Dwarves. Champions that have bested Dwarves in their bouts are allowed to live as they wish. The Champions and the Master Herders have come to agreements that once past staked areas, the wild herds may not venture. Though it is also the same in reverse, the Herders will not by any means encroach on the wild herds territory.
A shared day between the two is held once a year however, known as The Proving. Where both Dwarf and Boar meet to decide if they will become part of the Dwarven Herds or remain wild. The Dwarves will prove themselves to these Champions to decide if they will control the herds, if the Dwarf loses, the herd remains wild. Often these Champions are ancient by Dwarven and Boar standards, strong, proud and noble beasts. Dwarves find these Champions extremely difficult to win against, usually losing each year as the Boars do not recognize magic as power. Thus the Dwarves need to win off their own might.
These wild herds are treated with an even higher level of respect, in Dwarven Culture they are treated as separate nations for is their might. For a Dwarf to earn one of these herds is to put their names in the history books. These taming of wild herds are rare, and given a much higher standard of life compared to the others of the existing herds due to their unfamiliarity to domestication. Yet, those Dwarves who can prove themselves to these noble beasts, find everything they can produce is a much higher quality. Their Bulwarks stronger, their Champions wiser and clever.
To disrespect one of the War Boars is to Disrespect the Dwarves.
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