Arak

Description

The Arak are essentially what canines could have hypothetically evolved into. They are overall humanoid, being bipedal and have opposable thumbs. The species have retained many of their dog-like traits, namely their facial structure and tail. Their hands and feet have sharp claws and about 80% of their body is covered in fur.

They stand at about 4 and a half feet tall. Their muscles are lean and much stronger than that of a standard human. In hand to hand combat they can easily overpower most warriors but are weak against congruence attacks (See alphas below). While upright they are as fast as the average human, but they have the ability to go down on all fours and sprint at speeds up to 30 MPH.

Arak Packs

They operate in packs, with between 10 to 30 members. They are nomadic scavengers who hunt and steal what they need to survive. It is common for them to hunt humans and other intelligent species for food.

The Arak roam all over the continent. The Ion’cavar works to hunt down as many as they can but they breed too rapidly to be eliminated. They are most common in the Wildlands and the farmlands of Caliharah but it's not uncommon to run into them in any part of the continent. Any party traveling all the way across the continent is more likely than not to encounter at least one pack. They tend to avoid large cities.

For unknown reasons, Arak possess a unique affinity for primordials. They will not attack any primordial but rather seem to seek out its company when one is in the vicinity of a pack. There have been some cases of packs treating a primordial as their Alpha and doing its bidding. Generally a primordial that comes into contact with a pack of Arak will play with them for a while and then simply move on after a time. The Arak seem to understand that the primordial is no longer interested in them and will not attempt to follow it.

Intelligence

Normally they use their claws and teeth as weapons, however they can wield handheld weapons such as clubs, swords and spears. They do not possess the intelligence to craft these weapons but they will steal them when they can, utilizing as much stolen equipment as possible.

They are somewhat intelligent and possess a basic grasp of language. Each pack has a leader or “Alpha”. They typically understand some common but can not speak it. They communicate using barks and yips. Their language is not well understood but it's estimated that they have about 500 distinct words in their vocabulary. Some adventurers have learned enough of their language to hold a basic conversation with them. They will barter for food and weapons. Developing a friendly relationship with an Arak pack is difficult and generally they have to be bribed with food over an extended period of time. Once a relationship is established, the pack becomes remarkably loyal to the adventurer and will sometimes join them on their adventures. This is rare but there are a few recorded instances of this.

They are not able to operate complex machinery. Anything beyond a basic door handle or latch is beyond their natural comprehension. Normally they have no congruence abilities, but in rare cases individuals can develop abilities related to agility and the rending of flesh.

Evolved Arak

Very rarely, about one in a 1,000, an Arak is born with naturally high intelligence. This occurs through some genetic mutation. Such an Arak almost always quickly becomes an Alpha. They are able to organize their pack at a level much higher than normal and can start to absorb other packs to form a large community and sometimes establish rudimentary settlements.

Arak are almost always hostile to intelligent species and any permanent settlement is viewed as an extreme threat. Normally a band of The Ion’cavar along with the local military force is dispatched to destroy the settlement and kill the Alpha. Currently there are no known settlements of Arak.

There are legends of huge war parties of Arak forming under a single Alpha in the distant past. One story tells of such a war party overrunning the city that is now the capital of Caliharah. These legends have never been confirmed and if such war parties did exist they would have been before the Literary Purge.