Gnolls
Fierce Survivors
"Gnolls are the true people of The Gold;
We named it, and hunted its plains since the sun first rose."
The Canine race of The Gold has had a troubled history in the region, dealing with infighting, wars and rivalries with the Kenku, Human attacks, and a myriad of war-like scuffles all across their territory. But throughout all of this bloody history one thing has remained certain: Gnolls have always been there.
The Gnolls have a bad reputation as blood-crazed killers and cannibals but Gnoll society is in truth more nuanced and varied than that. Gnolls have an idea of 'The Pack'; an overall community that considers each other. There is no leader of this overall community, and tribes meet when issues that affect many of them or 'the whole' arise. When they meet this way, Esmer priests arbitrate discussions between the 'leaders' of the different groups.
Gnolls live mainly within caves, in complexly carved and prepared hearths they call Hoardes. They have a very familial lifestyle, in which prolific marriages raise their children together, considering all children siblings, even from other marriages. Marriages in the same hearth sometimes switch partners, considering their bond to go beyond a man and a woman and encompassing all marriages which raise their young within the same hearth. Several Hoardes compose a tribe, which is the main nucleus of community for the Gnolls. Children are therefore given the family names of the tribe they are born into, regardless of what names the parents carry. Violence has made Gnoll communities semi-nomadic, and so when a couple marries they are encouraged by social norms to travel to join another tribe and Hearth, or to borne a tribe of their own.
Infertile women or men are said to be 'chosen' and are forced into a life of servitude and worship for Asang. These individuals are not exactly akin to priests, however. They function more as shamans, learning how to heal, cast magic, and how the natural world around them works. Some have even witnessed Asang himself, considered to be the holiest of events.
Gnolls are Esmer Cultists and so believe in the dealing intermediaries of the cosmos. They revere Asang especially because of a myth the Gnolls hold to be true: The Blood Gift. As the Gnolls see it, millenia ago Asang came into the mortal realm, using a maddened beast as his vehicle to be in it. As the beast wildly tore into the flesh of anything it came across, the Gnolls -- Hyenas at that time -- drank and fed on the blood and entrails left behind, with an apetite that almost matched the fury of the beast that caused the mayhem. Asang was so pleased with this hunger for blood and its thankful consumption that it changed the hyenas forever into beings intelligent enough to speak to him. The Gnolls were then so thankful that they bowed to him, swearing eternal servitude. To this day, Gnolls have a deep disdain for unnecessary waste; especially of blood, which they believe pleases their 'patron' Esmer.
Gnolls are gifted hunters, knowing well how to slay game as well as enemies. In either case, they leave nothing wasted. Bodies are looted, bones are reused, and every single thing that is considered to be useful (even in the smallest of ways) is taken. When they attack, they show excellent teamwork bred in the communal lifestyle of the Hoardes. They are often overly vicious against their opponents, seldom ever leaving room for survivors or prisoners. But they have a knack for being fickle; if the circumstances of a battle change in favor of their enemies, they might be quick to retreat. Though even when the battle appears to be over, Gnoll scouts may stalk their prey in hiding, relaying when the right time to strike will be to its companions.
Gnolls have a long history of war against the Kenku. Once upon a time, The Gold was ruled over by them, and the Gnolls were often treated like lesser peoples, pushed out of tribal sites and watering holes by the Kenku. Though Gnolls only live up to 30 years, the stories they've told their loved ones over the centuries has kept the hatred of the Kenku alive. And so even now, when the Kenku struggle in the periphery of the Human's reign, the Gnolls enact their revenge whenever they can, warring for the few scraps that remain in the untamed corners of the Omani Empire. So deep is this hatred that the Gnoll often treat the human threat as second, despite its undeniable size.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Aamira, Faizah, Hiba, Inaya, Lamya, Zina
Masculine names
Amani, Bakhit, Kazim, Majeed, Sadiq, Zareb
Family names
Abbas, Garda, Mansur, Rayan, Salim, Zarouq
Rather than close family names, Gnolls use tribe names, denoting a communal whole to be part of a same unit. A Gnoll is therefore given the last name of the tribe he is born into, regardless of the parents' last names.
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These names are derived from Sudanese first and last names.
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