Gnoll (Nol)
The Pack
Gnolls are feral humanoids that attack settlements along the frontiers and borderlands of civilization without warning, slaughtering their victims and devouring their flesh. They were created by the demon lord Yeenoghu, after hyenas feasting in her destructive wake were affected by her aura. They were transformed into the first gnolls, which paraded after Yeenoghu until she was banished back to the Abyss. Her voice still calls to them, manifesting as an insatiable desire to destroy and consume all.Nomadic Destroyers
Gnolls are dangerous because they strike at random. They emerge from the wilderness, plunder and slaughter, then move on elsewhere. They attack like a plague of locusts, pillaging settlements and leaving little behind but razed buildings, gnawed corpses, and befouled land. Gnolls choose easy targets for their raids. Armored warriors holed up in a fortified castle will survive a rampaging gnoll horde unscathed, even as the towns, villages, and farms that surround the castle are ablaze, their people slaughtered and devoured.
Gnolls rarely build permanent structures or craft anything of lasting value. They don't make weapons or armor, but scavenge such items from the corpses of their fallen victims, stringing ears, teeth, scalps, and other trophies from their foes onto their patchwork armor.
Thirst for Blood. No goodness or compassion resides in the heart of a gnoll. Like a demon, it lacks anything resembling a conscience, and can't be taught or coerced to put aside its destructive tendencies. The gnolls' frenzied bloodlust makes them an enemy to all, and when they lack a common foe, they fight among themselves.
Additional Information
Social Structure
While gnolls hardly respect authority, there are certain types of gnolls that have more or less power than the others. Pack hierarchies are roughly divided along these lines of power, with those at the top making the general decisions for the rest of the group. This structure is fragile, though, and "leaders" are frequently devoured and replaced when their comrades bore of them.
Witherling
Sometimes gnolls turn against each other, perhaps to determine who rules a war band or because of extreme starvation. Even under ordinary circumstances, gnolls that are deprived of victims for too long can't control their hunger and violent urges. Eventually, they fight amongst themselves.
The survivors devour the flesh of their slain comrades but preserve the bones. Then, by invoking rituals to Yeenoghu, they bring the remains back to a semblance of life in the form of a gnoll witherling.
Witherlings act much as gnolls do in life, traveling with their comrades and trying to kill anything in their path. They don't eat and aren't motivated by hunger, leaving more flesh for the rest of the pack. Gnoll witherlings are incapable of wielding any weapon more sophisticated than a simple club.
Witherlings will often serve as sentries for their packs, on the rare occasion where the pack rests. With no need for rest, the witherlings pace a path around the campsite, sounding the alarm the moment they detect an enemy.
Gnoll Hunter
Hunters are the stealthiest gnolls in a pack, and they put their talents to use on the battlefield in a number of ways. In the vanguard of a pack, hunters creep around, picking off isolated opposition while clearing the way for the rest of the force to run roughshod over the enemy's territory.
Hunters are particularly skilled with the longbow, and they fire arrows with viciously barbed heads. Even when a hunter doesn't kill its target with its first shot, the arrow strike brings so much pain that the victim is hobbled in its attempts to run away. When a hunter on the prowl finds prey and isn't concerned about remaining stealthy, it sounds a horn crafted from bone that produces a keening wail similar to a banshee's yell. The pack will soon rush in and destroy whatever prey has been discovered.
Gnoll Flesh Gnawer
If any group of gnolls could be said to be more feral than the others, that distinction would go to the flesh gnawers. These gnolls eschew the use of ranged weapons in favor of short blades that they wield with speed and efficiency. In the thick of a fight, they are capable of dashing across the field, slashing and snarling as they run down stragglers and finish off wounded foes.Gnoll Pack Lord
The alpha of a gnoll pack is the pack lord, ruling by might and cunning. A pack lord earns the best of the gnoll pack's spoils, food, valuable trinkets, and magic items. It ornaments its body with brutal piercings and grotesque trophies, dyeing its fur with demonic sigils, hoping Yeenoghu will make it invulnerable.Fang of Yeenoghu
Also known as Gnoll Witchdoctors, Fangs of Yeenoghu are gnolls the demon matriarch has rewarded by allowing them to be possessed with a demonic spirit. Marked as Yeenoghu's favorite, the lucky recipient is viewed as the chosen of the Gnoll Lord. In much the same way that Yeenoghu created the first gnolls, Fangs of Yeenoghu are capable of transforming hyenas into fully grown adult gnolls. The horrible transformation requires the hyena to feast on a foe that the Fang has slain, after which the Fang will call upon its demonic powers to begin the transformation. If the hyena is too weak, it will die during the process, something that the gnolls refer to as Yeenoghu "weeding out the weak".
Fangs of Yeenoghu may also act as messengers between the Yeenoghu and the gnolls. They are capable of delivering her requests, sometimes even speaking with her voice directly. No matter how powerful a pack lord becomes, the Fangs of Yeenoghu are respected the most. If a Fang of Yeenoghu is especially successful, it might be blessed further by the demon queen and transformed into a Flind, the most powerful type of gnoll on the material plane.
Flind
A Flind is an exceptionally strong and vicious gnoll that commands and directs the pack it is a part of. It wields a flail imbued with powerful magic by Yeenoghu herself.
A pack can have only one Flind, and that creature sets a pack's path. Because of its special connection to Yeenoghu, a Flind uses god-given omens and demonic insight to guide the gnolls toward weak prey ripe for slaughter.
Unlike other humanoid leaders that might skulk behind their minions, a Flind leads the charge in battle. Its flail causes wracking pain, paralysis, and disorientation by those struck by it.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The gnoll packs roam to the north of the Varian Mountains, amongst the yellow grasses of the savanna. As nomads, they rotate throughout the plains, devouring any settlements or camps that they find in their path.
Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
Syvolian Packs
The majority of gnoll packs stalk amongst Syvolia, the region between the Dunes and the Golden Channel. These packs are small, usually about 30 to 50 members, and will follow the Dragonborn tribes that also wander the region, attacking whenever they stop to rest. A single pack will sometimes follow a tribe for weeks on end, gradually picking off the weak. These packs typically do not have much organization within them, and as much as half of the pack might be made up of regular feral hyenas.
Bloodwater Pack
The Bloodwater Pack earned its name after ravaging several settlements along the Golden Channel and tainting the waters red with the blood of the fallen. 100 members strong in addition to upwards of 30 Witherlings, the Bloodwater Pack patrols the western banks of the Channel and devours anything that breathes. Whenever their numbers weaken due to starvation or attack, they find no trouble in repairing their forces, either with raising their dead brethren as Witherlings or calling upon the powers of Yeenoghu to transform a hyena into one of their own. You know when you have entered the Bloodwater Pack's territory, as they line their borders with the decaying remains of their enemies.
Dune Pack
The Dune Pack is a relatively small group of gnolls made up of powerful members. They frequently raid the outskirts of Qashós, though they lack the numbers to properly challenge the country. Even still, Qashan forces have a hard time gaining a hold on the fast-moving and unpredictable gnolls, and they have been able to pick off undefended towns for many years. The pack doesn't care much to cause permanent damage, they simply find joy in destruction and terror, and figure that Qashós is a self-replenishing source.
Ath'Syvolian Pack
There is only one gnoll pack that claims territory in Ath'Syvolia, the region northeast of the Dunes. The Ath'Syvolian pack is the largest group of gnolls on the continent, with at least 200 members, not counting Witherlings. It is widely believed that gnolls were created somewhere within Ath'Syvolia, and the pack lingers here to guard some sort of powerful artifact related to Yeenoghu. There is no clear consensus on what this artifact is, as the Pack keeps it guarded at the center of its masses. Whatever it is, it seems to give the Pack even more ravenous energy than normal, and therefore the Ath'Syvolian pack is the most feared pack of gnolls in the desert.Major Language Groups and Dialects
Gnolls speak a confusing language made up of bits and pieces of Common strung between growls, barks, and yips. Gnollspeak has no written counterpart and no clear grammatical rules. Hyenas appear to be able to understand Gnollspeak, and sometimes even seem to "speak" back.
It is hardly worth the trouble to attempt learning Gnollspeak, as gnolls understand Common just fine, if they don't kill you on sight first.
History
During the reign of the Elvish Empire, gnoll attacks were common. Elvish armies could have no affect on them, as the gnolls would wisely avoid their strongest forces and pick off the weak instead. The Empire's slave caravans equated to a buffet to the gnolls, and hundreds of slaves died to their claws, as the Empire refused to spend the resources to protect them.
The 100 years of bloodshed after the fall of the Empire was 100 years of feasting to the gnolls. After the desert exploded into war, the gnolls glorified in the crossfire. They would rush in after--or sometimes during--bloody battles to feast on the fallen and pick off any remaining stragglers.
As the Empire's influence faded, and violence on the plains tapered off, the gnolls experienced a heavy hit to their forces, as their food supply dwindled. Their numbers are half of what they were, but those who remain are the strongest and fiercest of them all. To this day, the gnolls still glorify their reign of blood, and eagerly await the day when it will happen again.