Gnolls

“Listen!” said the Boy. “Where I come from there is no more fear. But there is a roaring and a bellowing and a cracking of bones. And sometimes there is silence when, lolling on your thrones, your slaves adore you.”

-- Mervyn Peake, Boy in Darkness and Other Stories





A sudden ambush accompanied by cackling laughter. Bodies stripped from battlefields in the night. Vicious, iron-willed assaults that scatter shieldwalls in a howling charge. Looming, hunched figures draped in rags, cutting a swathe through bustling markets as their snouts sniff at exotic treats. A dark heritage, unforgotten and unashamed.

Eaters of the Dead

Tall and lean, possessed of unnatural wiry strength, gnolls resemble nothing less than stooping, bipedal hyenas. Also called hyenafolk and cacklefiends, their race has won few friends, and looks for none.

Gnoll fur is short and bristly, and ranges through greys and browns to fine golds, often speckled by spots or cut through with stripes. A longer, finer mane of hair runs down a gnoll's spine from the center of its brow, often dyed or braided.

A gnoll's jaws can crush bone and dent metal, and any broken teeth quickly regrow. If a gnoll grins, it might as well be drawing a blade from its sheathe.

Gnolls are unnatural creatures, engineered from hyena stock by a demon prince to serve as his footsoldiers on the material plane. None have forgotten this original role, nor the terror it enabled, and its mark lingers throughout their race.

Whether their short lifespan, quick growth, or natural aggression, every aspect of the gnoll can be traced back to its role as a conscript of the Abyss.

And then they were abandoned, their master fleeing into the Infinite Layers without a backwards glance.

Gnolls are not particularly ashamed of their origins. Many still worship their demonic creator as a great ancestor, but even those who reject him as a false idol feel no particular redemptive urge. The gnoll is nothing if not pragmatic.

Power from the Pack

Most outsiders are happy to dismiss gnolls as feral nomads, but in truth, the demonkin tend toward a fascistic, packlike order. Where other races form nations, gnolls form armies, militarized social groups held together by discipline so brutal and sudden it can seem like no more than casual violence.

This hierarchy must be respected, and inopportune attempts to climb the ranks are met with violent disapproval.

Gnolls are utilitarian and mercenary, paying little heed to ideas like honour, glory, or chivalry. Even titles are awarded only when it is necessary to distinguish a gnoll further from the pack, an attitude which leaves them frustrated by the incessant preening of more liberal races. Calming their constant hunger must always come first.

Female and male gnolls differ little in any regard, though the former tend to be somewhat larger, and are usually regarded as better-suited to command.

Scavenger's Soul

The gnoll's appetite for flesh is perhaps their most infamous trait. While others pick over battlefields, gnolls strip them clean, often snacking on fallen friends and foes even as they appropriate their armor and weapons.

Some packs frame their consumption as a way of honoring the dead, but most gnolls are just unsqueamish recyclers without an ounce of sentimentality. Few gnolls are willing to simply discard anything, and prefer to squeeze all they can out of any resource, whether tools, slaves, or allies.

Gnoll Names

A gnoll's name is granted to them at adulthood, though this is usually little more than confirmation of an existing moniker. These names are unisex and Abyssal, with hard opening consonants suited to snarling canine lips.

Gnolls do not have family names, but those who join a larger group or foreign warhost must often adopt a personal epithet to distinguish themselves from their kin.

Gnoll nicknames often seem self-deprecating, the result of a tendency to downplay individual accomplishments.

Male or Female Gnoll Names: Dagnyr, Dhyrn, Doryc, Ghasyri, Ghyrryn, Gnara, Gnasc, Hyra, Lhoryn, Lhyra, Nny, Sorgnyn, Shynzi, Shyrla, Synta, Tarnyra, Tyrno, Toryc, Yrgna

Gnoll Nick Names: Blinder, Chalkland, the Earkeeper, Faithless, Hobgoblin (don't ask), the Lady, Milky, Nobody, Pawn, Redbreast, Sorrow, the Third, Three-Claws, Waker