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Species Name: Terrel

History: Terrel history as a society is difficult to track, being kept mostly in story traditions that follow individual packs or clans rather than the species as a whole. Their evolution, like humans, is difficult to follow and is likely to have taken place in another part of the world from where they are found today; the nomadic nature of terrel make this extremely likely as packs will range long distances in search of better hunting and wintering grounds. A common theory among human scholars is that terrel were magically force evolved from wolf stock some time in the distant past. However, none are able to agree on who engineered them, when, or even if it was done - as terrel share none of the problems of other, more modern, force evolved creatures. The first known contact between people of the northwest kingdoms and terrel was recorded roughly two thousand years ago when several large clans migrated south due to famine in the great northern forests. Since then the clans have splintered and dispersed throughout the southern half of the continent, making their homes in the semi-arid northern basin, lush coastal forests, and dry timberlands of the south. Terrel tend to stay away from humans in general. Most human societies and living conditions are not compatible with their nomadic and free ranging sensibilities.

Grryshee Pack History: Grryshee is a splinter pack formed from a clan that became too large to sustain its members within the range it had settled. The pack started in the foothills of the eastern mountains, wandering their way down into the southern part of the great basin and into Sul’Dassen territory. The Sul’Dassen were the first human contact the pack had made in its migrations and they studied the humans carefully before trying to approach them. The Sul’Dassen reacted with hostility to what they believed were large beasts and it wasn’t until the pack managed to capture a Sul’Dassen outrider that any real relation between them and the nomads was opened. The terrel offered to aid in protecting Sul’Dassen territory in exchange for some of the nomads’ herds and, once they learned of them, medicinal services and knowledge. As the Sul’Dassen didn’t keep domestic canines, they could see the advantage of having what appeared to be large wild dogs helping to protect their lands (since such creatures are generally dismissed as harmless, especially when seen alone at a distance.) The clan and pack were well on their way to merging into a single group before Hyurr became alpha. Some of the pack’s sensibilities and traditions had started to shift in accordance with living among humans and human systems of belief and morality. Hyurr’s obsession with pack identity and tradition has driven a wedge into that process, but hasn’t stopped it entirely.

Description: A non-humanoid race, the terrel are wolf-like in appearance. They have a powerful canid muscle structure and like wolves are capable of a long, almost tireless lope that allows them to cover long distances while hunting. Their eyesight is marginally keener (in terms of detecting movement) than a humans but their sense of hearing and smell are much more acute. Their jaw and tooth structure mirrors wolves; with sharp canines and fangs suited for cutting and tearing. Terrel claws are suited more for digging than use as a weapon, not being sharp enough to cause serious damage. The color of their fur runs the gambit of common wolf and canine colorings – anywhere from black to white or buff or gray, in solids or patterns. Their fur is somewhat coarse and relatively short during warm periods while growing longer in cold seasons or climes. They all possess a particular scent, generally described as earthy but not as unpleasant as a dog’s. Males have a heavier, faintly spicy and muskier scent.

The average lifespan of terrel is in the range of eighty to one hundred years – though there are story traditions of terrel living to see one hundred-twenty and older. Terrel start to show the effects of age by color change in their fur, usually graying first around the muzzle and then the rest of the body – the major effects of aging are usually rapid and occur in the last ten to fifteen years of their life; arthritis, weakening of muscles and bone, digestive problems and in some cases dementia onset rapidly. Because of this quick, painful decline it is not uncommon for an elder terrel to leave their pack and seek a cave or other secluded place and put themselves in a state of mediation deep enough to stop their own heart.

All of the terrel are powerful telepaths as well as having other psionic abilities from time to time. They communicate primarily through telepathy, but are capable of a wide range of expressive vocalizations. Terrel genetics do not carry the potential for humanoid type magical abilities, or the potential for magic common to other non-humanoid species. It is rare for them to manifest anything other very strong telepathy, the most common other ability being farsight (the ability to see objects/events at distances beyond normal sight.) Terrel have the ability to bond mentally to others, so long as the one being bonded to has at least some psychic sensitivity. This bond is formed with individuals for whom the terrel has a strong emotional attachment (such as between mates, or parents and offspring) this bond cannot be forcibly made – however terrel have the ability to break it if they choose. They can form this bond to multiple individuals, and have the ability to block the flow of information the bond conveys.

Terrel females are only fertile for a week twice in each year – ensuring that the pack leaders will most likely not deny any female that decides to bear children the right to do so. If the female doesn’t wish to have children, or expresses a preference in mates, the other females of the pack will enforce that choice. Terrel females go into heat much like the canines they resemble, putting out physical and psychic signals that affect males on an instinctive level, making it very difficult to resist the mating urge if the female in heat isn’t interested – this is why there is the tradition of the pack females escorting and chaperoning the one in heat. Terrel tend to give birth to one to three pups, twins being the average, more than triplets are rare and pregnancy usually lasts an average of ten months. Infant mortality is fairly high in the first five years, the most common cause of death being sickness. The mortality rate and the fact that females will nurse their young through the next four reproductive cycles before possibly mating again keeps a balance between their average lifespan and sustainable population growth. They become sexually mature at about the age of twenty for both males and females.

Terrel have an aversion to fire; smoke blocks out their sensitive sense of smell, effectively blinding them. Most terrel also do not enjoy cities because of the smells associated and the claustrophobia of such cramped conditions such as buildings and city streets. They also fear disease and crippling injury – both being as good as death for a predator.

A peculiar trait of terrel is the speed at which they adapt to their environment. Terrel migrating from an alpine environment to desert will show change in as few as four generations; fur color and length adapting to suit their surroundings as well as their muscle density and body composition to a small extent. Fur length and body shape are the first observable changes, followed by color patterns. The speed at which adaptation takes place is a sure sign of – at the least – their genetics being tampered with in the past, if not being an entirely engineered species.

Social Structure: Terrel society is strictly hierarchal, the pack alpha being the strongest both physically and psychically. The alpha’s decision making is absolute, enforced by the alpha with violence if necessary, except in certain circumstances; particularly with females in heat, simply because the females of the pack will band on behalf of the one in heat. Who leads the pack is determined through ritual combat. This physical and psychic contest is not fatal to the looser (instances of terrel killing each other outside of mercy rites are rare) challengers are simply cowed. Both males and females can be pack alpha – though occurrences of female pack leaders are rare, they are not unheard of.

Terrel males will fight over mates, especially if the female in heat expresses no particular preference (sometimes even if they do.) Ultimately the choice is left to the female and is enforced by the pack females as a whole, who will defend the female and her mate from interlopers, or keep her isolated if she has no interest.

In general terrel are social creatures and live in tight, cohesive groups; sleeping, hunting and raising children together. Packs are made up of several family groups ranging in total of twenty to sixty individuals; packs form clans, made up of three to five packs. Clans meet together and exchange members between the packs to keep the breeding pool diverse. They are extremely loyal to those in their pack, especially when faced with an external threat or problem. Their pack before self reaction to threats makes them selfless to an almost suicidal degree.

Their integration into other societies is pragmatic. Humans and the other humanoid races have hands and everything the ability to dexterously manipulate objects brings, such as medicine and domestic herd animals; both of which terrel find very attractive. They will mostly associate with nomadic groups, as it suites their free ranging sensibilities and the clash between their philosophies and the human group tend to be lesser in degree due to the harsher nature of nomadic living.

Terrel traditionally compose poetry and story epics both fictional and historical. Despite the lack of physical recording, many of the historical epics remain virtually unchanged through generations, terrel storytellers’ mental and memory discipline being refined through training to the point that they have perfect memory. Though all terrel are taught the basics of this discipline, only those who become lore keepers refine it to that level. In cases where they associate with humanoid races terrel also branch out into other arts as well, becoming designers when they can find a partner to be their hands. Some develop an affection for adornment, acquiring collars, ankle bands, ear studs and anything else they can imagine to have made for them.

Punishments for transgressions are usually meted out by the victim, or the alpha in the victim’s stead. Most punishment takes the form of physical or psychic beating, denial of meals or in extreme cases, banishment from the pack. While banishment is not tantamount to death, a terrel without any kind of group, even a very small one, will be at loss for a purpose.

Terrel practices and attitudes towards psionics, while not exactly contrary to those of other races, are skewed. Humanoid races especially have an extremely wide variance in the frequency of manifestation and strength of psionic abilities; but as telepathy is the main form of communication for terrel, and all are born with it at near equal strength, their approaches to issues such as privacy of thought are quite different. In general terms, privacy of thought is an arcane, almost incomprehensible, concept to them outside of contact with other races. Their abilities allow them block each other out of their minds at will, but doing so is rare – and even with this ability it is difficult to keep secrets from one another. As such, they are more open about personal issues with one another, and in association with other groups, to a degree that can be unsettling to societies that value personal privacy. Another affect of this nature is that terrel give little consideration to indiscriminately reading the thoughts of others (and acting on what they find.) Though to read any deeper than simple surface thought isn’t typical, as doing so is usually unnecessary and can warn even a barely sensitive individual of the intrusion.

Philosophy: Terrel are raised with a survivalist mentality; a “if it gets caught, it deserves to be eaten,” survival of the fittest (or survival of the one who gets the best opportunity) philosophy. As a result, they see little to no difference between defending from attack and killing a threat preemptively. Nor do they bother with the implications of an action so long as the end result can be justified, or is of benefit to them and/or their group. This amoral approach often puts them at odds with humans and human justice systems.

Their approach to disease, sickness and crippling injury, especially in regards to old age, and mental illness, is to grant the individual affected an easy death. A crippled predator is dangerous and a drain on pack resources; and given their psionic abilities, dementia, insanity, and such things are truly frightening to them. Living as a cripple is as much a horror to them as the loss of self associated with mental degradation. As such, leaving a crippled enemy alive is an affront to them. An exception to this is when they will cripple an enemy as a way of sending a message.
Their suicide rites involve the individual passing their knowledge and skills to others in the pack before seeking some secluded place to perform the rite. They turn their own telepathic abilities on themselves, willing the heart to cease beating. A minder will be sent with them, to ensure that this is done. In the case that an individual is unwilling or unable to perform the rites, one of the pack (usually the alpha) will do it; forcibly taking knowledge if need be, and killing the individual as painlessly as possible.

Religion: Terrel believe in a primary deity in the form of a Mother spirit with multiple aspects, named Akida. The Den Mother (the Mother): nurturer and giver of life, associated with teaching and fertility, represented by a snowy white female terrel with three tails. She is seen as both the giver and taker of life; in the role of teacher she is depicted as a nurturing guide. Mother of the Hunt (the Hunter): the spirit of hunting luck, prey, combat and survival, represented by a black female with three tails. She is the harsh teacher, guiding through experience and pain. She is the embodiment of terrel philosophy and terrel hunting and fighting instinct. Mother of the Pack (the Alpha): spirit of pack unity and rule over the individual, also the spirit of the pack alpha and discipline; represented by a gray female with three tails. She embodies the hierarchal codes that govern both the pack and the individual. Terrel also believe in other, more elemental spirits that affect the world; spirits of rain, night, prey, and disease are a few examples.

Terrel religious practices are primarily carried out by individuals, rather than a priestly or shamanic caste and involve deep meditation as well as fasting and isolation to commune with spirits. One particular rite consists of the individual fasting and placing themselves in isolation (taking a journey away from the pack) as well as mediation. Though these walkabouts are more about self-discovery, they can serve as vision/spirit quests as well.

Though they have no priestly caste, as such, the lore keepers of the pack are often the ones sought for spiritual guidance. The lore keepers play a unique role within the pack; acting as impersonal observers and chroniclers, as neutral arbitrators in disputes and as spiritual guides. Lore keepers live on the edge of the pack hierarchy, most being the closest equivalent to hermits in other species. A small pack may only have one lore keeper, who later in their life will take a willing apprentice to pass their knowledge and discipline to. Lore keepers arose in terrel society from the need to keep records in order to maintain their identity as a race and to keep a history of their origins. Their current place in terrel society as arbiters and guides developed from the general faith in a lore keeper’s wisdom and neutrality. (Being an absolutely neutral observer of events is ingrained into every part of their training as historians.)



Character

Name: Tyrell of Grryshee Pack

Aliases:

Nicknames: Furball, furface (Mirra) fairy foot (Ryan, for his amazing stealth) Shadowhound (for his resemblance to a shadow hound – a creature of ill-omen)

Age: Around twenty-seven

Physical Characteristics: Tyrell is a terrel male and like all of the terrel is wolf-like in appearance. He is two to three times larger than a “normal” wolf; his shoulders come up to the waist of a person of average height, and has a definite predatory build. His claws are somewhat longer than a human finger and about as thick as a thumb as well as having razor sharp teeth. Though quite strong, he is not as large or heavily muscled as most terrel, possessing a slimmer, more agile build. This build makes him somewhat better at climbing than his brethren. His coloring is all black except for the tip of his tail and ears, which are white. His eyes are yellow-gold in color and hold a mirthful, inquisitive intelligence that those thinking him a common beast find disquieting.

Clothing and Equipment: His affection for adornment has resulted in his owning an assortment of jewelry and leather goods designed for his kind. Most of these are gifts from friends and carry sentimental value. One item is an experiment in creating weapons for use by terrel; a contraption of articulating single-edged blades that Hyurr proscribed as being too reliant on humans and human “handling.”

Skills and Abilities: Tyrell is very adept at employing his teeth in an offensive capacity; he can also be very stealthy for a creature of his size. Like all others of his race, Tyrell is a very powerful telepath, able to pick up thoughts, even memories through the best of defenses and can influence another’s mind to make him look smaller or even disappear while not moving. (This only works on those without a disciplined will, such as non-mages, and if the one being influenced isn’t looking for him specifically.) He also has no qualms about indiscriminately reading the thoughts of others around him; unlike most human psychics, who tend to be fanatical about privacy of thought. Tyrell has also picked up knowledge that is esoteric for a creature lacking dexterous hands such as basic herb-and-knife healing.

Personality: On the surface Tyrell is an extremely inquisitive individual; displaying an almost child-like playfulness in regards to those around him. He gets into anything and everything possible, with or without permission. He shows genuine interest in human affairs beyond what humans can do for his kind, something rather atypical for the members of his pack. Tyrell can change in a moment from exuberant to tightly focused, serious and almost humorless if the situation demands it. His contact with the Sul’Dassen has taught him their ethics, but his pack upbringing still leads him to choosing expediency and results over what can be morally justified. His temper is slow to cool. Though he is not one to harbor long term grudges; he can be extremely, almost vindictively, bloody-minded and wouldn’t give thought to taking a mouthful out of anyone or anything he perceives as a threat. After his banishment from the pack he becomes over protective of Mirra to an almost paranoid degree – the sorceress being the only “pack” he is left with. His fear of harm coming to her leads him to cosseting the sorceress to an irritating level. He has a sardonic, bordering on acidic sense of humor and enjoys poking fun at his human friends. He shares his race’s dislike of fire and cramped space as well as the fears of crippling injury or sickness. He is also skittish around horses, having been kicked and nearly trampled as a pup.

History: Tyrell was born in the wintering den of Grryshee pack to the female pack leader at the time. He has several half siblings, all of whom are older than him. As his birth pack has had long association with nomadic humans, Tyrell spent a great deal of his time with the Sul'Dassen clan, helping them protect their borders. As a pup Tyrell spent more time among humans than most terrel, making strong bonds of friendship with several of the Clan. Until his half brother, Hyurr became pack leader Tyrell’s interest in and intimacy with humans was not an issue – his birth parents actually encouraging the contact in the hopes that their wistful pup would find some purpose among them. However, Hyurr’s ideas about pack identity and cohesiveness have driven a wedge between Grryshee and the Sul’Dassen, and between Tyrell and his kin. When Mirra was brought into the Clan the simmering conflict between Tyrell and Hyurr was pushed into the open by Tyrell’s almost doting attention to the fragile sorceress. When the pack leader demanded that Tyrell break the nascent mental bond between himself and Mirra (an act that would have destroyed the sorceress’s already unstable mind) he refused; Hyurr, in a rage banished Tyrell from the pack.
Tyrell’s history of service within the Sul’Dassen clan has been a marked one. He has lost three patrol partners since volunteering for the duty; one was never found after becoming separated in a freak dust storm and two were killed in minor skirmishes. As such, he has earned a poor reputation among Sul’Dassen fighters and few are willing to work with him.